Our Partners

A-Way Lagan Infrastructure Services Ltd (ALIS): 

ALIS are the Operator of the M17 M18 Gort to Tuam motorway via its Operations & Maintenance contract with Direct Route Tuam Ltd via the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. Our responsibilities include inspection and repairs, environmental management, landscape management, 24-hour incident response, electrical apparatus, furniture and signage and winter management. 

Contact: https://www.directroutegorttotuam.ie/ 

Gráinne Barron - Burren Beo Trust: 

Gráinne's work focuses on the running of Áitbheo educational programme for schools and facilitation of the Áitbheo programme in the community. She has a masters in Sustainable Resource Management from University of Limerick & NUI Galway and has worked for several years as an environmental scientist. 

For more information visit: https://burrenbeo.com/

Denise Blake - Poet: 

Denise Blakes's third collection, Invocation was published by Revival Press. She is a regular contributor to Sunday Miscellany RTE Radio 1. Denise facilitates creative writing workshops in schools through Poetry Ireland, as part of TAP Artists in Education, Pushkin Trust, CAP Poetry in Motion, and she also works with adult groups. 

For more information visit: https://www.deniseblake.com/

The Burren Perfumery: 

The Burren Perfumery is a small, west of Ireland-based company making cosmetics and perfumes inspired by the landscape around us. We are a family run business supported by our wonderful local staff. Our aim is to be better than the best of the large brands in the quality of our products. Everything is made on site, by hand, in small batches. 

The Burren Perfumery Organic Herb Garden was planted in 1999. Our intention is to provide our visitors with examples of the native herbs and information on their traditional uses. We have wild flowers growing where the bees can pollinate from. 

For more information visit our website: https://burrenperfumery.com/

Áine Ní Fhlatharta - Organic Horticulturist, Ecologist - Irish Seed Savers: 

Áine Ní Fhlatharta is a nature and biodiversity facilitator with fifteen years experience, she is a qualified organic horticulturist, qualified ecologist, forest school leader and is presently completing a MSc in Biodiversity, her research thesis is on organic farmland pollinators. Áine is specialist with the heritage in schools programme and is presently offering a virtual heritage in schools workshop called The story of pollinators, seeds and food. She is one of the authors of the Year Round Organic School Garden book, which was recently updated. Áine is the Education Coordinator for the Irish Seed Savers Association, for the past fifteen years, she developed their outdoor nature based primary and post primary education programmes that focus on biodiversity, growing food, seed saving, developing organic and biodiversity rich school gardens and nature camps.  

Contact details: Mobile: 087 1626760

Email: aine@greenguide.ie

https://irishseedsavers.ie/

Janet Laffey - Landscape & Environmental Consultant

 Janet Laffey is the founder of Emerge Environmental Design and a Member of the Irish Landscape Institute (MILI). Her blend of landscape architecture and environmental studies includes the design of a wide range of ecosystems including wetlands, woodlands, grassland and park-lands. Retaining native species, creating multifunctional spaces and the promotion of pollinator friendly habitat in both public and private spaces is at the core of Janet's work. 

Janet is part of the Green Sod Ireland Education team and runs the Bee Aware workshops in primary schools in the West of Ireland. She also works as project coordinator for a number of regeneration and rewilding projects on behalf of Green Sod Ireland. (www.greensodireland.ie).

Janet is a graduate of University College, Dublin with a BAgSc in Landscape Horticulture, followed by an MSc in Water Resources and Catchment Management at Heriott Watt University, Edinburgh.  She is also a professional member of the Irish Landscape Institute. 

Contact: Janet Laffey BAgSC, MSc., Emerge Environmental Design, Headford, Co. Galway. ph: 00353 876529278, email: janet@emergelands.com, www.emergelands.com  

Eanna Ni Lamhna - Botanist: 

Eanna is a botanist by profession. She was responsible for much for the ground breaking species distribution mapping carried out by An Foras Fobartha in the 1970s and 80s. She has been a lecturer in sustainable development in DIT for over 20 years. 

She was President of An Taisce from 2004-2009 and currently is vice-president of the Tree Council of Ireland. She is the author of several books including Wild Dublin, and Our Wild World - O Brien Press and Wild Things at School - The Heritage Council. 

She has been broadcasting on RTE about wildlife since 1988. She has made several Wildlife Radio documentaries and currently has a regular wildlife slot on Virgin Media's Six O Clock show.  

You can contact Eanna via email: eanna.nilamhna@gmail.com

Marina Levitina - Herbalist Healer: 

Marina Levitina, MFSPM, PhD, is a healer, teacher and artist. She is a certified practitioner of sacred plant medicine, a certified forest school leader and a Heritage in Schools specialist with the Heritage Council of Ireland. 

Prior to discovering her passion for plants, herbal medicine and environmental activism, she completed a PhD, two Masters degrees and a summa cum laude Bachelors degree. She lectured at Trinity College Dublin in history of Russian Film and is a published author. She has produced several documentary films as well as short films made for and with children.

Marina loves plants and is passionate about inspiring children and adults to reconnect with nature. She loves sharing the magic of plants with children and offers workshops for primary and secondary schools about Irish wildflowers and tress through the arts. 

Together with a group of like-minded friends and passionate volunteers she is currently working on setting up the Lough Grainey Nature Sanctuary in County Clare, Ireland. 

Find out more about Marina's projects on these Websites: 

https://www.wildplantscansing.ie/

https://loughgrainey.org/

http://www.heritageinschools.ie/heritage-expert/profile/marina-levitina

Cormac Mac Mahon - Photographer: 

Originally from Co. Clare, I graduated from TV and Film Production in GMIT back in 2008 and have been living and working in Galway ever since. During my 5 years with the European Capital of Culture Project I made the jump from primarily concentrating on video work to photography as that's really where my passion lies. I particularly enjoyed the diversity of the Small Towns Big Ideas Projects, many of which I feel will continue long after Galway2020 finishes.

The Bee Loud Project is so important because it shows that in spite of Kiltiernan National School's proximity to a Motorway, an area of unused land can be rewilded which will in turn encourage pollinators and biodiversity into the area. I really hope this will encourage some other schools and businesses which have similar unused spaces to do likewise and I'm really interested to see how all those trees and shrubs will progress after being planted by some very hardy individuals on a cold day back in February 2020. It was a wonderful project to be a part of. 

Contact Cormac at: https://www.instagram.com/cormacmacmahon1980/

Nollaig McGuinness - Galway2020: 

Nollaig Mc Guinness is a Community Worker with over 20 years experience developing projects with local communities. He has managed the Galway 2020 Small Towns Big Ideas programme since its inception in 2015 through to its culmination in 2020 and 2021. The Small Towns Big Ideas programme of which Bee Loud is a member, has seen a wide and diverse range of new cultural projects developed with local communities across Galway as part of the European Capital of Culture. 

For more information on the Galway2020 programme go to:

 https://galway2020.ie

Bruno Pierucci - Videographer: 

I'm just a freelance artist with no love for any kind of footwear. I'm a passionate musician working in different projects as a band member (bass and double bass player) or as session musician. I'm also a freelance videographer covering most areas such as shooting, editing, designing, etc. Last but not least, I enjoy outdoors activities and trips, usually the ones that puts me out of my comfort zone. 

Visit my website: https://brunoshoes.art/

Veronika Straberger - Visual Artist: 

Veronika Straberger is a community artist based in Headford, Co. Galway. In her work she uses art as a medium for creative expression and communication. Combining a variety of approaches she incorporates movement and improvisation as well as theatre games as a gateway to unlock creativity. She advocates a participant-led approach working in collaboration with each individual group. She uses a variety of tools, materials and techniques to find, discover and explore the appropriate creative medium suitable for each participant based on age, skill and previous experience. She particularly enjoys using an inter-generational approach involving the local community and people of all ages to create an engaging platform to interact, share experiences and pass on skills. Veronika has a special interest in biodiversity and sustainability. Her current practise focuses on using natural and environmentally friendly as well as recycled materials. 

Her work can be viewed on her website: 

https://veronikastraberger.wixsite.com/mysite