The Lavish beauty salon in Mountmellick on the opening day of its new premises in 2023.
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23 Oct 2025
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23 Oct 2025
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Corporate Volunteers, Midlands Park Hotel, Laois Volunteer Centre, Portlaoise Tidy Towns and Laois County Council
Nineteen energetic and enthusiastic employees of Midlands Park Hotel recently donned gardening gloves and wellies to reduce Himalayan Balsam, an invasive plant species growing wild in Linear Park, Portlaoise.
Laois Volunteer Centre organised this innovative project in conjunction with Portlaoise Tidy Towns and Laois County Council.
Vanessa Langford, marketing manager with the hotel said that it was the first time that the hotel undertook a corporate volunteer day for the staff and it proved extremely successful. “We had a most enjoyable day,” she said “and it gave our team a great boost to be able help the local community in some way. A lot of local people use the hotel and it was a nice way for us to give back something back to the town.” CONTINUE READING BELOW PHOTO
Photo: Laois Volunteer Centre staff with George Leahy, Manager, Midlands Park Hotel.
Chairperson of Portlaoise Tidy Towns, Vincent Booth, said the it was fantastic to see so many employees showing an interest in community biodiversity. He thanked the staff of Midlands Park Hotel for becoming involved in the project.
“Tackling invasive species in our parks is a specific action of the Portlaoise Biodiversity Action Plan 2023 – 2028,” he said.
Michael Buckley, Executive Plants and Landscape Officer with Laois County Council said that Himalayan Balsam is a massively invasive plant which needs to be removed from public amenity spaces. It is not deep rooted and so is easy to pull by hand but it is imperative that it is erased before flowering in June.
“It was great to see a coming together of local community groups and local businesses who literally rolled up their sleeves for the day for the betterment of their environment.
“This project was a very successful, collaborative effort,” said Caitriona Ryan, Manager of Laois Volunteer Centre We organised it as part of our corporate volunteer programme whereby we facilitate business organisations to provide group volunteering opportunities for their employees.
For more information on all your volunteering needs, contact Caitriona on info@volunteerlaois.ie.
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