by Joe Hanratty 

The Castleblayney Hope Heritage Group has been involved in major development at the Black Island and with the coming of improved weather conditions many local people are seeing the fruit of the work. The Hope Heritage Group which was formed a number of years ago with view to developing the Black Island area and making it once again an attractive tourist and heritage area in the town has been busy over the past few years  accessing funding and getting work done at the Black Island.

The Black Island was traditionally a very scenic area for walkers, swimmers, anglers and others and was always regarded by the people of Castleblayney as a central part of the leisure life of the community. In recent years it had become very dilapidated and over grown. It had also  become a  drinking den  and an area  often associated with anti social behaviour. The development of the local Hope Heritage Group has changed all that.

They began by organising a litter clean up of the area and have received a great response form the community. They also began to put in places signage indicating the facilities as well as the wildlife and fauna to be found there. They followed this up with heightened vigilance and over the past year most of the problems associated with the area have all but disappeared. Then over the past year they embarked on the ambitious plan of developing new walks and paths through the island.

They have opened up areas which up to now were inaccessible for walkers and as well as the traditional walks there are now a number of new pathways and walk areas in place.

The work they have done has received great praise from the local community and from visitors who are once coming back to his beautiful scenic spot which is surrounded by the exquisite beauty of Lough Muckno. One the leaders of the project  local Counsellor Joe Brennan has expressed his delight at seeing the area attract walkers and visitors. He and his group are continuing to work hard and are accessing funding for the further development of the Island and they expect that this summer will see  a major increase in the numbers visiting and walking through  this  woodland area and experiencing once again the beauty of Castleblayney’s Black Island.