Saintfield cleans up as volunteers spruce up town

Saintfield cleans up as volunteers spruce up town

28 September 2016

SAINTFIELD is arguably one of the district’s cleanest towns.

Its leafy approach roads, streets in the town centre and others dotted around housing areas are always clean and tidy and new statistics which have been revealed by the Saintfield Development Association indicate why.

Since the start of the year, almost 1,000 bags of litter, leaves, cut grass, weeds and dirt have been collected by a number of volunteers, with the town further enhancing its green credentials by taking all the waste to Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s civic amenity site in Ballynahinch.

A team of 18 volunteers collected just over 400 bags of dirt from pavements, gutter drains and car parks, and 253 bags of weeds were removed from roads, streets, ditches, fields and footpaths. One hundred and eighty seven bags of cut grass was gathered from verges and road junctions inside Saintfield’s 30mph limit.

Seventy three bags of litter were collected by volunteers concentrating their efforts on the town’s sports ground, roads, pavements, river and car parks, with 57 bags of leaves also collected.

Saintfield Development Association chairman, Brian Gamble, has praised the volunteers for their hard work which he said is not only greatly appreciated by the community group, but the people of Saintfield and the town’s business community. He said a spin-off of the work of the volunteers has been the improvement in the appearances of homes and businesses in the town.

“The volunteers do a tremendous amount of work and meet for several hours on a Thursday night. The amount of litter, leaves, weeds and grass they have collected indicates just how much of it is lying around the area,” he continued.

“Without the efforts of our volunteers Saintfield would not be as clean and tidy as it is. The volunteers also plant flowers which feature in the many floral displays and hanging baskets in the town and look after them.”

The Development Association chairman commended the volunteers’ “community spirit” and for freely giving up their own time to keep Saintfield looking its best.

“We are very proud of the volunteers and what they have been doing to brighten up the town and keep it looking so good. People also stop the volunteers to commend them on the work they are doing. We are also pleased people in Saintfield are also doing their bit by improving the appearance of the front of their homes and businesses,” added Mr Gamble.

Rowallane councillor, Billy Walker, has paid tribute to the Saintfield volunteers for their “tireless efforts” and said their collective work is greatly appreciated.

He said their hard work, alongside that of the local authority, ensures the town is always looking its best and paid particular tribute to volunteer Lawrence Murphy for his work keeping the town clean and tidy.

“Lawrence, who is the chairman of the town Green Committee, and all the volunteers are unsung heroes. They continually go out of their way and the amount of litter, dead leaves, grass and weeds they have collected highlights just how busy they have been. If we had similar community-minded people in other parts of the district, imagine the difference that would make,” continued councillor Walker.

“I have no doubt people driving through Saintfield or shopping in the town centre will have seen these people at work. They are a shining example of what can be achieved through hard work and I congratulate them.”