We had a really successful TeamBuilding event AND a huge amount of work completed when over 40 members of Baxter Health Care spent a very enjoyable afternoon doing a wide range of tasks as part of our Businesses in the Community initiative.

The company sent 42 volunteers, having selected Bray Coastcare as a suitable organisation to do some community work with.

They tackled the cove, cliff walk, Bray Head, deralict sites on the seafront and weeds along the harbour wall. The deralict site was like a cesspit. Waste that had built up there over the years included bottles, cans, food containers, soiled nappies and lots and lots more!

Greenstar as always provided the skip while the Baxter crew also brought some equipment with them (which they have loaned to us for future use). Local businessman Joe Duggan has also donated a significant amount of equipment including hedge cutters and strimmers which will give Coastcare much more 'firepower' in future.

Coastcare provides the ideal opportunity for businesses to get their staff out of the office and on a team building exercise without it coasting them anything. The management and staff of Baxter Health Care were really pleased with the success of the event. So much so that some of them now want to come back on their own time for future clean-ups. They'll be more than welcome!!


July Cleanup:

The Bray Coastcare Group July cleanup held on Saturday the 11th of July was a great success. We had 12 volunteers out on the day and we were delighted with the amount of litter we collected and skipped. Once again we filled a skip with all sorts of rubbish.
We were also very happy to have used our cutting equipment to carefully trim back a briar bush in front of the green bench at the start (at first bend) of the Cliff Walk thus providing the tired walker with a tremendous scenic view of Bray's coast and views as far as Dublin and Howth in the distance. After all this is much nicer than sitting and viewing an overgrown briar hedge in front of you!

Well done to all involved and thanks again to Greenstar for their amazing support!


Sunbeam House Volunteers Offer:

With more and more volunteers getting in touch to join the ranks of Bray Coastcare Group as each cleanup goes by it was with delight that the group were contacted by management at Sunbeam House offering to join up with the group and conduct their own weekly cleanup with the help of Bray Coastcare Group and the use of our equipment.

We are delighted about this venture and we feel it is great that the group can be of assistance to a group like Sunbeam who want to do their bit for their own community in helping to clean the town up. They will be concentrating on Bray Harbour mainly but also Bray Head and the surrounding areas.

So keep an eye out for the volunteers from Sunbeam House who will be wearing the Bray Coastcare Hi-Viz Jackets and please do offer your congratulations and support to them on their selfless work!


Bray Coastcare Group on National Television:

Some of you may remember an email I sent out last February informing you of the interest from RTE in filming Bray Coastcare Group and myself about the work we do for our own local environment.

The programme they were filming for was called "THE ENFORCERS" and was a six part series aired every Thursday at 8.30pm.

The programme was described as "A Fly-on-the-wall series following the various people charged with the sometimes thankless task of protecting Ireland's health and environment."

On Thursday the 23rd of July the final episode of the programme included a section on Bray Coastcare Group. Many of the volunteers who were out on the cleanup filmed back in February are clearly visible.


Chairperson Change for Bray Coastcare Group:

It is with great sadness that I must inform you of my plans to emigrate to London in England and therefore will not be able to continue as Chairman of Bray Coastcare Group.

The reason for me moving is to work as a full-time Secondary School Religious Education Teacher in a very good Grammar School. If it was at all possible I would be staying here to teach in Ireland but unfortunately with all the disastrous education cuts here it would be impossible for me to find work in Ireland.

I do of course intend to return home to live in the not too distant future and I hope to be back for as many cleanups as possible as the flights home are pretty cheap and it’s only a 1 hour flight.

I will be stepping down at the end of August and will be replaced by the very dedicated and capable current Vice-Chairman Phillip Byrne who will be taking over the role of Chairman from September 2009.

It remains to be decided what role I will play within the group but I can assure you that I will be as involved as much as possible and that I will do my very best to make some of the monthly cleanups into the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all very much for your incredible support and hard work over the last couple of years and wish you all the very best. It is my sincere wish that the group will become stronger and bigger over the next few years and keep up the brilliant work it has done for the town and its people since setting up in April 2007, I am confident that this will be the case.