Now Formed!
COMMUNITY GREEN INITIATIVE (CGI)
Dunipace, Denny & District, Scotland

In June 2008 the citizens of Dunipace and Denny gathered into their first AGM to vote in the constitution of its new environmental group, select the Managing Committee and set the first meeting.  Later in the month the Managing Committee elected its officers and began its work.

It's been a while coming but we are finally officially organised, up and running.  Many projects are already in process and others in the planning stages, while others are on a long list being reviewed by committees.  Many thanks go to Falkirk Council Litter Strategy Team, especially to Hania Smith, Catherine Wilson, Chris Jackson and Jennifer Milton; and to Arthur Berg of Falkirk Environmental Trust for all of their ideas, encouragement and support.  Cllr John McNally has also been very supportive of all our efforts, as has our MSP Michael Matheson. 

The next Managing Committee meeting will be held 10th July at the Heritage Rooms in Dunipace.  We anticipate meeting twice a month for a while, as there is much work afoot.  The group has agreed it will be proactive...think "grabbing pickers and sacks and getting down to work!"  The image above is our business card - so that as we are out and about talking to others about these projects, we can hand them a contact card if they want to get involved.

Currently we are working on an anti-dog-fouling campaign (Green Dog Walkers, funded by Earlsburn Wind Energy Ltd.) which will be launched with full publicity in August 08; a Children's Art Poster Contest Calendar which will be available for sale as a fund-raiser in September 08 (thanks to Falkirk Environmental Trust - FET); pitches at two September events including the Herbertshire Highland Games; HUGE community plans for underpass murals in 2009; bike and footpath events to encourage youth to use them to get to school; research into Japanese knotweed removal along our River Carron banks; funding research, and more.  We have received funding for and purchased the first Bag Snagger to be used in the UK, through a grant from CFSLA Payroll Lottery (see www.bagsnaggers.com) - to pull wind-blown plastic bags out of trees and the river. 

Our New Leaf News will be published by CTRA quarterly until spring of 2009 (thanks to a grant from Earlsburn Wind Energy Ltd.) when it will become its own publication in an expanded version, reporting on environmental activities throughout our area.

A very limited edition of our DVD "The Day We Cleaned Up Our Park" (funded by FET and Falkirk Council and produced by JPS Media, see www.jpsmedia.org) is available.  The 10-minute video can serve as an encouragement and model to other communities who wish to organise litter clean-ups and get the children excited about the idea.  Thanks go to musicians Kirsty McGee and Mat Martin for letting us use "The Profit Song" in the soundtrack!  For more information on the video, contact the email address below.

 
    
If you live in our area and would like to become involved in CGI, email us at communitygreeninitiative@yahoo.co.uk or phone McCallum at 01324 824843.  You may also get on the email mailing list to receive our free newsletter (the June 08 issue is now available).  

DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO
AND BRING A LITTER BAG ALONG WITH YOU!


  

CALLING ALL CITIZENS OF DUNIPACE & DENNY! 

PLEASE GET OFF YOUR SOFAS
AND COME HELP US CLEAN UP THE MESS! 


(We promise it'll be fun and we'll even feed you cake!)

Gala Park Community Clean-Up for 26^th April

Carronvale Tenants & Residents Association (CTRA) is sponsoring a Community Clean-Up of old Gala Park (Dunipace) on Saturday 26^th April as the first effort of a new local focus group on litter and environmental issues.

Although the fly-tipped sofa suite above (isn't it lovely?) is not actually in Gala Park, the photo serves to remind everyone that this big Community Clean-Up is just the first of about 5-10 years of work planned.  The fly-tipping was photographed recently on Denovan Road, lovely backroad through farmers' fields in our semi-rural community.  Although it was reported and uplifted by the council, we understand it was quickly replaced by more of the same.  We have some ideas on tackling such areas...but first we are going to start with Gala Park, as it's centrally located in Dunipace/Denny.    

The Talk of the Town!
The event is co-sponsored by Keep Scotland Beautiful, Falkirk Council Litter Strategy Team, Falkirk Environmental Trust (FET), British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) and Action Earth.  People throughout Denny and Dunipace are saying this event is "the talk of the town"!  It seems there is a lot of sentiment attached to the old park where the town galas used to be held - and where there was once - long ago - a castle that burned down.  It's a lovely park with a playing field, children's play area, dog-walking paths, river banks, bridge and woodland. 

It just needs a good cleaning, some TLC.

Awards presentations will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Dunipace Primary Gym, the clean-up will take place from 10:30 - Noon in Gala Park, followed by a party back at the gym until 1:00 p.m.  

COME JOIN IN THE HARD WORK
 AND GOOD FUN!

We will meet in the car park on Stirling Street to get instructions, divide into six groups with Team Leaders, and don our clean-up equipment...(litter pickers, not spears!)

Many Hands...
FET is funding the clean-up. Local schools and youth groups such as Scouts and Brownies will present litter awareness projects. Denny High School students will help as Team Leaders; local businesses and ASDA will donate prizes and refreshments.  Matheson's Bakery is donating a sheet cake with our theme, "We Care About Our Park!" on it.  A professional video will be made of the event by JPS Media, working with children and local musicians on production.
 

Alex Totten, Football Hero Judges Art Contest!
A children’s art poster contest, on the theme “We Care About Our Park!” has the five Denny and Dunipace primary schools involved. Each advertising poster has a center blank space for a child’s original artwork. Scottish Football Hero Alex Totten will be the judge and will present the awards.

Fifteen winners will be selected (three from each school) and those images will be used in a 2009 fund-raising calendar. The overall winning poster will be the cover of the calendar, which will raise money for the schools’ and environmental group’s further green projects. With the cooperation of local businesses, churches, centres, etc. as many posters as possible will be shown throughout the community prior to the event.

A Gallery of Art Posters will be on display at Denny Library and other locations from 29 April through 12 May.

To get involved or display art posters in your shop, please contact CTRA Secretary Michelle McCallum at ctra.dunipace@yahoo.co.uk or 01324-824-843.

Are you are fed up with litter, fly-tipping, dog-fouling,

garbage in the river, streets, footpaths?

Do you have ANY ideas about how to tackle the problem?

If so, PLEASE come to
a COMMUNITY BRAINSTORMING MEETING!

50 Bags of Debris in 3 Hours

Another litter cleanup was held in our area on 27 October.  This time it was under the auspices of the newly-formed Carronvale Tenants & Residents Association, Dunipace, Scotland.  This was our third cleanup day in 2007.

Fifteen volunteers gathered 50 bags of debris – plus assorted gas tanks, stoves, sheets of metal and plastic, mattresses, etc. - in 3 hours from the footpaths along the River Carron, St. Patrick’s School and Winchester Industrial Estate.  It should be noted that the areas of this particular event are not IN our neighbourhood as much as on the APPROACH INTO our neighbourhood.  Our logic is that, since the clean-ups within our streets have helped a new mental attitude begin...that attitude should start as people are walking along in and out of particular neighbourhoods.  It is an attitude and awareness that needs to grow and spread - the way the litter has!  It also helps us realize we can have pride in our whole community, not just a set of particular streets near our address.   

In fact, we found a kitchen sink in the river!  We have to go back for that, it was not possible to get to it and haul it out this time around.

Monitoring Public Paths
We also did another clean-up of the neighbourhood entrance area at Milton Row on 27 October.  Within the streets and residence areas of Carronvale, the litter problem is at a minimum – mostly from teenagers passing through - but it is the public paths along the edges that need constant attention. And, unfortunately, the entrance to our neighbourhood is one of those public paths.  Our association (CTRA) is attending to that, through daily monitoring by some individuals, continuing clean-up days which will occur seasonally, and council assistance. A committee has formed to plan larger community clean-up events that will hopefully engage several neighbourhoods in 2008, to expand the clean-up mentality into all areas of Denny and Dunipace and work with other groups who are making this a priority. 

The Falkirk Council Litter Team is Great!
The CTRA is very pleased at how pro-active the Falkirk Council Litter Strategy team has been, in helping organize these clean-ups and even attending, themselves, to help fill the bags. At the October clean-up, team members Catherine Wilson and Hania Smith even climbed down into the river in their wellies, dragging a mattress and television out of the water. Discussions have begun regarding long-term plans to beautify the area, including installation of historical markers, tags to identify flora and fauna on the footpaths, and ways to involve the local youth and schools in future campaigns.

A Tesco Bag in Your Pocket!
Mostly we have noticed people are really helping to keep the areas clean after we clean them up, and I often meet dog-walkers who tell me they are helping pick up their Tesco-bags-full when they can.  I love hearing that, I don't ever leave the house without a Tesco bag in my pocket!  Now when I walk my dog and see anglers on the river bank, fishing quietly, I am hoping they notice the lack of debris at their feet.  At least a diminishing of debris, the job never ends.  

I could report on activities by young people passing through our area that are counterproductive to our efforts.  But it's too depressing to focus on that.  So, instead, I'll just say we monitor and clean up after you kids and we hope you have a change of heart!  Better still, we hope you might join our efforts in time.  After all, it is the young who will inherit this mess.  We DO have some young people involved in cleaning up our neighbourhood, and I am very proud of those few!

What's Next?
Our next event will be a large public meeting toward the end of January 2008 to make plans for a major spring clean-up of Gala Park, in which we hope to bring several Denny/Dunipace neighbourhoods together .  We will be looking for ways to involve other community groups - teens, schools, anglers, other neighbourhood associations - so that we can have an event that is both practical, educational and even entertaining.

We always love to hear about other neighbourhood clean-ups.  Please email me and I'll post your news here too!  After all, it's not just our wee neighbourhoods we are trying to clean up.  It's the whole country!

Shaka says:     "THANKS FOR CLEANING UP AND...COULDJA' PLAY FETCH WITH ME AND THIS ROCK NOW PLEASE?"
Contact:  Michelle McCallum at stirlingshadow@yahoo.co.uk and add "Litter" in the subject line.