Weeding

Roscommon County Council will be spraying weeds in the coming days, However there are a number of black spots that we didn't reach on our clean-up. We are appealing to people to check outside their front gates or premises for large weeds that can be easily removed. We are particularily appealing to people living along the main route through town from the Roscommon/Frenchpark side. This is often the first impression people get of our town and it's not looking so good lately.

St Joseph's Hall

Boyle Tidy Towns have replaced the overgrown and dead shrubs at the front of St Joseph's Hall. We have planted Euonymus (Emerald Gaiety) and Heuchera which are frost hardy with some Phlox and summer bedding plants in between. We look forward to seeing how this area will grow over the next year or two.

Amenity Grant

Each year Boyle Tidy Town apply for funding from the environment section of Roscommon County Council under the Amenity Grant Scheme. This year we have been granted funds to allow us to replace the urns on the bridge in Bridge St. Feelystone have been asked to supply the urns.

Summer planting

By now most of the beds have been planted for the summer. We have tried a few new things this year to add colour. Unfortunately the baskets we hung on the pedestrian bridge at the Royal Hotel Car Park were blown down the river on the day of the bad storm ( also the day Barak Obama flew in). They did look good so we may have another go at this-depends on funds.

We are still trying to organise people to "adopt" a flower bed or planter for the summer. This "adoption" involves watering and regular feeding until established with the odd dead-heading.

Anybody wishing to volunteer can contact Jackie or Jan.( See numbers on earlier blog).

Waste Minimalisation

We are asking all our members and the wider community to log onto www.greenhome.ie. Click on "Join" and then onto Boyle Tidy Towns in the drop down. You can then register on the site and have your own username and password for accessing the site again. Please complete the online survey and discover ways that you can play your part in the home regarding waste minimalisation. There is useful information on ways to reduce energy use, save water and minimise waste going to landfill.

Next Clean-Up

We plan to meet again next Thursday,26th May for another clean-up. Meet on the Cresent at 7pm. There are a number of specific jobs that we are hoping to do. Yard brushes will be needed if you can bring one along.

Preparing For Summer

Planting beds and containers is underway. Most areas are expected to be planted in the next 1-2 weeks. We hung four baskets on the pedestrian bridge in the Royal Hotel Car Park. It is very effective but would look alot better if we had another six. These are costly for their size-16 Euros for the baskets alone. We hope we don't see them floating down the river some evening! If anybody would like to sponsor a basket we would be very appreciatitive of same.
Thanks to Roscommon County Council for painting the street benches (10 in total) This work was carried on request of the Tidy Towns Committee as part of Civic Responsibility Week.

Community Spirit

Great community spirit and lots of positive energy was evident in Boyle last Thursday evening. We are really grateful to all those who made the effort to turn up on a damp cool evening. I think everybody there had a sense of pride when they looked at what we had achieved. The Royal Hotel car park looks one hundred times better following removal of weeds and dead shrubs. A large amount of litter was collected in the Lawn and Patricks Well and the Pleasure Grounds. Well done to all involved. Thanks also to Paddy and Mary for keeping the lane by the river litter free.

Our enthusiastic group are anxious to meet again next Thursday to continue this good work. Details of the meeting points will be posted later. We have been informed by Roscommon Co Co (Boyle Office) that the spraying of weeds will start as soon as the weather settles. This is badly needed as they are growing at great rate. Pea gravel is been sourced for the shrubberies on the cresent and we hope this will be applied after the spraying.

Clean Machine In Town

The human clean machine rolled into town last Thursday evening. Drapped in high-vis vests and armed with brushes, shovels, spades, wheelbarrows this machine worked hard for 90 mins leaving the Cresent an area to be proud of. Hopefully we will get some gravel for the beds to finish off this area.
Such was the success of the evening that the machine will roll on down town. Come and join us on Thursday next,May 19th, at 7pm. We are meeting in the Royal Hotel car-park and concentrating on thye central part of town. Bring your tools or anything you might think is useful. See you there!

Church Gate Collection

The annual church gate collection is on next weekend. Money collected goes towards the cost of flowers and plants for the town and other tidy town initiatives.

Recycle your seed trays

In order to reduce costs Boyle Tidy Towns will be growing flowers from seed for next year. We are looking for old seed trays or containers from bedding plants. If you have any lying around after this years' planting please contact Jan on (086) 0667163 or Jackie on (086) 3200915.

Road Sweeper Coming To Town

The road sweeper will be in town early on Friday morning. The local council office have coordinated this to sweep up after the clean -up on Thursday evening. We are asking that employees and business owners in town will please use the off-street parking on Friday morning to allow the sweeper to get a good job done. Also anybody parking in town overnight on Thursday night is asked to park in the car-parks to facilitate this.

Civic Responsibility Week

The Dept of the Environment has deemed this coming week as Civic Responsibility Week. To mark this week Boyle Tidy Towns and Boyle Chamber of Commerce have organised a MASSIVE CLEAN-UP. On Thursday evening next, May 12th we need; weeders, litter pickers and sweepers. We need lots of bodies to come out at 7pm, meeting on the Cresent, to give our town a good once-over. Please bring along a yard brush if you have one or any other tool you might deem useful. We need a number of teams to go in different directions and get the work done. Please come and bring a friend. We need to get this work done and we can't stand around any longer and wait for someone else to do it.

This Week's Clean-Up

This week the spring clean-up is moving into town. Starting at the Pleasure Grounds we plan to move across by the river to the lawn area. This is the last clean-up of the April Spring Clean campaign and this one is always the most interesting. Come along and join in this random treasure hunt! You'd never believe what you might find stashed away under a tree! There might even be a prize for the most interesting find!! Please come along. We have lots of spare gloves and refuse sacks. We just need one hour of your time and your community spirit! See you there!

Poster Competition

The winners of the poster competition were announced last Saturday morning at the Farmers Market. Boyle Tidy Towns Committee would like to thank the teachers of the local schools for their help and support in running this competition. A large number of entries were submitted and the standard was very high. Thanks also to our judges, sponsors Shane Kelly (Super Valu) and Mayor Christy Brady. Thanks also to Patricia Golden for all her help on Saturday morning. All the entries can be seen in shop windows in town- thanks to Brian Kelly and Frank Feighan for allowing us access to thier windows. Thanks akso to Frank for allowing us reuse the election posters as display boards. Corriboard is so reuseable!!
The winners were as follows:
Under 9- 1st Prize, Brian Hannnon, St Joseph's BNS
2nd Prize, Stephen Connolly, St Joseph's BNS
3rd Prize, Sarah Duggan, Scoil na nAingeal Naofa

Under 11- 1st Prize, Cillian Doyle, St Joseph's BNS
2nd Prize, Alan McAuley, Corrigeenroe NS
3rd Prize, Eoin Dwyer, Corrigeenroe NS

Under 13- 1st Prize, Sophie Litton, Corrigeenroe NS
2nd Prize, Rowan Brightwood, Corrigeenroe NS
3rd Prize, Simon Gillespie, Parochial School

Most Original Slogan-David Boles, Corrigeenroe

The poster selected to go for printing was Sophie Litton's entry. Well done Sophie!

POSTER COMPETITION All entries have been recieved for the poster competition. Winners will be announced on Saturday next, 23rd April at 11am in the grounds of King House. All welcome.

CHANGE OF TIMES FOR SPRING CLEAN-UP This weeks clean-up is on tomorrow, Tuesday, starting at six o clock. We will be meeting at the Abbey Park. Please try to give one hour of your time as the more help we have, the quicker the job gets done.

Poster Competition

As part of our anti-litter programme we are running a poster competion open to all school children from third to sixth class. Details will be circulated to all local schools in the coming days. There will be a number of prizes in each age category and the over-all winner will have his/her poster professionally printed and displayed in all local shops as part of our anti-litter campaign for this year. Closing date for entries is Friday April 15th and the winners will be announced on Saturday April 23rd. All entries will be displayed locally over the Easter period.

Development of Nature Trail Boyle Tidy Towns are hoping to be granted funding for a feasability study for the bature trail. The application was submitted along with a larger plan from Better Boyle under the umbrella of the Chamber of Commerce. National Spring Clean Month APRIL is National Spring Clean Month. Boyle Tidy Towns have organised weekly clean-ups for the month and are looking for help from Resident Groups and Clubs and Individuals. Gloves and bags provided. The rota is as follows: April 7th (Thurs) Greatmeadow-Roscommon Rd April 14th(Thurs) Shilling Hill-Sligo Approach Rd April 20th (Wed) Warren-Abbeytown April 28th (Thurs) Pleasure Grounds/Lawn Meet each evening at 6.30pm. Please give us 1 hour of your time.

Spring Is Here! Boyle Tidy Towns blog is back after a long hibernation. We had to give our fingers a rest after all the weeding and litter picking of last year! However, our heads have been busy putting plans in place for the year ahead. New Committee Following the AGM last Autumn our new committee is in place; Chairperson Christy Brady, Vice Chair Jackie Valentine, Secretary Ann Keenan and Treasurer Jan Flanagan. We would like to thank Maura Farrell for all her work with Boyle Tidy Towns for many years as she steps down from her long held position as treasurer. The committee lost a very valuable and long serving member this year; Mrs Patricia Finn. This gentle lady worked for many years on the committee, improving the town of Boyle. May she rest in peace. Competitions We increased our total marks awarded from the tidy towns competition and are grateful for all the help and support that they recieve from the local community. The local commitee recieved an Endeavor Award from Roscommon County Council and a cheque for 200 euro for their efforts. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in the Floral Pride competition but roll on 2011!.