Campile village group back Olympian Sophie Becker
THE demands placed on Tidy Towns groups to achieve high points have increased dramatically over the years, and in Campile, the group have gone above and beyond to developing pride in the area, while beautifying it with new sculptures and planting.
The group recently had a sign created in support of Olympian relay runner, Sophie Becker, from nearby Ballykelly.
Celine Hayes Barrett from the group said numerous projects have been worked on over the years, from investigating the local bat population, to caring for an injured owl and erecting a new sculpture.
“Sean Parker and Ger Dunphy found the owl in the yard at Hart’s late last year, so we rang Kildare Wildlife took him,” said Celine.
“A volunteer from Waterford brought him up for us and kept him for around two months, and then we collected him and we released him in a field away from where we found him.”
The sculpture ‘ The Most Romantic Couple in Campile’ was made by two committee members, James Kent and Rory O’Hanlon. “They designed it and made it. We’re calling it ‘ The Most Romantic Couple in Campile’. We might be taking the limelight off of someone else!”
Four committee members have been trained in bat detection. “We have loads of bats around here. They are water bats so we’re going to get detectors to get a sense of how many there are.”
The volunteers have out in nesting boxes and have worked on the Portobello area near the river.
“Everything we’re sewing now is bee and pollinator friendly.” The group also worked on a derelict building beside the hall.
They recently donated two trees to the Hart family for their retirement, to be planted at their own homes because they stored a lot of the Tidy Towns equipment for the group.
The village is being judged ahead of the Tidy Towns results later this year, and hopes are high that they can improve on their points tally.
“I’s our mission to make Campile a liveable community, not only just for humans but for our four- legged, no- legged and winged residents too. There was a time when Tidy Towns was just about making your area look nice, but it’s so much more now. We are trying to be more sustainable.
“We are being more careful in what we plant and we’re encouraging people to think differently about the way they plant too.
“It’s not about completely using all pollinator friendly plants but even a few small changes can make such a difference.
“You can see this year the changes that were made by the county council all around the county. Groups have been signing up to the pollinator plan and that’s why ditches and grasses were not cut for longer.
“We know people don’t always like the look of it but we have to think differently about things, we have lots of animals and insects in decline and if its a few weeks of a bit of wildness that can help I think we all have embrace it.”
Celine thanked everyone for their support over the past year. “We are so happy again with the support of people this year and more and more people are getting out and painting and tidying up their gardens. We have some lovely gardens all around our parish, people are really making an effort.”
If people would like to join the group and give a little hand you can phone 087 6569345 or contact Campile Area Development Group on its Facebook page – Campile Area Development Group.
“We would be delighted to welcome new members.”