Listowel races to victory in the Tidy Towns contest
LISTOWEL has cleaned up in the 2018 Tidy Towns Competition – winning the overall prize and the Tidiest Small Town Award.
A special force of ‘dawn raiders’ have been credited with helping the north Kerry town win the coveted top award.
The quaint parish famed for its annual horse-racing festival claimed the title after already winning the award for the Tidiest Small Town at the ceremony in The Helix in Dublin yesterday.
‘We didn’t think we would get this one,’ Julie Gleeson, chairperson of the Listowel Tidy Towns committee, said holding the Tidy Towns champions trophy.
‘I mean we said, “We will walk away with one award, it’s fantastic”, but to win the big one which we have been trying for so many years, we really are delighted!’
Committee members were quick to praise one team dubbed ‘dawn raiders’ – a group of five or so who get up before the rest of the town to ensure it always looks its best.
‘I can’t explain it, I just feel so emotional about this – it’s like winning it for myself, but I’m so glad winning it for Listowel,’ Ms Gleeson told the Irish Daily Mail.
When asked what motivates her and fellow volunteers to get up so early, ‘dawn raider’ Breda McGrath said: ‘To keep our town nice, for pride in our place. We go out at about seven every morning and we do a litter pick, water flowers, paint anything that we see to be done.’
The group’s school liaison officer Imelda Murphy praised the teachers and pupils in the local schools for getting involved in the tasks, ensuring it was a community effort that clinched the victory.
‘I think you have to educate the young for old habits to die,’ she said. ‘We are very, very proud of our town.’
Minister for Community Development Michael Ring criticised those that make the job of local volunteers more difficult by littering and illegally dumping.
‘Shame on the people that dump in our towns and villages. Shame on the people that have to get other people to clean up after them,’ he said.
The minister had particular cause for celebration as his hometown of Westport took home the title of Tidiest Large Town for the second year in a row.
Chairman of the Westport committee, Liam Campion, said the award was great for his local community. The group had launched a series of initiatives in the past year including the banning of plastic straws from Westport as well as the conversion of an old telephone box into a defibrillator station to help safe lives.
‘We’ve won it numerous times over the last number of years but to win it last year and this year, we’re really over the moon,’ Mr Campion said.
Monaghan’s Glaslough took home the award for Tidiest Village. The award for Tidiest Large Urban Centre went to Cork’s Ballincollig.
On its 60th anniversary, the competition had 883 entries including 12 new committees who entered for the first time.