BALLINASCARTHY GAA Club is home to some of the best teams in the Carbery division – but now, thanks to an innovative new project, it has even more to offer its local community.
The Ballinascarthy Biodiversity/Sustainability team has been busy at work at Henry Ford Park in recent times with creative ideas to share the spare space in the club’s GAA grounds with their local community.
A walkway around the main pitch is already in use and the broader area is now further enhanced with the setting of pollinator-friendly shrubs, wild flowers, a rockery, beech hedging and native Irish trees, as well as a vegetable plot and a heritage orchard with seating areas for picnics and relaxation.
The team involved in this exciting project are a diverse group of volunteers who operate in pods due to Covid-19 restrictions, with a lot of the work done at home and brought to the pitch for installation.
A huge effort has been put into this free, safe, green space that is all inclusive and offers the local community a place to visit, to exercise and for families to have a picnic, as it ties in with the Kilmalooda loop walk.
The local schools in Clogagh, Kilcolman and Knockskeagh are very involved in this project and are recycling children's picnic tables, chairs, litter bins as well as painting bird houses and fairy doors.
This is an ideal place for schools to have a ‘bio blitz’ or even a nocturnal bat survey, introducing the pupils to a school tour with a difference. A bee bank and bug hotel, providing shelter for insects, are ready for installation.
The biodiversity trail will be documented in colourful, informative signage all around Bal’s GAA grounds and everyone from the community is welcome to visit.
During this Covid-19 pandemic, everyone has relied on the great outdoors for respite so in Ballinascarthy, it is planned to give everyone an even greater opportunity to get out there and enjoy nature at its very best.