Newsletter 24 May 2024
Ballincollig Business Association
Next Tuesday our Chairman Tom Butler will join Ivan Mc Cutheon Cork City Local Entertainment Office at the Ballincollig Business Association Networking Event and Sustainability Discussion. It will be a very positive event and hopefully those attending the event in The Oriel House Hotel will learn from it.

Clean Air Workshop this Saturday
The Saturday we are pleased to host a Clean Air Workshop in association with UCC in our Allotment.
This will be a very interesting Workshop which will include a brief intro and description of the project. Stories of Air Quality from our community. Details of the Air Quality In Ballincollig based on data received from monitors and show the key pollutants.
Nature, biodiversity and how they fight air pollution but also how air pollution can impact biodiversity.
It promises to be a very interesting and important workshop.
Refreshments will be available.

DELL EMC Volunteers
On Thursday morning we welcomed the fantastic support of 10 staff from DELL EMC who kindly volunteered to assist us with our work. They worked with Ger on cleaning around the Hydrangeas and Heathers on The Carrigrohane Road from the old post office towards Poulavone Roundabout.
They filled 62 bags of weeds all of which were reclaimed.
A fantastic job and it shows Many Hands Make Light Work .

Community Support
We are very lucky to have great support from John O’Donovan and the Team at O’Donovan Agri Environmental Services. This week they carried out a second mulch of the grass on Poulavone Roundabout and also did a big job in conjunction with ourselves and Rosewood Residents Association.
We are very pleased to be involved with Rosewood in a large biodiversity project. This week sees the start of a project which in time will be a haven for wildlife and pollinators while also enhancing the area for residents.

Busy Thursday
Thursday was a busy day while Ger was with the DELL EMC staff Tom and Keith removed weeds between wall and footpath across the road from the White Horse and Sunday removed the suckers from trees on Community Drive and some of Old Fort Road.
These are jobs that most people don’t even notice but our supervisors in BTT ensure that they are done and it certainly makes a difference.

Wednesday Cleaning
On Wednesday under the guidance of Vince, Sunday, Tom and Adrian did some work behind Scoil Mhuire prior to their fete on Saturday next.
They then cleaned from the boundary wall of Avoncourt back to the
Maxol Service Station.
A busy morning but a lot done.

Tuesday Worknight
On Tuesday work continued on Poulavone Roundabout weeding and preparing. The first signs of new life in the plants is very evident and already pollinators are busy on the Roundabout. We had 9 volunteers on the roundabout while another team were litter picking.

Phone Boxes on Main Street
We recently sought clarification as to what was happening to the 2 phone boxes on Main Street (outside AIB/PTSB and close to Harrington Street Junction)
We received the following information:
Nationally, Eir sought to have all of the phone boxes they inherited from Eircom removed. However, Comreg (National.Communications Regulatory Body) have overruled this, saying that there continues to be a need for a payphone service in urban areas for emergency purposes.
What this is likely to mean for Ballincollig is that the four phones at two locations will be removed and replaced by a single payphone at one of the two locations. It is expected that a final decision on this will be made over the Summer months.

Muskerry Clean Up
Gay, Sunday and Keith made a great start on cleaning the beds at the rear entrance to Muskerry Estate. The difference was very noticeable. They filled one ton bag and seven small bags with weeds. All of which were recycled.

Sunday Morning
On a bright Sunday morning 20 volunteers were out for the Weekly Litter Pick. Pat collected 10 bags of litter which included bags collected from our volunteers during the week.
Pat also collected 10 bags of kerb cleanings and 2 bags of grass cuttings from the residents of Inniscarra View.

Operation Old Square
Our Thursday Worknight concentrated on The Old Square and the lane that links to Baker Street. 15 volunteers were out and along with our Weedhex Machine we had the whole place weeded in less than an hour. The machine did the lane in just over 10 minutes. If we were doing it by hand it would have taken another hour. A great night’s work again.
