“Clean Air Together project involves members of the public and the business community measuring Dublin’s air quality. It is a citizen science project where approximately 1,000 participants are recording levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) pollution in their local area. It is a joint project between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce.” (Clean Air Together, 2021)
Swords Tidy Towns are absolutely delighted that six of our volunteers have been selected to take part in this project.
Watch the video below to see some of the captured moments during the duration of this project.
Swords Tidy Towns Commemorative Garden is dedicated to the frontline workers who braved the Covid 19 pandemic tending to the needs of others. Our Nurses, our Doctors, our Ambulance Crews who tended the sick, our Garda who kept us safe, our Shop Workers who kept food on our tables, our Care Workers who visited the infirm in their houses and who ran our Nursing Homes, our Fire Fighters who supported medical crews as well as attending fires, our teachers who worked tirelessly throughout with remote learning, our first responders, our Civil Defense, our Council Workers, in particular the Operations Department of FCC.
These groups risked their own good health during the height of the pandemic, and we are forever grateful to them for doing so. If we have left out any group we do apologise. The Commemorative Garden is also a place for reflection, a place of quiet contemplation for those who have lost loved ones to this terrible virus.
Swords Tidy Towns wish to thank the Deputy Mayor Cllr Daniel Whooley for officiating at the launch of their Commemorative Garden, and to the public representatives who attended on the day.
We also wish to thank the DAA who provided the funds which allowed us to complete the project, FCC for allocating the plot to us, O’Brien Landscaping for donating the beautiful marble bench and for digging out the flowerbed.
Last, but by no means least, this project would never have come to fruition without the dedication and hard work of dedicated STT volunteers. A special mention must be given to Mary Maxwell, Rose Brennan, Ramune Kuzminiene, Teresa Cosgrave, Grace Dunne, Gerry Brennan and Matt Cullen whose incites, vision, and boundless energy throughout the whole project is a reflection of the wealth of talent Swords Tidy Towns now have within our ranks.
Swords Tidy Towns were finalists in 2021 Pakman Excellence In Waste Management & Recycling Awards held in the Shelbourne Hotel last Friday night. We were finalists in the Environmental Education & Awareness Initiative category. A great night was had by our members who attended Rose and Gerry Brenan, Georgy Hughes, Matt Cullen and Ken Duffy. However we would never have had the opportunity to attend if it was not for the generosity of our sponsors. Supervalu Boroimhe, The Old Schoolhouse, Hennessy & Perrozzi Solicitors, Redmond Property and Cllr Joe Newman, thank you one and all for your generosity.
The night of the awards at the Shelbourne Hotel on the 29th of October, 2021.
Swords Tidy Towns volunteers have been very these last three months. The month of September marked the end of our meetups on Wednesday evenings as the days got too short and too dark. This is reflected in declining numbers of bags of litters picked during our cleanups in the last couple of months.
Swords Tidy Towns volunteers helping Fingal County Council to launch Dublin Community Clean-Up event taking place from the 11th to the 19th of September 2021.
Dublin Community Clean Up.
Pictured are Karen Maher, Malachy Kerr, Ramune Kuzminiene, Catherine McDonagh, Gerry Brennan, Teresa Cosgrave, Rose Brennan.
Picture by Shane O’Neill, Coalesce.
Dublin Community Clean Up.
Pictured are Malachy Kerr, Ramune Kuzminiene, Teresa Cosgrave, Karen Maher, Gerry Brennan.
Picture by Shane O’Neill, Coalesce.
Fortunately, this year’s Best Presented Business Frontage Competition went ahead, although it had to be scaled back and carried out in different way because of Covid-19. The judging of the competition was performed over a few weeks commencing early August. Two STT members (Georgy Hughes and Matt Cullen) judged the competition and the awards were presented on the 9th September to the worthy winners, which were as follows:
STT/FHS Best Presented Business Frontage:
First Place:Â Cupcakes and Counting who were awarded the STT/FHS Perpetual Cup and Gold Standard Certificate for their efforts. Well done and congratulations to Jenny Rojas from Cupcakes and Counting!
Second Place: Hair’s Another Salon who were awarded the Silver Standard Certificate for their efforts. Well done and congratulations to Katie and Kristine from Hair’s Another Salon!
Third Place: McNamara’s Pharmacy who were awarded the Bronze Standard Certificate for their efforts. Well done and congratulations to all the staff at McNamara’s!
A special thanks to the Fingal Horticultural Society (FHS) for kindly supplied the certificates.
Swords Tidy Towns had organised another very successful River Ward cleanup in August this year to mark the Water Heritage Day 2021. Watch the video below to see some of our captured moments from that day.
In February 2020, Swords Tidy Towns had commissioned a combined Biodiversity Management Plan and Point Source Investigative Assessment of the Ward and Broadmeadow Rivers running through Swords. The goal of this investigation was to have a record of the wildlife in and surrounding the rivers running through Swords; get recommendations on how to manage and enhance biodiversity in the area; to learn of the sources of pollution flowing into the rivers in Swords, and to receive recommendations of possible mitigating actions.
On Saturday 15th of May we had our annual river clean-up. Despite the light rain in the morning we had a fantastic turnout. We had four teams deployed at different locations – two people in the water and two on the banks of River Ward in each team. We had volunteers joining us from other local groups including “Swords Pickers”, “Lions Club Swords and David Dodd from Climate Action Regional Office. Due this phenomenal community support we had managed to cover a very extensive length of our river. Our thanks as always goes to Fingal County Council Operations team for a very prompt removal of all the rubbish pulled out from the river.
Swords Tidy Towns 