Congratulations on another increase in points for Skibbereen Tidy Towns in the national competition this year, rising to 7th out 39 towns in West Cork (not that it is a competition)!
Great to see so many specific mentions of the work of Sustainable Skibbereen in general and Zero Waste, Herbville, Men’s Sheds, Incredible Edible, Schools Group and Wildlife Project in particular. The report also contains great advice on how to take this forward in 2019. Onward and upwards for Skibbereen.
From the judges report
“We were particularly impressed by the number of community and voluntary groups who help you out with Incredible Edible Skibbereen, the plastic recyding project, the Herbville project, the Wildlife Project and Mens Sheds all actively engaged in your work. Your communication strategy is both comprehensive and effective with both traditional and digital communication methods used. We were delighted to read that your committee have built up a close partnership with many of the schools in the town and that schoolchildren are now involved in a range of exciting projects.
“It is also pleasing to see that additional tree planting (in partnership with the schools) is taking place and the Herbville initiative (started by the sustainable Skibbereen group and helped by Mens Shed) is applauded
“We applaud your decision to undertake a wildlife scoping study over the next three years and we note and appreciate the aims of this study.
“The range of excellent projects under way in St Patricks Boys School which include planting the herb spiral, keeping chickens, growing organic fruit and vegetables, making compost, planting native trees and hosting workshops for West Cork primary educators is applauded. The excellent work of the new Gaelscoil, Abbeystrewry National School. St Josephs National School, the Skibbereen Community School and the Sustainable Skibbereen Group is similarly impressive and we urge them to keep these high-quality projects up.
“The Incredible Edible Skibbereen initiative is wonderful and we wondered if it is possible to quantify how many locals are growing food and what impact it is having. Perhaps a survey could be undertaken of the participants to establish this? The zero waste Skibbereen group is a wonderful initiative and we encourage you to run follow-up events to monitor what it’s 90+ members are doing and the impact it is having on waste minimisation and sustainable resource use. Recording the results of all of the above actions and the other laudable initiatives set out in your application form will enable you to quantify the overall impact of all of this work and allow you to conclude more environmentally sustainable behaviour is taking place.
