Tidy Towns are on a Mission to #CleanUpClontarf

When the call for volunteers for a new Tidy Towns group went out in December there was a great response across Clontarf. With Level 5 restrictions the first interaction was via Zoom with the first official socially distant cleanup on Saturday, January 16th with 10 x volunteers tackling the Seafront from the Yacht Club to the Wooden Bridge and a smaller group tackling the lane beside Belgrove Senior Boys school.

A further cleanup took place on January 23rd, and the hard work meant that people were really seeing a difference in the area. The rains and high tides put paid to clean up on the 30th, nonetheless, volunteers got out for small cleanups in the following week along the Prom, Belgrove Road, behind the bottle banks at St. Gabriel's Church and the lagoon by the sea scouts den.

This past Saturday, volunteers in five groups tackled different areas, following social distancing guidelines, of course. Group 1 started at the Dart station and helped clean up the wooded area beside the DCC Astro pitches collecting 33 bags of rubbish! Group 4 started at Castle Ave in front of the rugby club. Group 2 were on the prom in front of St. Johns with Group 3 tackling in front of the bus garage and Conquer Hill road and lanes. Group 5 started a clear out of the overgrown area behind the bottle banks at St. Gabriels Church. Among the haul, they found 1 PC, 2 DVD Players, a Deep Fat Fryer and lots of household waste, unfortunately...

Many thanks to David Doran, of Marlowe Cleaners, who kindly sponsored new hi-vis vests and litter pickers for the group.

Every Saturday weather permitting the group plan to get out to continue to #CleanUpClontarf. If you would like to get involved you can contact them on social media on facebook.com/clontarftidytowns, instagram.com/clontarftidytowns or twitter.com/clontarftidy or by emailing clontarftidytowns@gmail.com.

You can also get involved during the week. If you are out for a walk why not bring a bag and gloves and turn your walk into a #2minutestreetclean?

We all #LoveClontarf and during the last year, more and more people have enjoyed walking in the area. Unfortunately, there has been a noticeable increase in litter so we're encouraging everyone that if you have a coffee or some takeaway food from one of the great local restaurants to take your rubbish home (recycling when possible) or dispose of properly in a bin and we can all make a difference.