Good clean fun at North End

“We wanted to start off our month of activities with a clean up of our area,” said a spokesperson for North End Community Association.

“Our last clean up was in May of last year when the group formed. This clean up was not as difficult as last year - the local authorities have been maintaining the estate on a regular basis, which made our job easier this time round.

“The only problem was the high level of litter lying around and the paths covered in weeds. We have spoken to the agencies responsible for dealing with the problem and this should be getting sorted out.

“We would like to thank Paul Kerr at Newtownabbey Borough Council for the loan of litter pickers, so that we could carry out the clean up, and for arranging for a bulky collection lorry to be in the estate from 9am to 11am on that day.

“Leaflets were distributed around the doors a week prior to the clean up so that residents could gather up any junk to go in the lorry. At the same time the lorry was in the estate, litter pickers were gathering up rubbish so that any bags of waste could go in the lorry and not be lying about to the following Monday morning.”

The clean up is being followed by a number of activities for children in the estate, including fun and educational trips which are being funded by Newtownabbey Borough Council through the Newtownabbey Community Safety Partnership.

“On Wednesday, August 4 a group of kids were taken down to Ballyclare Police Station so that they could meet the local community police,” the spokesperson said.

“The children were given a tour of the station and allowed inside a police car and on police bikes. They enjoyed themselves and went home with goodies given to them by the police. We would like to thank Alan Bowes the Community Police Officer for the area for arranging this visit.

“ As we have no community centre to work out of in our estate, we appreciate this funding so that the kids can enjoy the last month of the summer holidays before they go back to school.”