CITO Season
When: 19th May 2024
Time: 13.00-14-00
Where: Frosses Layby A26 Northbound
This is a litter-picking CITO in a diverse, natural environment along the northbound carriageway of the A26, a road which runs all the way from Coleraine near the North Coast to Banbridge in County Down.
This section of the A26, known as the Frosses Road, lies north of Ballymena. A section of the original route of the A26 progressed through a series of trees originally built on bogland. The "Frosses Trees" are a collection of Scots Pines planted by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1839 as a means of preventing the road from subsiding. 50 of the trees were removed in 1999, while new ones were planted and a further 26 of the trees were felled in July 2007, for safety reasons. This section is now bypassed on the new dual-carriageway with access to the original road maintained as rest areas.
I have a personal interest in these trees; my children were involved in the re-planting in the 1990’s and many of those trees are still standing today.
The CITO will focus on litter picking and rubbish retrieval from the verges. There is ample parking at GZ.
The area is well off-road but, as the A26 is a very fast, busy road, I advise it is NOT suitable for young children or pets.
In your Will Attend log, please let me know if you can bring your own picker. Trevor from MEA Council will provide equipment for those who need it, so an idea of numbers would be useful. He has also undertaken to collect the bags etc.
So please come long and earn the CITO souvenir, take part in the clean-up and enjoy a cuppa afterwards.