Lisnamurrican Club first NI YFC to gain Green Flag award

Young people from Lisnamurrican Young Farmers Club (YFC) are celebrating being the first YFC to receive the Eco-Clubs Green Flag Award in Northern Ireland.
Minister Edwin Poots joins Orlagh McNeill from Ulster Wildlife to present the coveted Eco-Club Green Flag Award to Matthew Moorhead, Scott Kennedy, Alexis Kidd from Lisnamurrican Young Farmers’ Club.Minister Edwin Poots joins Orlagh McNeill from Ulster Wildlife to present the coveted Eco-Club Green Flag Award to Matthew Moorhead, Scott Kennedy, Alexis Kidd from Lisnamurrican Young Farmers’ Club.
Minister Edwin Poots joins Orlagh McNeill from Ulster Wildlife to present the coveted Eco-Club Green Flag Award to Matthew Moorhead, Scott Kennedy, Alexis Kidd from Lisnamurrican Young Farmers’ Club.

For the last 20 months, the young farmers have been busy greening their club and the local area, working their way through the three levels of the Eco Club Award scheme – Bronze, Silver and Green - with support from Ulster Wildlife’s Grassroots Challenge youth programme. The internationally-recognised Green Flag is this highest award and symbolises excellence in environmental action and learning.

Lisnamurrican members focussed their actions around ‘Biodiversity and Healthy Living’ and designed an Eco Code for their club. Other activities involved studying wildlife in Glenariff, visiting Ballylagan Organic Farm, learning about bee keeping, and organising a local clean-up campaign alongside Broughshane Improvements Committee.

Presenting the coveted first Green Flag Award, Minister Edwin Poots, said, “It gives me great pleasure to be presenting this Award to members of Lisnamurican YFC for their efforts to help the environment. My Department’s goal is to have ‘a living, working, active landscape valued by everyone’. Ulster Wildlife’s Grassroots Challenge programme is a great way to make progress led by young people across Northern Ireland.”

Gail McCullough, a leading light in Lisnamurrican YFC’s achievement, said: “We are extremely proud and honoured to have been the first Young Farmers Club in NI to be awarded with the Eco Club Green Flag Award. We could not have achieved this without the support and guidance from the team at Ulster Wildlife. It has been an extremely educational, enjoyable and informative experience. We want to continue the legacy of being an Eco Club and keep pushing our members to come up with new ways to preserve the natural world around us.”

Charlene McKeown, Environmental Education Manager from Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said: “We are extremely proud to have awarded the first ever Eco-Clubs Green Flag in Northern Ireland to Lisnamurrican Young Farmers. The hard work and dedication of the young people involved in promoting a sustainable green future has been and continues to be outstanding. We hope to see many more clubs follow in their footsteps as they lead the way on this new and exciting journey towards a Green Recovery.”

Ken Brundle, Chair of Ulster Wildlife, said: “A huge congratulations to Lisnamurrican - they should be so proud of themselves.”

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