All About Cork: Foraging walk goes down a treat with Tidy Towns group

Warm sunshine greeted the first in Douglas Tidy Towns’ annual series of events for National Heritage Week last Saturday — a foraging walk with botanist Jo Goodyear.

A much-used active travel route, Ballybrack Woods — known locally as The Mangala — provides hundreds of residents with a picturesque, car-free route to Douglas village each day, yet most are unaware of the nutritional benefits of the plants they see all around them.

The event was well attended, with around 20 enthusiastic locals — and one less interested, but nevertheless well-behaved dog — joining Jo Goodyear of Blackrock Herbal Clinic to discover more about the popular beauty spot.

Her first port of call was a bunch of nettles, where she picked some tassels, or seed clusters, from a nettle and offered them around for all to taste. She explained how the much-maligned plant contains protein and Omega-3, and how it can be used for teas and salads.

Ms Goodyear also dispelled the common misconception that dock leaves are the best cure for stings, pointing out why plantain leaves are actually far more effective, and showcasing some later on the tour.

She went on to take the group on a short amble through the area, identifying trees such as hawthorn, elder, and beech, explaining how a surprising amount of leaves, flowers, and berries they produce are edible and beneficial.

Wildflowers such as silverweed, sorrel, dandelion, meadowsweet, angelica, hedge wound- wort, and burdock, all in plain sight, were revealed one by one, with Ms Goodyear extolling their benefits and answering many questions from curious attendees. Although the walk was originally scheduled to last an hour and half, it continued for two, such was the level of interest.

Ms Goodyear was also on hand yesterday to present a more stationary, but no less interesting, Douglas Tidy Towns event — a workshop at the herb garden in Douglas Community Park as part of the Cork on a Fork festival.

There are plenty of Douglas Tidy Towns events to celebrate Heritage Week in the days ahead, starting on Thursday with a historic tour of Douglas Village, presented by Independent councillor and former Lord Mayor of Cork City, Kieran McCarthy (see story on left of page).

Beginning the same day, at 7.30pm, Kieran Dwane of BirdWatch Ireland will give a presentation on the birds of Douglas — an opportunity to learn about our garden birds, woodland birds, and estuary birds as well as highlighting summer and winter birds.

Friday sees a return to The Mangala for the ever-popular bat walk, hosted by ecologist Karen Loxton — but this is now fully booked. Ms Loxton will be back in Douglas on Saturday, however, to show how to identify significant local trees and to record them on the EpiCollect app as part of Douglas Tidy Towns’ Biodiversity Action Plan. Meet at 12pm at Douglas Community Centre.

The final event is a timely one, following the recent fish kill in the stream through Ballybrack Woods. Ecologist Letizia Cocchiglia will lead a walk along the stream, looking at its good and bad points. Attendees will also learn how to take ‘kick’ samples to check the quality of the water.

On the subject of clean water, Douglas Tidy Towns encourages locals to visit Douglas Library between 11.30am and 3pm this Thursday, August 21, where Cork City Council’s environmental awareness officer Claire Kelly and Local Authority Waters Programme community water officer Ellen Murphy will talk about household hazardous waste and how to dispose of it without harming rivers and waterways.

The library is also the venue for Douglas Tidy Towns’ exhibition ‘The Past and Future of All Saints Cemetery’, a new exhibition from the tidy towns group on the historic graveyard at the top of Carrs Hill, which run for the month of August. All events, with the exception of the fully-booked bat walk, are free to attend, with no booking required.

Douglas man among group honoured for volunteer work

Recently, four members of the United Friends for Education (UFFE) charity, were honoured with a reception with the President of the Republic of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, to recognise the charities five years of support to education in Gambia.

One of the four, Paddy Barry, from Douglas, said they were honoured and delighted to attend the reception and to have the work of their charity recognised in this way. Mr Barry said there were many volunteers with the charity who deserved to be honoured for their work over the years.

The president spoke passionately about their joint commitment to improving education, the difference UFFE volunteers and their supporters have made to the lives of the children, their parents, teachers and their futures.

The Irish charity is holding a fundraising golf classic on Saturday, September 6, at Dungarvan Golf Club. If people would like to take part, sponsor prize or a tee box, please email hello@uffe.ie.

All support is greatly appreciated.

Councillor McCarthy: Explore the history of Douglas for National Heritage Week

As part of a free suite of different tours across the city for National Heritage Week, Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy will explore the history of St Finbarr’s Hospital and Douglas Village, respectively.

On this Wednesday, August 20, Mr McCarthy will host a tour of St Finbarr’s Hospital with the focus on the city’s historic Cork Union Workhouse. Learn about Cork city’s workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841. The meeting point for the tour is just inside the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road at 6.30pm.

Mr McCarthy noted: “For a number of years now I have ran the walking tour of the workhouse story at St Finbarr’s Hospital.

“Of the 20 years or more city and suburban walking tour sites that I have developed, the tour of the workhouse site has been popular. The tour though is eye-opening to the conditions that people endured in the 19th century, but a very important one to tell.”

On Thursday next, August 21, in association with Douglas Tidy Towns, Mr McCarthy will host a historical walking tour exploring the history of Douglas Village from its sailcloth factory days to industrial mills to its social history.

The meeting point is just inside the car park of Douglas Community Centre at 6.30pm. There is no car parking in the community centre grounds.

Mr McCarthy noted: “The District of Douglas takes its names from the river or rivulet bearing the Gaelic word ‘Dubhghlas’, or dark stream.

“The tour takes its roots in the early years of the village of Douglas; the story of one of Ireland largest sailcloth factory is a worthwhile topic to explore in terms of its aspiration in its day in the 18th century. On June 1, 1726, Douglas Sail Cloth Factory began to be built. Samuel Perry and Francis Carleton became the first proprietors. The factory is said to have been founded by a colony of Huguenot weavers from Fermanagh.

“The 18th century was a golden age for wooden sailing ships, before the 1800s made steam and iron prerequisites for modern navies and trading fleets.”

His other free tours can be viewed under Heritage Tours on http://www.corkheritage.ie.

No booking is required.

GAA club lotto at €10,600

The Douglas GAA Club lotto jackpot now stands at €10,600. This is a very important fundraiser for the club, so why not have a flutter?

You can purchase tickets online through their website, or through the Clubforce Connect App, or you can purchase tickets directly in the club bar in advance of the draw at 9pm every Sunday evening. A direct debit option is available as well. Also if anyone is interested in becoming a promoter where you sell a book of 10 tickets each week to family, friends, workmates etc, you are automatically entered into a promoters-only draw each Sunday, please contact Der Regan on 086 6093083 for details.