All About Cork: Bottle and can collections drum up tidy sum for Tidy Towns

Ballyphehane Tidy Towns has unveiled its plans for 2025, with a host of initiatives and events to look forward to.

The group was established in recent years by local activist Konrad Im after his young sister came across broken glass while out playing in the community.

Keen to ensure this did not happen again, Mr Im established Ballyphehane Tidy Towns. The group has since been involved in regular litter picks and a wide range of events and initiatives, all aimed at ensuring community pride in Ballyphehane.

Speaking to The Echo recently, Mr Im outlined the group’s plans for the year ahead, including plans to continue their weekly litter picks and ensure youth participation in keeping Ballyphehane tidy.

“We have over 150 Coláiste Eamonn Rís, Presentation Secondary and Coláiste Chríost Rí students out for the school term doing weekly litter picks, taking part in our Youth Hubs Programme,” he explained.

“In Pearse Square, we’re continuing to work with the local businesses, residents and Cork City Council in making Pearse Square a safe community space for shopping and socialising.

“We’re currently awaiting the installation of a traffic barrier to prevent cars from entering the square, and when the weather improves we have a few more plans in the works,” he added.

Mr Im also revealed the group continues to work with local stakeholders and Cork City Council to enhance Tory Top Park for all members of the local community.

“Our hope is to work collaboratively towards reaching Green Flag status,” he said.

“We’re delighted Cork City Council has been so supportive with this.”

As part of Ballyphehane Tidy Towns’ work in 2024, the group conducted can and bottle collections at last year’s Virgin Media Park concerts, an initiative that has sparked further work in this area.

“We recently received the final figure from Alice and the team in MCD from our can and bottle collections during last year’s concert series,” Mr Im said.

“We’re blown away to have received €7,511.60 from the collections, which will be invested back into the community through our various projects.

“Following this success we’re delighted to be working closer with Iain and the team from Munster Rugby as we introduce year-round bottle/can collection bins with funding again going straight back into our work in the community,” he added.

“We’re very grateful for the support and we’re looking forward to working together again for this year’s concert series.”

Pride in Alix Mendez

A local school has expressed its pride in a past pupil who made her debut in the Scottish Premier League recently.

Alix Mendez, a former student at Presentation Secondary School, Ballyphehane, recently signed for Aberdeen FC in Scotland after making the move from Cork City FC.

The former Wilton United player had two seasons with the senior team at Turner’s Cross, and she played a key role in memorable runs to the semi-finals of the Women’s Cup and Avenir Sports All-Island cup.

In a statement, Presentation Secondary School said: “We are so proud of our past pupil Alix Mendez who has signed her first professional contract with Aberdeen.”

Mendez confirmed her departure from Cork City with an emotional statement earlier this month: “Wearing the Cork City jersey is something I’ve never taken for granted and always felt proud to represent this club.”

Dogs for the Disabled raise funds

Almost €15,000 has been raised for a local charity’s new headquarters and national training centre.

Dogs for the Disabled is creating a new headquarters and national training centre on the outskirts of Cork city.

The Togher-based charity is raising funds via GoFundMe to ensure the centre is operational as soon as possible.

In a statement, the charity said the property requires a complete renovation. “Our goal is to get our new national training centre and head office in Cork operational as soon as possible, so that we can help those on our waiting list get the assistance dogs they’ve been waiting years for.

“The main house will cost in the region of €500,000 to renovate and make fit for purpose so we can move staff and dogs in.

“Outdoors, there are two adjacent properties which will be renovated into houses for our dog training teams.

“It’s estimated that the entire works will cost in the region of €2 million. Please give what you can to show your support. Every donation matters and will help us complete our mission.”

Donations can be made via GoFundMe.

Free courses in community

A number of free courses are underway or in the pipeline in Togher, thanks to Cork City Partnership.

An ‘Introduction to Smartphones’ course got underway on Monday, February 10, and will run for four weeks at the Togher Community Centre, every Monday from 9.30am to 11am.

An ‘Introduction to Women’s Personal Development’ course will get underway on Monday at Togher Boys National School, and will run for seven weeks. The course will take place every Monday from 10.30am to 1pm.

Finally, a ‘Paediatric First Aid Workshop’ will take place today, February 12, at Togher Family Centre from 10am to 12pm.

Eligible participants must live in Cork city and complete a registration form before joining the course. For more details or to register, contact Mary Sheehy at msheehy@partnershipcork.ie or 087-1962015.

This project is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union.

Women’s Coffee and Chats

Togher Community Centre continue to host ‘Women’s Coffee and Chats’ mornings every Wednesday for the next four weeks.

The ‘Wednesday Women’s Coffee and Chats’ mornings began last week and takes place from 9.30am to 11am until March 5.

The mornings feature guest speakers and focus on topics such as relaxation, stress management, and health.

For more information, contact Mary Sheehy on 0871962015.

School steps into the past

History came to life at a local school recently as Presentation Secondary School, Ballyphehane hosted History Week.

As part of the event, the local school encouraged students and staff to dress up as their favourite historical characters.

“From legendary leaders to iconic figures, history was truly brought to life in our school,” the local school stated.

“From medieval knights to roaring ’20s flappers, we had an incredible time stepping into the past.”

Madness at Virgin Media Park

British ska band Madness have become the latest act announced to play Virgin Media Park, with the Camden-chart toppers set to take the stage at the Ballyphehane venue on Friday, June 20.

No strangers to Cork, Madness had played in Cork City Hall as far back as 1985, and have appeared multiple times at Live at The Marquee concert series.

The band’s 1979 debut studio album, One Step Beyond…, reached number two and spent more than a year in the UK album charts.

Madness’s second studio album, Absolutely, also reached number two in the UK album charts, and launched some of the band’s biggest hits, most notably, ‘Baggy Trousers’, which peaked at number three in the UK singles charts and ‘Embarrassment’, which reached number four.

Hits followed with ‘Grey Day’, ‘Our House’, and ‘Cardiac Arrest’, and in 1982 the band had its only number one, ‘House of Fun’.

Tickets for the gig are still available at www.ticketmaster.ie.

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