Tidy Towns Notes Dec. 20th

Ardmore Tidy Towns Notes.

Gold Medal

A few members of Ardmore Tidy Towns Association visited both Grange and Ardmore National Schools recently to recognise the huge part played by the students, teachers and parents in achieving our gold medal. Bill Ramsell presented a short slide show at both schools which emphasised that the Tidy Towns competition is now a whole community combined effort. We got a great reception at both schools and the children had a little party and avoided homework for the night as well.

Water, Water everywhere…

Never in my life have I witnessed such a prolonged spell (7 weeks now) of heavy rain and the whole country is saturated. We are fortunate not to have a major river in the area as so many families all over the country are devastated by floods. Fair play to Waterford Council management, and a special well done to local area supervisor, John Manahan, and his staff for keeping our roads clear through all this. If we had half this amount of rain a few years ago both the Dungarvan Road and The Youghal Road would be impassable. They have been preparing for this all year all over West Waterford and they have done a great job.

Global Warming.

National and international news bulletins over the past few weeks have been heralding the breakthrough international global warming agreement in Paris. We in Ardmore Tidy Towns having been beating this drum for several years now and highlighting the fact that every household has a part to play in this. Are we harvesting water, composting, reducing carbon footprint, walking and cycling more, car pooling, insulating our homes, reducing waste food and reducing packaging, reusing and recycling wherever possible? All little contributors to the fight against global warming.

Coastal Erosion

This is another drum we have been beating for some time as the bank at Ardmore Beach has been badly damaged over the years. Again thanks to the efforts of Executive Engineer, Josephine McGrath and local Councillor, Tom Cronin and Junior Minister for Local Government Paudie Coffey, we have finally got some action. Work has commenced on the bank and while it won’t be completed this year, it’s a start and we hope we will feature in the budget for the next few years until it is all repaired. Meantime, there is a lot of concern about the condition of The Storm Wall as significant cracks have appeared on a sizeable section of it.

Allotments.

We are disappointed with the demand for allotments – I suppose with this weather people are not worrying about gardening but we would like to get a few more people interested. If you have an interest in growing your own vegetable or fruit then please give me a call on 086-8785222. We will prepare the ground and get it ready for sowing so please let us know as soon as possible if you’re interested. All the medics, dieticians and nutritionalists are encouraging us all to go back to mother nature for our food and use less processed foods, so here’s a chance for many families to take action. Perhaps a couple of families can combine to share a plot. The costs will be minimal if we share our resources and buy our seeds together. The Tidy Towns Association will only charge a small nominal charge for the use of the ground.

Christmas Greetings.

Ardmore Tidy Towns Association wish everyone in the community a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Sincere thanks to everyone who supported us through 2015, whether that was just moral support, physical help, sponsorship, or just a word of advice or encouragement here and there, it was all appreciated and every little helps. Finally a very special word of thanks to our executives and committee members for their continued hard work, and hours and hours unselfishly given just to make Ardmore a little bit better and a nicer place to live.