Ballyshannon Regeneration Group's big 'Operation' this weekend  

Operation Ballyshannon 2023 is set to take place this Saturday, April 29 in the Erne Town.
It is part of the Ballyshannon Regeneration Group's (BRG) big annual Spring-clean that has been taking place in recent years in the Erne Town, with amazing feedback and success.
They recently held a very well attended AGM with outgoing Chairperson, Bernie Boyle welcoming in Paul O'Doherty as the new Chair.  

Treasurer is Margaret Doyle with Secretary, Teresa Patton. Barry Sweeny will, as always, be ‘leading from the back’ and the outgoing officers, Bernie Boyle & Freda Lawn, will continue to work closely with the incoming officers.

Anthony Travers  agreed to share the PRO role with  Mary Duggan.  
At the meeting, Cllr Sweeny gave an account of the Development projects undertaken by BRG over the last two years including the restoration work on the Town Clock.

BRG members with Ukrainian volunteers in the ForAll garden at Allingham Park in their 2022 clean up

This he said, had raised a new awareness of Ballyshannon’s Heritage and of community work at both regional and national level.
This has helped to secure funding for other restoration projects in the town since.
The group have also been  developing and improving the Cotton Hill Walk since 2021.
When complete, this will be a stunning 12k loop from the Market Yard; it will overlap with the Caoilte owned road and the planned Erne Atlantic Way route.
A cross-border ‘Shared Island’ project is also being developed; the Cotton Hill walk can hopefully be part of this and all will assist existing and future tourism trails and will be a great amenity for local, visitors and businesses in the area.
He commended the valuable outdoor work by many members of the group: flower sowing, grass-cutting, general maintenance and litter picking, all of which makes the town a more pleasant place to live or to visit We enter the Tidy Towns Competition each year; our marks have increased marginally but there is room for improvement and more ‘hands’ would make a huge difference.

In this context, residence groups, which look after their own areas made a huge contribution to the overall picture and the hope is that more individuals can be persuaded to look after their own patch: every little helps and every bit of litter put in a bin counts!  
"We in the BRG are Partners with Donegal Co Council and local property owners in the National Heritage Council’s Historic Towns Initiative (HTI) projects. We were successful in securing HTI funding in both 2021 and ’22 which, together with funding by the property owners involved, has seen the conservation and improvement of 16 heritage buildings in the town," he said.
 Alongside the HTI projects, BRG held a successful Heritage Week event in both 2021 and 2022; these were entered for the National Heritage Competition and won first prize in their categories both years.

Incoming BRG officers seated left to right: Secretary Teresa Patton, Chairperson Paul O'Doherty, Treasurer Margaret Doyle (continuing). 
Standing l-r: Mary Duggan (will share PRO role with Anthony Travers), 
Councillor Barry Sweeny, founding member, Freda Lawn who served as Secretary for 10 years and Bernie Boyle, Chairperson for three years. 

BRG are also Community Partners in the Co. Co. led RRDF (the  Rural Regeneration Development Fund) application. The Co. Co is currently updating designs of the Draft Plan for the Market Yard and Riverbank is now being prepared for the Planning Application Stage.
BRG were very happy to be in a position to help and enable other voluntary other groups, like Local Hands, Abbey Assaroe Conservation Group, House of Stories and the St Patrick’s Day Committee.
Cllr Sweeny named and complimented many other local groups also working hard towards regeneration and development of the town and surrounding areas.

Some work and a lunchtime gathering from last year's Spring Clean/Operation Ballyshannon

He said there are many areas of cross-over and while focussing on their own pieces of the jigsaw, it is important that they all work together, as groups and individuals.

Burst water main being repaired in Bundoran

The Annual Spring Clean, ‘Operation Ballyshannon’ takes place this Saturday, April 29
Volunteers will meet at the library, for the morning session starting at 10am, with complimentary lunch 1-2pm and an afternoon session until approximately 5pm. Organisers say to for an hour, a session or the full day as it is good fun.