GOREY TIDY TOWNS RESULTS AND REPORTS
access the following www.dccae.gov.ie you will get a pretty good idea of what it’s all about.
The idea of what is called a linear economy of “take, make and waste” is now being seen as not sustainable and alternatives need to be found.
Just a suggestion when filling up the entry form for next year maybe you could consider a bullet point approach in a category when you have no pictorial before and after record.
The narrative approach tends to be a bit tedious to read.
You have an excellent litter management programme in place and its paying off as the town, which is a large urban area, has a reasonably good record on litter.
There were a places where litter was obvious such as the stream near Aldi and An Gairdin Draioctha ,plastic bags and other larges bottles were very visible
There are a few other areas and side lanes that had cigarette butts and few wrappers strewn in kerbsides.
General tidiness was good and overall properties both commercial and private had frontages and side areas clean and tidy with a few exceptions as one will find in any village or town.
Dog Fouling notices could be increased around the periphery of the town as a few instances were noted on the outskirts on the day in question.
Do continue to keep the message of Gorey Litter Free and Tidy to the forefront as part of your communication programme.
Your excellent Facebook page is a good medium to re iterate this message.
The positive work undertaken under this heading has been noted and the adjudicator took time to visit a number of housing developments, established andnew,ontheday.
It took a bit of stamina and good feet to traverse to the town extremities
The three projects in your entry form were visited and noted and they add to the overall enhancement of the town.
Keep up the good motivational work in encouraging residents to maintain homesteads and communal areas in their respective estates to a good standard.
McCurtain Street, Gratten Street and Charlotte Row were visited as were numerous developments in the outskirts
such as Willow Park, Hazelewood, Clonattin Village and Cois Linne a very nice establishes development of cottage residences.
As mentioned in a previous section the town houses on Irish Street have a rich history back to the 1800s.
Duffry Hill and the Kiltealy Road had some very nice properties with most places presented to a very good standard.
St Josephs Court a sheltered housing development certainly deserves the accolades it has received.
Pride of Place is a key component here and your involvement in helping residents is paying off .
A good overall standard achieved in this category.
The internal streets and lanes were of good standard of presentation and the Avenue with its new footpaths and landscaping arrangements being the pick of the crop. No Wexford pun intended
Entrances into the town were good but some litter was seen at the Clogh Roundabout.
The Ballycanew entrance from the roundabout in was in very good condition, verges cut in accordance with good practice for the preservation of wild life.
Both the Wexford entrance and Bunclody entrances were very presentable as well.
The roundabouts of which there are a few are looked after well and your involvement with the up keep of these is noted.
Courtown Roundabout has a very eye catching feature as one enters from that side of town.
The roundabout on the outskirts of the Carnew road,which has a numbers of large housing developments in its vicinity, makes accessing the town from that area much easier.
Overall the standard was good with a few exceptions of untidiness and loose litter by the roadsides.
Name signs and directional and speed limit signs were for the most part clean and most importantly visible
Allowance too was made for the high level of Agricultural work being undertaking in what is a farming and tillage area.
It was a pleasure to return to Gorey after many years absence and witness the massive changes that have occurred.
Traffic is still at a premium but the Town is very inviting and it is a place that one can enjoy hospitality at its best.
You are wished well in the competition in the years ahead.
Thank you for the very comprehensive and very informative entry form and the additional supporting material that included 5 year plan, an excellent map of the village map and copy of the Hollyfort News.
The letter addressed to the residents of the village shows that as a committee you have a desire to ensure that the village makes incremental progress in the competition in the years ahead.
Your committee of 10 coupled with a core of 10 supportive volunteers is more than sufficient for a village the size of Hollyfort.
The breakdown of age groups and gender balance is interesting.
You have a good mix of agencies, businesses and local organisations that are supportive of your work on behalf of the village.
Some are obviously from outside the village and its shows the standing you have as a committee if you are able to harness this sort of support for the betterment of Hollyfort.
It’s noted that you have no national school in the village but have links to the school in Ballythomas.
Communication methods are top class from the Hollyfort News to the various forms of social media.
There can be no complaints among the community about not knowing what Tidy Towns in the Village is about, so well done on this.
All the other content in this section has been noted but I would suggest that you bullet point in puts as it makes it easier on an adjudicator to pick out salient points rather than to have to read a narrative and maybe miss something relatively important.
Well done on your involvement in initiating a trail development and negotiating with all parties involved which can be painstaking.
Thank you for your endorsement of the competition and what it has meant to the community of Hollyfort.
The projects in this category that you have itemised under a colour coded index system have all been read and noted
For the effort that you made to deliver the message of Tidy Towns the greater community of Hollyfort over the last year which has resulted in positive support from local people you are awarded an increase in marks.
Some excellent efforts have been done in this category over the last year and the vast majority of these relate to remedial work restoration of old features, repair of snow damage, treatment of derelict buildings and the continuation of the old school house renewal project.
Well done on these initiatives and commendations to the personnel who gave of their time voluntarily to carry out the work.
The following are a few observations that the adjudicator made on his walkabout the village and extremities.
The road surfaces were good with the exception of the road over the bridge at River Bann at the excellent amenity area.
Directional, name and speed signs were clean and visible.
The new T Junction signs were noted and recorded.
John Cooney’s pub and shop is quite unique now in rural Ireland but it was rather disappointing to see what seems as Gala shop closed next door.
Also at the junction of the Village another former substantial business has closed and left large premises unoccupied.
Here a good camouflage job has been done the premises looks as if it had been painted fairly recently as well.
St John’s Church is an architectural heritage building that was well presented with immediate grounds in very good condition thanks to the efforts of both TUS workers and local community members.
The Old Forge has at least held its place in the village many of these buildings around the country have been totally demolished over the last few decades.
Nice plaque to the memory of local poet Peter Casey who died earlier this year.
The amenity area at the Bridge with the very fine 1916 Memorial and commemoration stone to Marie Comerford is a very tranquil setting and the seating is of top standard.
The Area for car parking is a little bit tight and should be expanded a little and re surfaced in due course.
There are number of other features that deserve positive comments including the public seating and new car park provided for people to park, relax and enjoy this lovely relaxing part of Wexford.
For your efforts in this category in the last year you are awarded an additional 2 marks.
As was stated in last year’s report there are a large number of public permanent planted beds some with nice cut stone surrounds.
Many of these beds have mix greenery and flowering shrubs with the emphasis of sustainable planting.
Advice has been got from a landscape specialist which is commendable of the Committee as too many of these schemes are planted with unsuitable mix of shrubs due to a lack of knowledge.
All were noted by the adjudicator who was impressed with the locally made troughs that were placed at main points such as the Tinahealy,Killenirin,Gorey junction.
One or two of these beds were becoming a little crowded but no doubt the committee has done an audit on all these planting areas.
The name stones were excellent but the one As Gaeilge should have read Failte Go Rath An Chuilinn should it not?
The planting at the Village Memorial Park at the bridge was very attractive with blue geraniums to the fore.
Urns filled with flowers were a feature on the Killanerin Road.
The adjudicator personally liked the proliferation of ox eye daisies as it reminded him of time past in home place.
Overall the standard was very good and the adjudicator has no more to offer except to say well done again for seeking professional advice before embarking on any planting regimes.
You are awarded an additional mark in this category as well for work undertaken since last year.
The key components of this adjudication category are a) knowledge of local species and habitats and knowledge of local designated areas and b) being able to promote the knowledge gained to the local community and the passing visitor in format that would be easily accessed such as wildlife information boards in a central location.
Being aware of invasive and possible destructive plants such as Japanese knot weed,of which you a;-9re, is also essential.
As committee you are to be commended for supporting the Wexford Biodiversity Plan which is very much in line with the general statement above.
The projects that you have listed here are what this category is all about and one in particular “Tree Alphabet” Exhibition is most unique but so educational for both young and old alike.
You also had an excellent turnout for this event.
Good to note that you have addressed the invasive species issue in a very practical manner.
The adjudicator was impressed with the wildlife information panels at the area on the Banks of the Bann.
In light of what you have done in the last year in this category you have been awarded an increase in marks.
The objective in this category has moved on from one of reduce reuse and recycle to one of promoting the concept of reducing the production of potential waste at source such as excessive packaging.
“Doing more with less” is a very apt The practical benefits of good waste management and control of unnecessary production will be seen as a major contribution to a better environment.
You have listed 7 projects under this category and all fit well with the main objective of “doing more with less” but are not unique to Hollyfort as all have been witnessed by the adjudicator in other parts of the country.
The adjudicator hopes that you have the resources to manage all in a sustainable manner
To get more out of this sector in terms of creating even a greater awareness of a more sustainable environment consider looking at the following websites for idea generation
www.localprevention.ie ,www.greenhomes.ie and www.sustainableprocessing.ie
Also something that this adjudicator became aware of during last year’s adjudication is the circular economy.
It is a bit too long to explain the concept in detail in this report, but if you access the following www.dccae.gov.ie you will get a pretty good idea of what it’s all about.
The idea of what is called a linear economy of “take, make and waste” is now being seen as not sustainable and alternatives need to be found.
Top marks to your committee for addressing the issue of roadside placard type of advertising anything from garden fetes to my fellow county man Jimmy Buckley appearing somewhere or other.
Don’t get me wrong I like a bit of country! but this type of advertising does exercise me in a negative way as they can be quite distractive.
Overall the standard of litter control was acceptable but there were pockets to be seen in the outskirts and down near the amenity park at the river.
One appreciates that as per your entry you have excellent measures in place to address the litter problem and that you also won awards in the Wexford Clean competition but it is neigh impossible to get everyone to buy into being Anti Litter.
Despite a strong national push to combat litter this adjudicator sees very little change in the position over the last number of years.
General tidiness was also acceptable but there were a few back and side areas that need to be tidied up as well as one unoccupied area that was once a business.
It would be remiss of me to highlight these in such a small village but I’m sure the Committee are aware of these.
Overall the standard was good on the day and well done also on having your own Litter Wardens although maybe I would change the title from Warden as it has connotations of having statutory powers.
As you state in your entry the Vllage has approximately 20 or so houses and most were tidy and well maintained.
Chesnut Grove was visited and the adjudicator felt that the green area that houses the name stone and has the fencing around it was just in need of little revitalising.
Houses in the Estate were presented well.
The Ghost Estate issue seems to have been addressed as per your note but of course such a development should never have been allowed in a place like Hollyfort which has such seclude idyllic charm.
It’s quite amazing to think that a village the size of Hollyfort has five approach roads as such leading into it.
It can be a bit confusing to find the Hollyfort for a first time visitor but at least unlike some other places in the county one can find their way out as there are directional signs at the main junction in the village.
Entry from the Gorey road was good even thou the now redundant business premise just before the village was falling into further decay.
Kilanerin Road has got nice flower urns and is well maintained with good signage particularly at the Grove Bridge area that houses the memorial garden and small car park.
The other entrances were also well maintained as you outlined in your submission.
Overall the standard was very good and merits an increase in marks is merited.
It was nice to visit the village of Hollyfort for the very first time and the experience its idyllic rural charm.
Much has been achieved since you have entered the competition.
You are wished well in future years ahead.
300 MARKS (293 IN 2017)
Thank you kindly for the excellent application form which was very concise and straightforward.
The map submitted which was of the Google maps variety was a little hard to make out, maybe for next year you might consider a simple for readable sketch map that would clearly identify places of relevance in the village and projects that you have undertaken.
The 3 year plan is at an end one could not be but be impressed with the level of work undertaken under all categories of the competition over those years.
Without stating the obvious a proactive committee is the key to success in any community organisation and you certainly have that in Killinerin.
The structure of your committee of 10 is broken down into an executive of three officers one presumes and others that handle specific tasks,
The number in the committee is sufficient for a village the size of Killanerin if all are committed which seems to be the case judging by the standards attained under the 8 categories over the years.
It is important that you foster good relationships with local organisations as it will bring new people into the fold and this is one of your objectives as per the entry form
Isn’t it great to see that your efforts are being appreciated judging by the list of those who support your work
You excellent methods of communication from the traditional notices to the varying forms of social media and of course the most tried and trusted of all wordofmouth
Engaging with the local schools ensure that a younger generation will become involved with your work over time.
The reference to the involvement of local Transition Year students who need to fulfil the Community Engagement
Award confused the adjudicator a little as he was not aware of a second level school in the village ?
The adjudicator was impressed with the achievement of the National School in achieving its Green Flag status and you as a committee have contributed to those achievements by your interaction with the school on various projects.
In your 13 years in the competition you have made great strides as of now your rank high in the overall standings in the county.
It was also noted that you are a sub group of the Local Development Company.
Thank you for your positive comments on the competition.
In relation to the judging of the competition in the County two years ago (2016) the adjudicator has no comment as he wasn’t involved and is only concerned with adjudicating what is under consideration this year.
The letter from the Tidy Towns Unit in 2016 has dealt with the issue and in the opinion of this adjudicator at any rate that should have been the end of the matter.
The 7 marks increase that you received from 2016 to 2017 is very substantial and obviously reflects what you have achieved in that period. So why bring an issue relevant to 2016 to the fore again in 2018?
Overall your approach in this category was as excellent and merits an increase of one additional mark.
Next year one assumes that you will haveanew3yearplanreadyfortheoff pre the Competition entry time.
The projects that you have listed in this category were duly noted and visited on the day of the adjudication which was on a week end of unprecedented summer weather that country has not witnessed in decades.
From the adjudicator’s perspective it would be good to know who are the other stake holders involved in these major community projects and how were they funded?
The following are a few observations that the adjudicator made during the adjudication process.
The standard of road infrastructure,footpaths,street lighting, name and directional signs and road markings within the core and on the outskirts of the village was top class.
It looks like that your relationship with Wexford County Council as there has been many public works undertaken in the village over the last 8 years the last time that this adjudicator was in Kilanerin.
By the way like many other villages the spelling of a place can vary so I hope I have the correct one in the report.
In the 2018 section of your 3 year plan you outlined a number of tasks under specific headings but in the case of some it’s not clear if they have or are in the process of being completed.
For next year’s competition and pre the submission of a new 3 year plan it is important that you comment on each of the headings for 2018 of whether tasks have been fully completed or are being carried over.
The Information Panel on the Village of Kilanerin is in a very central position and it was this adjudicator’s starting point.
The public buildings in the village were presented to a very high standard St Peter and Pauls Catholic Church was very well presented with nice colourful planter at entrance gate.
The National school was one of the best maintained and attractive establishments of its kind that the adjudicator has come across.
The boundary wall and railing are impressive and the railing looked as if it has been recently painted.
The adjudicator was impressed with the old AOH Hall, now used for community activities, as it was in pristine condition, cobblock frontage and low stone wall with embedded reactively new railing
The painting colour scheme was admired with the 1929 sign set nicely into the dashed wall.
The new Community Centre already mentioned is a major addition to your community so hopefully it will provide years of activity.
The famed Kilanerin GAA Grounds, home to one of Irelands best ever footballers, was very well presented and it’s a credit to it dedicated club members.
On the day in question there was plenty of youthful sporting endeavour onview.
Murphy’s Gala premises were top class with its tidy frontage and the adjoining Bar nicely presented with understated.
The Grotto was in good condition with very nice floral arrangements and the adjudicator was interested in the
Michael Davitt Memorial stone and his association with the village.
There were a number of private residences in the village that were extremely well maintained and credit is due to their owners for keeping up such a high standard of presentation.
An additional mark has been awarded in this category.
The standard in this category was top class and the quality and presentation of both public and private planting arrangements deserve to be recognised during a spell of weather which was not that conducive to good growth.
Extreme dry spells do not help nutrients getting to plants and flowers but what the adjudicator witnessed was very good.
Well done to those who have the arduous task of making sure all these arrangements look at their very best.
The adjudicator has to mention at this juncture that the entry in this category was mainly concerned with ongoing maintenance on rural roads which is very laudable but maybe should have been included in the last category.
As stated you have some very fine planting arrangements and stand alone planter boxes in the village core and no mention was made of who was responsible for the landscapr plan for the Village !
For instance are the GAA members responsible for the upkeep of the excellent arrangement at the front gate, are residents responsible for the planter boxes in front of the name seat as one enters Carrig Vale.?
Similarly who tends to the exceptional and long road roadside arrangement on the Gorey ( I think ?) exit from the Village and in front of the school.
The personnel who are responsible for all these deserves special mention and because of their efforts an additional mark is awarded.
The key components of this adjudication category are a) knowledge of local species and habitats and knowledge of local designated areas and b) being able to promote the knowledge gained to the local community and the passing visitor in format that would be easily accessed such as wildlife information boards in a central location.
Good wildlife advice and communication of the importance of the local wildlife heritage to the local community is so important
Being aware of invasive and possible destructive plants such as Japanese knot weed,of which you are, is also essential.
The work that you have done under this category particularly in the woodlands walks has been noted.
It is also good to report that the school children are actively involved learning about the the biodiversity of your area.
With the new 3 year plan about to come on-stream for next maybe you would consider getting advice for a specific wildlife project that would involve the school and that would also complement what is already in place.
First port of call should be the wild life ranger or equivalent for Wexford County.
The objective in this category has moved on from one of reduce reuse and recycle to one of promoting the concept of reducing the production of potential waste at source such as excessive packaging.
“Doing more with less” is a very apt The practical benefits of good waste management and control of unnecessary production will be seen as a major contribution to a better environment.
You have listed projects under this category that fall under the above objectives but some have been replicated