Upcoming Activities 2025
Discover what we have planned for each month and let us know if you would like to help us.
To join in simply get in touch and we'll connect you with an activity group.
WEEKLY
Discover
Hedgerow Survey
Johnstown hosts many kilometres of hedgerow but we don't have this recorded and we don't know what we have. We do know that hedgerows play a vital role in offering wildlife food, shelter and safety. Help us to uncover more about Johnstown's biodiversity.
Wildflower Survey
We'd like to discover what native Irish flowers are growing both wild and in our wildflower displays. Here's a short visual guide to help and please do send in photos of your sightings.
Tree Survey
Winter is a great time to more easily identify evergreen trees, Spring flowers make some standout, in Summer it's the leaves and bark, and in Autumn there's often fruits to tell us more.
Pollinator Survey
Social media request for residents to take note of what they see and to record these sightings on pollinators.ie
Repair
Pavement Weeding
The weeds constantly reappear in our pavements, cycle lanes, and roadside. We manually remove those that would otherwise be chemically treated by the Council.
Pavement Verge Edging
As part of our Green Km Initiative with Meath County Council we will resume edging pavement verges. This removes the need for chemical weed killer and creates a neat finish.
Litter Picking
Unfortunately this job never ends. If you can spare the time we will provide gloves, litter pickers, waste bags, and even dispose of the litter collected.
Remove Graffiti
Whenever and wherever graffiti appears we need to act quickly to remove it before it embeds itself in the surface material.
Please report any new graffiti.
Clear The Clutter
A purge to review anything that needs fixing or removal in public spaces. This includes redundant, incorrect, or dirty street signage and items will be submitted to the Council for action.
Requests already made in 2022 to MCC:Â
Two large National Development Plan signs at Bothar Sion bus stop could be removed as they are 'Out of Date' - Awaiting Reply.
WINTER
January
2025 Draft Project PlanÂ
An opportunity to check our goals for the year ahead. All suggestions, ideas and offers to help are appreciated. ✔️
Tree Planting
5 Spare trees (from MCC in 2024) available to replace any trees
Dispersed Urban Orchard Planting
Inspect planted trees and check stakes and ties.
3 Replacement trees are required in Bailis Downs Estate.Â
Tree Branch Pruning
Low-level tree branches often hinder pedestrian movement along pavements. Between September and February there is an opportunity to rectify this.
A small project team of volunteers is needed to prune any branches identified as requiring removal. Resident groups should contact us for support and we will coordinate with Meath County Council to take away any debris collected potentially in March.
Work required in the Johnstown Peoples Park.
February
Tidy Towns 2023 Grant Application
Tree Planting
Request trees from MCC in 2024 for green km planting
SPRING
March
Promote National Tree Week, March 22nd
Johnstown Sunflower Trail
Establish level of interest by community groups to germinate and host a sunflower trail
April
Promote 'Delay the 1st Lawn Cut'
Delaying the first cut of the year to estates lawns and home gardens until the end of April will help increase biodiversity at a time when it's needed the most.
Promote Alternatives to Chemical Weedkiller, 25th April
With the support of Meath County Council volunteers began clearing the weeds along the 4km of cycle paths through Johnstown without the use of chemicals. Volunteers are scraping the heads off weeds with shovels whilst the council uses their road sweeper to collect and clear the debris. The plan is to repeat on a monthly basis.
Managing the pavement weeds without the use of chemicals safeguards public health, pet's, pollinators and insects, and even the wildlife in the River Boyne.
Please stop using chemicals to control unwanted plants.
Wildflower Site Sowing
In April we can sow the remaining wildflower seeds collected from the autumn harvest.
May
Promote 'No Mow May'Â
Simply leave the lawnmower in the shed to allow lawn flowers to appear. We expect to see more dandelions, daisies, buttercups, clover, wild garlic, and more but first, they need to grow.Â
Promote National Bike Week, 11th to 18th May
We'll be engaging with Navan Cycling Initiative for their events.
Promote National Biodiversity Week, Mid May
More information biodiversityweek.ie
Promote Walk to School Week May 20th
We'll be promoting the 5-day challenge to get children (and their parents) more active and to help reduce the dependency on cars.
Promote World Bee Day May 20th
Community Grant Application
An opportunity to apply for the MCC grant to make further improvements to the neighbourhood.Â
All ideas and suggestions are welcome.
SUMMER
June
Pride of Place Entry
St Martha's Bridge Annual Spring Clean
An opportunity to make the bridge sparkle again with the help of Rochfort Property Maintenance and water from Navan RFC.
Promote 'Don't Mow Yet'Â
Our appeal to the public to reduce the frequency of lawn cutting to ensure that insects have food, shelter, and safety. This is important to the food cycle and will benefit birds and insects, and increase biodiversity in a space that would normally be barren.
July
Install St Martha's Bridge Summer Flowers
30 planters packed with pollinator-friendly herbs, fruits, and flowersÂ
Tidy Towns Judging
An unannounced visit is expected from the Judges to see our entriy
August
Pride of Place Judging
We have the opportunity to present Johnstown to visiting Judges to see our entry
Summer Meadow Maintenance
We need volunteers with petrol lawnmowers who live close to any of the current sites to get in touch. The aim is to maintain a neat perimeter around these areas and to remove any litter or problem weeds.
AUTUMN
September
Wildflower Site Maintenance & Harvesting
Although we don't plan to sow any new 'designer' seed packet wildflowers in Johnstown we do need to maintain the existing sites. Grass and aggressive weeds quickly move into flower displays and these need to be removed together with cutting back and clearing the spent wildflowers.
Native Irish wildflower seeds are costly but we can harvest them for free in early September. Some will be re-sown on bare earth with some retained to sow in Spring.
Volunteers can take some seeds home to sow in their gardens!
Autumn Bulb Planting
From late September.
Summer Meadow Cutting
The annual cut and clearing of the long grass at our summer meadow sites.Â
October
Leaf Mould Project
3 initial sites help clear slippery pavements, prevent roadside drains from blocking, and create useful leaf mold. Opportunity to create more sites.
November
Pride Of Place Awards - Navan MD
Promote the Irish Garden Bird Survey
Held from Nov to Feb the survey form is available via https://birdwatchireland.ie/
Instal Winter Bridge Flowers
Seasonal Lighting
Last year we placed and extended our lights on 15 tree trunks at the Maple estate opposite the Johnstown Shopping Centre.
Johnstown Tidy Towns AGM
TBC
WINTER
December
Promote the Irish Garden Bird Survey
Held from Nov to Feb the survey form is available via https://birdwatchireland.ie/
Christmas Support for the Homeless
A public collection via Core Ireland.