REGULAR users of the Bring Bank on Merchant’s Quay were mystified to discover recently that the recyclable facility, consisting of a number of bring banks, had disappeared. Instead, the space they had occupied had an old stone depiction of a medieval castle, enhanced with medieval characters and large stone containers of colourful flowers. On closer inspection, this reporter noticed unobtrusive holes inserted between the turrets of the castle, and enlightenment finally dawned that the bring bank receptacles were installed, almost completely out of view, behind the beguiling castle structure.
A woman who happened along to dispose of some items initially looked stunned and then puzzled.
“This is beautiful – children will love it – it is so attractive in this location but now I’ll have to find another bring bank facility and this one was so handy for me,” she said.
When urged her to look a little closer she was thrilled to find that the beautiful depiction of medieval characters actually shields the bring bank containers.
“Well, well done city council or whoever erected this here,” she said, as a number of tourists heading across to St Mary’s Cathedral paused to admire the eye-catching new addition to Merchant’s Quay.
Later, on checking with Paul Foley, senior executive officer in City Hall’s Environment Department, he confirmed that the initiative came from Limerick Civic Trust who worked on it in partnership with the council.
Confirming that they have entered the Bring Bank Category in the National Tidy Towns competition, James Ring, director of Limerick Civic Trust, told the Limerick Post that they decided to use the bring bank location in the medieval quarter, complete with medieval characters, as the theme for their design..
“The characters, led by King Johnny, also include a prince and princess and two knights, painted by local artist, Marjorie Daly, with the idea aimed at getting children interested in recycling and coming along with their parents to see the characters.”
Emphasising that the project was developed with children in mind and the objective of trying to get them into the mindset of recycling, Dr Ring said:
“Recycling has become such a huge environmental issue and will only get bigger as our non renewable resources get less and less and energy prices rise exponentially.
“We have to educate our children as to the importance of recycling and we are delighted to enter this project into tidy towns and represent our city in this fantastic competition I hope that the judges like our design and we do well in the competition”.
Acknowledging the support the project received from Mr Foley’s department in City Hall, Mr Ring added:
“I hope our project does the city proud and I would now urge everybody to get down to Merchant’s Quay and use it – and bring the children’.
Mr Ring also revealed that the Civic Trust has plans to redesign other prominently located bring banks.
