Photo Competition

In conjunction with Wicklow County Council and Wicklow News; Brittas Bay and Arklow Coastcare Groups are holding a photo competition to which all members of the public are invited to email photos of anything that happens on our shores.
Please include a caption of not more than 20 words with your name, address and which category you wish to enter. Unlimited number of entries.
The competition is open to all with prizes for the following categories: Primary school age, Secondary school age and Adults.
Closing date for entries is August 3rd 2009 and the best entries will be exhibited in County Buildings during Heritage Week at the end of August.
The Phone Booth, Upper Main Street, Arklow are providing fantastic camera phones as prizes.
Entrants are asked to Email photos to coastcarephoto@hotmail.com

Friends of the Murrough Coastcare Group

Hello all,

Please find attached photo of some of the group who made it to our Summer Walk on Sunday 31st May. 50+ people turned up. The weather was glorious, the company was great, and the mood uplifting! There can be no doubt that the Murrough, Broadlough and the Cliff walks are jewel’s in Wicklow’s crown.

As agreed at our AGM, a new CoastCare group has been formed. Margaret Coen will be the co-ordinator of this group. The first meeting to set up the group and to complete the necessary paperwork will take place this Thursday evening, 11th June at 7pm at The Cave creche on High Street. Anyone who is interested is welcome to come along (and bring a friend!). If you require any further information, please phone me on 086 2771871

Kind regards,
Pat Kavanag

Seamus writes:

 

Hello All, Just a quick email to let you know how last Saturday’s clean up went. Throughout the morning the pupils of Saint Patrick’s and Saint Cronan’s Schools did great work across the town collecting over a half a tonne of rubbish with the help of the Bray Lions Club. Then from 12 – 3pm Bray Coastcare Group volunteers – 12 in total including Liam, Conor and Patrick from Saint Cronan’s – put in a great effort in cleaning up Bray Head, the Cliff Walk and the surrounding areas. We also removed a fridge and an old bath from the southern cross side of Bray Head which had been dumped there years previous. The area is now in top condition and on behalf of all at Bray Coastcare Group I would like to urge people not to litter and I would also ask those who see people littering to maybe just have a polite word with them about it. They might think twice about littering the next time if they know people care about the area and volunteer to clean it up! Well done to all who helped out and did their bit on the “clean sweep for Bray day” especially all the younger volunteers from St.Patrick’s and St.Cronan’s!!! Thats all for now, All the best! God Bless, Séamus Connor, Bray Coastcare Group – Chairman.

Paul writes:

Though more of a report than an announcement, the Brittas Bay Coastcare Group held its monthly beachclean recently and instead of doing a linear area of beach, concentrated on the remains of one campsite in the dunes. What appeared to be a small area yielded 2 bags full of camping gear, beer bottles, (3 unopened!) clothing, cans broken glass etc.
While rumours of cutback are in the air everywhere it is hoped that the running of the brittas bay car parks wont be affected and the benefits gleaned from voluntary beachcleans, such as extra investment in recent times wont be undone.
The unlamented work of carpark staff is also vital to the functioning of this service in catering for the recreational needs of beachgoers in these times when low cost recreation is more desperately neded than ever.

Seamus writes:

Hello All, Just a few important announcements now concerning: 1: Report on Bray Coastcare Group’s Progress 2: A Clean Sweep for Bray Action Day 3: Raheen Car Park Notice board. 4: Bray Litter Task Force Roadshow. 5: Bray Coastcare Group 2 years old today. 1: Report on Bray Coastcare Group’s Progress: At a previous meeting of the Bray Litter Task Force I informed the committee members that Bray Coastcare Group would be holding a clean up every week during the month of April due to it being the National Spring Clean Month. We completed an amazing FOUR weekly clean up and action days during the month and a HUGE thank you go out to all the selfless volunteers who put in such a great effort. During the National Spring Clean Month we: * Returned the southern Dargle Riverside Walkway back to its former glory and it is now a beautiful, safe, clean, peaceful and scenic area full of wildlife for all the people of the town to enjoy. * Cleared the Dargle River of masses of light and heavy rubbish including several bicycles and even a somewhat antique motorbike amongst other things. * Continued our regular maintenance of Bray Harbour, the Ravenswell Road, Bray Head, the Cliff Walk and the surrounding areas ensuring these areas do not get over-run with litter and neglected and overgrown. * Filled in potholes and engaged in maintenance work along the Cliff Walk so that it remains safe and passable for all walkers. 2: A Clean Sweep for Bray: At the same Bray Litter Task Force meeting I suggested that we hold an “All of Bray Action Day” whereby all the interested local people, groups, and organisations would get out on the one day and do their bit to clean up and enhance the town. I was informed that a similar day has been run over the last few years by the Bray Lion’s Club, Bray 5th Wicklow Sea Scouts, Saint Cronan’s National School and Saint Patrick’s National School with the help of Bray Town Council and Greenstar. Therefore it only made sense to all work together on the same day and put in a mammoth effort as a community working together to clean up its act. Bray Coastcare Group will be one of the groups on the day and its volunteers will be tackling the areas of Bray Head, the Cliff Walk and the surrounding areas. The idea is that as many individual people, residents groups and local groups will get out on the day and clean up their local area. If you or a group you are involved in are interested in joining with us on the day or if you would like to concentrate on a specific area which is not being tackled by one of the groups on the day please either get in touch with me on 086 0692407 or Bray Town Council on 01 2744910 or 01 2744900 and we will do our best to set you or your group up with bags and cleaning equipment for the day. So I would urge as many people to get out this Saturday as possible and play your part in enhancing our beautiful town. So here’s a reminder: WHAT: A Clean Sweep for Bray Action Day; Bray Coastcare Group will be tackling the Bray Head and surrounding areas. WHEN: THIS SATURDAY the 9th of May from 12pm – 3pm. WHERE: Meeting at the RAHEEN CAR PARK from 12pm. 3: Raheen Car Park Noticeboard: At last nights BCG committee meeting Una showed us the map of the coastal area of Bray which herself and Gill got made up by a professional company in Dublin. We are now in the process of adding on important information to the map and will then have it laminated to ensure it does not get damaged by the sun. We hope to have the map and other important and relevant information up in the notice board at the Raheen Car Park by the end of the month. 4: Bray Litter Task Force Roadshow: The Bray Litter Task Force is holding a roadshow across the town of Bray over the coming months. The aim of the roadshow is to inform the public about what the BLTF is and to enable interested local people to go up and get the information necessary to get involved and so that there is an opportunity for people to talk to the various representatives of the four different sub-committee’s of the task force. The Roadshow is currently up in the Ballywaltrim Community Centre on the Boghall Road and will be there for a period of time before being moved to several other different locations across the town. So feel free to go up and take a look at the different stands and keep an eye out in the local newspapers for information on where the Roadshow will be going next. 5: Bray Coastcare Group is 2 years of age TODAY: Bray Coastcare Group is 2 years old! The voluntary group began back in April 2007 when a group of local people concerned with the state of the Bray Head area in particular got together and cleaned up the litter on the head filling a whole skip during the clean up. Due to the success of this initial clean up it was decided to set up a permanent group and after getting in touch with An Taisce and after holding a public meeting in the Heather House Hotel in September 2007 the group was officially named Bray Coastcare Group and the rest is history….I wont bore you with the enormous amount of work done by the many selfless and dedicated volunteers, and this work has not gone unnoticed with the group receiving much recognition including awards not just locally but nationally as well. So KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, FAIR PLAY and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all the volunteers of BRAY COASTCARE GROUP! Well that’s all for now, All the best, God Bless, Séamus Connor, Bray Coastcare Group – Chairman.

Seamus O’Connor from Bray writes:

The following article from Seamus illustrates how a deficiency in local governance, i.e the failure of the present system failed to address the litter problem was met by voluntary action which in turn led to the prospect of a solution in which the statutory system through Fas as suggested by Seamus can re-enter the process of dealing with litter. As a graduate in Rural Development studies I think this example provides excellent material for a case study on the role that voluntary action can assist local governance in addressing problems created by neo-liberal approaches in present day society -Paul Leahy. B.Sc (Hons) Rural Development NUI

Hello All, It is with great pleasure to email you on behalf of all in Bray Coastcare Group to let you know of one of the most active and successful periods in the short 2 year history of the group. Since the start of the National Spring Clean month of April we have held not one, not two but THREE clean ups around Bray’s coastal areas. Last Saturday’s clean up down at the Dargle River was attended by 10 volunteers and everyone put in a massive effort and in doing so filled a skip sky high with all sorts of rubbish including hundreds of beer cans, shopping trolleys and overgrown briars and weeds. (Attached are some photos from last Saturday’s clean up by the volunteers of Bray Coastcare Group) The two main areas concentrated on last Saturday were the riverside walkway on the southern side of the River Dargle and the Harbour end of the Ravenswell Road where drinkers illegally drink there and dump their empty beer cans and bottles on the ground. BCG volunteers are trying to keep on top of this blackspot area in order to prevent it from getting to the state it was in before we successfully campaigned to get the area cleaned by by Bray Town Council afew months ago when 54 tonnes of rubbish was taken away. Most volunteers would agree that cleaning up after these people is only a short term solution and it is clear many of these drinkers have a problem. A longer term solution is necessary and I personally believe a Fás scheme for the likes of these people would be one way forward.   A Fás scheme in Arklow which facilitates workers in cleaning up and enhancing the town has provided similar people with employment, taking them off the dole and in turn cleaning up the local areas and making the town a much more pleasant place to live and visit. I would urge the council or the relevant authorities to look into the possibility of engaging these people in such a scheme. On the day of the clean up a volunteer of BCG spoke with one of the men drinking on the Ravenswell Road about the idea of working on a Fás scheme to clean up the town and he said he would be very interested in doing it. I personally will be putting this suggestion to the council members and the committee of the Bray Litter Task Force at its next meeting. Two more important pieces of information now: 1: ALL OF BRAY ACTION DAY – 9th MAY: The Bray Coastcare Group and the Bray Litter Task Force’s idea to have a massive all of Bray action and clean up day will be going ahead on SATURDAY the 9th OF MAY . The reason we have gone for this date is because the Bray Lions Club and the Sea Scouts are holding their annual Spring Clean on this day and it makes sense to all get out and about on the same day as a community taking responsibility for the appearance of its own town. The idea will be to get as many local community groups, residents associations, anti-litter groups and ordinary local people out on the day to do their bit in cleaning up and enhancing the town as possible. It is hoped that bags and a limited amount of equipment will be provided by the likes of the Bray Litter Task Force and Greenstar who provide our group with the much needed skips at our clean ups. This day of action will be advertised in the local media and radio over the coming weeks so keep an eye out for more information. Now all you have to do is round up the troops and get your thinking caps on about how to enhance your own local area or estate! 2: THIS SATURDAY BCG ACTION DAY 12-3PM: This Saturday we will not be holding a “clean up” as such. Due to the recent works on the Cliff Walk after the rock fall large potholes have emerged and some parts of the walk are uneven and somewhat dangerous. Therefore volunteers this Saturday from 12-3pm will be working on levelling out the Cliff Walk and filling in the potholes. This work may not suit everyone but I would urge as many people to turn out on the day and help improve the Cliff Walk for all the people who use it especially during the busy summer months.   If you would like to come to help and have a shovel and a rake please bring them along. So here’s a reminder: WHAT: BCG Action Day on the Cliff Walk. WHEN: This Saturday the 25th of April from 12-3pm . WHERE: Meeting at the Raheen Car Park just under Bray Head. This will be our fourth and final outing of this month before the Action day on the 9th of May by the whole of Bray, so a on behalf of all in Bray Coastcare Group I would like to send out a big thank you to all the volunteers who came out this month and put in such hard work! That’s all for now, God Bless, Séamus Connor, Bray Coastcare Group – Chairman.

The following account from Seamus O’Connor from our sister group in Bray illustrates the dedication and sacrifice of that group who put their health and safety at risk in cleaning up the river.

Hello All,

Yesterday’s second Bray Coastcare Group clean up of the month was a great success even though most of the volunteers were unavailable due to the Easter holidays.

We had four hard working volunteers turn up yesterday (Saturday) to have a special clean up mainly focusing on the rubbish within the River Dargle itself.

Over the course of the 3 hour clean up from 12 – 3pm an amazing;

8 Bicycles, 1 Motorbike, 1 Lawnmower, 200 metres of tangled metal wire and 16 bags of litter were removed from the Dargle River by the Bray Coastcare Group volunteers.

This was the first time the group has actually gone into the river itself and although it was a great success there were a couple of nervous moments. While wading in the river trying to pull out the bikes, which were sometimes lodged in muck which was like concrete, I spotted a couple of very large hairy rats swimming past, thankfully they were swimming in the opposite direction so I was ok!

On behalf of Bray Coastcare I would like to send out a very special thank you to the three lads who turned out on the day and put in such a mammoth effort and in doing so filled the skip to the brim once again. I would also like to send out a special thank you to Barry who brought the boat which was crucial, and the Sea Scouts and Fidelma who lent us a couple of wetsuits and lifejackets for the day..thanks a million!

Well that’s all for now, I’ve attached a selection of photos to this email for you to get an idea of the sheer amount of rubbish which was thankfully taken out of the towns river.

God Bless and all at Bray Coastcare Group wish you a very Happy Easter!!!

Séamus Connor,
Bray Coastcare Group – Chairman.

Seamus writes

Hello All,

Good news first. Last Saturday’s clean up was a great success and we had 9 volunteers turn up on the day from 12-3pm to work hard and cleaning up the Cliff Walk, Bray Head, Naylor’s Cove and the Helicopter Pad Area.

A total of 19 bags of litter was collected and skipped. The volunteers noticed the difference of the place considering the fact that we had held our cleanups for the last two months at the River Dargle instead. Bray Head was particularly bad and needed a lot of work to get it back to a good state.

On the day three separate people came up to Bray Coastcare Volunteers and asked to join the group and help out at future clean ups. Details were exchanged and this turned out to be a bonus on top of ensuring the area was spotless for the Good Friday Procession up to the cross on Bray Head.

As you know we are holding a clean up every Saturday of this month because it is the National Spring Clean Month and we want to get the towns coastal areas spotless before the busy summer months.

This Saturday’s clean up will be held along the Dargle River and the Ravenswell Road .
We will be heading further up the Dargle to continue the work that Bray Town Council has already started.

A lot of this litter is in the river itself so a small dingy would be of great use.
If anyone has use of a small dingy that could be used by Bray Coastcare Volunteers to remove litter from the river please let me know ASAP and this could be arranged and would be greatly appreciated.

So here’s a reminder:

WHAT: Bray Coastcare Group Clean Up.

WHEN: This SATURDAY the 11th of April from 12 – 3pm.

WHERE: Meeting at the Anchor at BRAY HARBOUR .

Please come along even if you can’t stay for the full three hours. Every little helps!

That’s all for now!

God Bless,

Séamus Connor,
Bray Coastcare Group – Chairman.

Seamus O’Connor from Bray Coastcare writes:

 

 

Hello All,

Firstly I would just like to thank all those involved in the St.Patrick’s Day Parade which im told was a great success and good craic!

APRIL NATIONAL SPRING CLEAN MONTH

As you may know this month is the national spring clean month and groups like ourselves all over Ireland are doing their bit to improve our natural environment and make the country even more beautiful leading up to the summer months.

During a discussion at the Bray Litter Task Force I suggested that it might be a good idea to have continuing work throughout the month leading up to a grand finale day at the end of April where all the people of Bray get out and clean up and improve their own local areas.

Therefore Bray Coastcare Group have decided to pull up their sleeves and get out into the beautiful spring weather with the bright late nights and get some extra work done to make Bray’s coastal areas even more beautiful.

We have decided for those interested to hold a weekly clean up during the month of April. So we will be holding clean ups and action days on all Saturday’s this month; April 4th, April 11th, April 18th, and April 25th from the usual times of 12 – 3pm.

Sometime later in the month a massive all of Bray spring clean day will be held where all the people of Bray will be urged to get out and play their part in making Bray a better place. I will let you know the date and times as soon as I find out.

For this Saturday’s cleanup we will go back to our original areas of the Bray Head, The Cliff Walk, Naylor’s Cove and the Helicopter Pad Area.

Id really like to see as many people as possible come out this month as it is the national spring clean month and we are now making steady progress away from our past label as one of the worst littered towns in Ireland. So please KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

So here’s a reminder for this weeks cleanup:

WHAT: Bray Coastcare Group Spring Clean

WHEN: Saturday the 4th of April 2009 from 12 – 3pm.

WHERE: Meeting at the Raheen Car Park just below Bray Head.

As always we will be happy to provide gloves, bags and clean up equipment to all the volunteers and Greenstar once again will kindly be providing the skips for the clean ups.

Hope to see you there on Saturday even if you can’t stay for the whole time, any little help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!!!

Also I would also like to make an appeal on Behalf of Bray Coastcare Group for new volunteers, we are looking for anyone ages 5 – 85 years of age! It is essential that we keep the numbers up so that Bray Coastcare Group can continue the great work it is doing.

BRAY TIDY TOWNS:

There has been an agreement made by the committee members of the Bray Litter Task Force including representatives from Bray Coastcare to resurrect the Bray Tidy Towns Group. An application will be made to the National Tidy Towns to register as a Tidy Towns Group and I personally would be very pleased to be involved in this process and the future workings of the Tidy Towns group as im sure many of you would be too.

I personally think that it is vital for the whole town to be covered and looked after if we are to shed our unwanted label as a dirty town and by having the Bray Tidy Towns Group and the Bray Coastcare Group we can do this.

I will keep you all informed of all further developments on this issue.

That’s all for now!

God Bless,

Séamus Connor.

March Beachclean

Following three consecutive cancellations due to bad weather during the winter months, two volunteers on the January cleanup and one in February, fears for this trend continuing in March were dispelled when Liz, Annnette, Graham and Andy arrived. They were shortly augmented by Eddie and Margaret from Wicklow town who heard the Coastcare presentation at the Community Network meeting in the Ecology Centre in Wicklow yesterday.

The craic was mighty as the merry group of volunteers representing three generations of local people from as far away as Wicklow town, Barndarrig and Brittas resplendent in hi-viz vests and armed with litterpickers and prepaid refuse sacks generously donated by Arklow Waste Disposal Ltd scoured the beach and foredunes in search of assorted litter. Several bags were filled.

Some litter for recycling  include a knapsack filled with beer bottles which the lads generously offered to recycle as well as an antique milk bottle to adorn Annies collection. No money this time though. (see post on  ’Finding money on the beach for tips on that skill’). The discovery of the knacksack however should be a motivation for the younger generation to join beach cleans. !

There are still large amounts of camping  litter consisting of broken glass and rusting metal  requiring specialist equipment which the group will remove on separate occasions.

Overall, an enjoyable and promising start to the 2009 season

A big thank you to all who participated