‘Healthy competition’ is all part of Tidy Towns in County Limerick

THE REAL winners of the Tidy Towns 2019 awards are all of us. 

The ceremony in The Helix in Dublin is vitally important to recognise the hard-working men and women who give up their time for the betterment of everyone. 

The big winners in the south and east of the county were Galbally (332), Ardpatrick (331) and Castleconnell (326). They all won bronze medals in their respective categories.

Galbally also claimed a highly commended county award while Ardpatrick received a commended prize. What is often lost amongst the sweeping, planting, watering and projects is the sense of fun and community.

Pat Casey, chairperson of Ardpatrick Community Council, said there is a “friendly tug of war” between themselves and Galbally.

“We won’t mention the war!” laughed Pat.

“We were second in the county last year and now we’re third. Galbally overtook us by one mark and fair play to them. Adare are number one for a number of years and we were second for a number of years and Galbally was third.

“There is a friendly tug of war going on between us for a number of years. We still have our bronze medal which is excellent,” he continued.

There are nine in the Tidy Towns committee backed up by volunteers. 

“Going to The Helix is a great day out for a small parish - you’re competing at a national level. The interaction between the Tidy Towns groups is very strong. Wherever we meet there are good discussions and we help each other out,” said Pat.

Touching on the friendly rivalry with Ardpatrick, Galbally Tidy Towns’ Jim Cussen said “competition is healthy!”.

“We are pleased where we are at and we are particularly pleased that we are gaining on Adare as well. Adare is setting the standard in Limerick and to get as close to them as possible is a real achievement for us because we are a much smaller community and we have a lot less scope in terms of investment. We’ve made the best use of the resources we have,” said Jim, who added that they have an 18 strong committee.

“We do have great support from a number of parties and great support locally. We get financial support from one company in particular - PRL. CEO Jack O’Riordan, from Newcastle West, is a big supporter of what we do,” said Jim.

He says they are “allergic” to meetings.

“We are more focused on doing things. We try to formulate our plans early so people know what they are doing and get stuck in,” said Jim.

Moving further east, Castleconnell Tidy Town’s John Hardiman said: “Overall, we were grateful to have retained our bronze medal as only eight of them are awarded in our Category C (small town) and besides Millstreet we were the only other bronze winner in Munster.”

At the start of the year that was their aim so “mission accomplished”. 

“But we want more and we thought our submission this year was one of our strongest to date. 

“We had three significant streetscape projects - heritage street signs, wildlife mural and revamp of Castleconnell station – and we were hoping for more than a single mark increase. 

“However, we realise that the competition is challenging, and we very much appreciate the positive tone of the adjudicators’ report,” said John.

At the end of May he says they got great assistance from the Johnson & Johnson EMEA Development team as part of their CREDO day when 120 of them volunteered to help tidy up the area. 

“This was a terrific once-off effort, but we need more local pairs of hands. Our social media exploded with positivity on Monday with people wishing us well and congratulating us as the results came through.

“If every household volunteered just two hours in the spring / summer the impact would be a game changer, both in terms of activity and increased awareness. 

“God gave us a wonderful asset in our village by the Shannon. It’s up to us to cherish and enhance it in every way we can,” said John.