August 2023
We would like to thank Kerry County Council for again supporting our running costs for this year through their generous allocation via the CEP fund. This is always an enormous help to our work.
July 2023
After a welcome break in the weather we got our Fairy Folklore Trail up and running in the Daniel O'Connell Park. Signage and QR codes to our online descriptions will follow. See HERE for our folklore stories. We hope you all enjoy the trail - its a great reason to walk out to Carhan Road and enjoy the peacefulness of our lovely riverside park.
Thanks to Ad who built us our very first Insect Hotel - you can find it in the Bee Garden in the Car Park. We are always looking for south facing spots to create habitats for our native solitary bees - let us know if you have any ideas on places around the town.
The Fertha Drive mural is coming along nicely, thanks to the residents and Holly Woollett. We were delighted to donate paint to this community arts project.
We completed our Physic Garden in the Old Abbey with help from Designer Judy, Volunteers Marian, Joan and Ad, and our fantastic ASANA work experience students. We hope to add more edible trail points during the Spring of 2024.
June 2023
It is planting time again!! After all the hard work in the Polytunnel this Spring - we are busy planting out our high pole boxes and the street planters kindly donated by Kerry County Council. Its great to see the colour and variety that has been made possible by having a tunnell and a network of volunteers able to baby sit our young plants and donate from their own garden. We are really loving the Cosmos and the Ivy Geraniums and are delighted that so many of our 2022 plants overwintered well and are coming back - especially in the Bee Garden. We do not have to plant much this year there - proving it is possible to be very sustainable in our town planting. We will continue to increase the amount of plants we over winter each year.
It was lovely to take part in Sea Synergy's Derrynane Beach clean on the 18th June - a beautiful setting and a very well attended clean up. Our 2 Minute Beach Clean Board is out again in Cuas Crom Beach - please feel free to use the pickers provided to pick up any marine litter on the beach. There is also a board in the White Strand.
Painting and refreshing the town is ongoing this month - with Karina doing a lovely job brightening up our car park planters, Phil and Dan touching up the Marina Mural and Liubov taking on our park benches.
We celebrated World Ocean Day this year by organising our first 3 Beach Clean up on the 8th June with our regular volunteers and a bus full of ASANA International Students. We are very grateful for their help and enthusiasm and we hope to make this an annual event. We are very luck to have such beautiful beaches Over The Water.
With the kind sponsorship of Kerry County Council we were able to replace the tired sign out at Carhan Bridge and put in place one that has a glorious view of the Skellig Coast from the top of Cnoc na dTobar.
May 2023
Now with the weather clearing a bit we can begin our 2023 Mural Refurbishment. Holly is starting with the East End Mural. This is a mammoth task - be sure to say hi when you pass her up there in the Cherry Picker.
We had our first Love Your Town weekend on the 20th and 21st of May this year, with businesses taking part on Monday the 23rd. We had massive support for our Clean Day and Green Day from our Ukrainian Community and Supervalu helped out with refreshments. Thank you also to The Market House for supplying refreshments for the clean up the following week.
ASANA work experience students helped us weed and plant in the Community Garden in Marian Place, plant up the Fair Field beds and do litter picks along the main streets. It has been fab having these students aboard this year.
Our No Mow May social media campaign garnered a bit of interest - and this year for the first time the CE scheme workers have left patches on the approach into town free from mowing to encourage longer growth for pollinators. We hope to increase the amount left unmowed in 2024.
Fairy houses are being painted up this month - thanks to Cara Turner Ceramics and Deirdre at Art Jam Ireland for helping us realise our dream.
January - April 2023
It was lovely to take part in Kerry County Clean Up again this year. On the 22nd April groups made sure that Carhan Road to Renard Cross was covered and about 30 bags of rubbish was collected. It was great to have the Community Centre to come back to for refreshments.
Holly began work on adding a bit of colour to some of our park benches - celebrating the local flora used in Skelligsix18 Gin.
March and April sees our first Adopt A Road volunteers out and about - taking on Reenrusheen Road, Baghaghs, Sussa and the White Strand. Thank you folks for all your efforts.
June 2nd and 3rd 2022
A great 2 days planting up the tall planters for the main street - and setting out our 'doing more with less' garden patch in the Car Park. Swing by and have a look and also check out our wildflower mural designed and painted by the talented Holly Woolett. Thank you to Walsh's Supervalu for their sponsorship and continued support of CTT.
MAY 2022
DON'T FORGET TO 'NO MOW MAY'
the bees will thank you
Our Leave No Trace signs go out this month - look for them in the Marina and on our Walking Trails. Thanks to Conlon's Designs and a grant from KCC's Community Support Fund.
Volunteers are busy up at the Polytunnel at the O'Connell centre getting our plants ready for the town planters. We are very grateful for all the community donations of pollinator plants, pots, seeds and colourful annuals and for the enthusiastic help from our Ukrainian residents. Maith an obair!
A lovely afternoon was had on the 13th - in an event to kick of National Biodiversity Week 2022, working with the LIVE Project and local residents recording biodiversity in the meadows at the Valentia Observatory. So many native grasses, bog orchids and wildflowers to see as more and more lawns are reconverted to meadows.
Come along and join ACARD in a Community Party to welcome our Ukrainian friends - Saturday 7th May 4pm-6pm. Refreshments and live music and dancing to look forward to!
APRIL 2022
120 Native bare root trees were planted in the community green space OTW on the 28th April. This was possible with support from the CCBA, KCC and the Trees On The Land project - join us in the coming months if you would like to get involved in mulching and tending these 'newbies'. We had a lot of help on the day from some Ukrainian residents. Thank you very much! or ... дякую.
80 Native trees and shrubs were planted in the Town Park by the reconstructed Sive Fort on the 2rd April - thanks again to a large group of Ukrainian and Afghan residents - ye are all stars!!
For National Spring Cleaning Week volunteers and our Ukrainian residents took to the streets on April 1st - resulting in 20 bags collected. Thanks to Kieran in the Marina for allowing us to store them there - you can always drop by and ask for him if you would like bags and pickers to clean up your own area anytime.
MARCH 2022
A massive thank you to all who donated teddy bears and seeds for our Saint Patrick's Day floats. This was the first year that we gave out native wildflower seeds and we have Judy and James to thank for organising that. Bravo to Ad who constructed our main float and Joan, Ann, Angela, Marian and Sean who helped put the others together. It was great to see a bit of street life again after all the restrictions.
FEBRUARY 2022
Thank you so much to the Cuas Crom Beach Committee who donated €500 to Tidy Towns, from their Christmas Swim fundraiser. This money will go towards projects like our murals and pollinator planting throughout the year. Go raibh mile maith agat!
If you are thinking of clearing out your garden, now that the days are getting brighter - please remember that many insects (butterflies, bees, hoverflies) rely on the leaves and dead grass for hibernation - maybe wait until temperatures are consistently above 10 degrees and give these pollinators a chance to rest and emerge when the days are warmer.
JANUARY 2022
Happy New Year from everyone at Cahersiveen Tidy Towns! What are some of your New Years Resolutions? For us here at CTT we aim to:
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Plant more perennials and pollinator friendly plants in our planters this year
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Use more donated and grown from seed plant stocks
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Use Social Media to ask for donations and loans of equipment - to generate less waste and operate more sustainably
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Buy compost and mulch in bulk to cut down on plastic bags - and buy organic and peat free where we can
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Continue to operate paperless
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Increase the amount of green spaces in the town that are left to go wild / less mowed to encourage meadow growth
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Continue to be chemical free in our use of fertilizer
Some Green Sustainable NY Resolution ideas for households:
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Switch to solid products in the bathroom - natural soaps and shampoos - cutting out plastics and excess use of water in the production of liquid shower gels and shampoos. See the range at Skelligs Soaps and The Aquarian right here in town.
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Keep reusable bags in your car and by the front door - then you never forget to bring your own bags as you go shopping. If you do forget ask the shopkeeper for a paper bag over a plastic bag at the check-out
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decide to change one habit for each month of 2022 - there are many ideas on line to chose from - pick goals you know you can stick to - e.g. switching off lights more often in rooms you don't use might be more achievable than installing solar panels :)
We have been lucky to get grant funding from both the Leader Program and The Community Environment Action Fund to develop Biodiversity Projects within the town in 2020 - more details to follow..
Our Christmas Quizzes' raised over Euro1000 - thanks to great support from local businesses and quiz goers - this money will go towards planting indigenous shrubs and developing waste spaces throughout the year.