Author Topic: easkey?  (Read 31579 times)

Offline Diarmaid

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #45 on: May 03, 2010, 22:02:32 »
Hey guys,

I was talking to Caz on facebook tonight and she described the situation with the campsite to me.

The details appear to be:
Gents toilets boarded up.
Ladies toilets open, but:
   one toilet has no flush handle
   toilets are severely backed up
   presumably, the rest of the bathroom is in a bit of a state too
The castle has litter and smells as if someone's gone potty in there too
The campsite has lots of litter and the remains of numerous fires.


It is out of the ordinary to have problems with the campsite on arrival, usually it's just the toilets that are nasty.

So some questions / items that come out of this:

1) Does anyone think it's worth moving? Does anyone know of anywhere better? (the only place I can think of would be Teletubbyland)... if Easkey is so trashed that it's not worth going, then we need to make alternative plans pretty sharpish.
2) failing that, can we organise the cleanup in advance so that we have all the stuff we need... there's no point in people showing up with black bags and bleach but no mops or buckets, you know?
3) is anyone a plumber or does anyone know anything about plumbing? how easy is it to fix a busted toilet handle? Even if we just take the cistern lid off and post up a sign saying to lift the stopper by hand, we should be able to get that other toilet working... I can't imagine 1 toilet for 150 people is going to work otherwise.



ps I know I'm not usually one for being gung-ho about or even participating in cleanup, but Easkey is a really nice spot and it would be a shame to have to spend the weekend somewhere that looks like Oxegen. I'll do my part, I've seen the rest of you often enough to know you all will too, but let's be organised and prepared about this, that's all.

Offline Karen

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #46 on: May 03, 2010, 22:54:40 »
Easkey is so nice! Who trashed it!!?!?? >:( >:(

I'm not sure moving it is really feasible, given that other colleges and clubs come, you would have to spread the word and make so many people agree.

However, getting in touch with the other colleges mightn't be bad idea to get them to help. I remember rounding up some trinners last year and roping them into toilet cleaning.

Offline JODY

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #47 on: May 03, 2010, 23:26:35 »
Trying to move the whole "event" of Easky elsewhere wont happen easily... anyway why go trash somewhere else? If its possible to get the facilities back up & running to some extent before the main crowd arrives that would be great.

Alternatively go somewhere else as a small group, maybe just UCD & Trinity??? Might be a good idea as it seems UCD get blamed for any crap that goes on in Easky anyway despite whether its down to teh club or not  >:(

Offline Diarmaid

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #48 on: May 04, 2010, 00:56:17 »
I think UCD has a tendency to overestimate how much UCD brings to the table. In Easkey, as in Kerry and Varsities (and lately even Colours, unlike back in the days when Trinity were douches  :P ), the presence of the other colleges and the vibe that brings is, I think, really important. So I would say either we move together or not at all.

Also, we'd need to be moving to somewhere with nice toilets, because that's basically all this is about. So unless someone knows where that might be, moving probably isn't the option.

It just might be a suckier cleanup than usual this year.

Offline kmck

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #49 on: May 04, 2010, 08:54:54 »
If there are no toilet facilites I would say I won't go. However if we could have some photos of exactly how bad it is we might be able to round up people to do a clean up.

Offline caz

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #50 on: May 04, 2010, 09:35:14 »
How Diarmaid described it is pretty accurate. The toilets are there and there is water, the only problem is they are blocked up and one of them has no handle. I do think it's something that can be fixed, and I will try get out there as soon as possible to suss out what needs to be done. But as I said to Diar already, it's really just a case of unblocking them, which could be a simple gloves job, unpleasent but there ya go.
 
The rest of the campsite is pretty nasty, there was a lot of litter, to the extent we had to do a bit of a clean up to make room for three tents. Broken glass could be a real issue there. I suspect the castle has been used as a toilet, judging by the amount of toilet paper, a couple of nappies and the smell. I cleared out the worst of it but it's still pretty rank.

I've also heard, from talking to a couple of people, that the beach has lately become a real hot spot for local kids' drinking and having parties. This raises another issue because you will more than likely have to share the campsite this June. Are you willing to leave so much expensive equipment hanging around people you don't know/trust? And as Jody summed it up - we will more than likely get the blame for any problems that arise there, and as the 'blow ins' I suspect it will only take one incident and a few pissed off locals to have a big fat 'no camping' sign erected there, like there is in every other beach in Sligo.

If this does go ahead there will have to be a clean up before the party this time, which will mean nominating someone with a van/trailer and taking the rubbish /recyclables to Enniscrone. I don't see this being a problem if everyone is willing to help out, it could be done in no time and make camping alot more safe and pleasent. As for the toilets, if we even manage to fix one, will this be enough for the amount of people camping?


Offline Peter O'Sullivan

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #51 on: May 04, 2010, 10:50:38 »
Given the large numbers of us camping without proper toilets would be a 3rd world experience that I would rather not attend. I say move to a new location or cancel the trip.

Any chance the council will fix the bathrooms for the start of the bathing season?

Castlegreggory beach has a place you can camp with bathrooms and is walking distance from a pub.

Offline rog

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #52 on: May 04, 2010, 11:01:56 »
This is terrible news, all good things ey...

Offline Towelyey

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #53 on: May 04, 2010, 13:23:22 »
I LOVE EASKEY and i'd rather spend a few grouling hours cleaning up the area than move somewhere else - it would just break my heart to not go to easkey!

Any chance the council will fix the bathrooms for the start of the bathing season?

I like this involving the council thingy - we could haras them and see if they can do something about it!


Offline kmck

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #54 on: May 04, 2010, 13:40:14 »
Money is the big issue for the council. If it is a case of cleaning out the toilets even getting them repaired offering money to do so wouldn't be the worst option, get a professional to clear and fix the toilets. As for the cleaning of the campsite well a trailer and some elbow grease would help alot. If there are groups of, "young people", causing the rubbish and damage they will be there on the bank holiday weekend and I hated achil when it was full of boy racer types. I'll make my decission closer to the date dependant on work/family/williness to clear rubbish for four hours without proper cleaning facilities afterwards.

Offline Mick DUKC

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #55 on: May 04, 2010, 13:43:21 »
Disappointed to hear this. I've already booked my flights home for this so it better go ahead!

Harasing the council might not have any effect but it wont take much of your time either.

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Offline Diarmaid

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #57 on: May 04, 2010, 15:05:06 »
Quote from the document Kieran linked to:

"The centre of the field by the Castle has been ploughed and is inaccessible so we cannot use most of the field"


Caroline, can you confirm/deny whether the camping field has been ploughed up?

Offline kmck

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #58 on: May 04, 2010, 15:14:45 »
That happened a few years ago and you can't camp in the centre of the field or even walk across it without falling over. it says 2005 in the report.

Offline Rachel

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Re: easkey?
« Reply #59 on: May 04, 2010, 15:58:57 »
Ok so I know I've never been before so don't have the same attachment as anyone else to Easkey but it sounds like a great spot and it would be hard to come up with an alternative. Also I just don't like the sound of it being abandoned just because it needs to be cleaned and maintained better.

I'd be up for helping with a big clean up at the beginning. Also, this might sound a bit "third world" because, well, it's what I did in the "third world". One of the places I stayed in in Kenya had a toilet that didn't flush but was fine otherwise (it was hooked up to all the plumbing and all that) we just filled a bucket from the shower and then poured that down, it works the same as a flush if the right amount of water is used. If we couldn't fix the toilet in any other way we could do that if there is a tap or anything (the sea?) nearby?  Just an idea.