Tidy Times – Recruiting!

This is traditionally our quiet time of year. After all, who wants to be out on a winters day picking litter? Actually, quite a few of our hardy volunteers do! You’ll see them out and about on a weekend morning keeping the town clean. But generally speaking, it’s more the time of year for reflecting on what we want to achieve in the year ahead. To this end, we recently had our Annual General Meeting, where we had a large attendance. Gerard McCormick, co-chair of Letterkenny Tidy Towns, said “we were delighted with a few new members to the committee for this year, we are grateful for their commitment”. In addition, a presentation was made to Ann McGowan and Dennis Doyle “for all their dedication, leadership and guidance that they have shown to Letterkenny Tidy Towns for decades. We salute you both”.

Recruiting

In order to continue our work and go from strength to strength, we are always on the look out for new volunteers. We currently have a number of roles advertised on i-vol.ie. To view the roles, go to i-vol.ie and select ‘organisation search’. Then input Letterkenny Tidy Towns, and you will see the available roles. If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in helping us out, please get in touch. Not only is the work fulfilling but you’ll be doing your bit to keep our town as a great place to live in and to visit. There’s also an added bonus for younger volunteers that having a bit of voluntary work on the CV can be a great way to stand out from the other applicants.

As ever, we are looking for volunteers to help out with our Sunday morning litter picks. Volunteers would be assigned an area to focus on. Some people do their own neighbourhood, others will go down to the Market Square on a Sunday and find out from Neil, our coordinator, which particular areas need attention that week. The choice is yours as to how you go about it and as to how often you want to help out. Neil will provide the necessary equipment and guidance, and if you’re turning up on your own he will try to pair you up with someone, to work together on a particular area.

In addition, we are looking for help with our website and social media. The work is not too time consuming but is something which helps us continue our work, in that it helps us to get funding and attract new voilunteers. The roles would be suitable to someone who is already involved in volunteering, or for someone who wishes to get experience in social media. The roles we are looking for help with are Facebook admin, web site administrator, and blog writer. We are also looking for a sustainability officer. This last role involves helping to develop an action plan based on feedback we received at the last Tidy Towns competition. With these roles, it helps to be involved with Tidy Towns already, but is not essential, as plenty of help is available from the committee members.

All these roles can be done in your own time, and none of them should be overly time consuming. The roles are all very fulfilling, and are a great way to spend some of your spare time!

If you would like to know how you can get involved in helping with the Tidy Towns efforts, please visit our website https://www.letterkennytidytowns.com/volunteer or visit https://www.i-vol.ie, select ‘Organisation Search’ and input ‘Letterkenny Tidy Towns’ in the Search bar.

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Tidy Times Article – Jan 2022

As mentioned a couple of issues ago, we were delighted to receive a Gold Medal and to be named as tidiest town In Donegal in the recent national Tidy Towns competition. The national organisation sent us extensive feedback on what is going well and also on what could be improved upon, so this month I’d like to go over some of the key points. And also to say a huge “THANKS” to all who contributed. The Tidy Towns committee organise/coordinate a lot of the work going on, but it would all amount to nothing if it wasn’t for the participation of our volunteers.

Community Planning and Involvement

We were commended for the great response we had for the Garden competitions and the photo competition we ran last year, and also for the large growth in the number of volunteers. We currently have over 60 regular volunteers, so thanks very much to all who continue to contribute. Also, our work with youth groups and schools was commended, with various projects involving the scouts, Errigal College, St Eunans College and Loreto Convent.

Streetscape and Public Spaces.

One big positive was our development of the Flight of the Bee mural trail, which in conjunction with the efforts of the Cathedral Quarter group and the A-rt Team continue to make Letterkenny a destination for lovers of street art. In the next year we’ll be working on an app which will help to bring this aspect of Letterkenny to life and help with the development of tourism in the town.

The developments around Church Lane also came in for particular praise, as did the plans for “Letterkenny 2040” which we will hear much more of in the coming months and years. Collaborative efforts with Men’s Shed, the Rotary Club and the Letterkenny Lions were also praised. The adjudicators particularly liked the “Hirelings” statue in Market Square and the Polestar sculpture that makes such a striking introduction to the town.

The committee expressed disappointment at the number of derelict buildings in the town centre, and we will continue to work with the council to bring such buildings to their attention and improve the situation where possible.

Green Spaces and Landscaping.

The flower boxes provided around the town (more than 50,000 plants!), along with the tree planting, were praised by the adjudicators. In 2022 we aim to focus more on tree planting as well as developing biodiversity areas. This can be as simple as allowing an area to grow wild, as for example has happened along the river bank in Ballyboe Park.

Tidiness and Litter Control

Our ongoing focus on litter control was praised, and thanks for this go out to our large group of volunteers as well as the various residents’ associations and sports clubs who work with us to keep the town clean. Also, the Community Employment Scheme and town gardener David Donnelly were commended. Last but not least, a big thankyou goes out to our Junior Litter Warriors.

Residential Streets, Approach Roads and Back Lanes

The efforts involved in improving areas such as the famine garden and Roger’s Burn were praised, in particular the efforts to clear undergrowth and mend/paint fences in various spots. Other areas which were commended were Church Lane, Ard O’Donnell, Glencar Park, the Long Lane and of course the dual carriageway.

A final comment from the adjudicators was “Keep up the good work and we look forward to returning to Letterkenny in 2022.

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