Members of Dublin's Sikh community are coming together to host their annual cleaning drive for the seventh year.
Volunteers will be cleaning the neighbourhoods in and around the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar in Sandymount on Tuesday, November 1. The annual initiative is being supported by the Sikh Temple alongside EcoSikh Ireland, a group of environmental activists who want to rebuild Ireland's woodland cover.
Satwinder Singh, who came up with the idea for the drive seven years ago, told Dublin Live: "We just wanted to do something in the area which could benefit the local community.
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"There are a lot of leaves on the street in autumn so we started a cleaning drive which was very well-received." The annual tradition usually takes place before Gurupurb, which is a celebration marking the birth of a Guru.
The upcoming festival on Tuesday, November 8, will celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. Satwinder said: "The message within Sikhism is about getting the community involved in more environmentally friendly initiatives.
"We’ve gotten a really good response from the local community. We always get thank you cards and notes from the community. It’s really nice. It means a lot to us."
Satwinder hopes that next year they can collaborate with Sandymount Tidy Towns to expand the drive to include all of Sandymount. He added: "Hopefully, from next year, we’ll be doing the cleaning drive on the weekend so more people can volunteer."
The annual Gurdwara Neighbour Cleaning Drive is set to take place on Tuesday from 12pm to 3pm.
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