Pictures: Massive clean-up takes place across Kilkenny, Callan, Glenmore, Castlecomer - and more!

A massive community clean-up took place in Kilkenny starting off strong on Friday morning with workplaces and schools tackling litter locally, and community groups active on Saturday and Sunday.

Let’s Team Up to Clean Up, Together for Kilkenny involved 5,000 volunteers tackling litter in their local areas. 

Businesses such as PRL and AIB encouraged staff to give back to local areas and organised time for them to go litter picking as part of their working day. 

Mayor David Fitzgerald met the AIB staff on High Street, before they headed out on Friday morning. Chatting with the mayor, branch manager Jason Dempsey said AIB Kilkenny staff from High Street and Callan branch were delighted to partake in Team Up to Clean Up, Together for Kilkenny.  

"Supporting AIB’s sustainability agenda, and under the AIB Together Volunteer Programme, pride of place and community involvement is very important to all our staff and what a great way to offer something back to our communities by participating today," he said.

Over 40 schools participated in the initiative across the county. Karan Murphy, one of the green school co-ordinators from Loreto Kilkenny provided photographs of their green school committee out and about around the water barracks, and provided an insight of their experience .

"Our Green Schools committee had a very productive time on Friday litter picking, leaving the area sparkling. More importantly the girls learned loads," she said.

"This school effort was replicated throughout the county with primary and secondary schools tackling local areas, with some schools surprised at the amount of litter they recovered from the school boundaries and playing pitches."

In the Castlecomer Discovery Park, Chairman of the County Council Pat Fitzpatrick met the Muckalee GAA Ladies team on Saturday morning. They teamed up with the Discovery Park to litter pick their expansive parklands to get it ready for the summer season.

The club is participating in the One Good Club initiative and they chose to participate with Let’s Team Up to Clean Up, Together for Kilkenny as it complimented their Give Back challenge.

"We are delighted that Muckalee GAA came to us with the offer to scour the parklands in search of litter, while we hope there isn't much to find, we are delighted with the offer of extra hands to prepare for the season ahead," said Kathy Purcell, manager of the Discovery Park.

"We also acted as a community hub on behalf of Kilkenny County Council to assist with the distribution of litter kits locally, as we too want to support this great community initiative."

At the Ardnore residents' litter pick, the Mayor Fitzgerald reflected on the great work completed in the area over the years. Gallows Hill has been transformed into a biodiversity oasis thanks to the work and expertise of Pat Durkin who was present with Cllr John Coonan at this neighbourhood litter pick. The group present also fondly remembered Sean Leahy, who passed away over the weekend and had previously been a chairman of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful.  He was proud of Kilkenny City and worked hard to ensure it looked its best through his volunteer work with KKB. 

There was plenty of activity across the county, with multiple community teams litter picking in Callan, Thomastown, Piltown, Johnstown, Galmoy, Ferrybank and Kilkenny City. 

Sean McKeown, Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council was present at multiple clean ups across the county.

"This initiative has been terrific to mobilising communities across Kilkenny," he said.

"A brainchild of my predecessor Colette Byrne, her vision became a reality with the assistance of the corporate sponsorship from Tirlán/Glanbia Plc, PRL, Panda Waste, Dawn Meats and John O’Shea Trust, providing the finance to provide appropriate health and safety equipment required to assist the community volunteers and assistance with the removal and disposal of litter collected by the volunteers.

"Only by their support, it enabled Kilkenny County Council the opportunity to organise the largest clean-up of the county.  We hope that we can build on the weekend’s success and continue this initiative next year."