The next public awareness meeting of Sustainable Skerries will take place on Thursday 25th March in St. Patricks Senior National School. Entitled “Exploring Food Miles”. We will show a short film on food miles and how this relates to Skerries in a practical way. We’ll then discuss how Skerries can become more resilient in a post peak oil world. Everyone is welcome.
The inaugural meeting of the Skerries GIY group was a roaring success. There were over sixty people packed into the cafe area of the Skerries Mills. We recieved support from the neighbouring GIY group in Balbriggan. We also had a guest horticulturalist from the nearby Ardgillan Castle explaining the basics of sowing seeds and transplanting. We were also very pleased to welcome Trevor Sargent, Minister for Food & Horticulture, to this inaugural GIY meeting as a guest speaker.
Skerries GIY also publisiced the new allotments which will be available from May this year, and are located just past Downside on the road to the golf club, within easy walking distance of the town. Next meeting of Skerries GIY is on Monday 8th March at 8pm in Joe Mays. Everyone welcome
Wednesday 6th of January saw the first event in the Sustainable Skerries public awareness campaign which will run for the next few months. The awareness meeting was held in St Patricks Senior School, and was very well attended by a broad cross-section of Skerries people. We were also pleased to welcome some of our local politicans.
The evening kicked off with a showing of the “Power of Community” video from “Cultivate”, ( www.cultivate.ie ), followed by a 15 minute presentation on Peak Oil and Climate Change.
Mr Tom Hussey, Fingal Co Co parks Superintendant gave us an update on the allotments and some of the logistical problems involved. He was very positive in his approach and certainly gave us all the feeling that he was 100% behind the project.
Our next Awareness Meeting will take place on Thursday 25th March at 8pm, at St Patricks Senior National School. The topic up for discussion will be Food issues for Skerries in a Post Peak Oil world. It promises to be very relevant to Skerries and should be a lot of fun.
Sustainable Skerries recently met with representatives of Fingal county Council about the possibility of both Community gardens and Allotments in the town. The good news is that the council supports both projects . The bad news is that there is no funding available to get the projects off the ground.
Despite the lack of funding the project is, however, going ahead. We are currently collating a list of all those who would be interested in using the community gardens or who would actively participate in the allotments. If that’s you, leave a comment re. this post, and we’ll add you to the ever growing list, no pun intended.
It was pretty evident from the recent Sustainable Skerries public meeting that gardening and food growing were popular areas of interest. There is a huge appetite for growing food at home, at schools, or in the community allotments.
The Get Ireland Growing webiste aims to give people the resources and know-how they need to grow their own food. So whether it’s planting a few seeds in a tub on the windowsill, or a few rows of spuds in the earth, Get Ireland Growing can help. www.getirelandgrowing.ie
The Guardian has published an interactive guide to making a greener home. Their schematic allows you to navigate through a typical home (give or take a few floors) to maximise the green potential throughout. Take a look here.
Wondering what this whole transition town thing is all about? You’re not the only one. Thankfully, Transition Towns Ireland is here to help. It’s a site for sharing information amongst all the Transition Towns initiatives in Ireland. It’s also plugged into a worldwide network. If you want to educate yourself about Transition Towns in Ireland you should have a browse around their site; it’s right here.
And if you really want to educate yourself about Transition Towns they have provided an exhaustive PDF overview. You can find it here.
The Parents’ Council of Scoil Réalt na Mara will hold their annual secondhand book sale on Sunday, June 14 at the main entrance to St. Patrick’s Church, Strand Street, after 9am mass.
You help the cause and put your old paperbacks to good use by donating them to the sale. To recycle your redundant tomes contact:
Caroline Delaney on 087 907 7152
or Annette Norgrove on 086 108 1701 anytime before the sale.
Gardening was one of the topics that interested everyone at the recent Sustainable Skerries Transition Town public meeting. With that in mind, here is the latest installment from the Irish Times’ Urban Farmer by Fionnula Fallon. This installment gives the low down on how to grow the globe artichoke, detailing how artichokes are grown in the OPW’s walled garden in the Phoenix Park. Learn the art of DIY artichokes here.
The Sustainable Skerries Transition Town Initiative held its first public meeting in the Old School House on Wednesday, June 3. We’d like to thank everyone who attended for coming along and sharing their thoughts and ideas. As initial meetings go, it was pretty productive.
The main focus of the group has been split into four dedicated areas.
1. Gardening: including allotments, community gardening and vegetable growing.
2. Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
3. Skillsharing, L.E.T.S. & Recycling.
4. General upkeep of the town and its natural amenities.
If you missed the meeting and would like to get involved with any of the above areas, or suggest some others, please get in touch by dropping us a line at the blog.
Sustainable Skerries 