Environmental initiative in Newry City and hinterlands

An opportunity for community groups to work from the ground up in regenerating and developing not only their green spaces but also the people who make up their communities.

Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland are working in Newry City and hinterlands on a two-year initiative involving the provision of a series of community-led environmental and conservation projects, focused on disadvantaged or neglected communities.

Over the two-year initiative, six projects will be selected with Conservation Volunteers providing expertise in project management, advice on the environment and conservation as well as supporting community development.

Through a series of community consultations, training events and practical workdays, communities are encouraged and supported in taking direct action to improve the environment and green space within their locality.

The benefits of this type of initiative are manifold including increased confidence and pride within communities, positive visual images for those who live and play in the areas, opportunities for people to gain new skills and green spaces which are beneficial to wildlife. The type of projects undertaken with the support of Conservation Volunteers include creating community gardens, environmental art projects, habitat creation, and composting projects. No two projects will be alike! Each area, community, and landscape are unique and project work invariably will reflect the signature of that particular people and place.

The groups which have participated in the initiative to date are listed below. For further information on a specific project, simply follow the link.

Carnagat Community Association

Carnagat Community Association undertook gardening projects around their community center which included preparing and planting-up much of their green space with shrubs and trees. A community artist also worked with the group including younger members of the community. The result is a mural which takes the form of a map connecting the people and place of the community with their larger community and environment. The mural adorns the gable-end of the centre and greets residents and visitors to the centre.

The project is now complete although as with all things, the site needs some management. It's a good time of the year to think about maintenance and weeding and we have worked with the group in undertaking this.

Greater Linen Hall Area Community Association

The members of Greater Linen Hall Area Community Association continue to work tirelessly to promote and improve their neighbourhood. The community sits alongside Newry tow-path and shares the area with other groups including an industrial estate and high school. Residents, businesses and a popular walking route all need to co-exist while satisfying their own particular needs. The presence of a community house provides a space where activities, meetings and groups can meet and this project included a ‘greening’ of the play area through planters and pots. In addition to restoring an existant shrub area, we also plan to replace and plant trees in the area. An ambitious project of extending a hedgerow by 90m along the towpath has been completed. The site preparation involved litter-picking, clearance of vegetation and brambles and digging-over the ground in preparation for planting. The trees are in and you can find out more about the planting under the Trees the Season! section.

Quarry Row Area Community Association

Located near Bessbrook, work thus far with the Community Association has centered around a public right-of-way which links the two rural housing estates of Fr. Cullen and Cambrock.

Much has been achieved since summer 2005 not least the way being ‘asserted’ in December and therefore now legally protected with the assistance of Newry & Mourne Council and their Rights-of-Way Officer. Restoration and maintenance work has been undertaken on the path including management of a hedgelined section, repair of a footbridge and footpath maintenance. Much of the area around the path can be categorised as a damp acidic grassland favouring the growth of heathers, gorse and broom as well as wildflowers such as Devil’s bit scabious. The area is being encroached by bracken and by ‘stomping’ on this, we hope it will manage and control it’s spread. In addition to this, wildflower plugs and seeds have been planted and sown in small cleared sections as well as a small number of the tree Scots Pine.

Three Ways Community Association

Work at Three Ways Community Association began during the summer of 2005 and has been focused around the community center. The process involved much consultation with statutory bodies and user groups resulting in the removal of a large storage container from the side yard. This has greatly opened-up the center’s space and the group have cleaned, weeded, planted and enhanced the space with pots, plants and seating. It is hoped that the Youth Committee will begin work on a mural for the centre this winter and there are plans afoot to plant three trees to symbolise the community. A less symbolic but more conservation-focused copse of trees is planned for the close-by ‘Rocks’; a local natural amenity area characterised by outcrops of rocks, gorse and wildflowers.

Newry’s Women’s Aid Centre

Staff and user-groups at Newry’s Women’s Aid Centre identified a space as having the potential for creating a kitchen garden. This involved constructing raised beds reusing railway sleepers which women now using the centre grow culinary herbs, vegetables, and companion flowers. A compost bin scheme was also included in the space which works to recycle nutrients back into the soil through compost derived from garden waste. The garden will provide a much-needed therapeutic setting for the women and children who use the Centre. The area is now an attractive, practical, and educational resource which not only people, but also wildlife, value its revitalisation. A community artist also involved local primary schools to design and create cartoon- and fantasy-like creatures which had been cut out of wood to be secured to a perimeter fence. These pieces now live in the garden/play-area of the Women's Aid Centre which stimulate the imagination of the children, as well as the child within adults! This project is also now complete.

Lisdrumgullion TD Cross-Community Association

Residents of this community, off the Armagh Road in Newry, have a number of open spaces characterised by uninterrupted areas of mown grass. Like many communities, the people who live here want spaces which they can identify with and enjoy. They are hoping that through an environmental and conservation project, issues such as littering, dog fouling and vandalism can be addressed and tackled through discussion and practical work on the ground. Since work began in January 2006, the group have undertaken extensive litter-picks of the area and planted 70m of a native fruiting hedgerow in its stead. One volunteer is looking forward to the time when the hedgerow is mature enough to attract birdlife back into the area. There are more plans afoot to include a wildflower meadow area and perhaps a community mural... we’ll keep you updated!

Autumn Seed Harvest Workshops

Children enjoying a workshop Autumn Seed Harvest Workshops have been delivered to a number of community groups and schools across Newry City and surrounds. The workshops take place during the autumnal days of October when berries and the like are in abundance. Children really enjoy the workshops and through these we hope that the Newry and Mourne area will benefit from children who are sensitive and tuned-into their landscape and heritage.

Kolping Organisation

The Kolping Group and local volunteers For a number of years now, Conservation Volunteers has played host to a group from the Kolping Organisation, a charity which sends young adults on working holidays to different parts of the world to participate in social and environmental projects. As well as volunteering at Conservation Volunteers’S Tree Nursery, the group spent a week working on the Newry initiative. We stayed locally at a hostel in Attical and each day travelled to project sites where the group interacted with communities and lent a hand to projects. It wasn’t all work though… the group were shown the sights and sounds of Newry and Mourne by attending the Fiddler's Green Festival, enjoying walks along country roads with great stone walls, and taking-in views of Slieve Donard from Newcastle’s shores.

Trees the Season!

Group of tree planters in Newry Tree planting season has swung-round again and the community groups in the Community Environments for All project in Newry have been doing their bit for the environment, wildlife and people. The species and type of planting has varied with each group as the green spaces that each is working on varies quite a lot in terms of size, topography or conditions. As our native trees come in many shapes, sizes and colours and require particular conditions each planting project is unique to that particular site. Of course, the individuals that plant these trees are all quite different too and will take away with them their own experiences and memories!

A very well-known and historic feature of Newry City was the location of one such project. The Greater Linen Hall Area Community Association is lucky enough to have the Newry Canal towpath on its doorstep where residents walk, meet friends or play. The path is a great resource not only for the community but also for the wildlife that inhabits its water and banks. It is also, however, an area which attracts considerable anti-social behaviour. It was felt that the area should be the focus of some work although there was concern that any work carried out was vulnerable to damage. A nearby secondary school, St. Joseph’s Boys High School, was contacted and a series of sessions were held with the student council. It was proposed that pupils from the school would be involved with planting a native fruiting hedgerow which would go some way in addressing these issues. Other stakeholders were consulted and invited to get involved such as dogwalkers and residents of the wider community. A lot of preparation work needed to be undertaken before any tree could be planted. Brambles, bottles and bricks were some of the things that we removed from the site after which, we dug over the ground. The day of actual planting, December 8 th, dawned bright and dry and was a great success. A new 90m stretch of hedgerow now grows where there was once a break in the path’s hedgerow. We hope that it will survive to provide shelter, food and inspiration to all manners of creatures!

Man with spade and newly-planted tree Three Ways Community Association have also been busy. They have planted a copse of Alder and Willow trees in an out-of-the-way corner of a large, unmaintained urban green site. The site is popular with young and old residents alike for taking their dogs for a walk or their bicycles for a scramble. Again, as with many urban sites, there is a real threat of vandalism however the group has decided to err on the side of optimism and plant trees. The group advertised their activities and the event was dubbed ‘Adopt-a-Tree’ day. Many who attended had never planted a tree before and were really pleased and happy with their work. Another group, Quarry Row Area Residents Association, had a celebratory tree planting day as planting marked the end of a considerable amount of work undertaken on a public right-of-way. The way takes in a concrete path which runs through a ‘wild’ scrub area, across a now restored footbridge and up a narrow lane through fields. Along the path, a picnic bench and seat has been installed and we planted some Rowan alongside them. At intervals along a boundary of the area, we planted some Silver Birch and Scots Pine, two species that should do well alongside the gorse and heathers.

Information

For further information, please contact:

Rose Cremin
Community Project Officer
Email: R.Cremin@btcv.org.uk

Helen Tomb
Project Manager
Email: H.Tomb@btcv.org.uk

Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland
Beech House
159 Ravenhill Road
Belfast
BT6 0BP

Telephone: 028 9064 5169
Fax: 028 9064 4409

Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland, through an award from Newry and Mourne Local Strategy Partnership, launched this Environmental Initiative in Newry City in May 2004. The two-year initiative is funded by the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.

BTCV : CVNI : EfA : Projects : Environmental initiative in Newry City and hinterlands