A huge achievement thanks to all

Before and after: the community garden transformed

A lot happened in 2022. The community garden was awarded a substantial grant to carry out several important initiatives - to fence the garden area, to replace the old, rather dilapidated shelter, and to install a metal garden shed and a polycarbonate polytunnel. These initiatives required significant site preparations involving both contractors, gardeners themselves and volunteers in the community. The works have been completed and, with the exception of the polytunnel in which deep beds still need to be filled with soil, are in regular use.

The garden before improvements. The laurel in the background to the left was removed and the old shelter was demolished.

Trailer-loads of brambles and undergrowth were taken to a recycling depot.

In January, preparations for installing the fence began with clearing the boundary line.

By April 2022 the fence and a sign had been erected.

The original shelter was demolished in May with the aid of a groups of Ukranian refugees staying at Two Mile Gate.

As the weather improved, the foundations for the new shelter were prepared.

Concrete for the foundations for the shelter and shed had to be trucked from the car park.

Assembling the shelter jigsaw. Figuring out what went where.

The completed shelter in August, surrounding area levelled and sown with grass seed.

Assembling the shed was another puzzle.

Thousands of screws later the shed was nearly complete.

Preparing the ground for the polytunnel.

The polytunnel in December. When filled with soil the beds will be ready for the new growing season.

An amazing community response

A huge thank you to all who responded so generously to the call for donations to make up the amount of €2,000 which was our agreed contribution of 10% to the CLAR-funded improvements to the garden.

The donations of gardeners and friends amounted to the princely sum of €1,150. This, together with subscriptions for the gardening year 2022-2023, meant that, at the end of November, Killaloe-Ballina Community Garden was able to transfer the whole amount due to the East Clare Community Co-operative which administered the grant.

This amazing generosity shows just how much the community garden is valued locally.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone involved, too many of you to name individually.

How the grant came about

It was the recent affiliation of Killaloe-Ballina Community Garden to East Clare Community Co-operative that helped secure the License Agreement with Clare County Council to formalise the use of a designated area on Bane Field. Under this affiliation, in 2021, ECCC could apply on our behalf for a grant under the CLÁR Program (Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais), a scheme provides funding for small-scale projects in rural areas.

An application for €20,000 covering fencing, a shed, a new shelter/potting structure and a polytunnel was approved. The CLÁR grant provided €18,000, the remaining €2,000 was to be found by Killaloe-Ballina Community Garden. ECCC as the umbrella body managed the tenders and contracts and many gardeners pitched in on the ground.

It was a hectic phase but all was successfully completed within the required time frame.