Personal responsibility

The term Tidy Towns bothers me for a few reasons, not least of which the fact the TT competition is about a lot of things not just tidying up the town.  It bothers me when we were asked recently to organise a big tidy up in advance of one of the many festivals that are going on this year.  (I was too busy at work at the time and, given our small numbers, thought why should we be the ones to tidy up for other organisations? Just saying...)

Anyway, getting back to personal responsibility, why don't people just pick up their own litter? Mostly they do.  But this morning on my walk with Rover arriving at at Brian Boru's fort, I noticed a lot of litter. It wasn't there yesterday, for sure. I met a few young people who had been camping there overnight and I asked them "who's in charge?".  They were leaving at the time, and one of them, nodded back into the direction of the centre of the fort, saying "Brendan" so I went in search of Brendan.  There was no Brendan and nobody in charge.  One young guy got a black bag (a good sign, folks) and started picking up before we left.

I was thinking on the way home: Somebody has to be in charge, no matter what the undertaking. What if some accident had happened there last night? Or if somebody got an asthma attack? Psychological research has shown that when a bunch of people are present where emergencies, accidents, etc. happen, it is often the case that nothing is done because everybody expects somebody else to do something. 

Two things I learned from this:
1. I think they were suspicious of my motives. Although they were pleasant enough, it could have gone better. I should have explained that I was only concerned about the litter and not bothered that they had camped there. I just wanted them to realise that is so important to keep the fort clean and tidy (I know) especially during the Millenium year.
2. Somebody has to be in charge. That applies to the Tidy Towns committee too. 

Spring meeting

We had our first proper meeting since the AGM last October.  Venue was Wood Brothers in Main St.  (Thanks for the hospitality, Brenda.) 

Bridget, Judy, Mary, Norah and Una were joined by Carol O'Donoghue and Keith Wood. 
Keith briefed the meeting on the newly formed Killlaloe-Ballina Civic Trust and the playing fields complex that is beginning construction at Clarisford.  He encouraged us to make plans and assured us of the support of the Civic trust for whatever projects we want to do. 

We co-opted Carol onto the committee.  Welcome on board, Carol.  It's great to have new people. 

We passed a vote of thanks to the Duck Race committee for their tremendous recent fund-raising on our behalf.  Thanks a million, Olga and the rest of the Duck Race committee. 

We discussed what will go into this year's TT entry form and what activities we will do in the near future and more importantly, the medium term.  We have not been very active recently but we left with the feeling that that is all going to change. 

It was suggested that we should have a Facebook page.  I don't know...  

Guerrilla Tidying

It is great to see the work of the 'guerrilla' gangs around the town. Lots of overgrown hedges in the Newtown area were cut back during the week. Well done guys!

Another surprise attack: the litter that was floating in the canal just above the bridge is now gone. Nice work!

What do I mean by the term guerrilla? - The element of surprise, the sense of public spirit and the anonymity of the workers are some of the things they have in common with Guerrilla Gardening.

Awards on Display

Derg Credit Union has kindly allowed us to use the front window at their office on the Main Street to display the awards we received last year. Also on display are two photo collages of our work at Tobermurragh and our participation in the St Patrick's Day parade. Thanks to the management and staff of Derg CU and also to Photomagic of Castletroy for printing and laminating the photos.

Planting time

It's time to get our flower tubs planted up for the summer, so we are meeting at the Green at 7.00 pm on Wednesday 27th May. We will also make a start on planting outside the library and if there is time, get started digging the beds in the Crossroads.

Meeting this Tuesday

The next meeting of the committee will be tomorrow, Tuesday 5th May at 8.00 pm in Brendan Grace's Bar.

At 8.30 the committee will be joined by representatives of the local Residents' Associations and also some representatives from the newly formed Ballina/Killaloe Traders association.

Spring Clean 2009

On Saturday the 25th of April we had a great turnout for the annual Spring Clean. The committee met at 10.30 for a brief planning meeting. We met up with the volunteers at the Green at 11.00 and split into two groups - one to tackle the Dean's Field and one to tackle the area down towards the canal and Tobermurrough. We had more volunteers at 2.00 - including the Scouts - and by 4.00 we were glad of the refreshments provided by Supervalu down Between the Waters where we were joined by our colleagues from Ballina Tidy Towns. The picture gives an idea of the amount of litter collected in Killaloe on the day but includes quite a few bags collected by the Cub scouts in Two Mile Gate on the previous Thursday evening. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out, and we hope to see you again soon.