Wild About Navan are seeking volunteers to join their team and projects

Hannah McNamara

Wild About Navan - an urban nature conservation & sustainability project for and by the people of Navan held its first major event last month when it invited members of the community to join them for the 'Gather The Tribe' event.

The event which took place at The Solstice Arts Centre, Navan was open to anyone interested in "protecting nature, cultivating connections, sharing local knowledge and building capacity."

The committee stated that the aim of this event was "to empower our community to work better together on local issues."

Kevin Delaney from Academy Street Workshop facilitated the meeting. There were short talks, breakout sessions and shared conversations over lunch. One activity involved each person jotting down answers to questions like "My areas of interests/knowledge are..", "Problems we face are.." and "My ideas are..".

They later discussed these answers as a group and sought consensus on them.

Dr Robert Meehan, a local environmental geologist extraordinare, spoke about the formation of Navan's landscape. He focused on features such as the river Boyne and the necessity of advocating for rewilding for conserving biodiversity.

Another professional who attended the meeting was Dr Ursula King, who shared her passion for the natural world and the role of education in living more sustainable lives. She discussed the pressures on nature caused by human impact and what the people of Navan can do to slow and ultimately reverse the destruction of their town.

The first Wild About Navan event was extremely successful. They shared their delight and gratitude to all who attended on their Instagram:

"This was a hugely positive event & it's just the beginning! We established that kinship, belonging & community lie at the heart of our connection to Navan & our relationship to nature.

"We warmly thank the Heritage Keepers and Burren Beo for their expertise & funding of this event. Thank you to the Solstice Arts Centre for taking such good care of us and to the 'CommunityFoundation4Ireland' for supporting this initiative. And big love to all who gathered with us."

Wild About Navan is an urban nature conservation & sustainability project for and by the people of Navan. They are continuously looking for more members to join them for future events and currently seeking volunteers to help organize a river clean-up and awareness raising day on Water Heritage Day in August.

Sign up to their newsletter at wildaboutnavan.ie for further information.