Spring 2024
2024 kicked off with an Award Nomination for us! Courtown Community Council were nominated at the Gorey Business Awards as Charity of the Year, sadly we didn’t win but we couldn’t have been happier for the winning Charity Advocates For Autism!
Either way, it was a great start to the year and a great opportunity to get glammed up for the night!
Lorna and Linda looking very glamorous!
Next up came a meeting of the Courtown Regeneration Partnership (CRP). This collaborative effort was initiated following the launch of our Smart Village Community Survey last year.
To view Courtown Regeneration Partnership's press release regarding the meeting you can read it here
following on from that our Commmunity Tree Planting Day was a huge success!
A huge thank you to all the amazing volunteers from Courtown Training Initiative LTI Gorey Training Initiative and FDYS County Wexford. Special thanks to our group leaders Mary Murphy, Debbie Dillion, Stephan Sheridan and Kate Murphy. Gratitude also to our guest families including those from Estonia and Ukraine. Many thanks to Cody for capturing some great shots and our Tús workers Amanda and Conor for all your help.
Partnering with the Trees for Wexford campaign, we're continuing with our habitat restoration works along the Courtown Kiltennel Walking Trail. Collaborating with Wexford County Council Wexford Walking Trail, Sport Ireland and NPWS, our focus is on planting native trees along vulnerable sections of the walking trail, particularly addressing high risk erosion zones to safeguard our walking trail and our coastline into the future. These habitat restoration efforts will additionally establish wildlife corridors to foster and encourage native wildlife and biodiversity.
Community planting days aim to unite people, regardless of nationality or ability, fostering environmental protection and local pride. The resulting amenity will not only benefits the community but also become a captivating tourist attraction
Back in March the Wexford Walking Trails announced that Minister Heather Humphreys and the Department of Rural and Community Development, approved the inclusion of five of County Wexford’s stunning walking trails in the largest ever expansion of Ireland’s National Walks Scheme. The announcement also includes the approval of the appointment of a Rural Recreation Officer (RRO) for County Wexford.
This was a very exciting announcement as it means the potential for further investment in our area along with securing these walking trails for many generations to come!
The trails approved for inclusion in the National Walks Scheme are:
River Walk, Courtown https://wexfordwalkingtrail.ie/courtown-woodland/
Cullentra Trail, Kiltealyhttps://wexfordwalkingtrail.ie/kiltealy/
Ballybrittas Dolmen Trail, Bree https://wexfordwalkingtrail.ie/.../bree-hill-trails.../
Mount Nebo Trail, Hollyforthttps://wexfordwalkingtrail.ie/Trails/mount-nebo-trail/
Kilanerin, Curragh Wood Loop https://wexfordwalkingtrail.ie/kilanerin/
On the 4th of March we celebrated a BIG birthday - 200 years of the RNLI
In 1865 Courtown station opened at the request of local villagers. The original boathouse was constructed at a cost of £200. Today our RNLI lifeboat Frank is on station in Courtown since 2020
A ceremony was live streamed from Westminster Abbey and this commemorative video was also released
Also in March we, along with other Community Groups in the Area received training on making our community more inclusive to people living with dementia from the Irish Alziemers’s Association. This training is an important step in creating a more inclusive community to live in and we were delighted to attend!
In April we, along with a team of Volunteers from the community and o FDYS County Wexford did a big beach clean up! Summer is on its way and so are the annual visitors so we got the place tidied up and looking great!
April also saw the arrival of Storm Kathleen and quite a bit of damage to the Kiltennel Woodlands area due to the heavy rainfall and high waves. The old Fisherman Way Walk is now tragically close to disappearing forever.
In April the Riverchapel Community Complex received word that their long campaign for funding had finally been achieved with a life changing grant of €1.8 million! This money will go towards the construction of a new community centre which no doubt will host many events, workshops and supports for many years ahead!
A huge congratulations to Craig, Wexford Local Development and the rest of the team whose huge efforts and dedication cannot be underestimated!
The planned new community center
In April we happily greeted a group of tranisition year students from Creagh College who participated in yet another An Taisce National Spring Clean event in Courtown as part of their - Impact of Climate Change on our Coastal Areas - project. Well done everyone!! South East Radio were on hand to cover the event for their "We Care" segment. It's great to see our young people actively safeguarding our environment.
Thanks again to Cody & Amanda for all your help!
April we also held our AGM. We had a good attendance with lots of things to report on. Highlighted at the meeting were concerns from the community about over development, coastal erosion and a serious lack of bins, which is particularly difficult during the summer months.
You can read the AGM Report here
And thats all for now! Summer is fast moving in and we’ll have plenty more news for you in August when the season is over and we have our village and harbour to ourselves again!