Louth Leader Partnership conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change.
Eamonn and Gerry from The Drogheda Tidy Towns Committee who recently attended the Louth Leader Partnership conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change. Picture is with Éanna Ní Lamhna who is an Irish biologist, environmental consultant who spoke on the importance of Bees in our environment and the link to Biodiversity.
Eanna NiLamhna – Irish biologist, environmental consultant, radio and television presenter, author and educator. She is one of the best-known public figures in Ireland in the area of nature and the environment, and was listed as one of Ireland’s “Influential 100” in 2012. She is currently vice-president of the Tree Council of Ireland.
Shout Out To The Drogheda Community:
We would really welcome local people getting involved in and working with us and Leader in planning and funding some Drogheda Biodiversity projects!
DM us for more information and if you would like to get involved.
The ‘Get Off Your Arse’ gang were out the other night AGAIN to tackle Highfield Hill and the first set of steps on the Chord Road.
Plenty of the usual cans, bottles, fast food waste, tablet blister packs, as well as a lot of dumping of bags of cans and household waste.
What is really sad about this is they were only out a couple of weeks ago cleaning the same area.
Remember Drogheda Tidy Towns is a platform for all of us in the community to come together and work together to help make Drogheda a better place to live.
As always thank you to the ‘Get Off Your Arse’ gang for making Drogheda a better place for us all.
This week they have taken out the pile below from the estuary at Mornington this week.
“Over 50 bags this year so far. It is devastating to see the buried and floating plastic rubbish that has built up in this beautiful ‘protected’ estuary. We will be cleaning forever”
Well done to all of you and yes it is devastating but having people like you at WRI Wildlife Hospital gives us all hope.
Keep up the good work and Tidy Towns Drogheda look forward to working with you on future clean-up plans in the Boyne estuary. Any projects in mind?
Part of National Spring Clean Drogheda Tidy Towns is organizing a spring clean-up event at Baltray – River Boyne Estuary.
We will meet at Queensborough car park which overlooks the mouth of the River Boyne near Baltray, a couple of KMs from Drogheda town centre.
Date: Sunday, April 24th
Time: 10.30 AM to 1 PM
Meeting Location: Queensborough – Baltray Road
– Volunteers are asked to wear wellies or old shoes, and old clothes as it can get muddy in the estuary.
From Baltray you can view shallow lagoons, which are a haven for rare birds including little terns and little egrets. Louth Nature Trust runs a conservation project on Baltray beach each year from May to August to protect the nests of the little terns.
We would love to see all our amazing Drogheda Tidy Towns volunteers and community groups out in full force!
Drogheda Tidy Towns volunteers were out in action Sunday for National Spring Clean clearing the car park area beside Paupers Graveyard, known locally as Bully’s acre.
This area is one of the Drogheda Tidy Towns Adopted Areas by Dominick, Dave, Conor, Emma, and baby Croía. A couple of weeks ago the gang went out and collected 17 bags of rubbish, litter, and green waste, and again last week they collected another 19 bags of waste and a number of larger items illegally dumped in the ditches. It was really disappointing to find so much household waste in the ditches just illegally dumped. Truth it is really annoying!
They picked up everything from baby nappies, dog bowel, a dog house, alcohol bottles, and cans. That lovely person also must have just painted a couple of rooms as we found cans of paint, brushes, and wooden planks. We are making progress day by day.
For the next phase, we are hoping to plant some pollinator Irish plants in the little bedding area we cleared that had 9 bags of litter/rubbish.
Any suggestions on the type of plants we can grow here?
The Dream:
We also headed into Bully’s Acre for a little look and we have some dreams about how this area could look and making it accessible to the Drogheda community again and of course remembering those that are buried here in Bully’s Arce.
Two gentlemen stopped by to talk with us throughout the day and we realized both of these men had just visited loved ones in St. Mary’s graveyard who passed away. They both talked about coming up to the graveyard and how we are doing a great job. Both men actually spent about 10/15 mins sitting in their cars after visiting loved ones in the graveyard, so this got us thinking about Bully’s Acre, how peaceful of a place it is, and wouldn’t it be amazing if we could give this space back to the people of the town and also a place to sit and take a moment after visiting a lost one.
Interesting Fact:
Did you know that the first burial at Bully’s Acre was recorded as taking place in the mid-1850s but the burial ground might pre-date Bully’s Acre. There are no gravestones at those buried here only recalled by a Celtic Cross. It would be amazing if we could reopen Bully’s Acre to the public as a memorial park.
In Drogheda, we have the well-named Off Your Arse Group who had a busy Saturday morning last weekend.
What I love about TidyTowns is that the core of it is about the spirit and pride in one town. It is about encouraging communities to improve their local environment and make their area a better place to live, work and visit.
The Off Your Arse Group cleaned the 3 sets of steps that link the Chord Road and North Strand. Unfortunately, they had a lot of work to do but as you can imagine The Off Your Arse Group got to work!
Adult sanitary wear, a TV, painting supplies, a rug, household rubbish, and drug paraphernalia were among the rubbish collected. The areas are frequented by drug users and are a hot spot for fly-tippers who tend to burn their rubbish there. 2 local school lads had a lucky escape on Monday last when an aerosol exploded in burning rubbish on the Old Hill steps
As the members of the Off Your Arse Group said “We hope that our efforts will make using the steps a more pleasant experience for walkers” Your efforts do make a big difference and it really does improve our local environment and makes Drogheda a better place to live, work and visit.
When our community comes together and works together then great things can happen!
Well done again… and keep sharing with the Drogheda Tidy Towns all the work you do as without you and all the community groups in Drogheda we’d never get it all done!
Ps: If you are involved in a community group, have adopted an area, or even do a 2 min litter pick, reach out to us at Drogheda Tidy Towns as we want to celebrate the work you are doing!
Dog poo bags just drop on the ground beside the bin, coffee cups placed on top of a full bin. All the bins in Bryanstown are full after the long weekend but again we can’t keep blaming the council as it was St.Patrick’s weekend and for many a 4 day weekend. This is just laziness and really worrying that grown adults feel this is acceptable.
St. Patrick’s weekend was a busy one for all. Drogheda hosted a fantastic parade and the council made sure Drogheda West Street was litter-free by the following day!
The council can only do so much……
Only 100metre up from this bin is a dog poo bin! 🤷
Litter control is a constant battle we know this and we will continue to do our bit… Please just help us out a wee bit by bringing your litter home or finding a bin on your way home to bin your litter and dog poo bags.
Drogheda Tidy Towns volunteers out in action today for National Spring Clean, we tidied up the car park area beside Paupers Graveyard, known locally as Bully’s acre. We collected 17 bags of litter, leaves, and some larger items in the space of 90 mins.
This area is one of the Drogheda Tidy Towns Adopted Areas by Dominick, Dave, Conor, Emma, and baby Croía. We are making progress day by day.
Some before and after photos:
Interesting Fact: Did you know that the first burial at Bully’s Acre was recorded as taking place in the mid-1850s but the burial ground might pre-date Bully’s Acre. There are no gravestones of those buried here only recalled by a Celtic Cross. It would be amazing if we could reopen Bully’s Acre to the public as a memorial park.
Drogheda Tidy Towns volunteers, committee members, and partners have been very busy as of late. We have seen a record number of volunteers participating in regular TidyTown clean-ups, January we launched our new website, in February we launched the Drogheda Tidy Towns 5 Year Plan, Drogheda Spring Clean in March which was a massive success that involved many people across Drogheda in Louth and Meath, and finally the up-and-coming National Spring Clean in April.
To celebrate all our Drogheda Tidy Towns volunteers, members, and partners we have worked with the locally born artist Heather Gilroy from Prints of Ireland to illustrate Drogheda Tidy Towns colouring pages to be shared with local parents, teachers, and schools of Drogheda.
Make Drogheda Litter Free
The illustrations are a mix of:
Historical and modern Drogheda landmarks,
Biodiversity on the River Boyne that flows through the center of Drogheda,
Making Drogheda Litter-Free,
Sustainable Practices, recycling and re-use where possible (reduce, reuse, recycle),
And of course, ‘Love for Drogheda’
We hope that these colouring pages are fun, create awareness in your home and classroom and encourage conversation around sustainability, biodiversity, litter in our historic town, and how small changes can have a massive impact on the planet.
You can download your free colouring pages for your home or classroom below.
Louth County Council invites applications for grant assistance under its Shopfront Improvement Grant Scheme 2022.
The Shopfront Improvement Grant Scheme is available to local retailers and business owners from core areas within the towns of Ardee, Drogheda and Dundalk. Shopfronts are one of the most important elements in determining the character, quality and perception of retail streets in our towns and it is hoped to promote good quality shopfronts through this initiative. To help businesses achieve this, Louth County Council has also published a Shopfront Design Guidelines booklet.
Please find links to the design guidelines and application form below, or make enquiries by emailing: shopfrontgrant@louthcoco.ie. The 2022 Shopfront Improvement Grant Scheme will open to applications on Monday 7th March 2022 and the closing date for receipt of applications is 5.00pm on Friday 30th September, 2022.
In addition to the above, Louth County Council is seeking Expressions of Interest from local retailers and business owners from areas not covered by the above scheme. Please find a link to the expression of interest form below, or make enquiries by emailing: shopfrontgrant@louthcoco.ie.
Completed expression of interest forms must be received by 5.00pm on Friday 1st April, 2022.
droghedatidytowns.com 