by Niamh Bn.Uí Loinsigh
Julianstown Tidy Towns
Great work is being carried out in the Community Garden with Viktoras carrying out a hard prune of the woodland area and thank you to the council for removing all the branches for us. Meanwhile Bob has created a new bed under the Village Garden Sign on the northside of village. Thanks to Kevin, Andrew, Paddy, Aisling, and Leo for taking in the large planters in the village as the summer bedding season has come to an end. A beautiful semi mature Silver Birch Tree was recently donated, and this is now being planted in the woodland area.
Meath Leader – Meath Tús Scheme and East Meath Community Development Company (CE Scheme)
Over the Past number of years, we have had great assistance from the Meath Leader Tús Scheme and of late the East Meath Community Development Company (CE Scheme) and many of the projects such as the ‘Wishing Well’ and ‘Seat at Woods’ were completed by our Tús and Community Workers. We are most grateful to Kevin (picture above), Viktoras, Bob, Andrew, and Paddy for all their help with different projects in the Community Garden and village. However, we must not forget our Tidy Towns Committee and residents who do so much work in and around the village whether it is organising events, littler picking, tidying up and generally doing fantastic work for Julianstown Village throughout the year. Thank you to each and everyone for your assistance.
The Meath Co. Co. Pride of Place Municipal Awards night took place on the 29th October, 2021 in Buvinda House for the Laytown/Bettystown area and 2 representatives from our Tidy Towns Committee attended. Julianstown entered in 3 categories – Best Small Village, Biodiversity Project for our Community Garden and best Youth Group for the wildflower, Sunflower, and Dahlia planting throughout the village. The overall winners will now go forward to the Meath County Awards in mid- November.
Julianstown Community Garden has also been entered for the An Taisce Community Garden Green Flag Award and the proud new recipients of the Green Flag Awards will be announced nationally on the 17th November. Good luck to Julianstown Community Garden.
Wildlife – Look after your garden wildlife this winter. Remember, winter is coming and garden songbirds need to build up fat reserves to help them survive the colder winter months. November is the ideal time to start feeding wild birds in your garden with high protein peanuts and high protein sunflower seeds. Our gardens can be a haven for many mammals. Under the garden shed, amongst the borders or hidden by the cover of darkness, there is a secret world of wildlife that can often go unnoticed. You might think that the neighbour’s cat is the only animal to visit your back garden, but you’d be surprised at the number of species that show up at night when you are fast asleep! Considered a gardener’s best friend, hedgehogs will happily hoover up slugs roaming in the vegetable beds. Famously covered in spines, hedgehops eat all sorts of bugs, but especially slugs and crunchy beetles. They are most active at night and hibernate through winter.
Some of our Tidy Towns Committee recently visited Kilmacurrag Botanic Gardens in Co. Wicklow to see their amazing trees and plants. Should you happen to be down that way it is well worth a visit and they also have a great coffee shop!
Julianstown & District Community Association recently sent in an Observation to An Bord Pleanála in relation to the proposed Solar Farm at Lands Including Rogerstown, Smithstown, Calliaghstown,, Pilltown and Ballymad, Drogheda, Co. Meath. The Observation was made on the grounds that it might interfere with the proposed route of the Julianstown Bypass. We will keep you informed of any updates.
St. Mary’s Catholic Church – Baptismal Team – Fr. Brendan is hoping to set up a team of people who will help parents prepare for the Baptism of their child. Confirmation and First Communion Preparation for 2022 will begin shortly. Several parents have expressed interest in getting involved with organising the Preparation Masses.
If this is something you would be interested in, please talk to Fr. Brendan, or contact the Parish Office on 01 8412647.
Services: Saturdays: 7 pm; Sundays: 11:30 am; Wednesday & Friday: 10am.
Sincere Sympathy – Julianstown & District Community Association would like to extend sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Philip McCormack (senior) and Terry Rice (Bellewstown) who have recently passed away. R.I.P.
St. Mary’s Church of Ireland. Greetings from Revd. Canon Katharine Poulton
On Sunday 7th November, the Diocesan Youth Officer will come to speak to us and I hope some of our young people might be able to be present for that.
On Sunday 14th November there will be an Act of Remembrance at the service.
On Sunday 28th November there will be a special service to mark the beginning of the Advent Season.
On Sunday 5th December, the Bishop Patricia Storey will be with us to confirm two young people.
The Meath PPN is currently carrying out a 2021 re-registration of all it’ s members groups.
Re-registration is a process to confirm if a group wishes to remain as a PPN member or otherwise. It also allows us to update member group information and contact details in line with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). All current member groups in the PPN are being issued with this request. Timeframe: It is hoped to complete the re-registration in a month and closing date to re-register is 14th November, 2021.