Report from KCA/Tidy Towns meeting
1. A big poplar tree in The Valley was topped on Saturday 20th August and made safe thanks to Rod Jones, who is a local tree surgeon. The work cost €964 and was funded from money provided to KCA by Nuala Collins and the family of the late Jim Collins. With the remainder of the money it is envisaged that KCA will buy some new bins for The Valley.
2. People are encouraged to use and engage with the new website www.kilcullentown.com. It is a fantastic website with lots of information about Kilcullen. The KCA Instagram account kilcullencommunityaction has been documenting the various activities of the town over the past few months.
3. Pollinator Plan – Paul Leighton gave an update. He suggested that we develop a 3–4 year planting plan for the four approach roads into Kilcullen. He said that we should be considering planting plants that attract bees and in doing so the town will get credit towards our pollinator plan. Paul also suggested that perhaps the housing estates in the town might link with Tidy Towns and dedicate areas in their estates for bees.
Antoinette Buckley suggested that we network with other towns in Ireland who have successfully integrated their pollinator plan with the towns planting. She suggested that a group from Kilcullen might visit Clonmel in Tipperary who have been winning a number of pollinator awards over the past few years.
Glanbia CountryLife Monasterevin, was thanked for their generous donation of bee-friendly plants towards our pollinator plan. Martin Sheridan will plant these on the Naas road coming into the town. Anyone who is interested in helping with this project is welcome to do so and can contact Tidy Towns via our email kilcullencommunityaction@gmail.com
4. CCTV – This KCA project is being led by Pat Mangan. Pat wanted to stress that the possible introduction of CCTV. was not a Big Brother type of surveillance but rather a matter for public safety. We will keep the community up-to-date of any further developments of this project.
5. Polytunnel – KCA/Tidy Towns purchased a second hand polytunnel and a suitable site has been generously provided by Geraldine and Tony Gahan. A new plastic covering will be purchased and fitted by a professional polytunnel company. Tidy Towns will also consider buying a second tunnel. It is envisaged that the tunnels will be used to ‘bring on’ next year's flowers for Kilcullen in Bloom before they are put up around the town.
6. KCA would like to thank all the people involved in this year’s Kilcullen in Bloom. From those who planted window boxes and hanging baskets, to those involved in putting them up and those who are watering the planters that are not attached to the automatic watering systems. The group would also like to thank Ray Kelly and his helpers who maintain the automatic watering system on an annual and weekly basis. KCA would also like to thank local businesses and residents of Kilcullen who have given so generously to this project. We would also like to thank Bord na Móna who donated the peat free compost and to CountryLife Monasterevin who supplied this year’s flowers.
7. Mary Rae brought up an issue regarding the footpath from Cnoc na Greine to Sunny Hill. She observed that the footpath is in very bad condition, a point echoed by Ann Cashman who noted that there are a lot of weeds and nettles on this stretch of the footpath. At the meeting it was asked why Kildare County Council are not maintaining the footpaths. It was noted that the Newbridge engineer is now looking after the Kilcullen area and that we should make contact to get this issue addressed.
8. Martin Sheridan asked if a street sweeper could be used more frequently in the town. The footpaths and sides of the roads in the town are not being maintained properly. Eoin Houlihan suggested that perhaps businesses and residents could be asked to keep the footpaths cleaned outside of their property. It was also suggested that perhaps this could be done on the days that Tidy Town volunteers are out cleaning and this would aid their work considerably.
The next meeting of KCA/Tidy Towns will be in the Hide Out at 8.15pm on August 8th. All are welcome to attend these public meetings.
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