.Volunteers from Clean Coasts group Banna Coastcare, who regularly get involved in coastal activities, beach cleans and various calls-to-action
A CLEAN Coasts and Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way Community Clean-up will take place at Fenit Beach on Saturday, July 16.
The meeting point for this event is the Lifeguard hut at Fenit Beach at 11:00am where volunteers will be welcomed by a Clean Coasts Officer and given a safety introduction before being offered Clean Coasts kit prior to the clean-up.
Volunteers can avail of tea, coffee and treats provided so be sure to remember to bring along your reusable cups. Let them know you’re attending by heading to the Eventbrite page here.
.Alex, Evan and Dylan Nealon with their mom Laura Jane Nealon, staff from Sigmar Recruitment and other volunteers taking part in the clean-up on Friday. Photo by Dermot Crean
A LOCAL company showed the way for other businesses on Friday, by taking part in a clean-up organised by three young brothers.
Nine year old twins Evan and Alex and their 12 year-old brother Dylan Nealon from Lixnaw have been spearheading a campaign for the past number of months now to remove plastic from the Tralee canal and bay, as well as the protection of wildlife and the environment.
They were out again on Friday last and this time they were joined by staff from Sigmar Recruitment in Monavalley Industrial Estate, as well as other volunteers.
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“It was a great day,” said the boys’ mother, Laura Jane Nealon. “What an amazing team Shaun has in Sigmar. And they will be in touch to organise another clean. There is a huge difference to the area since the first time we went in there in January. It is very satisfying to see the change. Fields which used to be a blanket of plastic are now fields of green. The bay is starting to look like a home for wildlife. There’s still loads to do so we will be organising another big clean in the coming weeks,” she added.
Shaun O’Shea, Head of European Recruitment at Sigmar, was delighted they could lend their support.
“I think the lads are really inspirational and we can all learn from their example. As a manager in the business community, I felt we had to do something. We’re happy to commit to helping and if we can do it, then I would hope other companies and businesses would join in too,” said Shaun.
Ballyseedy in the Tralee Bay Wetlands supplied free tea/coffee and biscuits for all volunteers after their afternoon’s work.
The Nealons need as many members of the public and staff from local businesses as possible to come along and help them in their next clean-up, which is planned for the coming weeks.
.Dylan, Evan and Alex Nealon with mom Laura Jane (right) and Mags O’Sullivan of the Aqua Dome(left) looking forward to the Big Clean-Up on Friday. Photo by Dermot Crean
THREE young siblings will be joined by the public, members of the business community and new Kerry Rose Sally Ann Leahy tomorrow (Friday) for the next Tralee Bay Clean up.
Nine year old twins Evan and Alex and their 12 year-old brother Dylan Nealon from Lixnaw have been spearheading a campaign for the past number of months now to remove plastic from the Tralee canal and bay, as well as the protection of wildlife and the environment.
The boys efforts were recognised when they won the Overall Super Junior Award the ECO UNESCO Young Environmentalists Awards at the National Convention Centre in Dublin last month and they have been travelling around to local schools explaining why they are making the effort to clean-up the canal.
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A number of businesses in town are coming on board to help the boys, with everyone meeting at the Aqua Dome car park at 2pm on this Friday. Staff at Sigmar Recruitment in Monavalley will join them, as well as employees from the AquaDome and many others.
Ballyseedy in the Tralee Bay Wetlands have offered to supply free tea/coffee and biscuits for all volunteers coming to the clean up, while new Kerry Rose Sally Ann Leahy will also be there.
But they need as many members of the public and staff from local businesses as possible to come along and help them. Equipment will be supplied, so all they need are the bodies to help fill those bags with rubbish.
THOSE of you who fancy shaking off the cobwebs of a Sunday morning could do worse than a trip to Banna this weekend.
They’re having their annual Christmas clean-up to have the beach looking great for anyone looking to head out for a stroll during the festive season.
Last year there was great craic with mulled wine, hot chocolate for the kids and a sing along, as well as a bit of hard work for an hour or so to collect any rubbish on the beach.
If you’re interested, volunteers will congregate at 10.30am in the main car-park and they’ll head off from there.
Volunteers involved in the clean-up at Banna Beach last Christmas.
The volunteers who took part in the big clean-up at Banna Beach on Sunday.
IT was pretty windy but that didn’t stop 24 volunteers havng fun on Sunday at the Banna Beach clean-up on Sunday.
The volunteers gave one hour of their time to clean up where in just one hour,22 bags of litter were collected along with two duvets, two jerry cans, three fishing crates, a bucket and a hoover!
After all the hard work was done, they returned to the car-park for some mulled wine and hot chocolate. The ukuleles were broken out and everyone joined in and sang a few festive songs.
Rachel Boyle of An Taisce, who organised the event, thanked everyone that showed up, including newcomers, family and friends and loyal beach cleaners Gillian Wharton-Slattery, Mary Dolan and Kerry Islamic Outreach Society.
A group at the last Banna Beach clean-up back in September.
WANT to do a good deed before Christmas?
Well Rachel Boyle of An Taisce is dreaming of a ‘Green’ Christmas and is hoping as many volunteers as possible turn up to give Banna Beach a clean this Sunday.
Volunteers for the big beach clean-up will meet at 12 noon at the main car-park. They will clean for about an hour, until 1pm then bring all the bags back to the main car park for some mulled wine and hot chocolate.
The pre-Christmas clean-up is one of four events organised each year, by the group Banna Coast Care.
It’ll have the beach looking its best in time for the Christmas swims so if you have a spare hour (and we just know a lot of you organised people have the Christmas shopping already done since July) then they could use a hand.
The clean-up is part of the nationwide Clean Costs Ireland project, which organises 4,000 clean-up events around Ireland each year.
Contact Rachel Boyle on 086-3765466 for more information.
Volunteers clean up a mess left by campers at Banna Beach on Saturday.
TWENTY volunteers took part in the clean-up of Banna Beach on Saturday and joined the movement for Litter Free Seas by being part of the 29th annual International Coastal Cleanup
Banna saw a fantastic turnout for this year’s Big Beach Clean with volunteers giving just one hour of their time to help clean up Kerry’s beautiful coastline.
Twenty-five bags of litter were collected. The bags were filled with marine litter which included, fishing line, net and ropes and terrestrial litter mostly made up of plastic bottles, crisp and sweet wrappers, cigarette butts, plastic bags and glass bottles.
Some unusual finds included a duvet, socks and trainers! Rachel Boyle of Banna Coastcare wished to thank everyone that turned up and gave up their Saturday morning
“It was another fantastic event, you would be surprised how much fun you can have picking up litter!” said Rachel.
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Rachel asked volunteers to note the litter they found as Clean Coasts will use this information to produce a snapshot of the problem of marine litter in Ireland and also share this information with the international Ocean Conservancy to form part of the worldwide survey.
“We all have a responsibility in caring for our coastline, our beaches are important places for numerous reasons so it’s great to give a little back so we can continue to enjoy them,” said Rachel.
“The litter we remove from the coast is not representative of the full load of marine litter in the environment. In fact, some say it only represents approximately 15% the remainder is on the seabed and floating in the water column.”
The cleanup on Banna was organised by Rachel Boyle (Banna Coastcare). Kerry County Council supported the event by removing all the bags collected. The Big Beach Clean is an initiative organised as part of An Taisce’s Clean Coasts Programme who have teamed up with the International Ocean Conservancy to Clean up Ireland’s coastline.
Volunteers at Banna Beach for the Clean Coasts Clean-up on Saturday.The mess left by campers on the sand dunes in Banna on Saturday last.Volunteers at work on Saturday morning in Banna.
There are beach clean-ups going on in Banna and Maherees this weekend.
BEFORE you all hop on trains, planes and automobiles for Dublin this weekend, Clean Coasts are organising clean-ups in Banna and Castlegregory this Saturday.
Rachel Boyle of An Taisce is hoping as many volunteers as possible turn up to give the beaches a clean after the busy summer season we’ve had. Bags and gloves will be provided at Banna Strand Main Car Park at 10.30am, in Maherees, Castlegregory Beach at 10am, Maherabeg Cut at 11.30am and at 2pm in Kilshannig.
Contact Rachel on 086-3765466 for more information or visit www.bigbeachclean.ie
THE Tidy Towns team will be out again on Thursday, this time helping out the businesses in Upper Castle Street.
After last Thursday’s great success on Rock Street, businesses are asked to come out to help volunteers between 10.30-11am for the second Business Street Clean.
Later that evening the volunteers will meet up at the Library in Moyderwell at 7pm and make their way down Lower and Upper Castle Street until 8pm. All are welcome to help out.
Then on Monday next from 7pm – 8pm, volunteers will meet in the Lidl Carpark to pick little on the bypass road – strictly adults only.
Also, the application forms and criteria for Tralee Tidy Towns competition are now available from traleetidytowns@gmail.com
The Tralee Tidy Towns volunteers in Ashe Street last month. Front from left: Gretta O’Rourke, Joan O’Regan, Paula Duggan, Back row from left: Billy Baker and Marco Must. Photo by Gavin O’Connor
TRALEE Tidy Towns committee have announced details of their new business clean street campaign.
A different business street in the centre of Tralee will be targeted each Thursday morning starting this Thursday, June 19, when we will see businesses from Lower Rock Street, provide a staff member to come out between 10.30am – 11am to clean outside their business.
This will entail removing any weeds, built up of dust and debris, perhaps tackling the pavement directly outside their businesses removing some gum, cigarette butts, scrubbing stains etc.
Tralee Tidy Towns will supply high-vis jackets, gloves, some tools, litter bags and moral support. The idea is to complement the volunteer litter picking efforts on Thursday evenings by Tralee Tidy Towns.
“It needs a concerted effort on everyone’s part to achieve a nice clean town,” say Tralee Tidy Towns. “Please feel free if you have a business, as many have already done, to weed and clean your steps, wash down your entrance, look down at your basements, power hose down algae, see if you can smarten up your paint work, polish your windows etc.”
“You can do a lot in 30 minutes; you can do so much more if it is done regularly. Tralee Tidy Towns is a volunteer not for profit organisation. Volunteers do work with our organisation not because they have to but because they want to live in a nice town which they can be proud of,” ready the statement from Tralee Tidy Towns.
