The community of Ballsgrove has had a colourful new Community Mural unveiled at the side of The Grove Pharmacy, located in the heart of the area. The project was completed by the young people from the Ballsgrove Youthclub, under the direction of local artist Darren Finnegan and proudly proclaims “We Love Ballsgrove”. The piece is surrounded by local flora, fauna, and features The Grove Gate and Millmount Tower as well as fresh fruits and vegetables as the theme of the mural focuses on health, nature, community spirit and pride of place.
This mural project was undertaken by Love Drogheda BIDs in partnership with Louth County Council in response to the IBAL report in July of 2022, which listed Drogheda number 39 out of 40 for litter and overall town cleanliness. Since then, Louth County Council, Love Drogheda BIDs, Tidy Towns, business owners, schools and private citizens have all played their part in improving the look of the town, in various ways including litter picks, street cleaning, graffiti removal,installing new lighting and re-painting crosswalks. The Ballsgrove Community Mural Project is just one of the ways that prove when groups all work together positive change can happen. Murals such as this can go a long way to not only brightening up and area and preventing further litter but also encouraging a sense of community pride in the place where we live and do business.
“We are delighted to be involved in this positive initiative for the town and Ballsgrove. Love Drogheda Business Improvement District are constantly working to improve the experience for visitors to our town and we are proud to represent the business community in their support for public realm improvements over the past number of years and make our town that little bit better with each and every project we undertake” (Trevor Connolly, CEO Love Drogheda BID).
The Ballsgrove Mural is one of many measures that has taken place recently to improve the look of the Ballsgrove area; bring Banks now have been power hosed and cleaned, the railings painted, the clothes banks removed and a new sign erected, all by Louth County Council. Love Drogheda BIDs, Louth County Council Imelda Kehoe of Grove Pharmacy, Chloe Kelly of Ballsgrove Youth Club and local artist Darren Finnegan all worked together on the Mural project and are delighted with the results and the fact that the mural was painted by the members of the Ballsgrove Youth Club.
We want to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners on this project, to congratulate the young people for their work and to say that this project could not have been achieved without the support of the local businesses and greater community.
