PRIDE IN OUR COMMUNITY AWARDS 2021 
The Muintir na Tire Pride In Our Community Awards took place on Wednesday 27th at the Kingsley Hotel. Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork City Cllr. Tony Fitzgerald, Cork County Mayor Cllr. Gillian Coughlan and President of Muintir na Tíre Paddy Fitzpatrick presided at the event.
This year the competition was expanded to incorporate both Cork City and County.
The aim of the competition is to encourage Community Groups and Volunteers to develop and maintain Community Based Amenity Projects that have a long-term benefit in their locality. It is open to the entire community.
The competition also tries to encourage people to be more environmentally aware and to encourage a litter free community.
The initiative supports the Biodiversity Action Plans of both Cork City and Cork County Councils.
With numerous categories in the competition entries were from all parts of the City and County. Several Projects were viewed on the big screen showing huge community spirit.
Durrus, Oysterhaven, Belgrave Place, Knockraha, Kanturk, Carrigaline, New Two Pot House, Cobh and Ballincollig were among the participants.
The final awards presented on the night were ‘The Pride of Cork City 2021’ and ‘The Pride of Cork County 2021’.
Ballincollig Tidy Towns were the proud winners of ‘The Pride of Cork City 2021. The County award went to Cobh Tidy Towns.
The award is a wonderful honour for Ballincollig Tidy Towns.  
It recognizes the enormous effort all our Volunteers put in each week throughout the year, our work on the development of the Ballincollig Pollinator Corridor and on Biodiversity.
Congratulations to all the award recipients especially to our good friends in Cobh Tidy Towns.
   

 

PUBLIC MEETING

 

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH PUBLIC MEETING
The Ballincollig Neighbourhood Watch Public Meeting is due to take place on
Wednesday 3rd November at 7.30pm
at the Carraig Centre on Old Fort Road, Ballincollig
 Everyone is welcome
Please make others aware of this meeting.
HALLOWEEN AND THE IRISH  
Halloween comes from the ancient Irish festival, Samhain which was a day when it was thought the undead walked among the living and evil spirits had to be warded off. 
There are many interesting facts about Halloween that are Irish.
The end of dark days and drawing in of winter is marked by Samhain. Representing the beginning of winter which was the “darker half” of the year.
Blindfolding a person and having them place their hands on items spread across a table was an old favourite Irish Halloween game. Landing in a bowl of water meant emigration, a piece of earth meant a death in the family, a ring meant a wedding, and so on.
One of these such customs is referred to in a short story by James Joyce called ‘Clay’. The spinster Maria, who was the main character, wants her hand to land on a ring, but touches a lump of clay instead, which implies death.
A similar game where a ring was hidden in a bread-like fruitcake called a barmbrack which was specially made for the occasion. The person who got the ring in their slice would have a happy marriage ahead.
When couples bobbed for apples together on Halloween, if one of them caught one, then it was taken they would be blessed with a child. The symbolism behind bobbing for apples and apple seeds was fertility for the coming year. When an apple was cut in half the seeds formed a pentagram-like shape which the Celts believed represented fertility. 
Orange and black, the colours of Halloween, in Celtic legend are the colours of death. Legend had it that if a man met an orange-haired woman on Halloween it was dangerous and he had to turn around and go home. It was considered an especially bad omen for fishermen.
On Halloween when the spirit world and the human world were at their closest Druids were especially powerful and their predictions and visions were quite closely listened to.
In the 1840s the Irish famine emigrants brought the custom of Halloween to America. Turnips were usually used for Jack-o’-lanterns in Ireland but as pumpkins are native to America, these were used instead.
CORK CITY COMMUNITY CLIMATE ACTION PLAN TRAINING
The training program will enable community groups to explore the leading causes of Climate Change and Biodiversity loss globally and in our locality.  The training will also include a workshop where participants will identify actions or projects they could undertake in their community in order to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change including actions to restore local ecosystems.
The programme is promoted by Cork Environmental Forum in conjunction with and funded by Cork City Council.
Venue : Carraig Centre, Old Fort Road
Starting Date : Thursday  11th November 2021
Time :  7.00pm to 9.30pm  
Training will continue each Thursday evening for a period of 6 weeks.
Any body interested contact info@ballincolligtidytowns.ie 
WINTER PLANTING
The Planters have now all been planted and will be ready to be placed on the Railings throughout Ballincollig.
They will definitely brighten up what can be quite a dreary time of year.

   

 

FALLING LEAVES
On Saturday the Residents in Fernwalk were busy collecting leaves. These were then picked up by Ballincollig Tidy Towns (twelve bags in total) and taken to the Allotment for the Compost Bays. They are due to have more for collection in the coming days.
Glendower Residents were also busy collecting leaves from their Estate and a one-ton bag was collected for the Allotment when they had completed their work.

 

RECYCLING THUMBS UP
Plastic Bottles and Cans stocks are building up.
Since the easing of Lockdown there has been a marked increase in the volume of both Plastic Bottles and Cans. While segregating the rubbish we have noticed a very positive result with regard to both of these items.
On Thursday Green Dragon collected the Recycling that had built up.

       

 

SOME OF THIS WEEK’S WORK
John segregated the Litter after the weekend and for a finish there were an extra two bags of Plastic and one bag of Cans.
He then went on to cut the grass near the raised flower bed at An Caislean and also at the Bench at the top of Community Drive.

   

Adrian was kept busy cleaning and cutting back on the Westgate steps.
LITTER PICK
Nineteen Volunteers and two Transition Year students were busy collecting litter on Sunday last.
It was good to see so many people out on the streets. A large area was covered from Carrigrohane to Classes, The Inniscarra Road, Regional Park and all areas in between.
During the week there were several people doing daily Litter Picks.
In total there were twenty-two bags of Litter, one bag of Glass, one bag of Plastic and one bag of Cans.

 

TICK TOCK
Don’t forget to put your clocks back on Sunday at 2am.