Blackwater close to Tidy Towns glory

October 1981

If determination brings results, then Blackwater must win the overall award in Bórd Fáilte’s Tidy Towns competition sometime in the near future.

The competition celebrates its silver jubilee next year, and it would be a fitting occasion for the picturesque Co. Wexford village, one of the country’s unluckiest areas in the event, to take the major prize.

When this year’s winners were announced on Sunday, the Co. Clare village of Mountshannon took the premier award with 144 marks, and Blackwater just three marks away on 141. Predictably, this was by far the best score in Wexford.

Blackwater has been so near and yet so far on a number of occasions. It has taken the runner-up spot, been judged the country’s best seaside resort, and won its population category, but has never had the distinction of taking the big one yet.

Yet there is no despondency in the village, and they will try again next year. Rather than just being satisfied with their high placing, they hope to improve on it and eventually take the top prize.