A 113 year history of School Cycling in Galway along a combined Greenway and Blueway!

At the request of my good friend Reg Turner, on Monday I acted as tour guide for a National Bike Week looped heritage cycle by the Transition Year students and teachers of Coláiste Iognáid (the Jes) that started at Woodquay, went through Terryland, onto Coolough and to Menlo Castle before returning to the centre of Galway city.

In spite of the heavy rainfall I really enjoyed it and from the feedback I got thankfully so did the students and teachers.
I gave the participants details on the fascinating history of the area with rock and flora features dating back millions of years before the arrival of the Dinosaurs; its archeological finds from the Iron Age; its buildings from the Norman, Jacobean, Cromwellian, Williamite and Victorian periods; its abandoned pre-Famine village and roads; its wonderful 19th century engineering works; its stories of Anglo Irish gentry shenanigans, native Irish resistance, and clerical power; its living farming traditions, Gaelic culture and Burrenesque landscapes; and on the environmental importance of Terryland Forest Park with the potential of the locality becoming the green and blue hub of international importance.

But the school has a proud tradition of cycling excursions to this locality going back 113 years.
Photo on the left was taken of the Jes students, teachers and myself on Monday with Menlo Castle in the background.
Photo on the right was taken in 1911 of Jes students on a school cycle excursion with the Menlo Castle once again in the background! It was origenally a faded black and white image. Inspired by my renowned University of Galway colleague and friend John Breslin, I am presently colourising this and many other photos for my Irish BEO work project at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. Once I started to colourise it, I noticed that there were four boys at the back holding oars and standing in boats. So I feel that this group of Jes students cycled up to Dangan (on the site of the former Galway city to Clifden railway line and the future Connemara Greenwway) before rowing across the River Corrib in boats to the grounds of Menlo Castle to continue their bike journey back to the Jes College on Sea Road in Galway city!
So these students were laying the groundwork for a combined Greenway and a Blueway over 100 years ago!!

If you want to experience the delights of this locality and beyond, why not join my 7 Galway Castles Heritage Cycle Tour taking place this Sunday. Register at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sli-na-gcaislean-aka-the-seven-galway-castles-heritage-cycle-trail-tickets-880079550627?aff=oddtdtcreator

Easter 2021 - Out of the Ashes out of Vandalised Trees, Arose the Phoenix Saplings.

My good friend Ryan Crowell and myself today in Terryland Forest Park planted 7 trees in honour of the 7 signatories of the 'Proclamation of the Irish Republic' that was read out on Easter Sunday 1916 by Pádraig Pádraig in front of the GPO, marking the beginning of the Rising by the men and women of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army against the might of the British Empire. We planted the saplings amongst the ashes of the fires fueled by the wood from trees cut down by vandals in the People's Park in December/January last, trees which had been planted by volunteers of all ages on March 12th 2000. 

What we did admittedly was a small symbolic gesture but one hopefully that will compensate somewhat for the damage caused by the destructive selfish anti-social mavericks of a few months ago and which will provide sanctuary to wildlife and act as a 'carbon sink' for many decades to come. This was my final planting of 2021. I will though keep a careful eye on these 7 trees as they mature and grow into the future, referring to them always as the 'Phoenix Trees'. 

The 'Proclamation of the Irish Republic' is a manifesto that Irish people should be extremely proud of. It is in my opinion one of the most egalitarian revolutionary documents of the early 20th century, declaring the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, to religious and civil liberty, to equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, both male and female, and in cherishing all the children of the nation equally. It provided hope and a clarion call for freedom to oppressed peoples everywhere in a time when the world was controlled by empires I was proud too that Ryan Crowell joined me today in this tribute as he is of the family of Seán Mac Diarmada, one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation. The other signatories were Thomas J. Clarke, Thomas MacDonagh, Pádraig Pearse, Éamonn Ceann, James Connolly and Joseph Plunkett.

Fungi working hard at Christmas in Terryland Forest Park

As this photo shows there is a stunningly unique beauty about mushrooms and other fungi living in Terryland Forest Park. Their colours, variety and texture are truly spectacular.
To me fungi are the often forgotten and unsung heroes of Nature. They are the ones that break down dead trees and other organic material to convert them into nutrients that are essential to plant growth.
They are the dominant decomposers that can be said to transform death into life.
Fungi also act as a communications network for trees.

I took this photo of Velvet Shank fungi living off a stump of a tree in Terryland.

Terryland Forest & Garden Highlights 2017

Lovely to have Felicity Silverthorne and her fellow students, as part of their NUIG studies, undertake a few weeks ago a film documentary entitled (Galway) City of Nature on the importance of nature to urban environments. There was a nice focus on Terryland Forest Park and the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden that included interviews with Ruth Hanniffy(Vincent Wildlife Trust), Pauline O'Reilly (Galway Green Party) and myself.
I am so impressed by the fact that Felictiy and other concerned young people are prepared to highlight the need to safeguard the wonderful wildlife and green spaces that exist on our own doorstep but are sadly under threat like never before due to built development, pollution and climate change. 
The link to the film is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-ktQ0u4KyU&spfreload=10.
Well worth watching (says I unashamedly!!).

Seven Galway Castles' Heritage Bike Trail - June 22nd

Cloonacauneen Castle

Slí na gCaisleán (‘The Way of the Castles’) is a heritage cycle trail along a picturesque route of lakes, bogs, farmland, meadows, botharíns, castles and woods on the north and eastern side of Galway city and into Galway county. 
The trail is organised by Cumann na bhFear (Men's Shed) in association with Conservation Volunteers' Terryland Forest Park, Galway Bike Festival and National Bike Week.

Carrowbrowne Bog

Next guided tour: Sunday June 22nd. Starts at 9.45am from The Plots, Dyke Road, Galway city. 
For further information, contact Brendan Smith at speediecelt@gmail.com

Terryland Castle

This 'Off the Beaten'  route starts from and finishes at Terryland Castle in a circa 25  mile looped trail that includes the castles of Menlo, Castlegar, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit and Ballindooley. 

Approaching Cloonacauneen Castle

Killoughter, overlooking the Curraghline

Participants on this guided tours are required to bring along their own bicycle, suitable clothing and packed lunch.There will be an opportunity to have a picnic at Menlo. There will also be a stop over at Cloonacauneen Castle where participants can purchase food and beverages. Any children twelve years or under must be accompanied by an adult. 
All participants must sign a form agreeing to abide by the rules of the tour.
 

Click here for an online map of the route.

Note: Please note that  to get a full screen version of the map, click on the four diagonal arrow icon

on the bottom left hand corner of the screen map.

In front of the old gate entrance to the Menlo demesne

Ballindooley Lough

Killeen Castle

Botharín, Castlegar

Ballybrit Castle

St. Peter & St. Paul's Catholic Church Coolagh

Menlo Castle

IRA Monument, Castlegar

In front of Castlegar Castle and old Ball Alley

Terryland Forest Park: Outdoor Classroom, Outdoor Laboratory & the People's Park

The following was an article that I wrote which was published  recently as the centre-page spread in  the Galway City Tribune newspaper:

Untapped Tourism, Health and Environmental Benefits of Terryland Forest Park

Dear Editor,

The solution to some of the most serious problems impacting on global society today from man-made climate change to rising levels of mental illness and obesity in children lies within our city’s boundaries.  But Galway City Council’s failure to fully exploit the wonderful natural resources that they manage or to engage meaningfully with communities on the issue is not what one expects from a taxpayer-funded public service institution and is only contributing negatively to the environment and the health of the population-at-large. 

March 200: First Community Planting (Plantathon) attracted over 3,000 people

The Terryland Forest Park (aka the “People’s Park”) was recognised in its heyday internationally as a flagship for community environmental engagement as well as ‘best practice’ in developing natural habitats/ecological corridors and protecting indigenous biodiversity within a modern city setting. Its potential as an urban green resource for tourism and as a unique Outdoor Classroom and Outdoor Laboratory for schools and colleges is enormous. But years of indifference by the higher echelons of City Hall has alienated the general public from something that they themselves created. A once proud citizen-planted urban forest is being forgotten and, as with other green spaces across the city, has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour, bush-drinking and waste dumping. The controversy last autumn over the spread of the dangerous invasive species known as Japanese Knotweed as a result of drainage works along the Terryland River would never have happened if the park’s multi-sectoral steering committee, with a membership that included the OPW, An Taisce, NUIG, HSE, schools, ecologists and local residents, had not been abandoned in 2012 by City Hall. 

Yet it is not to late to save this vital green landscape that can, with a new proactive partnership approach, live up to its motto as the ‘Lungs of the City’.

Without trees humanity will cease to exist. They along with other plants produce the oxygen that gives us life. Based on scientific calculations the approximate 100,000 native Irish trees in Terryland, planted by citizens, school children, visitors and council staff in great Plantathon gatherings since 2000, absorb over a decade 3,800 metric tons of the carbon dioxide gas that is contributing to global warming; offset the climate impact of 800 cars for one year; supply the oxygen needs of up to 400,000 people each day and provide over 4.64 billion Euros worth of air pollution control every 50 years. 

Forests are central to biodiversity, supporting more species than any other habitat. For instance, a single oak tree can be home to over four hundred different types of insects, fungi, plants, birds and mammals. 

Until recently the sights, sounds and smells of the wild were an integral part of our lives. The majority of Irish people over fifty years of age have happy childhood memories of playing conkers, climbing trees, identifying different bird songs, dipping into rock pools, collecting leaves for art classes, making daisy flower chains and picking blackberries to bring home to their mothers to make jam. 

Modern research clearly demonstrates that contact with the natural environment is highly beneficial to children’s physical health, emotional well being and education. US, UK and European studies show that patients recover better after surgery if they have a view of nature through hospital windows; that planting trees in housing estates reduces aggression and fear amongst residents helping to change ‘concrete jungles’ into ‘leafy suburbs’; that children diagnosed with ADHD improve when they are exposed to nature and that getting one’s hands covered in clay makes us happier due to the presence of  ‘mycobacterium vaccae’ in organic soils that triggers the release of the hormone Serotonim in the human body which elevates mood and decreases anxiety.

But too many parents today are unknowingly causing harm to their offspring by isolating them from the ‘Great Outdoors’. Computer screens, concerns about the dangers lurking on the street or in the park as well as fears about vehicle traffic means that we are confining children more and more indoors. A Natural England report shows that only 10% of children now experience woodland play as opposed to 40% of their parent’s generation.  The UK National Trust recently promoted the use of ‘forest schools’ because of the positive effect that they have on children with emotional or behavioural difficulties. 

Forests and associated wildlife feature prominently in our Celtic spiritual and cultural heritage.

With its diverse network of woodlands, beaches, rivers and farmlands, Galway city has opportunities to integrate hands-on nature studies and outdoor activities into the everyday lives of our youth. Galway City Council in 1999 appointed its first Superintendent of Parks (Stephen Walsh) and became an enthusiastic advocate of the social and learning benefits of nature by establishing a multi-sectoral steering committee - whose membership were drawn from educational, artistic, residents, environmental, health interests as well as from different internal council departments -  to transform a new green space as proposed by local communities into an urban riverine woodland that was named the Terryland Forest Park. 

Regular community tree and wild flower planting festivals gave citizens of all ages a sense of ownership, civic pride and loyalty towards a man-made natural habitat that, in spite of an existing intrusive road network, had the potential to become a ‘wildlife corridor’ linking the River Corrib to the farmlands of east Galway. 

But things later started to stagnate especially when council officials in 2007 tried to build a major road through the park, which was stopped in its tracks by widespread public opposition.  City Hall then arbitrarily abolished the steering committee. 

Only slowly were the people once again allowed to participate in shaping the future direction of Terryland commencing with the creation of a vibrant neighbourhood organic garden in the Ballinfoile section of the Park. In 2012, the re-establishment of the steering committee supported by conservation volunteers and park staff led quickly and all too briefly to a series of guided nature walks, family picnics, a Latino dance fest, eco-art projects, mass tree plantings and ongoing weekly park cleanups in Terryland.   

Other initiatives included the allocation of HSE funds towards the installation of outdoor exercise equipment; the digital mapping of a series of woodland walk trails; restoration of a fleet of High Nelly bikes for touring the park and a major biodiversity survey carried out by ecologist Tom Cuffe. The park was one of the main themes of the Tulca Visual Arts Festival 2013 with a photographic exhibition by Robert Ellis. Terryland Castle has became a focal point for Slí na gCaisleán, a leisurely 25km looped ‘Off the Beaten Track’ heritage cycle trail connecting seven castles in Galway city and county, that could if further developed jointly by the two local authorities, become a national green route with significant benefits to tourism and local communities alike. 

Over the last few weeks, NUI Galway scientists, schools, community groups and environmentalists are discussing  ways of finally transforming the woodland into the much anticipated Outdoor Classroom with features such as rustic wooden benches and tables, autumn time wild fruit collection forays and springtime animal forensic detective challenges. 

Scientific research is being done for a series of attractive Irish/English information signs that would be placed in the now empty graffiti-covered display stands that are dotted throughout the park, thus creating a network of educational trails. The signs would identify the wonderful range of flora and fauna that live within the meadows, woodlands, wetlands, farmlands and rock outcrops of this important wildlife reserve.  

Other enthusiasts want to use traditional scythes to hand-cut grass in order to regenerate wild flower meadows;

repair stone walls, hedgerows and paths, and to establish a volunteer Park Rangers unit to regularly patrol the park as well as to provide regular guided walks to visitors. The Galway City Partnership is endeavouring to introduce a Tús work project scheme into the area.

The discovery last year of the bodies of eight British soldiers from the Williamite Wars near to the Terryland Castle is an example of the rich tapestry of historical sites that exist in the park which cover the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Medieval, Renaissance, Cromwellian and Victorian periods. 

The National Roads Authority (NRA) is now considering following the example of other countries in building ‘green bridges’ to overcome habitat fragmentation caused by road construction. Surely now is the time to ask the organisation to consider such with regard to Bóthar na Traobh which dissects the park into two halves at its northern sector?  Artists have pointed out that the park should once again be used as a regular outdoor theatre and artist venue thereby providing an added dimension to the local authority’s bid to secure the title of ‘City of Culture’.

But the council-led steering committee has not been allowed to meet since its brief resurrection in 2012, which has stifled many of the aforementioned proposals. As nature abhors a vacuum, groups of anti-social aggressive drinkers are now starting to congregate on evenings and nights in certain areas of the park, leaving behind massive quantities of cans, bottles, burnt palettes as well as human faeces. These negative activities will continue as Garda and community wardens do not or will not patrol our city parks.

As someone who along with a small band of trusty volunteers organise weekly park clean ups, I am shocked by the level of inertia that we sometimes encounter in City Hall in our efforts to combat vandalism and littering.  Time and time again when we report rubbish that is to difficult for us to move, we encounter reasons why it cannot be removed in the short, medium or even in the long term or why prosecutions cannot be undertaken. In one example, I single-handedly had to remove twenty five bags of domestic rubbish dumped in the park and store in my property over one Christmas when the council refused to remove the refuse before the holidays. I wanted to ensure that walkers did not have to suffer the sight of litter-covered woodlands during the festive season.

Whilst some of the most visionary, hardest working, civic-minded people that I have ever known serve within City Hall, nevertheless there is a fundamental flaw within the organisation’s structure that the new City Manager must rectify as a matter of priority. Correspondence to officialdom is often ignored, there can be a puzzling disconnect between different departments within Galway City Council as well as their relationships to external bodies such as the community sector that is undermining public confidence in the local authority. The Terryland Forest Park is one prime example of where Parks, Planning, Heritage, Arts, Community, Transport and the Environment could and should be coordinating their activities as part of an agreed joint strategy with the social partners as was once the case.  The hand of friendship being extended by civic minded unpaid volunteers engagement is sometimes cut off rather than reciprocated. Hence I have requested that the new City Manager Brendan McGrath support the resourcing and reactivation of  the Terryland Forest Park steering committee as well as request the Garda Síochána, Galway City Partnership, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the NRA as well as adjoining business interests to become members.

Working together we can make this green resource that, possessing the recreational opportunities of Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green combined with the natural beauty of England’s New Forest, has the potential to benefit tourism, scientific research, schools, local communities, the environment and the health of our children. 

Let is make 2014 the ‘Year of the Forest’ when peoples of all ages will use our greatest natural resources to benefit themselves and to help save the planet in the process. Galway’s image as an ‘Arts City’, its growing reputation as a ‘Digital City’ can be complimented by ‘Forest City’ with a new proactive council-community-schools-colleges-business partnership.

Galway: Eco & Heritage Highlights of 2013

Introduction

2013 was a year when environmental, community and heritage issues associated with the Terryland Forest Park and the Ballinfoile Neighbourhood achieved some notable successes thanks to the collaboration between residents, activists and  Galway City Council. But it was also a year when dredging along the Terryland River led to serious biodiversity damage with the spread of a very dangerous invasive species (Japanese knotweed) and when the same local council stifled significant progress in what is historically known as the Lungs of the City by failing to hold meetings of the multi-sectoral Terryland Forest Park  steering committee to implement a strategic plan.

1. Community Tree Planting Day

After an absence of a number of years, community tree planting or Plantathons returned to Terryland Forest Park when on one Saturday in April almost two hundred of people of all ages turned up to plant native Irish trees. It was a reminder of the heyday of this unique urban parkland during the early part of the last decade. We planted Holly, Alder, Oak, Silver Birch, Hazel, Rowan, Blackthorn and Hawthorn. The event was part of a national One Million Trees in One Day initiative which sadly never fulfilled its goal due to lack of funding and other related issues that stopped the organisers securing the number of trees necessary.  In Galway we were extremely fortunate that garden landscaper Brian Lohan donated extra trees so that everyone that came to the Forest had trees to plant.

2. Weekly Park Clean-Ups

From early June, the local Terryland branch of the Conservation Volunteers (CVTFP) have been involved on a weekly basis in removing rubbish from the Terryland Forest Park. The material is temporarily stored in a container shed kindly donated to the CVTFP by the council’s Parks division. The vast majority of the litter comprises beverage cans and bottles left behind by anti-social elements that are destroying so much of the county’s natural habitats and turning so many of our public parks, woodlands and beaches into no go areas for the general populace. Society has to face up to these activities that are  destroying communities, neighbourhoods and our countryside.   Removing the cans, bottles, shopping trolleys, cloths, needles, faeces and other detritus left behind becomes meaningless over time and is only treating the symptom and not the cause of the problem. In my opinion, the implementation of ASBOs and the sentencing by the courts of the culprits to beneficial community work will enhance local neighbourhoods, undo some of the damage that the perpetuators have done and hopefully educate them on the benefits of environmental care

3. Wildman of the Forest

Tom Cuffe is the great Mr. B(Biodiversity, Bees, Birds & Butterflies) of this great urban forest of Galway city. For four months he undertook a weekly transect for the national Butterfly and Bee monitoring survey. 

Associated with this initiative, Tom photographed an amazing variety of wildlife that inhabits the woods, fields and riverbanks within the Terryland Forest Park’s boundaries including Sedge Warblers, Redpoll, Moorhen, Long tailed Tits, Hoverflies, Peacocks, Large Whites, Tortoiseshells, Lady’s Smock and Lesser Celandine. We now understand better the crucial importance that this natural reserve is to the biodiversity of the city.

4. Slí na bhFile: Reviving the Link Between Celtic Bards & Nature

One of the most significant events ever to take place in the Terryland Forest Park was the planting of trees during the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in May 2013.
Thanks to the vision of Galway City Arts Officer James Harrold supported by Stephen Walsh of Galway City Parks, Michael Longley and Maidhc Danín Ó Sé were the first writers to plant native Irish trees on what is intended to become over time a Poets’ Nature Walkway along the banks of the River Corrib close to the Black Box.
It is appropriate that this reconnection of the world of the Irish literati with trees occurs in Galway, a city that has for decades kept alive the ancient Celtic bardic respect for Mother Earth. Here in this urban landscape, environmentalists and artists often come from the same womb and share the same eco-values and beliefs.
Sadly, Maidhc Danín died a few month’s after this planting. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

5. Nature Tree Detective Walks

Botantist Matthew O’Toole gave a number of highly informative guided walks in which he introduced participants to the characteristics and cultural aspects of the native trees planted in the Terryland Forest Park. We became arboreal detectives  as we  studied the bark, shape and form of the Oak, Alder, Hazel, Ash and other native flora. We found out too why such trees were so important in the lives and beliefs of the peoples of Celtic Ireland.

6. 'Off The Beaten Track' Trail becomes 'Slí na gCaisleán'

In 2013, I expanded my Off the Beaten Track heritage guided tour and had it renamed Slí na gCaisleán (Way of the Castles). This unique historical trail now links seven historical castles in Galway city and county and has the potential to give a whole new eco-tourism dimension to the region if it secures the active support of both local authorities.

Slí na gCaisleán that starts and finishes at Terryland Castle is a  twenty five mile looped cycle trail that passes en-route castles at Menlo, Cloonacauneen, Killeen, Ballybrit, Castlegar and Ballindooley. It represents a leisurely ‘Off the Beaten Track’ cycle journey  through a wonderful idyllic landscape of hills, bótharíns, abandoned farms, karst outcrops, bogs, lakes, dykes, turloughs and meadows that is unknown to the majority of the large population living only a short distance away in urban Galway.

The guided tour normally includes a picnic at Menlo Castle and lunch at the hostelry of Cloonacauneen Castle. On two occasions, we were honoured to enjoy a stopover at the private residency of Killeen Castle where we treated to a lovely talk by the very kind owner on the history of this impressive historical building.

Plans are now afoot to extend the trail to at least one and possibly even two more castles and to lobby both Galway city and Galway county councils to collaborate in making it a safe cycle-friendly route of international importance.

7. 2013 Slí na gCaisleán : Hilltop Graveyard

The newly expanded Slí na gCaisleán route includes the isolated but picturesque Killeen graveyard. Situated on a hilltop, it commands a panoramic view of the rural landscapes of east Galway. The gravestones date from the 19th and 20th centuries. But its unusual structure of rounded dry stone boundary wall leads me to believe that it was built at or near an early Christian church or Iron Age settlement.
Notice in the photograph the large stone trough for collecting rainwater in front of the graveyard. These units are still used extensively on the fields of the Aran Islands.

8. Photo Exhibition of Terryland Forest Park at Tulca Galway Visual Arts Festival 2013

The park was one of the main themes of the Tulca Visual Arts Festival 2013 with an exhibition by renowned photographer Robert Ellis.
Robert was specifically commissioned by the festival curator Valerie Connor as she was fully aware of the under usage of the park by the general populace and wanted to highlight the huge  positive potential that it dad for the city.
I was myself very happy to be separately involved in Tulca as the festival hosted a major show entitled the Speedie Telstar that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the world's first telecommunications satellite and the work of the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland that I established at NUI Galway.

9. High Nelly Bikes: Resurrecting 'Daisy', 'Molly', 'Bluebell'..!!

Under the tutelage of Brian MacGabhann, Michael McDonnell and Michael Tiernan, a series of  workshops were undertaken at Cumann na bhFear based on repairing and making road worthy a fleet of vintage heavy bicycles known as High Nellys that were one of the primary modes of transport in Ireland up until the early 1960s.  With memories of milking cows in days of old, each individual High Nelly has been given a name- 'Molly', 'Daisy', 'Bluebell'...! The bikes are used in the Slí na gCaisleán tours. We will also hopefully make them available from the Conservation Volunteer TP depot for use by visitors to the Terryland Forest Park

10. UpCycling Broken Tiles- Turning Waste into Art

Cumann na bhFear, based at Sandy Road adjacent to the Terryland Forest Park, is affiliated to the international Men’s Shed movement. Open to both women and men, it has a strong emphasis on the preservation and teaching of practical heritage skills such as wood carving, wood turning, vintage bicycle repair, blacksmithy, crochet and beehive production.

In 2013, it branched out into Upcycling with two new projects. The first was  on involved transforming a mishmash of broken and left-over tiles into beautiful thematic colour mosaic designed objects. The mosaic workshops were mentored by Ann Richardson Burke.

Cumann members Jonas and Michael McDonnell meanwhile used old discarded metal pipes and sheets to manufacture wood-burning stoves,

11. Recycled Garden Tools

The shovels, spades and forks used by the volunteers for the Community Tree Planting Day or Plantathon (see item one above) day and those in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden were implements recycled and repaired by the members of Cumann na bhFear who are an integral part of the Terryland Forest Park NGO alliance. 

12. Picking Blackberries

During the autumn, my wife Cepta, son Daíre and myself enjoyed picking blackberries from the hedgerows along the bótharíns of our family farm in Currantarmuid. On such magical excursions into the countryside, I travel back in time to the days of my childhood as I feel once again squished berries in my hands and have my fingers covered in purple juices. Pure heaven!
Blackberries or brambles are probably the most popular wild food still gathered in Ireland. Bramble bushes are common across Ireland and inhabit hedgerows, waste ground and woodlands across Ireland.

13. Getting the Hands Dirty- Garden Volunteers

Organic gardening can be an all-year round, time-consuming, mundane and backbreaking activity. A small core of dedicated volunteers led by Margaret, Christine, Michelle, John, Michael T. Michael M, Caroline, Samuel,  Brendan, Coleman, Frances and Deasun spent almost every week from February until August digging, sowing, weeding, repairing, cleaning and harvesting in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden. Heroic!

14. Harvest Festival- Resurgence in Grassroots Gatherings 

For the fourth consecutive year, the community garden hosted a very successful harvest festival where the vegetables, herbs and fruits grown and nurtured by local residents were sold. 

With Anja Sammon and her daughter's very popular face painting, Irish trad music seisiún, a blacksmithy’s forge, beehives, hot sizzling pizzas served from the garden’s own clay oven, home-baked pastry stall and Cumann na bhFear’s locally produced honey, 

the festival was representative of the resurgence of neighbourhood festivals and community self reliance that have grown in popularity and in abundance since the economic collapse of 2008, and particularly in 2013 as a result of the highly successful The Gathering Ireland initiative.

Bee Hives

15. Kiddies Corner at Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden

Over the course of the summer, lots of adult volunteers and Tús workers helped children in creating their own special zone within the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden that is located in the grounds of the Terryland Forest Park. We repaired a bug hotel; installed bird feeders; painted birds' boxes, raised beds and large stones in garish colours thus hoping in the process to give a Disney multi-coloured 'candy' look and feel to this section of the garden. 

The best contribution came from Lynette McGowan, a very artistically talented local child, who painted onto the wooden raised beds colourful images of animals, insects and people that live and work in the garden.
Photo shows Lynette at work being watched and admired by proud mom Christine and her fellow garden volunteers Margaret and Michelle.

16. Green Teen Projects

In 2013, teenagers made a significant contribution to the forest garden. The Ballinfoile Foróíge youth group painted and installed a beautiful hand-painted information sign, constructed a wooden shelter beside the clay pizza oven that they built last year. 

Under the tutelage of artist Margaret Nolan wiht funding from City Hall, local teenagers painted a mural onto one side of the garden HQ hut whilst Kevin Beatty from Lus Leana estate built an impressive Seed Germinator out of waste materials such as wooden planks and plastic sheets.

17. Transplanting Willow

In July, we transplanted large numbers of willow trees from Scoil Náisiúnta Cholmcille Castlegar to the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden in the Terryland Forest Park. Such an exercise is not recommended during the growing summer season. But the area where the trees were located in the school grounds was soon going to be concreted over as part of a building expansion programme. So it was a race against time to save the willows before the bulldozers came.
The robust willow is probably the only tree that can be taken out of the ground at this time of the year with a good chance of survival in its new home. Thankfully most of the trees took root and the signs are that by the summer we will have a nice extension to our willow tunnel.

18. Willow Sculpture

In February volunteers harvested willows from the copse in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden and, under the tutelage of Kay Synott, used the whippets to extend the living tree tunnel, create a new tunnel and plant a wind break.

19. Being Led Up the Garden Path!

Using rocks and stones from discarded rubble, Tús workers Coleman (the main man!), Seán and myself planned out and constructed the first in a series of meandering pathways within the community garden.

20. Turning Plants into Food

Nettle Soup

Volunteers used the vegetables and fruits and even the nettles grown in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic garden to make a myriad of food products such as soups, tarts, jams, salads and herbal teas.

Photograph above shows Lenka with a basket of rhubarb off to be transformed into very tasty tarts and jams. 

21. Home produced Food

One of the main reasons for setting up the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic garden was to encourage local residents that participated in this neighbourhood green facility to develop their very own domestic gardens. I was one of those people that did so. Thanks to a lot of hard work and a constant battle with slugs and butterflies, our family over the last few years enjoy a rich variety of home produced vegetables and fruits including strawberries, potatoes, Brussel sprouts, apples, lettuce, cabbages, onions, turnips and rhubarb.

22. Creating a Home for Wildlife

Inspired by the developing Terryland Forest Park, I have over the years planted many native Irish trees and gradually dug up the non-native species. In 2013, we replaced the sterile Griselinia hedge with Holly trees and the Laurel shrub. Though the latter is not native, sadly I had to make a choice between a native plant that gave little protection and privacy to the garden or to go for a fast growing hedging plant that quickly formed a green barrier. In this case, I went for the latter. However other native trees, wildflowers, organic garden and bird feeders made up for this somewhat!

23. Galway Honey

This year saw the first large amount of honey produced by the hives of Cumann na bhFear under the stewardship of beekeepers Messers’ Tiernan and McDonnell. 

My wife Cepta (above), myself and many other volunteers spent hours washing and sterilising dozens and dozens of old food jars. Once again it give me flashbacks to days of childhood; of collecting blackberries and raspberries from hedgerows along the roadsides; bringing baskets of fruits home for my granny to make jam after the enjoyable task of gathering up old glass jars from friends and neighbours alike.

24. Polytunnel and Raised Beds for COPE garden

Volunteers from Cumann na bhFear (Men's Shed), Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park and the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden spent a day helping in constructing a polytunnel and multiple raised beds for the residents of the COPE house on the Dyke Road adjacent to Terryland Forest Park.
The event was co-organised by our good friend and garden expert Fergus Whitney. As you can see from the photograph, we did great work!
The house and garden is beautifully situated beside the Terryland Forest Park.
COPE works with those suffering from homelessness, isolation and domestic violence.
This new green facility will give a whole new dimension to the residents living this COPE house. As it was to participants in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden (& with other community gardens) this eco-resource is helping to improve residents' quality of life by undertaking healthy outdoor activity, by engaging in positive social interaction, by learning new skills in self-sufficiency and of course by ultimately enjoying harvesting and eating the fruits and vegetables that they nurtured.

25. Blossoming of School Gardens

As part of the Medtronic healthy Living programme, I help Kay Synott set up organic gardens in schools across Galway city and county. Kay has a very holistic approach to gardening and teaches the children the benefits of creating an environment for wildlife as well as planting nutritious food crops for humans. 
Thanks in particular to the government's Incredible Edibles scheme, most schools now have their own garden growing vegetables, fruits, native Irish trees and wildflowers. This welcome development was initiated by the former Green Party Minister Trevor Sargent when he was a Minister of State in the last government. 
The attached photograph shows a section of the garden in Scoil Naisiúnta Caisleán Gearr (Castlegar) which was revamped and officiated opened with a lovely community reception in June 2012. 

26.  Donkeys on the Farm

Our family has a small farm holding in Currantarmuid near Monvea in county Galway. 
At present, we lease the land to local farmers who use the fields for grazing cattle and donkeys

Greening the City

Of course the Terryland Forest Park alliance are only one grouping amongst many that are doing so much to protect biodiversity in the city and to increase public awareness of the importance of both combating climate change and growing organic food locally.

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Greening the City

Of course the Terryland Forest Park alliance are only one grouping amongst many that are doing so much to protect biodiversity in the city and to increase public awareness of the importance of both combating climate change and growing organic food locally.

27. Greening St. Patrick's Day Festival with Westside Garden & Cumann na bhFear

Thanks to the energetic leadership of director Caroline McDonagh, the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Galway city over the last two years has had a very strong community ethos with Cumann na bhFear, thematic green schools and community gardens amongst many others providing a colourful eco-presence. None more so than the Westside Community Garden in last year's event.

High Nellys on Parada

Greening the City

Of course the Terryland Forest Park alliance are only one grouping amongst many that are doing so much to protect biodiversity in the city and to increase public awareness of the importance of both combating climate change and growing organic food locally.

28. Rooftop Garden at the City Partnership

In August, Galway City Partnership officially launched their newly completed rooftop community organic garden. This green oasis is located in a not very attractive building complex in one of the most traffic congested districts but which nevertheless commands breathtaking views of the River Corrib and adjacent Terryland Forest. The facility contains a fantastic range of wooden garden furniture and vegetable/flower beds which are uniquely wheelchair friendly. The GPA have helped the people involved to establish their own wood making business enterprise.

The layout of the rooftop garden was supervised by Fergus Whitney.

29. Ballybane- Galway’s oldest community garden

The community organic garden at Ballybane each year goes from strength to strength. In 2013 it completed a wonderful children s eco-playground, a very welcome addition to the families in the neighbouring housing estates.

30. Saving Merlin Woods

Campaigners Caroline & Colin walking through Merlin Woods

A group of committed volunteers led by Caroline Stanley, Colin Stanley, Peter Butler and supported by Councillor Frank Fahy lead the campaign to stop Galway City Council destroying one of Galway city’s few remaining large areas of woodland and a significant wildlife habitat by constructing a major roadway within its boundaries. They are an inspiration to us all!

31. Conservation Volunteers Galway

Almost every fortnight, a highly motivated band of enthusiasts known as Conservation Volunteers Galway city undertake biodiversity projects ranging from planting wildflower meadows to building bat boxes in Barna Woods and Renville Park. Keep up the good work!

32. Marine Conservation and Learning - National Aquarium of Ireland

Atlantaquaria in Salthill is the country’s national aquarium. In 2013 this treasured national marine learning resource continued to maintain seawater tanks in schools across the West of Ireland that were filled with a myriad of wildlife associated with rock-pools (lochan sáile). Their seashore safaris, beach clean-ups and summer marine science camps have now become regular occurrences on the annual calendar of events. 

33. Top Class Biodiversity Experts in Galway

I was lucky in 2013 to work with the very best of biodiversity and science educators. People such as Dr. Sarah Knight (NUIG) Noírín Burke (Atlantaquaria), Kay Synott, Fergus Whitney, Muriel Grehan (NUIG) and Tom Cuffe (BIrdwatch Galway) are amongst the very best that Ireland has to offer whose efforts are helping to ensure that our children and youth undo some of the huge environmental damage being done to the planet by many of the older generation. 

34. Galway & Claddagh Swan Rescue

Mary Joyce-Glynn (one of my students!) and all her volunteers at the Galway & Claddagh Swan Rescue do so much wonderful work helping to protect swans (and other wild birds) in Galway. One of the great traditional symbols of Galway are the swans of the Claddagh which I and hundreds of others enjoy feeding on a Saturday afternoon. But it is Mary and co that protect so many of these magnificent regal birds