Island celebrates its Pride of Place
A UNIQUE location, impressive scenery, local energy and enterprise were all compliments paid to the community of Our Lady’s Island who scooped the prize for Islands and Coastal Communities at the recent Pride of Place awards ceremony. THE awards acknowledge the achievements and the invaluable work undertaken by volunteers and those involved in the local community development. IN their assessment of Our Lady’s Island, the judges said: ‘The location is unique and the scenery is truly impressive, but the judges were equally impressed with the amazing energy and enterprise this local voluntary group expends on the promotion of traditional values in this special place. There are tens of thousands of pilgrims each year to the Marian shrine with significant benefit to the local economy.
‘THIS, together with an obvious and significant interest in the preservation of local wildlife habitat types, convinced the judges that here was an outstanding entry in the category.’ MEMBERS of the local community were on hand to accept the award along with local councillors Ger Carthy (who is from Our Lady’s Island) and Barbara Anne Murphy, and staff of the Community Department of Wexford Co. Council. CLLR. Carthy remarked: ‘This award is a remarkable achievement by our local community, to whom I wish to pay tribute and to thank for their hard work and dedication over many years in making Our Lady’s Island what it is today. This award is a timely recognition of their efforts and it is fully deserved.’
CLLR. Carthy also thanked Wexford Co. Council and the staff of the Community Department for their ongoing support of the local community. LOCAL naturalist Jim Hurley was one of the people who made the presentation to the judges. He outlined the natural heritage resource values of Our Lady’s Island lake area and detailed how the local community was engaged in caring for the natural environment.
REACTING to the win, he said: ‘It’s great that the community’s involvement in conserving the bird life and habitats at Our Lady’s Island Lake was recognised by the judges and was highlighted as one of the contributing factors that brought about the excellent result.’