Newsletter 12 July 2024
Celebrating a Milestone: Jacqueline Cullinane Turns 90!
Last Saturday evening marked a special celebration as one of our cherished volunteers, Jacqueline Cullinane, celebrated her 90th birthday. Surrounded by family and friends, the event was a joyous occasion honoring a truly remarkable woman.
Jacqueline is a long-standing volunteer whose energy and enthusiasm could put people half her age to shame. Her weekly schedule is nothing short of inspiring. Whether she’s painting, singing in the choir, participating in the book club, creating sugarcraft, engaging with the ICA, swimming, driving to Kerry, gardening, litter picking, or tending to flowers with BTT, she approaches everything with fantastic good humor and a positive attitude. Jacqueline also cherishes her tea and chat sessions with BTT, where her warmth and cheerfulness shine through.
A few years ago, Jacqueline and our Chairperson Tom Butler had the pleasure of meeting RTE’s Mary Kennedy at the Oriel House Hotel for an interview. What was meant to be a quick chat turned into a delightful, extended conversation that had to be gently curtailed by the producer after two cups of coffee. This encounter is just one example of Jacqueline’s captivating and unassuming nature, making her a joy to be around regardless of the company.
We are truly privileged to have Jacqueline as part of our group. Her contributions and spirit enrich our community, and her 90th birthday celebration was a testament to the many lives she has touched. Here’s to many more wonderful years with Jacqueline!
Sunflowers starting to bloom
The Sunflower Patch in our allotment are starting to bloom and bring a lot of colour to the allotment. Each day despite the weather they are continuing on their journey. The bees are very happy as well and are continually feeding from them.
Additional planting at Westfield
It’s nice to see additional planting put in place at the new HSE Westfield Care Centre. The existing planting was to a high standard but the additional has made a huge impact.
Volunteers are the best
We are lucky to have volunteers whose expertise assists us in our day to day work and also when planning projects. One such volunteer is John Buckley who is a horticulturist and whose knowledge is extremely valuable to us. We ask John about an item and it’s dealt with. This week we asked about a rose bush and a tree and both were pruned and sorted.
Making a difference
On Sunday morning Jarlath and Tony removed some of the low hanging branches on the trees around the Roundabout in the centre of Coolroe Meadows
Their work made a huge difference.
Killumney Road
On Monday morning, Gay, Tom and Sunday were edging on Killumney road and strimming around the tree and around the flower box and welcome to Ballincollig sign. What a fantastic difference.
Swifts
Rosemarie Mc Donald Biodiversity Officer. Parks & Recreation Department, Cork City Council along with Green Spaces for Health and Noel Linehan are running a swift walk in Cork City next Monday the 15th of July. It should be a really interesting and fun walk and a really good chance of seeing swifts in action.
Meeting point is at the entrance to St. Finbarr’s Hospital, meeting at the entrance on Douglas Road at 7pm. More details are in the poster attached. If you need any further information, please do email me.
If any children are coming to the event, they must be accompanied by their guardians and the guardians are responsible for all children present at the walk.
Watering goes on
Despite the very inclement weather our planter’s reservoirs throughout Ballincollig still need filling. The system we use is very effective and efficient in that the plants roots draw water and feed from the reservoir.
Last Wednesday was one our heaviest nights watering this year. The Watering Team used 1,400 litres of water and feed.
All poles, window boxes, towers and wooden planters were watered. The Team was out for 2 3/4 hours. On Sunday the planters at Eastgate took 800 litres.
On Tuesday evening the lads were back out and again despite the poor weather conditions 1,300 litres used. This took 2 1/2 hours.
Tonights watering.
3 hours 1,200 litres used.
All poles, window boxes, wooden planters towers parklet and bed at Starbucks watered.
The Cloisters
Disappointing that Ger and Tom had to return to the Boundary Wall of the Cloisters to remove the “Fallen Ivy” from the wildflowers. While this was going on Keith removed suckers from the trees along Coolroe Meadows.
Tuesday morning
On Tuesday morning Jimmy Sunday and Keith had a very busy morning on the West Village.
They started by cleaning the base of the wall from the bus stop opposite Coolroe Heights to Bicycle shop. They also cut any overhanging branches/ bind weed. They also cleaned up outside a house which is empty and looking unkempt.
They collected 1&1/2 tonne bags of cuttings plus 5 bags of sweeepings. A great mornings work.
Tuesday Worknight
Multitasking was in place on Tuesday evening. One Team were edging the Cycle Path on the road outside Cranford Pines while a second team took the van and trailer to Poulavone Roundabout to cut the grass there.
The edging did an amazing job and reclaimed a large section of the footpath which will make a big difference to cyclists and pedestrians alike
In addition to these teams there was another team working in the town centre litter picking and another working in the Old Square.
Thursday Worknight
8 of our Team continued our work on Edging on the Killumney Road on the Cycle Path but this time on the opposite side to Tuesday night. The edging machine certainly makes it much easier. Again the results are very visible.