Switching on the lights

The lights on Hollyfort's Christmas Tree will be turned on at 7pm on Sunday 10th December. And there may even be a visit by a very special person!

All welcome.

Tidy Towns Report 2017

Hollyfort Development Group/Tidy Towns Report 2017

In November 2013, a public meeting was held to discuss the state of Hollyfort Village. Four years later, the village is stunningly attractive due to the huge amount of work carried out by this committee and its supporters. This report highlights events since November 2016.

Events

Hollyfort joined Craanford/ Monaseed community in the Young at Heart Xmas Party in December ’16. This was followed by our annual Christmas tree lighting with over 50 children attending. Unfortunately, our annual concert with Ballythomas School was cancelled due to bereavement.

      A Fun-run and family walk was held in March ’17 and was a success both in community and fund-raising terms. Our Summer Concert in July with the ‘Growlers’ and local talent was another successful community event, which raised funds for the village and local church. Three community events were supported for the first time by the Tidy Towns (1) an Easter Egg Hunt run by Anne Cooney (2) Hillbilly Horseshoe League when an All-village resident’s team entered and (3) Gap Arts Festival. The Gap Arts Festival held a Poetry Event with Paula Meehan, Ireland Professor of Poetry, in the Old School. New lampshades/bulbs were purchased and the venue was highly praised by the festival organisers. The workshop was followed the next day by a poetry reading in St. John’s church. Several people from the village took part in the workshop and their reading in the church was commended.

      A register of ‘Invasive Species Sites’ by the Bann River was initiated by Deborah Darcy in May and the register continues to be updated. An exhibition of photographs of Hollyfort’s heritage trees and Tree Council posters was held in the Old School and Heritage trees in the village were registered with The Tree Council, who will be visiting the sites this year. For Heritage week in August, a ‘Herbs and Wild Food’ talk was organised with Nicky Darrell and Alex Duffy, and was a most interesting event. In November, our annual Halloween Fancy Dress Party continued to be well supported as too was the Fundraiser 4-Griffin.

Planting, weeding and grass and hedge cutting continued throughout the year, which was particularly onerous due to lack of a Tus worker which, I’m pleased to say, we have now been allocated. Litter picking was ongoing and a litter survey was carried out on Ballintlea road. The open drain in the village was fitted with a grill by the council and, in May a new composting site was erected in the village.

Awards

Hollyfort won a Gold Standard Award in Nth Wexford 2k Clean 2017 and also €50 voucher in 'The Little Things that Matter' photo competition. Our entry was Highly Recommended in the ‘Access for All’ competition and awarded a grant of €1,000. We were also awarded €504 in the Community Facilities competition. This week, we were awarded €1,000 in celebration of 60 years of the Tidy Towns. We once again entered the Tidy Towns Competition and were awarded an extra 7 points. The adjudicator remarked, ‘Your committee is doing sterling work and we concur with last year’s adjudicator that your village has great potential in this competition.’

The committee regretted the resignation of the chairperson mid-term and we thank Pat Howard for his hard work and enthusiasm over the years. Thanks also to all the committee members who continued to take up the TT challenge and, with the help of numerous supporters, have made 2017 another successful year for the village.

Hollyfort Dev Group AGM

Hollyfort Dev Group AGM  was held on Thurs 23rd Nov at 7.30 in Old School, Hollyfort. Check out the new committee!

Fundraiser 4 Griffin

Halloween Community Fancy Dress

Join the fun at Hollyfort Community Fancy Dress in Cooney's
Saturday 28th October '17
at 9.30 til late.
Music by JR

Tickets €5.00 from committee members or Cooney's Pub

Fundraiser for Hollyfort Tidy Towns

Highly Recommended in Access for All

Hollyfort Village was Highly Recommended in the Access for All competition for their application for the installation of four wooden benches along the Mt. Nebo Trail.  The judges have included extra funding for the erection of an information board.
We are delighted with the opportunity to work with Coillte in opening up this trail and making it more accessible to all walkers, from the young to the elderly.

Tidy Towns Results - 251 Points

Tidy Towns Results are in and  we are delighted to be awarded 251 points - up 7 points from last year! Big thanks to all those who planted, weeded, mowed, attended fund raisers, bought raffle tickets and generally supported the efforts of the Tidy Towners. 
Good comments by the TT adjudicator. Read them here

Congrats to one and all

Hollyfort joins Gap Arts Festival 2017

Hollyfort features strongly in this year's Gap Arts Festival with Paula Meehan, former Ireland Professor of Poetry, facilitating a major poetry event in the Old School. Over a day-and-a-half, 11 participants worked with Paula in front of a blazing fire. This workshop was followed by a public reading (free) in St. John's Church.
Paula Meehan, a highly esteemed Irish poet, opened and closed the event with a reading of several of her well-known poems. Paula was joined by workshop participants with a reading of their own poems.

Hollyfort was also featured in the Gap's festival film project on Hunter Gowan and we are pleased to say that the village looked very well in all the shots!

Hollyfort Summer 2017

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Herb and Nature Walk - Heritage Week in Hollyfort

Get to know local herbs, wild food and medicine with a nature walk by the river Bann. Nicky Darrell, herbalist and Alex Duffy will lead this nature walk and talk about the local herbs, wild food and medicines that are found in nature.

Date: Sunday, 20 August 2017

Venue: Meet at Grove Bridge, Hollyfort (no dogs, please) at 11 am

Admission: Free 

Click here for further details

Summer Concert Sat 15 July '17

Hollyfort Village wins double at 2017 Nth Wex 2K Clean Awards

Carol and Roy at Awards evening 15/6/17

Hollyfort Village wins the double at North Wexford 2K Clean winning Gold standard for 5 road clean-up and a Gold Standard Award in the competition.

 

Runner-up in 'Little Things That Matter'

    Also, we won a prize of €50 voucher in 'Little things that                 matter' photo comp

    Congrats and thanks to all those that took part in the clean-up by     picking up litter where ever that found it.

Tree Alphabet - Tree Awareness Exhibition

 Tree Alphabet is on display in the Old School in Hollyfort. This free exhibition includes educational posters from the Tree Council and photographs of heritage trees around Hollyfort.

Contact Carol on 0851138367 if you would like to visit the exhibition.

New Compost Bin

Hollyfort  has its own compost area for garden waste using recycled wooden pallets. From now on we will be able to make organic compost for our flower beds

Woody Woodpecker Photo Project

Woodpeckers are back in Ireland, in particular in Hollyfort. Take a photo of this stunning bird in Hollyfort and we will post the best ones here and on Facebook.
Email us at hollyfortvillage@gmail.com
Good Luck!

Hollyfort Tree Awareness

Hollyfort Trees
Irish native trees are those that reached Ireland before it was separated from the rest of Europe. Our most common native trees include oak, ash, hazel, birch, Scots pine, rowan and willow. Eventually, people brought other trees, such as beech, sycamore, horse chestnut, spruce, larch and fir to Ireland.

Mountain Ash

Hollyfort Village and surrounds is full of interesting trees. Over the last few years we have lost a number of trees due to storm damage and so the Tidy Towns group have planted a variety of saplings to replace and further enhance the tree population. These include silver birch, mountain ash and beech.

Silver Birch

What is the Tree Council?

The Tree Council is an umbrella body for organisations involved in tree planting, management and conservation. The main role of the Tree Council is to promote the planting, care and enjoyment of trees. The Tree Council aims to educate the public through the organisation of events and tree related activities, the publication of literature, the management of national tree records and through the provision of an information service to the public.

The heritage trees register is an important resource that the Tree Council is involved in creating and maintaining. We all want our heritage and ancient trees to survive as long as possible and to do this we need to protect them. The only way we can do this is to know where they are. We need to find them, map them, photograph them and record them. (http://treecouncil.ie)

Aunty Anne's Easter Egg Hunt

Start a Hollyfort Walking Group

Walking in a group can really help you to get started, stay motivated and enjoy walking.

It only takes 2 to start up a group 

The benefits of walking with a group:

1.  Walking group members can help to keep each other motivated.  If your enthusiasm is low other members can encourage you to go for a walk.

2.  Being a member of a walking group is sociable and fun.  Walking with a group can feel more like a social event or special time for you.  Even walking at a brisk pace you can chat with your friends.

3. Joining a walking group will help you to discover new walks in your area and further afield.  Walking groups often explore different routes and areas,  so while your getting fit your're also getting to know new routes and places.

4.  Walking in a group can help you to feel safer and give you the confidence to walk in different areas and at different times.

Get Ireland Walking can help you to get a walking group set up in your area.

http://www.getirelandwalking.ie/getactive/default.aspx

Contact any member of Hollyfort TT group if you are interested in starting up or joining a walking group.

Just a Perfect Day

Fun-run and Family Walk on Mt Nebo Hollyfort
Big thanks to all those who ran, walked and bought raffle tickets!

10KRun and Walk: Fund Raiser 19/3/17