The 24 vans & trucks rolled into the Club car park at 8.45am on a frosty morning last Saturday, the personnel in the car park anticipating a busy day ahead. It was of course the 8th year of the increasingly popular Boden Christmas Tree collection service.
Everyone split into their respective Area – we covered from Oldbawn across to the LUAS bridge, divided into 8 Area’s. In the lead up there were many thousands of texts, WhatsApp messages & emails. There was also the small matter of many dozens of signs advertising our service throughout the locality.
This year was of course a tree collection with a difference, masks, hand sanitiser and gloves were the essential kit as we adhered to all Covid guidelines. There were no teas, coffees,scones or muffins this year to ensure there would not be any possibility of people gathering. This year only the driver & family member could travel in the vans and trucks, so the request went out for foot soldiers. We were fortunate to have 117 people assist on the day, many thanks to each and every one as the collection could not be a success without you!This year we collected in excess of 1,930 trees, a monumental effort by everyone.
Many thanks once again to AJ Grab Hire and driver Leigh, we could not possibly transport this volume of trees to the SDCC depot in Tymon without you. Thanks also to South Dublin County Council for facilitating us once again.
As well as those out collecting, many thanks to Catherine & Laura Nagle for looking after the phone and all related administration work on the day. We are also fortunate to have our PR machine Cliona Mellett to promote the service, and it was great to receive such positive feedback on social media and indeed via texts also.
And most importantly many thanks to the local community who are genuinely thrilled that we provided the service this year in difficult circumstances, and we of course were delighted to be in a position to oblige. We’ll go again next year!!A special mention to Eamonn Clarke & Diarmuid who joined the organising committee this year – a successful first year ensures their position on the team again next year!!!
Organising committee: Kieran Rudden, Eoin Reid, Cathal Fitzgerald, Danny O’Connell, Keith McClusky, Peter Wall, Diarmuid Fitzgerald, Eamonn Clarke & Gerry White