Maire Ui Scolai and Geraldine Murphy sent us this latest news:
Spring came early one Friday morning to Johnstown Killiney Church when the local Council, (DLRCOCO) provided us with 4 tonnes of free mulch. Ideal for soil conditioning and suppressing the weeds!
Work began at 9.00am with a small band of volunteers which suddenly grew very fast as boys from 6th class in the local Primary School (Johnstown Boys School) together with their teacher spent the morning with us! First it was explained to them what the mulch was for and what they would be doing. Like bees in a honey hive they took to the task with great delight at getting a morning out of the class room!
Tea break was allowed(!) and then further volunteers joined in! The boys returned from their break and with renewed energy the project was completed mid morning!
We now have the gardens looking very bright for spring and later will be full of strong summer colour with perennials which were chosen for the bees and butterflies. While many of these plants were purchased many were also donated by parishioners. We expect to have many of our busy bees humming into these flowers in a short time.
Tree planting:
To mark the 50th Anniversary of the Church a lovely Silver Birch, Jackmani was planted in the grounds by Bishop Dermott Farrell. This is a native Irish tree and will provide interest and colourful bark all season.