The Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Committee is continuing its year-long effort to involve children and families in keeping the city clear of litter as Kilkenny gets ready for the Tidy Towns awards next month.
As Kilkenny prepared for judges to visit the city this month to decide the Tidy Town status, Sean Leahy, chair of the Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Committee, thanked the many volunteers who helped to clean up litter black spots and improve unsightly parts of the city over the summer.
This week saw the Keep Kilkenny Beautiful group join forces with the Fr McGrath Centre and children and residents in the Butts to clean up the Waterbarrack and Bregeagh River Public Park areas at one of the city’s busiest traffic roundabouts.
Borough councillor, David Fitzgerald, an active member of the committee encouraged the community partnership to help clean up Kilkenny’s litter blackspots.
The Waterbarrack clean up was the twentieth clean up organised in the city in recent months in preparation for the judging expected this month of the prestigious national Tidy Towns Award.
The response of children to the clean up appeal has been so positive in the Butts area that the Fr McGrath Centre plans to work with the Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Committee to build a regular children’s street clean up into their annual summer activity programme for children.
Nearly 150 children take part in the community centre’s summer activity programme each year and it runs every week of the school holidays,
Cllr Fitzgerald thanked the many volunteers who turned up to support the efforts this year.
“We were pleased to see that children in the Butts made such a special effort to help our big clean up in their area. This was the biggest turn out of children we have seen in all the clean ups we have organised this year and it is great to see them showing such enthusiasm, as children are such an important part of our effort to keep our city clean.”
David called on all the people of Kilkenny to help play their part in making Kilkenny a litter free city.
“The Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Committee has seen many positive changes over the year but there is still much to be done to convince others in our city that our streets are not rubbish bins.”
