Thanks to a local group, who are looking at setting up a Transition Towns Movement in Wexford, for sending in this information about their launch event on the 8th September at 7.30pm in the Wexford Library. A group from Wexford town have been putting their heads together to see if they can sow the seeds of a local Transition Town Movement. This is viewed as an important first step in the process of future-proofing Wexford. The idea is to start with Wexford town and hopefully follow with similar initiatives in New Ross, Enniscorthy and Gorey.

A launch meeting takes place at Wexford Library 7.30pm, Tuesday, September 8. The purpose of this meeting is to introduce the concept to Wexford and to highlight its importance. The guest speaker on the occasion is Davie Philip of the organization Cultivate and one of those behind the Cloughjordan Eco-village. He will outline the importance globally, and the benefits locally, of ‘future-proofing Wexford’. This will be a catalyst to launching the initial projects, which involve providing (1) A practical service to help with installation and maintenance of rainwater harvesting devices and (2) A service to assist householders to make good compost.

Following the launch the plan is to organise a short calendar of follow-up events to build further awareness of, and interest in, the Transition Towns concept. Among those events planned for the future are a home-grown BBQ at the Riverbank House Hotel in late September, transition-themed films at Redmond Park and Wexford Arts Centre and collaborative events with local organisations already working to preserve our environment, our heritage and bring communities together like Wexford Tidy Towns. Wexford already has a very dynamic and successful Tidy Towns group. Transition Towns, apart from sharing the same initials, is also about bringing people together to show what can be achieved by working together.

The process of future-proofing Wexford is not about creating another organization to make it all happen, it is about getting existing organisations, groups and individuals to do what they can to nudge us along in the right direction. The project is about saving money and the Earth’s resources and, more specifically, helping to ‘Future–proof the Model County’.

Facebook Event Page Link:
Future-Proofing Wexford

As part of Wexford Maritime festival, there will be a free underwater photography exhibition hosted in Wexford County Hall. This exhibition is related to the one of our major environmental assets our water. So drop in and see what lies beneath the water that surrounds us. There are 102 pictures taken by Irish divers and snorkelers, showcasing what we can see off the Irish coast and abroad. You will be guaranteed to see our water wildlife in a different way so it is well worth a visit. The exhibition will run every day and you are invited to visit during the week any time from 9am – 5pm to have a look. The exhibition will finish on Monday 22nd.

Members of Wexford Tidy Towns attended a special ceremony for the first national Greening Communities Awards on Thursday 16th April at the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government in their Custom House Offices, Dublin. Here we were delighted to be presented Wexford’s first ‘Greening Community Flag’ Award. Wexford, Coolagown and Killorglin were the three communities awarded the flag on the day.

Denis Collins and Phil Murphy receiving the Greening Community Flag Award

“The Greening Communities Program provides a framework to recognise and celebrate a community that is striving towards sustainable living. A Greening Community Flag is awarded to a robust community that works with the program to identify needs and vulnerabilities in their locality and takes action, in accordance with the program, to make the community more sustainable.” (Greening Communities) Learn more about the awards here.

Some of the Biodiversity Projects undertaken in Wexford that were considered in awarding the Flag were:

• 1798 Park
• Redmond Park including the Composting & Ant Hotel
• The Swift Project
• Let’s Bee Friendly Campaign
• Dealing with Invasive Species like Japanese Knotweed
• Wexford in Bloom flowering around the town
• Other Wexford Campaigns

This award along with being presented Bronze in 2014 Tidy Towns Awards as well as coming 5th in the Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL) 2014 Awards sees Wexford Tidy Towns continue to go from strength to strength. However with more volunteers we can achieve even better results so please come along and join us at one of our Action Days soon. We would love to see you there.

Blue Info Days takes place in Wexford on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th April 2015 with the International marine scientist group ‘Citclops’.

Blue Info days encourage ocean literacy and wise use of marine and coastal resources. That means understanding how the sea ticks, passing on and adapting old sustainable coastal and marine resource practices, learning new methods to measure, monitor and report on the state of the sea as powerful citizen science tools.

The first ‘Blue Info Days’ weekend in Ireland will take place on 25th and 26th April 2015 in county Wexford and consist of a mix of short talks, demonstrations and hands on trials, lots of fieldwork and fun water events. It is aimed at the general public including families and students who want to enjoy the sea and care for it, as well as those professionally engaged in the sea, monitoring and harvesting marine and coastal resources.

Costs: A 10 euro nonrefundable registration fee applies to fieldtrip bookings and 20 euro towards the Saturday party incl light meal. For those registering by April 21st the fieldtrip will include picnic or light local lunch. Registering on the day is possible if space allows but will not include lunch.

Register on www.coastwatch.org or www.Citclops.eu or send booking form and registration fee for fieldtrip by April 21st to: Karin Dubsky, Coastwatch, Civil and Env. Eng. TCD, Dublin 2. Ireland. Download more details and the timetable for the weekend here or here

The Clean Coasts Roadshow will be visiting Wexford on Saturday 21st March at the Presentation Center Enniscorthy at 1.30pm. It aims to bring together all those with an interest in protecting their local beaches, seas and marine life. There will also be speakers from local groups too including Wexford Maritime Festival, Wexford Sub Aqua Club, Duncannon Hooked Kitesurfing and many more.

There will be a weekend of events about the sea (scientific, cultural, social, economic) hosted in Wexford town and around its estuaries, lagoons and coast on the 25th and 26th April, 2015. It is being organised by Coastwatch, Trinity College, Dublin and Wexford County Council.

They are looking for volunteers to help organise the event and host field trips. If you would like to volunteer to help with Blue Info Days, please contact Karin Dubsky at kdubsky@coastwatch.org or 086 8111684 by 23rd March, 2015.

For further information, see www.citclops.eu, www.coastwatch.org or contact Karin Dubsky at kdubsky@coastwatch.org or 086 8111684

Wexford Naturalists’ Field Club January Lecture may be of interest to some of our members. The first lecture of the year will be held on Friday 9th January 2015 8pm at The Pumphouse, Wexford Wildfowl Reserve. Non-members are welcome and admission is €5 including light refreshments. The topic will be:

Wildlife Conservation and the Community – From Barntown to Ballydesmond by Dr. Fran Igoe, Project Co-ordinator IRD Duhallow LIFE+ Project

The presentation will cover the following:

• Nature conservation options
• The importance of nature conservation
• A few recent examples of wildlife loss in Co Wexford
• A rural model for wildlife conservation – IRD Duhallow* LIFE project
• Developing the concept further and a new LIFE project that combines actions for the protection of birds of prey, the eradication of non-native invasive plant species and water quality improvement.

IRD Duhallow is a not for profit rural development company with the aim of improving the welfare of communities in Duhallow, Cork through generation of enterprise, social supports and voluntary initiatives.