Chainsaws in The Valley

The busy sounds of chainsaws and wood-shredder in The Valley yesterday indicated that a long-overdue ruthless pruning of some rubbish undergrowth had got underway.

The work was organised by Valley trustee Jim Collins as part of an overhaul of the community park, and to make it easier to maintain. Some boughs overhanging the river were being removed.

"It's mostly all the diseased alders, and any tree that's not in good health, that has no chance of prospering in the future," Jim told the Diary. "Even if we have to infill the spaces later, there's no point in harbouring rubbish. We're not carrying out a scorched earth policy -- anything that's good we'll leave."

One result of the clearance has been to show just how much the positioning of seats affects littering. Down on the banks below the seats are caches of empty cans and bottles, thrown there by people using the area for illegal drinking.

"It's a shame that the seats generate this kind of stuff, and there's nothing we can do except get a fellow with a bag and clear them," Jim says. "Maybe if we put bins beside the seats, I wonder would the guys drinking there use them?"

Once the clearance is done, Jim plans to get a digger in to re-excavate a drain running behind the small wall beside the path, in an attempt to keep the path in a more dry condition. "There used to be one there. but it got filled in by the earth creeping down the side."



The clearance will also open up the position for the proposed pedestrian bridge across the river from the point on the other side between the new Canoe Club building and the Dunlea development.

Jim took the opportunity to pay tribute to the voluntary work of members of the Tidy Towns Committee and individuals who have kept the park tidy over the years.

"I hope that this operation will make it easier to keep it tidy," he said.

Brian Byrne.