This article is from page 29 of the 2008-09-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
IT was gold, silver and bronze for west Clare in this year’s Tidy Towns competition as the west of the county proved it was most definitely awake when it came to showing what is best about its towns and villages.
Kilrush was awarded a gold medal award in Category D of the National Tidy Towns Competition for the sec- ond year running.
The west Clare capital led the way by scoring 297 marks – just six marks behind the national overall winner. Kilrush has long since been progressing through the competition having won a bronze medal in Cat- egory D of the Tidy Towns Compe- tition in 2003 and 2004 and a silver medal in the same category in 2005 and 2006.
“Retaining the gold medal is a mas- sive achievement for everybody in- volved,’ said Mayor of Kilrush Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF).
He added that the award marks the
culmination of months of hard work by local volunteers and members of the Kilrush Tidy Town’s Committee to improve the appearance of Kil- Tatts ep
According to Murt Collins, Chair- person of the Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee, “The key to our progress in the Tidy Towns scheme has been the partnership approach that we adopted some years ago. There is a broad range of groups and organi- sations now involved in promoting and enhancing the appearance of the town including the local Tidy Towns Committee, FAS schemes, outdoor and clerical staff from Kilrush Town Council, the local business sector, and the community of Kilrush.”
He also paid tribute to Queally’s Supermarket Kilrush.
In Ballynacally the Tidy Town’s Committee were celebrating silver.
The village was third in Clare, after Ennis and Kilrush and got silver in Category B.
Chairman of the committee, John
Maher, described the silver medal win in the national competition as “an astounding result for Ballyna- cally”.
“We are up 43 marks in two years,’ he said paying tribute to all the vol- unteers, schools, residents, local business, clubs and FAS.
“It is very much a team effort. It takes a lot of long winter night plot- ting and planning to achieve this,” he said.
The seaside town of Kilkee secured a bronze medal in Category C.
The committee’s hard work paid off with an extra 15 marks this year, that is 29 extra marks in the last two years.
The committee under the chairper- sonship of Cllr Lilly Marrinan-Sul- livan and Secretary Pauline Barry paid tribute to the residents for the work on their homes, and the busi- nesses, schools, town and county council workers, different groups and organisations and FAS for their support.
While Lissycasey may have been new to the competition it started its career with the tidy towns on a high by securing the best new entry AMEN EOR
Fine Gael TD Pat Breen paid trib- ute to all of those that took part in the Tidy Towns competition.
“The work of Tidy Towns requires a dedicated group of volunteers in our communities; these people are the unsung heroes/heroines of our various parishes without whom we would not have achieved this suc- cess,” he said.