The Fanad community have every right to be proud of their beautiful peninsula following their extensive clean-up last weekend when more than 80 people took to the highways and byways to litter pick and clean up rubbish strewn along the roadsides.
“We cleaned more than 30 different areas around the peninsula” says organiser Tracey McBride.
“From Kerrykeel to Rosnakill to Portsalon and on to Fanavolty and another community group looked after the other end of the peninsula. Each group were assigned individual routes and that meant that we were able to cover the entire area”.
“It was an unbelievable experience and it leaves everyone feeling really good about their own community. It is also a great social event and is an opportunity to get talking to people and as we were going along the route we were able to invite people to come out and give us a helping hand.”
Almost 80 adults and children took part in the clean up and two skips were filled to capacity.
Tracy added “we linked in with the local schools and it was great to get the children involved. It is all about instilling in them good habits and they will be more aware about not throwing litter. Everyone is delighted with how the area looks now and it really does help instill a sense of pride and an appreciation of the stunning place that we call home.”
Another group, the Lagan Community Text Alert group also carried out a massive clean-up in their own area of Drumoghill including part of the main Lifford to Letterkenny road last weekend. They collected in region of one and a half tonnes of rubbish over a two day period.
Litter Warden Martin Roarty paid tribute to the work of all these groups saying “the litter strewn along our roadsides is shocking and is a terrible eyesore for both visitors and locals alike. I would ask anyone thinking of throwing rubbish out of their car window to think again. They are showing a serious lack of respect for the local people who go out of their way to keep their areas clean and litter free. This type of rubbish reflects badly on everyone and is also a danger to the natural habitats found in many of our hedgerows.”
“The civic spirit displayed by these volunteers is admirable and it is amazing what can be achieved when a group of people give up one or two hours of their time to do something like this”.
Work on the Big Donegal Clean Up will continue this Saturday with the Lurgybrack Community Text Alert Group organising an extensive clean up of their area which includes the Rossbracken to the Cullion rd, Lismonaghan and up to the Convoy Rd. Anyone interested in taking part should contact Damian Callaghan.
The Churchill community group have organised a clean up of the village and surrounding areas on Saturday too. This clean up is being led by Victor Wilkin and people wishing to help out are asked to meet at Wilkins Car park at 11am. The Ballymacool residents association are also organising a tidy up of the estate on Saturday and anyone interested in taking part should contact Neil Blockley.
Castlefin Tidy Towns Committee are also organising a clean up on Saturday morning, meeting in The Diamond at 11am.
On Saturday 28 April, the Rathdonnell and Trentagh clean up will take place and anyone interested in helping out are being asked to meet at 10.30am at Harley’s of Trentagh.
There is still time to sign up for this year’s Big Donegal Clean Up by calling 074 91 53900 or visit www.donegalcoco.ie . You can also register with An Taisce’s National Spring Clean campaign by calling (01) 4002219 or online at www.nationalspringclean.org.
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