Welcome to our Winter 2022 newsletter!
Tidy Towns and DCC Awards
Raheny has won another bronze medal in the Tidy Towns Competition! We scored 342 points, up 11 points from last year.
We are delighted to say that Raheny was the winner of this year's Dublin City Council Neighbourhood Awards! DCC said that Raheny was singled out because of the pride local people take in their village and in recognition of the many hours they spend every day ensuring that it is very clean and green. We also won the Best Urban Village, Best Mixed-Use street and Best Garden. One of our regular volunteers Jill Macklin won 2nd place for the Individual award and Super Valu Raheny came 3rd for the Sustainability award. We were also awarded Highly Commended in the Water and Communities Award, thanks to all the work we did on the River Santry this year.
So a great awards year for Raheny! Thanks to the many volunteers who have worked so hard over the past year and to local groups who have collaborated with us. Thank you so much Dublin City Council for their help and support throughout the year.
Raheny's Tallest Sunflower Competition
We were delighted with all the entries to this year's Tallest Sunflower competition. Congratulations to the Hanrahan family who won the 2022 tallest sunflower award. Thanks to Super Valu Raheny for presenting the family with a lovely hamper prize. Congratulations also to Caroline and her daughter Neasa who won the most unusual category for their sunflower with 19 heads!
Rose Festival
We really enjoyed having a stall at the Rose Festival this July. The festival is in St Anne's Park, right beside the fabulous Rose Garden. The festival had lots of things to do and see including live music, stalls with plants and flowers, arts & crafts and food vendors, and of course the Raheny Tidy Village Group (pictured with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy). If you missed it this year, make sure to visit it next year.
Leaf Fall
We have been busy over the past few weeks sweeping the leaves from the footpaths in Raheny village. . We compost many of these leaves into leaf mould and use the leaf mould for planting and improving soil. As well as the leaf mould cages in the Scout's Den, this year we installed new cages in the Church Catholic, the Church of Ireland church, the Garda Station and a general compost bin behind the Rose bed.
We encourage you to only remove leaves from footpaths and leave the leaves on your soil. Leaving the leaves on your soil improves your soil structure and provide a habitat and food for bees, and other insects.
Beach Clean
We were thrilled with the turnout for the Beach Clean of North Bull Island and Causeway Road in September which was organised in conjunction with Clean Coasts. 30 people turned up on a sunny morning to pick litter along the coast road and beach. Raheny residents regularly enjoy the beautiful amenity of nearby North Bull Island and Raheny Tidy Village Group wants to play our part in keeping the island clean.
Seed Swap
In October, we held our annual seed swap in the village centre. Residents in Raheny swapped lots of varieties of flower and vegetable seeds. This seed swap is part of our group's goal to encourage Raheny residents to take small, sustainable actions.
New Planters
Thanks to your generous donations from our fundraiser last year, we replaced the planters at St Assam's church. Thank you also Dublin City Council for the new planters outside SuperValu and the Catholic Church,
These new planters were made with recycled plastic and are planted with pollinator-friendly plants.
Heritage Week
For Heritage Week this year. we ran two events focusing on protecting our environment.
For the first event, we explored the wildlife in the River Santry which runs through Raheny. We spoke about how the bugs in the river can be used to indicate water quality. A big thank you to LAWPRO for supporting this event.
We also hosted a very interesting Biodiversity Walk with botanist Philip Grant,
Rainwater Planters
Have you seen our new rainwater planters at the Manhattan, Perkys, Manor House School and DNG Estate Agents? These planters aim to divert water during heavy rainfall that could lead to flooding and the pollution of rivers. The added bonus is that the diverted rainwater also waters the pollinator-friendly plants we have planted in the planters,
The planters were kindly sponsored by LAWPRO.
Biodiversity Plan for Raheny
We are delighted to report that we have commissioned ecologist, Dr. Mary Tubridy ,to carry out a biodiversity plan for Raheny. The work is ongoing at the moment and when completed should provide a scientific base for much of our projects. We received funding from The Community Foundation of Ireland towards this project. We will keep you updated on the results of the report and how we implement its findings.
Coastal Flowerbed
We have planted a new flowerbed at the bottom of Watermill Road. It has been planted with colourful, pollinator-friendly coastal plants. We hope you like it...the bees seem to!
Raheny Business Association and all Donors
Thank you for the generous donations from Raheny Business Association members, other businesses and all other donors. We are very grateful for your donations, competition prizes and other support! These donations are helping the Raheny Tidy Village Group thrive.
Interested in Volunteering?
The Raheny Tidy Village Group meets on Saturday mornings at 10.30am outside the Catholic Church. No experience or knowledge is needed, just a willingness to help out. As well as working on various projects described above, we are busy litter-picking every week and we are always happy to have extra help with this!
If you would like to join us, email rahenytidyvillage@gmail.com, or message us on Facebook or Instagram. All help is very welcome and no commitment is necessary. Volunteers should complete the volunteer application form on our website before joining. Under 18's must be accompanied by a guardian.
If you would like to sign-up for our newsletter, enter your email address in the Subscribe form at the bottom of the newsletter page.