Project Description
22nd December
Awards
Terry Griffith and Aileen Campion attended the Tidy Towns regional awards ceremony recently in Clonegal, Co Carlow and collected Birdhill’s Gold Medal and County Award for 2015. See pictures below.
2015 Garden Competition
At our recent AGM, it was announced that Rachel McCarthy was the winner of this year’s garden competition. See picture of Rachel’s garden in Ballyhane to the right. Congratulations to Rachel and thanks to all who participated and to Kerrie O’Connor who adjudicated.
Annual General Meeting
The AGM looked back on another successful year for Birdhill Tidy Towns and began planning for 2016. A meeting on 14th January will continue discussions and finalise the make-up of the committee.
Christmas
The annual switch-on of our Christmas Tree lights took place on 5th December. Despite the inclement weather, a great crowd turned out. Fr Joe Delaney did the blessing and perfromed the official switch-on.
Please note that we will again be providing a service facilitating the collection of Christmas Trees for shredding. Anyone wishing to avail of the service should bring their tree to the Village Green on Monday 11th January before 11.00am.
Well done to the Buckleys, Ryans and the community of Cooleen for erecting a beautiful, eye-catching crib at Cooleen Cross. See pictures below
We wish all members of our community a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.
October Newsletter
0th September
Topping Tipp
Birdhill was once again named the top centre in North Tipperary when the National Tidy Towns winners were announced on Monday last. An increase of 6 marks also ensured that we maintained our Gold Medal status for the 10th successive year.
Well done to all the neighbouring towns and villages who got great increases in marks.
Picture shows our representatives attending the announcements at the Helix Theatre in Dublin, along with Minister Alan Kelly and Eamon De Stafort
Short Life
Just 3 days our tram of hay lasted on the roundabout, before somebody put a match to it. Any information on any suspicious activity in the vicinity of the roundabout on Friday night/Saturday morning (3rd & 4th July) would be welcome.
July Newsletter
June 2015
Recalling the Past
- Remember the old telephone boxes of the 1960’s – 80’s? The mobile phone has made these redundant but we have reconstructed one in the village, for use as an information booth.
- The items of restored farm machinery installed on the roundabout remind us of hay-saving in times past. Both horse and tractor-drawn machinery are featured. It is hoped to add to the collection in future years.
- Úllord Éireann in Cooleen is a unique project where we hope to sow an apple tree from each of the 32 counties of Ireland. To date we have secured a tree traditional to 26 of the counties, with some counties represented more than once. It should be a wonderful source of fruit in years to come.
- Two artists at work! Anne Barry putting the finishing touches to a window mural of a Cooper at his trade (making barrels). The finished
- work presents an attractive vista in the car park of Cooper’s Bar.
- From Causeway to Motorway is an information board outlining some interesting items of local history, with particular reference to archaeological findings during construction of the motorway. You can study the information in the Community Orchard
April Newsletter
March Newsletter
Community Alert
Birdhill Tidy Village Committee convened an open meeting in the Community Hall last week with a view to establishing a Community Alert programme in the area. The meeting was very well attended by residents from all areas of Birdhill (see picture). Guest speakers for the evening were Ms Margaret Quinn of Muintir na Tire and Garda John Bugler, Newport Garda Station.
The following committee was appointed
Chairperson: Mike Finnucane
Secretary: Brendan Clifford
Treasurer: John Hogan
Local area reps on the committee include:
Coosane: Christy Hogan, Paddy Barry and Margaret Hassett
Kilmastulla: Pat Ryan
Gortnavarnoge: Tadhg Murnane
Cooleen: Eddie McInerney and John Sheridan
Annaholty: Tom Newe and Lorraine Carr-Kett
Ballyhane Road: John Maloney
Birdhill-Lacken: Frank Gleeson
Cragg: Paudie Kennedy
Killaloe Road: Martin O’Brien
Carrigeen: Kathy Guiader
Ballyard: Nora Coffey
Cregough: Ambrose Briscoe
The Birdhill Community Alert committee will be meeting shortly to plan their programme.
Pictures below show the attendance at the meeting and newly appointed officers with guest speakers.
Operation Transformation
Another initiative spearheaded by Birdhill Tidy Towns Walking Group got off the ground last year and has just concluded a second successful year. This year a total of 49 people weighed in and shed 220 lbs over the 8 weeks. Sincere thanks to Gráinne and Margaret for their time in monitoring the programme and keeping everyone up-to-date on proceedings.
20th February
Grow Your Own
Why not take an allotment in Birdhill. We have some still available. You dont need to know anything about growing, just an interest in knowing what you’re eating. You can start from scratch and the other allotment users are more than willing to share what they have learnt. Who would have thought the pumpkin below (pictured last Halloween) would have grown so well in Birdhill.
Notice Nature
Why not participate in our surveys, start noticing the birds in your garden and send them into us so we can participate in the birdwatch survey.
Listen out for the cuckoo, watch out for the frog spawn and post it as soon as you see. Lets see who’s awake out there.
15th February 2015
Community Alert
An important meeting will be held in Birdhill Community Hall on Thursday 19th February, commencing at 8.00 pm, to consider creating a Community Alert area in Birdhill. Guest speakers will include Margaret Quinn of Muintir na Tíre and a representative from An Garda Síochána.
Community Alert is a community programme organised by voluntary groups in association with Muintir na Tíre and The Garda Síochana. Text Alert, Monitored Alarms for vulnerable persons, Crime Prevention Initiatives, Community Safety, etc. are among the topics that could be considered under Community Alert.
Crime prevention, Community & Personal Safety and Awareness of Potential Hazards are matters of serious concern to all of us. Your support in putting a strategy in place for a better quality of life for all our residents would be appreciated.
Birdhill Tidy Towns Committee is merely facilitating the introduction of this initiative. A Community Alert Committee, if set up, would operate independently.
18th January 2015
Christmas Trees
We facilitated the collection of Christmas Trees for shredding again this year. Picture shows Mike on his rounds with one of the loads.
Apple Trees
We are planning to set up a Community Orchard which will contain an apple tree native to each of the 32 counties of Ireland. It would be appreciated if anyone could help by procuring a tree from any county. Contact any committee member to find out what counties are still required.
Sub-Committees
A range of sub-committees has been appointed under the various Tidy Towns marking categories. These are meeting currently and their deliberations will form the basis of our working plan for 2015 and future years. Feedback is expected for our next meeting on Feb 23rd.
