Mullingar Shamrocks have developed a walkway beside the club's playing pitches in Westmeath.
The Green Clubs toolkit questionnaire is available to view here. The deadline for submission is April 3.
The GAA and the local authority sector, represented by the County and City Management Association (CCMA) recently announced an innovative new initiative pledging to work together to lead their communities in promoting sustainability and climate action.
By Cian O'Connell
Joan Crawford Ormsby laughs at how a project has brought such joy and encouragement.
The hard work most certainly continues, but Mullingar Shamrocks’ Biodiversity Walking Route has provided significant assistance to people living in the town.
All sorts of interesting links have been forged by Mullingar Shamrocks, who are completely aware of the importance of the walkway surrounding their playing fields.
“We had an existing walking route,” the Mullingar Shamrocks’ Healthy Club Officer explains. “We have two playing pitches separated by an astroturf, there was an existing walking route around it.
“The unique thing for Mullingar Shamrocks is that half of the walking track is adjacent to the River Brosna.
“Just passed that is the Royal Canal. I was walking around there during the Operation Transformation and when there was matches on thinking that there was a missed opportunity because we could be doing a lot more about environmental awareness.
“We also had an embankment on the other side of the field and you had bumble bees nestling into the clay embankment. People were down there watching matches and nobody knows what is going on behind their back.”
Now because of the efforts of so many and the installation of signs people are aware of what has happened in the area.
Mullingar Shamrocks have been assisted by people in the local community with artwork on their walkway route.
Mullingar Shamrocks have created new and interesting links with so many groups and the response has been extremely positive.
Westmeath County Council, Loughran Signs, Biodiversity Ireland, Birdwatch Ireland, Mullingar Mens Shed, Coillte, and Belvedere House are amongst those to have supplied considerable assistance and advice.
Small, but important steps have been taken. The Mullingar Mens Shed link up illustrated the value and need to involve locals.
“The idea about those was we could place them along for people to sit, to enjoy the river or the canal and also matches and rest for elderly people while they were walking around the track,” Crawford Ormsby adds.
“Mullingar Mens Shed made some sensory boards which we are going to put up for autistic children to be able to get a bit of a quieter area so they can entertain themselves with the handles, springs, and taps. Lots of little gadgets are on the sensory boards which are going to be erected very soon.”
Crawford Ormsby sensed that there was potential in enhancing the walkway, while also informing people about what actually existed in the area.
“I applied for some grants,” she reveals. “I applied to the County Council for quite a few of them and Ruth Maxwell gave us a grant to get us on our way under the Local Agenda 21. She came down for a site visit, she is the Environmental Awareness Officer for Westmeath County Council.”
That set Mullingar Shamrocks mototing. More assistance was supplied as the club knew that it was a very biodiverse rich setting.
Several signs have been erected at the Mullingar Shamrocks walkway.
“So a local lady, Leslie Whiteisde, her and her son are very involved in Biodiversity Ireland,” Crawford Ormsby continues. “They let me borrow books in biodiversity, she came out to do a site visit on the track and was able to identify native flora and fauna around the walkway.
“We picked the prominent ones, without Leslie Whiteside and her son I wouldn't have had the expertise to put in the writeups. They were of immense support to me.”
Such willingness to collaborate has served Mullingar Shamrocks well. Awards and recognition have followed for their approach. It is ongoing. “A piece I'm very excited about is our concrete wall,” Crawford Ormsby. We have an extensive concrete wall along the goal side of the astroturf.
“I approached Cowboy Davie, who is a local tatoo artist. We asked him if he would paint some biodiversity healthy clubs related murals on to the wall. He has started that and he is going to cover that. It is only in its infancy. That will be a beautiful addition to the walkway.”
Maintaining the upgrade of facilities is clearly what Mullingar Shamrocks intend to do. So the fact that grants and prizes have been collected ensures momentum has been generated.
“We have been linking in with the Tidy Towns the whole way through the project,” the Mullingar Shamrocks’ Healthy Club Officer remarks.
“We applied for three of the special awards and to my utter amazement we won the Tidy Towns award for sustainable development. In so doing we won 1,000 euro as a prize, a lovely certificate and on the back of that one of the waste disposal companies, DM Waste, rang us up and sponsored us a further 1,000 for some signs. That was the icing on the cake for all the hard work.”
Visitors to Mullingar Shamrocks can see what is happening and how the club is willing to showcase what is beside the pitches.
Mullingar Shamrocks' GAA club is situated beside the River Brosna.
“We host lots of matches, our playing fields are very busy,” Crawford Ormsby admits. “Parents will walk while the kids are training, we have running clubs. You could have 15-20 women starting out every couple of months on a new Couch to 5k course. Those women are seeing the signs, you have people in the club and outside the club with the Operation Transformation walks.
“So loads of people are seeing and hearing about it. When we have tournaments with clubs from all over Ireland, they are seeing it. Operation Transformation brings in people who aren't part of the club.”
Everybody is noticing the developments as Mullingar Shamrocks have embraced the importance of biodiversity. Unsurprisingly the educational sector has taken note.
“One of the primary schools, about 200 metres away, their teachers are coming down, using the walkway for nature studies,” Crawford Ormsby says.
“St Colman's National School brought the kids down for a nature walk and treasure hunt. You have lots of other uses for this walkway, it is for the community, not just the Gaelic community.
“The Healthy Clubs initiative has been biodiversity friendly. We have very good programmes going on in Transition year of Mullingar CBS, we are hoping to do Phase Two next year of our Tidy Towns project. We'd be hoping to link in with the TY's and the active retirement group 1428, here in Mullingar.
“We want to do biodiversity friendly initiatives with a local business and the active retirement group. We want to hook those groups up with local primary schools.”
That is the next stage in the process. It is a challenge Mullingar Shamrocks will relish.