Community notes Feb 8th

Local Presentations

Over the Christmas period local hostelries, Pad Joe’s Bar and Charlie’s Bar had raffles for a local cause. Substantial funds were generated and two very pleasant functions were held to present the proceeds to Timoleague Community First Responders. Conor and Tracie and Simon and Sheila were thanked for their generous donations and indeed the many customers who supported this very worthy cause.

Munster Camogie Win

Cliona Harte of Ardmore is congratulated on winning a Munster Under 16 “A” camogie title with Cork on Sunday last. Cork beat Clare in the final on a score of 6-12 to 2-6.

Ladies Football

Local girls Aoife Harte and Niamh Doyle were joined by Ibane team members, Kate Collins, Aoife Walsh and Aibhlin Mc Carthy as they made their debut with Cork under 14’s on Saturday last with a great victory over Waterford. They travel to Dublin on Saturday next to play the home county in their next game.

Rugby Success

Jack Deasy was on the Bandon Grammar School squad that had a great victory over Rockwell College, 27 - 05 at Fethard on Wednesday last in the second round of the Munster Schools’ Senior Rugby Cup. They now meet Crescent College, Limerick in Thomond Park in mid-February in the quarter final.

Tidy Towns Report

Community-Your Planning and Involvement:You are an active Tidy Towns group with ahigh level of volunteerism. We are delighted to learn that last year’s level of voluntary commitment increased. We commend your efforts in organising the weekly cleanups from thebeginning of April throughout the summer. This is a great opportunity for people to socialiseand for young people to get involved. It is ideal to see that foreign nationals have alsobecome involved with your group. You are supported by a wide range of agencies andorganisations such as Cork County Council, KWD County clean up and Pobal. We aredelighted to see that Transfer for Ireland has supported you with the introduction of the localbus route from Kinsale to Clonakilty. Congratulations to the National School on receivinggrants to fund a water dispensing machine in the school. Well done to 5th and 6th classstudents for undertaking a project on the townland of Tigh Molaga. We see that you usevarious formats to link in with the community such as social media, the newspapers andChurch announcements. This is a good strategy as you are reaching a wide target audience.We are pleased to learn that you have such a strong relationship with the national school. Thisis an active school and we wish them well with their educational garden in collaboration withthe Tidy Towns group and Grow It Yourself. Congratulations on receiving the Gold Medalaward in 2023.”

Streetscape and Public Places: “The streetscape was excellently presented on the day of ourvisit. The Franciscan Friary is a key landmark and tourist attraction. We commend your efforts here in digitalising the tour booklet. We understand that you are planning on planting sometrees in the Abbey car park as suggested by last year’s adjudicator. We enjoyed our visit to theCatholic Church. It provides a clear elevated view of the village. The Church is maintained toa high standard and we are delighted to see that there is wheelchair access also available. TheAnglican church is also impressive. We noted that you have built new toilets in the Churchgrounds providing wheelchair access. We wish you well with the continued conservation andworks on the Church of the Ascension. The courthouse is also another impressive heritagebuilding. We saw that it was recently upgraded. We are pleased to learn that they have openeda workshop space on the ground floor of this building. The plaque on the wall is clear andpresented to a quality standard. We noted the photo plaques of the old railway line and stationadded to the Railway Park. The railway park is a credit to you and we also commend yourefforts on making it wheelchair accessible. The streetscape is presented to a high standardwith many vibrant and freshly painted shopfronts and premises, e g An Dochtúir on AbbeyStreet. We appreciate that you are making continued efforts to address the derelict buildingsin the village. We are glad that you have been contacted by the Town Regeneration office ofCork County Council with regard to vacant properties. We see that you are in the process ofsecuring funding to build a new community hall. We wish you well with this project. Thevillage has undergone new road surfacing on the remaining streets. We see that this hasincluded traffic calming measures providing safety for pedestrians. We are delighted to seebilingual signage throughout the village.”