Shredding time

The main reason to visit the park at the start of the new year. Looked like we had more trees than ever left in the park for shredding. The resulting mulch gets used on the municipal flowerbeds. So are you a real tree person or have you gone artificial? 

Not so bleak midwinter!

It's December 16 and the shadows are lengthening yet. There may be no frost on the ground but with the excitement levels building among the younger folk we might as well be living at no. 2, The North Pole!

In the bleak midwinter
by Christina Rossetti

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

We are not the only ones with a bug hotel!

The Mercy School, John's Road decided to give their bugs the red carpet treatment last Winter. What do you think of this wonderful construction put together by Ms McKiernan's class?

November and all is quiet

November already. The days are closing in and and a quietness is descending on the park. While the cold nights have not arrived yet the sun's lengthening rays cannot dissolve that persistent dampness that clings to everything. Still the place is looking great. There are loads of berries on the trees while the odd cluster of mushrooms and the last of the flowers are hanging on in the wildflower meadow.

September in the park

Begonias and crab apples! We had not expected the begonias to bloom again. These are the same ones we rescued a couple of years ago from the old flower beds on 1798 Street. We kept them in storage over the Winter before planting them out the following Spring. They bloomed, as expected, that first Summer but then came back again a year later bringing their vivid reds and yellows to the park once more. They are probably the best value-for-money bulbs the Corpo ever bought! As for the crab apple trees, received under the Council's Trees for the Community scheme, they are settling in really well and getting sturdier all the time. The birds can expect a good crop of fruit from them in the Autumn.

Wexford in Bloom Award

We were thrilled to receive a Gold Award from Wexford-in-Bloom at the 2013 awards ceremony. It's nice to have our efforts recognised and appreciated. After all we have turned the place around haven't we. All together now: "for we are jolly good fellows, for we are jolly good fellows ...". 

Guides go wild in the park!

Last Summer the Clonard Girl Guides, under the guidance of the Council's Environment Officer Clíona Connolly, sowed a variety of native wildflower seeds in the park's Wildflower Meadow. The result? A beautiful splash of vibrant colours across the top of the park. They also helped build the multi-tiered insect hotel in one corner of the "meadow". And what name did they give this structure? The Buglington!

Another Successful Picnic in the Park

Sorry blog, I forgot all about you! Time to play catch up.

Our annual Picnic in the Park went wonderfully well. You know it's no big deal really, just a low-key, fun day in the park. We put on some stuff, the sun shines, families turn up and have a picnic and a bit of craic, families go home tired but happy, we clean up, game over. But here's the thing: it works! And that is why we will continue to have an end of Summer Picnic in the Park. Well at least until it stops being fun.

As usual the day would not be the success it is if it were not for various individuals and groups giving so freely of their time. So let me say A BIG THANK YOU to the submersibles, The Ocelots, the krew, DJ Cullie, Red Moon (puppet shows and arts zone), Menapians A.C., Wexford Celtic, St John's Volunteers GAA Club, artist Helen McLean, Arnold's break-dancing crew, yoga teacher Eileen Rowe (and her hoola-hoopers!). Thanks, also, to The Order of Malta and Health & Safety Officer Davy Martin. And a final thank you to the Council for its continued support.

Check out The Ocelots in this short video posted on Facebook.

And enjoy this slideshow showing images from the day: https://www.youtube.com

Picnic in the Park - 2-5pm, Sunday, Sept 1

  

Redmond Park plays host to its annual Picnic in the Park on Sunday next. This family fun day, the last in what has been a fantastic Summer for outdoors events, is hugely popular and always attracts good numbers.
All you need is a picnic basket full of goodies, a big rug and a couple of free hours to chill out. Bring a book, a guitar, bongos, a frisbee, a baseball ... whatever. There will be live music, break-dancing, arts and crafts for children, a puppet show, obstacle races, football skills, boules display and more.
We look forward to seeing you!
(The photo was taken by Niamh Mahon at a previous Picnic in the Park.)

Leaf Composting at Redmond Park

Redmond Park will be getting even more brownie points on the green front when they start composting leaves from this Autumn. The plan is to install some composting bays in the fenced off area in the corner of the park. Here's the dream team that is working on getting the project off the ground.

Sun Shines Brightly on Neighbours' Day

Last Friday's Neighbour's Day event at Redmond Park was a great success. Of course, get the weather right and you are always off to a great start, and this was a perfect early Summer's day. In twos and threes they came for this, the third successive Neighbours' Day get-together in the park. There was tea, coffee and delicious pastries from D'Lush Café. Following refreshments and chat it was over to our gust speaker, writer and historian, Liam Gaul. Liam has just launched a book entitled "Wexford: The American Connection". This provided the basis for wht turned out to be a wonderfully informative and interesting lecture which Liam delivered in great style. He focused in particular on the visit of JFK to Wexford fifty years previously, and how the US President's cavalcade travelled up Spawell Road before coming to a halt at Loreto Secondary School where he delivered a short address. We were even treated to a recording of a speech given by JFK on that famous trip. The Mayor, Councillor Jim Allen, was on hand to officially launch Neighbours' Day and to welcome the efforts of the local community looking after Redmond Park so well. All in all this was a lovely, relaxed occasion which all present both contributed to and benefitted from in equal measure.

Celebrate EU Neighbours' Day at Redmond Park

The last Friday of May is EU Neighbours' Day, the day when neighbours all over Europe come together to celebrate the community glue that binds. And, you will be glad to hear, Wexford is no different. We at Love Redmond Park are delighted to be hosting, once again, hosting a Neighbours' Day get-together in Redmond Park. We invite you to join us on Friday next (May 31) at 10.30am for a complimentary cuppa, a chat and a bit of craic.

The raison d'etre of Neighbours Day is a simple one: get to know your neighbour. Why? Well if for no other reason than “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know”! On a more serious level a strong community spirit is only as good as the links between individuals in the community. All it takes is a little more friendly communication and a willingness to lend a helping hand when its needed. Maybe think of your neighbourhood as an army and apply the maxim from Aesop's Fables: "United we stand, divided we fall"!

This year’s Neighbours’ Day event will be officially launched by The Mayor, Councillor Jim Allen while local historian and writer Liam Gaul is this year’s guest speaker. As author of the recently published “Wexford: The American Connection” Liam will focus, in his talk, on our links with the USA.

Note: If those nice people in the Met office don't deliver on the fine weather they have forecast the event may be postponed. Fingers crossed, however, that the sun will be beaming down.