Limerick communities sparkle at Supervalu Tidy Towns awards

TOWNS and villages across Limerick have once again shone at the Supervalu Tidy Towns awards, which took place in Croke Park this Friday.

And the Limerick City Tidy Towns group have achieved a silver award after six consecutive years of winning bronze.

Adare village's Tidy Towns group - which won the contest in 1976 - won the only gold medal award in Limerick.

Meanwhile, a silver award went to another former Tidy Towns winner, Galbally, which was Limerick's most recent victor in 1994.

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They were joined by Castleconnell in securing silver for the first time. The riverside village was also highly commended in the Waters and Communities section of the contest, compered by Marty Morrissey.

Bronze medals went to Tidy Towns groups in Ardpatrick and Newcastle West, while Patrickswell also secured an Endeavour award.

Helen O'Donnell, Limerick City Tidy Towns, believes the completion of the O'Connell Street revitalisation helped her group get an upgrade to silver.

"I think the fact O'Connell Street finally came to a completion really made a big difference. It was really hard to navigate the town before that," she said.

"It felt like we were stuck on bronze a bit, so we were very excited when we came up on the silver page. It's nice for all the volunteers who come out frequently to support us. People come out every Sunday, every Wednesday and dfays inbetween. They segregate the rubbish and are passionate about keeping the city clean," said Helen.

She acknowledged the city centre still has its challenges - notably some of the basements which are littered and parts of private property which volunteers cannot access to clean up.

In their adjudication report, the Supervalu Tidy Towns judges praised the fact the Limerick group partnered with the local migrant forum and the Ukrainian community here.

It was something Helen noted, saying: "We have a lot of people living in the city centre who support us. They want to give back to Limerick. We have many nationalitiews. We have two incredible Chinese volunteers who have just joined us. It's really nice they are taking part."

Judges praised the frontage of many shops and restaurants across the city, and added: "It was not surprising to find that the overall standard of litter control was considered to be very good for a large and busy city teaming with residents and visitors on a summer's day.