Latest news from Kathie Davey: An informal group in Shankill, Co. Dublin, decided to mark the Season of Creation this year by focussing on the beauty and fragility of nature rather than the doom and gloom of much of the conversation around climate justice and the loss of biodiversity. We would do this on the last weekend of the Season, calling it “Shankill Celebrates our World, Let’s protect it.” We informed local bodies such as the Guards, the County Council, local political representatives and our Tidy Towns committee of our plans and tried to encourage participation as widely as possible. We made numerous posters and placards (see photo top right) which we hung around the public spaces such as on the main street and at the roundabouts at either end of the village as well as mounting a large one on the wall of the St Anne’s parish resource centre which fronts on to the main road at a bus stop.
We also gave out strips of green ribbon inviting people to take them and tie them on to their gatepost or a tree near them over the weekend 3-5th October, ending the season. This was particularly effective with the schoolchildren returning from school on the Friday afternoon who were, mostly, glad to take them. Throughout the exercise we were extremely aware of the need to observe Covid-19 restrictions. Unfortunately, that was the weekend of Storm Aiden! We managed to mount all of the posters during Saturday morning but by the afternoon the weather closed in. By the time we collected up all the material on Sunday evening, much of it had torn free and was a soggy mess on the pavement. All in all, it was a good idea thwarted by the elements. The greatest spin–off was our interaction with members of the public when we gave out the green ribbons and also when we were putting up the posters and able to explain to people what we were doing and why. SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL!