Chamber President urges: 'Take Pride in Our Town'

Paul Cochrane made the rallying call as plans are being made to enter the ‘Ballycastle in Bloom’ campaign for 2010.

Mr. Cochrane said in a letter to Chamber members that the town needed “a bit of a face lift” and what better way to do this than to flood the streets with colour throughout the summer months and beyond.

“With your help we propose to have every business and shop front displaying window boxes, and or, hanging baskets which would give a great burst of colour throughout our streets,” Mr. Cochrane said.

He added: “It will be important that we get the support of the majority, if not all, of the businesses in the town in order to achieve the WOW factor.

“From a business perspective we want to keep Ballycastle people shopping in the town as well as attracting new trade and we believe that Ballycastle in Bloom will go a long way to doing this.”

Mr. Cochrane said it was up to the individual to decided how much they wanted to spend. He has encouraged people to put down on paper their requirements.

Plans for the future include:

• To identify areas of the town which can be improved by introducing flower beds and interesting and unique landscape ideas. (Spring/Summer 2011)

• We see this initiative as the first step along the road to competing for a “Best Kept Town” award.