Handy hints could reap big Tidy Towns dividends
MEMBERS of Tidy Towns committees across Cork are to be given an insight into the judging process for the competition during a series of information evenings being held across the county.
Organised in partnership with Tidy Towns and Cork County Council, the evening sessions will be hosted by Mary Ryan, the head of the authority’s Municipal District Operations & Rural Development directorate.
The first of the sessions will take place at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarberry next Wednesday night, with the second taking place in the Midleton Park Hotel a week later.
A further session will be held at the Oriel House in Ballincollig on Wednesday, February 15, with the fourth and final one being held at the Charleville Park Hotel on Wednesday, March 1.
Registration for all of the sessions will take place from 6.30pm.
The aim of the information programme is to assist Tidy Towns groups in their efforts and to that end each of the sessions will incorporate presentations by three experienced competition adjudicators.
Billy Flynn, Frank Hanley and Billy Houlihan will each give a presentation on the judging process and offer valuable tips and insights to groups on how to improve marks in the competition.
Mr Flynn, a specialist in territorial ecology, is a director on the Wildlife Trust and an assistant lecturer in biology and ecology at DIT.
An adjudicator with Tidy Towns since 2006, Mr Flynn will focus specifically on the submission preparation process.
Mr Hanley has been a Tidy Towns adjudicator since 2007 and is an expert in the field of chemical and agricultural fertilisers. A noted author and regular contributor to discussions on environmental issues, he will speak and ecology and the natural environment.
Following his retirement as Cork County architect in 2006 Mr Houlihan was appointed to the Tidy Towns steering committee. He has also served on the Heritage Advisory Committee, the Heritage Standing Committee on Architecture and has lectured on a voluntary basis to community groups and local authorities across the country.
He will speak on the build environment and how that can impact on the Tidy Towns ranking system.
Cork county councillor Bernard Moynihan urged Tidy towns groups to attend one of the information evenings.
“They will offer these groups an excellent opportunity to get an insight into the Tidy Towns judging process from experts in their fields who between them have many years of experience working with the competition,” he said.