Hi
By now the fruit tree project has well and truly started. We began planting in  with Sean O hArgain, Muniteoiri agus na Paisti. It was such a great day and our little orchard will hopefully mature over coming years. On Thursday 5th of March, I planted six trees with sixth class and my son Colm who is in Junior infants at St Canice’s National School. Then it was on to the Castle Park on Friday for the main event. What a great turnout and we had a film crew from Glass Eye Productions in Thomastown. I hope to have footage of this up on this site when the edit is complete.
Finally I went to the Model School on the Comer Rd and prepared the planting holes for the parents who were coming in on the Saturday. I had to be in Wexford at our Party Conference on that day so I haven’t gone back to see how they got on yet.
All in all it has been a really inspiring project, one that I hope will leave a lasting mark on the 400 celebrations. Here’s the press release I put out that week, we will be back in Autumn to complete the planting.
Malcolm

Celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the signing of the City Charter will take place this week in schools around the city and will culminate in the planting of an orchard in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle. The 400 fruit tree project will see the planting of orchards around the city to leave a lasting legacy of the 400 celebrations.

Speaking on the significance of the event, steering committee member, Cllr Malcolm Noonan stated that it was particularly poignant given that the theme of this years National Tree Week is ‘Our Trees, Our Culture’. ‘Kilkenny City and County is steeped in a tradition of growing and self reliance and this project seeks to reconnect communities with growing our own food, while enhancing wildlife in our urban areas’.

Three primary schools will take part in the first phase of the project, Gaelscoil Osraí, St Canice’s National School and The Model School and will plant small orchards of old native varieties of fruit trees including one native to County Kilkenny. On Friday March 6th, a group of twenty trees will be planted on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle formally marking the start of the project.

Brian Dillon of Future Proof Kilkenny who are involved in the coordination of the project acknowledged the support of Kilkenny Local Authorities, the OPW and other partner organisations and schools. ‘Claire Murphy of Kilkenny County Council has been instrumental in sourcing the right trees and we are most grateful for the support of the Local Authority and the 400 Celebrations Committee. Also the OPW have been most supportive of this project since it was first mooted’ he stated.

Elaine Bradshaw of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful is hopeful that the project will enhance Kilkenny’s chances in this year’s tidy towns, particularly under the wildlife and biodiversity categories.

It is hoped that the project will be completed in late autumn 2009 and the committee will be announcing a sponsor an orchard scheme to raise further funds to complete the planting. They are also hoping to identify more suitable sites throughout the City that are secure and will be well maintained.

What greater legacy can we leave future generations than that of trees? This is the opinion of Councillor Malcolm Noonan, who has proposed an imaginative project to plant 400 native fruit trees around the city and environs to celebrate Kilkenny’s 400th Anniversary of the City Charter in 2009.

‘It ticks all the right boxes’, stated Cllr Noonan. ‘Urban wildlife, an acknowledgement of past settlement, food for communities and wildlife, community involvement, its all there’, he said. Cllr Noonan is proposing that the trees be planted by communities throughout the city in conjunction with the Local Authorities of Kilkenny City and County, Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, Transition Towns Committee, and other agencies.

‘So far I have received a positive response from the Environment Section of Kilkenny County Council and Kilkenny Borough Council, subject to funding. I believe we can raise the necessary funds through sponsorship and donations, the planting could be done for free, involving local communities and voluntary input in civic public spaces’, he stated.

The idea was first put forward at a meeting of the Kilkenny Transition Towns initiative. Transition Towns was first developed in Kinsale, Co Cork and since has spread rapidly throughout the UK and Europe as a community led means of bringing energy and food security to urban areas at a time where volatile oil markets and climate change are challenging communities worldwide. The fruit tree initiative was put forward as an idea to mark our 400th Civic Celebrations with a project is tangible to the people of Kilkenny and will be in place for future generations.

‘Following on from the work I have been doing on allotments, I think this is a lovely idea that I hope will capture the imagination of the people of Kilkenny as we re think food and wildlife in our cities. One of the forthcoming actions in our County Biodiversity Plan will be to focus on urban wildlife and with so many marks up for grabs in the wildlife category of Tidy Towns, this project could give us the magic numbers we need to win the competition outright. What an achievement that would be on the 400th anniversary of our City Charter’ concluded Cllr Noonan.

For further information on Transition Towns, check out www.futureproofkilkenny.org