Ballynacally Tidy Towns

2014 Tidy Towns Season

Congratulations to the community on winning a Bronze Medal in this years Tidy Towns Competition in their first year of re-entry. A lot of hard work goes into maintaining the village and great credit is due to the indivual households who looked after their own premises so well with fresh paintwork and beautiful flower displays showing great pride in our village. Also thanks to the Fas crew who carried out daily works with litter, weeds and grass cutting, we would be lost without this service. Finally a big congratulations to all who helped out in any way especially the committee, who dedicated much time from initial planning, sewing the seeds to planting, fundraising, purchasing the new hanging baskets, the preparing of the competition application form and plans, painting many areas, and the laborious and constant watering of flowers etc etc. they were fantastic this year and worked to include as many people as posssible to make this a real community event. Well done to all.

Development/Tidy Towns Fundraiser

In November 2014 the Development and Tidy Towns held a joint fundraising pub quiz in the village. The quiz was well organised by the dual committees and a great social night was had by all who attended. Their was 16 spot prizes for the raffle and 3 prizes for the quiz including a first prize of 4 vouchers for afternoon tea at the Temple Gate Hotel, fuel vouchers from Kelly's clondegad for 2nd prize and selection of confectionary for third prize. The Joint committees are very thankful to those who took part.... and to all local business who sponsored prizes. The profit on the night was 400 euro..... "Click me " for Images of the night .....

Ballynacally scoops overall award in Clare in bloom 2014

Clare in Bloom is targeted at local groups who are actively involved in the improvement and enhancement of their areas. At a busy ceremony held in the County Council Offices on the 13th October, the hard work involved throughout the village over the summer has paid off for both householders and committe members as Ballynacally won the top prize in the Clare in Bloom competition.

The award criteria for the competition included; visual impact, range of planting, litter control and waste management, community involvement, energy initiatives and overall impression. More details on the Clare Herald's page here

Work for next years Tidy Towns competition however will also begin soon and if you have an interest in helping out please talk to one of the committee members or email us here

You can read the detailed report HERE ...... More photos later......

Earlier in the year

Tidy Towns 2014 preparation began in November with a series of meetings. The public were invited to a meeting early December. Bag packing in Dunnes Stores followed on the 15th December as a fundraiser. The Focus this year is a fresh start and rebuilding after a break from the competition. An informal committee of 13 will carry out the work this year, there is always a need for more help so please feel free to lend a hand, contact any member of the committee shown across if you would like to get involved in any way.......The committee decided that new hanging baskets are badly needed and purchased these baskets (24) through individual sponsorship, (see right).

A detailed submission was put together by all members of the committee and submitted for competition. On the 26th and 27th of May all home grown flowers were taken from the tunnel and planted in various locations around the village including in the long life self watering hanging baskets. Many more people came out to help with this planting event and their was a great sense of community on these 2 evenings. Pictures available here soon......

National Spring Clean

Ballynacally Tidy Towns were out in support of National Spring Clean April 2014 in conjunction with An Taisce who are Ireland's largest and most popular anti-litter initiative, aiming to raise awareness on the problem of litter nationally. We also planted tree's in the green space in Roscliff court, the Tree Council of Ireland condone the planting of Tree's, have a look at their site here. The Tidy Towns were helped out by Ballynacally N.S parents & children & our local Fás workers.... We will be receiving a NSC certificate . "Check out the link here" and view our slideshow of pictures from the actual spring clean in and around the village which also shows some tree planting.

Used Clothing Collection

The committee held a used clothing collection this year to raise funds (over €600). Items of clean unwanted clothing, pairs of shoes, handbags or accessories, also bed linen, towels, curtains, belts, soft toys, books (not school books), magazines, laptops fully intact and mobile phones but no household bric a brac were greatfully received into the Community Centre over a period until the 25th April. See collection pics here

Another collection will be held in Sptember see poster HERE

Hanging Baskets

We are hoping to purchase 24 long life self-watering hanging baskets, this will take a lot of the work away as watering is a daily operation which takes time. We are very thankful to those who have purchased 12 baskets so far, only 14 left to sell. Work is done in the tunnel, potting flower plugs for the summer ahead while stone flower beds are currently being built by our local Fas team at the forge cross.

Future plans

• New hanging baskets
• New stone permanent flower beds.
• Continue with the Tidy Towns competition, this years theme being to maximise community involvement

Landscaping

No new flower beds were added last year. Focus was placed on the quality of the flowers used. A new layout at the recycle Bank beside the Community Centre has been augmented with decorative floral arrangements. Also flower beds at the Forge Cross have been redesigned with a flower tower design.

Wildlife & Natural Amenities

In recent years a major focus was on implementing measures to both educate the general community with regard to the wildlife found locally and also implement measures to develop wildlife habitats. A new Wildlife Display Board has been erected at a new amenity area at the village entrance. Also butterfly bushes and sunflowers have been provided to sustain local wildlife. Lavender window boxes have been places at the cottages on the Fair Green.

Flowers & Hanging Baskets

The flowers for Tidy Towns are managed by a team dedicated to choosing colour schemes, managing the re potting of the plugs in the tunnel in March/April, to managing the various plants in the tunnel and glasshouse until they are ready for placing in their designated flower beds, hanging baskets or window boxes for sowing in early June. Thanks to Gerard Moran for the offering the use of his poly tunnel

Litter Control

Litter is managed by a number of litter patrol teams assigned a specific area to check on regular areas. This year with the help of the FAS team we will again manage litter problems and hopefully we can continue to educate people who consider littering.

2013 in the Village

In the midst of the many fund raising events taking place, you may have noticed of an evening, groups of people carrying out various duties such as the watering of flowers, painting, weeding etc. These are our new Tidy Towns crew who are responsible for all the flowers that are making our Village look so well. Amongst other things they have also repainted the row of cottages in the fair green which now look very fresh & well presented. Various areas have been power washed prior to painting and have you noticed the front of the white cottage (O'Grady's) on the main road adjacent to the fair green? click here to view.

Not forgetting the FAS team who cut grass and remove litter, a full time job. They also engage in other works as directed by the Tidy Towns committee and we are thankful for their help. The ethos of Tidy Towns is not striving to win competitions, (although thats a bonus & helps with focus) nor is it about a set team of people working within the village. It is the combined efforts of many groups, young and old, householders, the Fas team, those who plant, water, care for the shrubs and flowers, those who paint, collect litter, plan, tidy and clean. These people are spread across the village and further afield. Most of all, Tidy Towns is about community and the door is always open to people who would like to get involved and are happy to help out, many hands make light work. Have a look at our Tidy Towns page for more info and some of the work in action can be seen in our galleries. Maybe we will see you in our galleries next year.

Tidy Towns

Work is continuing this year in Tidy Towns with a mostly new and enthusiastic group eager to get out and be more involved with our community. The FAS crew are still doing us proud while many volunteers are preparing for flower sowing, usual clean ups and are planning for future events. Recently in conjunction with National spring cleaning day the National school children were out to help in the drive to keep the village litter free. Littering is becoming more and more socially unacceptable and so litter levels have declined but we still have a few who do not realise this and so our litter patrols will continue. Have a look on our Tidy Towns page and our Gallery page for more information and pictures.