2003 was more of a year for communication than actual work but it is part and parcel of our function as a Community Council. It was agreed to now concentrate our energy on the Riverchapel, as per our remit and constitution. In order to understand the needs of the Riverchapel area we held a public meeting.

The result of this lead to the setting up of residents associations. It was disclosed at this meeting that each estate had a residents association, five in all. It was agreed to form a combined residence association to do a major clean up in the village.

Plans were drawn up and given to the chairman of this committee with a donation of €500 from the community council to get started. The success of our cleaning of the river and thereby stopping flooding in the village was very much appreciated by the people of Riverchapel.

It was also agreed at this meeting that the community council would not interfere with any works carried out in Riverchapel but we would be available to assist with any grants etc. a grant was given to the combined residence association to help in the development work in the village which is being carried out at the moment. We must congratulate the residence for the admirable way they too the patients and staff of St Senan's nursing home out for a lovely meal and entertainment on the Thursday before Christmas, well done.

The hazard lights outside Riverchapel national school which the C.C.C. shared the costs with W.C.C. The latest development is that we had to remove the timing devises and send them to the manufactures and have the timing reset. We are awaiting the return of the same. Markings on the road outside the school are to be replaced by W.C.C.

The setting up of a new harbour development committee was achieved with representatives from all interested parties involved under independent chairmanship of Mr. Pat O'Donnell. The committee is doing tremendous work well done to all.

A new development plan is to be carried out on the burrow road. A new car park with approx 250 car spaces, the opening up of old walkways in the wood known locally as bachelors walk with name signs on each en d of the walk. Lovers walk is also to be opened with a lovely rhododendrons growing on the side of this walkway. The creation of a picnic area on what is locally known as the cricket pitch with picnic tables and barbecue beside each table. Sand dunes for children to play in while the picnic is being prepared are also part of the plan.

New Christmas lights were erected on the North Pier ship this year and the lights along the seafront were erected again.

With the whole new layout of Courtown plus new street lights and newly laid tarmac roads. New Houses and apartments available for letting, Courtown is now a more beautiful place to live and holiday in.

We would like to thank Wexford County Council (WCC) for all the help and assistance they have given us, in particular our local councilors and especially Michael D'Arcy. We wish him well on his retirement - we will miss you.

Thanks also to our local engineer Mr. John Lambe and also to Noel O'Driscoll B.E

And last but not least to the local community of Courtown / Riverchapel for supporting and encouraging us in our efforts to improve our surroundings. Don't forget it's easy to change you living area just ……. "Get Involved"

All suggestions and comments are always welcomed, but of course they can only be dealt with if we receive them formally on a postcard or a letter. Otherwise they may be lost or cannot be acknowledged.

Breanogue River and Flooding in Riverchapel Ardamine

Sincere sympathy to residents of houses and owners of business establishments that were affected by the October flash flooding of the Braenogue.

The results of many local meetings and discussions are now to be seen as the river has been cleaned from the bridge at the Rocket house as far as Ardamine House Hotel. This has been done with a track digging machine, unearthing silt, muck, debris, fallen trees, old cookers and fridges.

These trees and household appliances were blocking the flow of water in normal times. Then when after a period of one or two days of continuous heavy rain this blockage builds up and suddenly overflows at tremendous speed. The narrowed down passageway and bridges were not able to take this onrush - thus resulting in flooding of houses etc.

Many of the residents whose back garden border the riverbanks are happy that local contractor Mick Sheehan has carried out this work.

While nobody can guarantee 100% success things have certainly improved. The danger for the foreseeable future is that the bridges may not be able to facilitate the amount of the water flow after excessive heavy rain. Unfortunately this is beyond our control, as we cannot interfere with the bridges. Wexford County Council in the long term recommends a man made lake be created on the riverbank somewhere in the Ardamine area to take the excessive heavy rain.

Wexford County Council has given £1,000 towards the cost of cleaning the river work, which we are grateful. This together with subscriptions from householders and landowners bordering the river should take care of the total cost.

North Pier Project

The development of the North Pier area will feature a remembrance garden in the shape of a boat. The boat will have two boarding openings, a poop deck, a ships wheel on poop deck, a hatch, a sundial, a compass between decks, a front deck with a viewing area with telescope mounted on deck, two masts and rigging.

Rigging will be completed with the help of well-known seafarer Alan Switzer of the Cruiscin Lan. The Boat is 117 ft long and 23 ft wide. There will be seating within the boat. Internally and externally on the boat there will be granite slabs recording the names of boats and crews lost at sea in the area over the years. Other slabs will record past local happenings and names of local people of historical interest.

Bollards interlinked by chains will be placed on the length of the North Quayside. Curbing will be placed on all edgings and the remaining surface to be totally cleaned and completed with tarmacadam. This will leave an area of 2100 sq. meters for sightseers. To park their cars while's viewing this development. A particular area of this open space will be marked for boat trailers. Also an area adjacent to the RNLI Building will be reserved for parking for RNLI personnel only.

Annual General Meeting 2001

Courtown Community Council held their A.G.M on Wednesday 31st October in The Taravie Hotel, Courtown.
Minutes of the 2001 AGM >>>

Work Completed.

We drew up a plan of the seafront, which consisted of 5 different stages, a model of which can be viewed in the sun lounge in the Taravie Hotel. The first stage was the walkway at the seaside of the basin with 250 meter's of seating. The bollards were removed at the request of Wexford County Council in order to bring in a machine, which would pump liquid concrete in behind the stone walls of the basin. The bollards will be replaced as soon as this work is carried out. All the hardwood brackets for the seating and the boat were made and donated free of charge by Brendan Dunbar and Sons for which we are very grateful.

Ongoing Work.

The second part of our programme has started, which will extend the stage area protected by a stone wall and will give an extra 36-ft of seating. A second wall is also being built with another 36-ft of seating and fronted by a parking area for about 12 cars. The wall here will feature some tiles and bricks from the old brickwork's and should be of great interest to the older generation. In 2002 we plan to implement stage C of the landscaping plan. This area is the end of the harbour between the river, north beach and the R.N.L.I. Station.

Coastwatch INTERREG Harbour Survey 2001 Award
Best General Management (joint)

Presented to: Courtown Community Council & Wexford County Council
By: Coastwatch Ireland
Date: June 2001

A "waste-ecoaudit" was carried out for 36 harbours in the south Irish Sea as part of an INTERREG project. After joint training, all harboura between Drogheda and Tramore were visited at least once by surveyors. Water quality samples were taken for lab analyses and other data gathered by inspection and asking users.

The audit included the following headings:

• Cleanliness of harbour and water
• Waste management facilities
• Information available to users
• Nature and Care
• General Management.

Sculptures

Name the Sculptures Competition

A Dolphin has being erected beside this wall with a water pool underneath. A Mermaid will also feature on the seafront while on the Seamount side of the basin a Horse & Man is featured symbolising the Creators of the Harbour.

We are proud to support our local craftspeople and are confident that you will find their work visually appealing and environmentally enriching.

And the Work goes on

We are grateful to the Seamount Residents association for their £500 donation, plus the cost of erecting the Sculpture. The north pier area was made presentable with the help of Wexford County Council and Mr Robert Ireton. Robbie also carried out all the machine work on the seafront, free of charge and also made a handsome financial contribution to the C.C.C. The residents of Seamount are also to be congratulated in their achievements this year, they are spending in the region of £9,000 on public lights and tarmacadam, not bad for a small community.

The bye-law prohibiting drinking alcohol in public places including the beach is to be welcomed and has already proved successful.

We have also purchased a road sweeper, which has been overhauled, but this can only come into operation when the roads are in a proper condition. P J Byrne of the Beacon Nightclub sponsored this. We thank the Beacon for this and also their very generous donation of £2,000.

Plans for proposed footpaths for the area have been submitted to Wexford County Council and are being considered by the Council at the moment.

Plans for the cleaning up of the river through Riverchapel are being considered at the moment.

Water Treatment Plant:

As you are aware the current work is very disruptive to everyday life. Unfortunately this inconvenience is unavoidable. Work on the roads for the infrastructure will probably finish early March then we can get down to working on the footpaths etc.

Arrangements are being made this year for the collection of litter on Ardamine Beach as well as Courtown.

Development plans for Poulshone, Ardamine, Riverchapel and the Red Row can only start when the infrastructure work is finished.

The Community Council meets about every three weeks and we would welcome new members or volunteer workers.

Events held throughout the year (2001)

Christmas Party
Santa arrived in Courtown in early December. It was hoped that Santa would arrive by sea but unfortunately because of the rough seas this would have been too dangerous, Santa is not getting any younger. Santa arrived by road and managed to surprise the large crowd of children and parents gathered at the harbour. Santa then by magic turned on the Christmas lights. The crowd then proceeded to An Cruiscin Lán for a free party for everyone. Each child met Santa who didn't appear to be in any hurry as he had ample time to hear all their stories and requests. Santa brought goodies for everyone. It is hoped that Santa will be able to visit us again in December 2001. We appreciate that he is a very busy man and we thank him for personally visiting Courtown.

Party Night
A bumper night was held in Skippers in February. Hundreds of tickets were sold throughout the parish and in Gorey town at £10.00 per ticket representing exceptional value for a great night out. Prizes on the night included:

• 6 mini breaks in top class hotels in Ireland
• 6 meals out for 2 people (some including a bottle of wine)
• Vouchers for supermarkets (Tesco, Pettitts and the Mini Market, Courtown)

Courtown Community Council provided a beautiful meal, catered for by Committee members and volunteers.

The Kick Ass Cuckoo's provided the music and we all bopped till we dropped.

"Who Wants to be a Millionaire" type quiz

Our popular Friday night quiz was well received. All the ingredients of the T.V. series were included, 50/50, Ask the Audience and Phone a Friend. However our Jackpot was a little smaller than the TV series and our winners would be the proud owners of IR£500.00. The quiz ran in An Cruiscin Lán from February to April. We then moved to the Bayview Hotel followed then by the Ounavarra Hotel and the final night was June 22nd.

We would like to give a special word of thanks to our supporters through the year.