By Damien Ahern

We were delighted to welcome Mary Ellen Tierney and Tom Abbott, the new Mr & Mrs Abbott (left)  to the River Walk on Wednesday afternoon, the first newly married couple to walk under the Arch! Many thanks to the happy couple for visiting us and choosing to take some photographs at this amenity site. Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness together.

The high temperatures of the past week has resulted in a busy spell for our volunteers to keep flowers and shrubs watered. The heat has also encouraged the flowers to increase their blooms, bringing lots of colour and cheer to the street.

Huge thanks to the FÁS workers, RSS Workers and TUS Workers who have been extremely busy all last week cutting grass, weeding and sweeping the roadsides. Huge credit is also due to previous community activists who had the vision to plant trees, build stone walls etc which will all have the benefit of enjoying today.

Artist Jim Dunn continues to make progress on the Heritage Mural at the top of the street, with a new character added in recent days. How lucky we are to have such talent living in our community.

We are delighted to report that dumping at the bottle bank has not been an issue in recent weeks thanks to the installation of a camera at the site. Thanks to everyone for their continued cooperation.

It is heartening to see another vacant building for sale on Colbert Street – Mullane’s Shop. The site where the Mural is housed is also for sale separately. This wonderful building deserves a new lease of life, which in time would add to the local population, contribute to the local economy, and reduce the number of vacant units in our village.

By Damien Ahern

With the help of Councillors John Sheahan, Francis Foley, Liam Galvin & Michael Collins, Padraig Vallely of Limerick City and County Council and the Town and Urban Renewal Department of LCCC, our magnificent footbridge in Athea is due to be refurbished in the coming weeks. The bridge was erected in 2005 by Athea Community Council and was largely financed by the community. The bridge is now showing signs of disrepair and requires treatment. The structure is due to be washed, sandblasted and painted in its entirety. This allows us the opportunity to choose a colour for the bridge. In an effort to create a greater sense of place, we are proposing to change the colour of the bridge to the Athea Parish Colour of Maroon (similar to the colour of the new Athea Signs on the Glin, NCW and Abbeyfeale Rds). However, we also have the opportunity to freshly repaint the bridge in it’s current colour of black. We are currently running a poll on our social media page allowing people to vote for maroon or black. Anyone who does not have access to social media, can vote by placing their name and their chosen colour on a card and dropping it in the letter box at CD printing by Wednesday July 21st.

We are glad to report that dumping at the Bottle Banks has reduced since the installation of a solar powered Wifi Camera. There were some instances of bags of clothes left at the bottle banks during the week by a local lady, but following an image shared on social media, the bags were removed. A reminder to all that it is an offence to leave bags of any kind at the banks, even if the banks are full. We plan to take a proactive approach on social media, sharing images of offenders if required. Many thanks to the majority of you who continue to respect the use of the facility.

An exciting project is also underway on the Glin Road, which will see a new feature added here in the coming weeks. Many thanks to the Hen Harrier Project for supporting this project. Watch this space for updates.

We would like to offer our congratulations to Jamie Kelly and Karen Matthews who became engaged to be married recently. Wishing them a lifetime of happiness together.

By Damien Ahern

It is great to see the return of our hanging baskets and window boxes to the village bringing some much needed colour and cheer to the street. We are hopeful of some warm and sunny conditions to allow the flowers to flourish.

Many thanks to the FÁS workers and Jim Carmody who are busy each day tending to the village ensuring the village is maintained to a high standard. We would encourage everyone to support the Community Council Draw upon its return to support the provision of the local CE scheme.

Unfortunately dumping has become a major issue at the Bottle Banks in Athea. Each week a large amount of rubbish is removed from bags that are being left at the side of the bottle bank. We are currently investigating ways to redesign the bottle bank to prevent dumping at this site. Our group has also invested in a CCTV camera for the site, hoping to identify the culprit/culprits. A reminder that leaving a bag of cans/bottles/clothes at the bottle bank when the banks are full is also classed as dumping. A reminder also to local Public Houses that is it an offence to use the bottle banks for commercial purposes. All establishments are required to have their own bins to dispose of class bottles/cans.

Many thanks to our local councillors John Sheahan, Liam Galvin and Francis Foley who have committed funding from their GMA allocation towards the repainting of our footbridge. This is a huge undertaking with the project costing over €50,000 for a complete repaint. We are very grateful to Limerick City & County Council for all their help and support.

We have just a few jobs remaining at our River Walk in advance of an official opening to take place later in the year. With the help of the Hen Harrier Project, we have commissioned a large Hen Harrier Wood Carving which will be placed on the Glin Road.