Great turnout, excellent work!

A sudden shower earlier in the morning didn’t scare us – the weather forecast claimed the weather will improve throughout the day.

We met at the UL Boathouse at 10am, crossing paths with the participants to the annual Jacinta O’Brien 10km Run. The materials received from An Taisce (bags, gloves, vests) were supplemented with the ones we had in storage from last year’s clean-up (pickers and more gloves).

We split into two groups- one working toward UL and the other one working toward Rhebogue. We were extremely lucky to have the support of a little rubbish collection vehicle owned by UL Buildings& Estates. This made our work a lot easier, as the little truck was able to come and collect the bags instead of having us carrying them back to the base.  Amongst the bigger objects we collected were a kids play pen, a wheelie bin and a large barrel. A lot of rubbish was left by the high water on the river bank – plastic bottles and cans mainly.

Dermot came well equipped and he was able to get into the ditch – which, quite unusual for this time of the year, is still full of water!

We then walked back to Dromroe Village Hall, where the two teams were reunited and we shared tea, coffee and some delicious cakes (as usual!).

The event signaled the closing of a great Green Week in UL, including a lot of other attractive activities.

Thanks to all the participants for giving their time and energy – what we achieved in less than 2h was amazing!

We’ll be back in the next weeks, caring for the section from the Groody river toward the city , for the Canal bank and then for the Abbey bank!