Mary Gethings is a tidy towns hero

THERE was a double reason for the Ferns Tidy Towns Committee to celebrate this years national awards scheme.

Not only did the town increase its overall marks tally compared to last year but committee member, Mary Gethings, was also highly commended as a SuperValu Community Hero.

She was presented with her award at the national finals of the SuperValu TidyTowns Awards at the Helix, DCU, Dublin.

Mary was nominated by local retailer Cormac Pettitt, of SuperValu, Enniscorthy, and at the awards ceremony she was recognised for her commitment to making her local community a better place to work and live in.

The organisers of the awards said the community hero aspect of the initiative was set up to honour Tidy Towns volunteers around the county who ‘make a notable effort to build and develop a thriving community in their area’.

Along with other community heroes from around the country Mary received a commendation for her commitment to building a thriving community through her work on the local Ferns committee.

Commenting on the Community Hero awards, Martin Kelleher, Managing Director, SuperValu, said 918 committees participated in this year’s competition.

‘SuperValu Tidy Towns is the greatest community-focused, sustainable initiative in Ireland, and it’s all made possible by the thousands of passionate volunteers like Mary Gethings who work tirelessly to make villages and towns across the country better places to work and live in,’ said Mr Kelleher.

Describing Mary, and the other people who were commended as community heroes, Mr Kelleher said: ‘They are the true heroes of the SuperValu TidyTowns competition and I would like to congratulate all of [them] on their tremendous achievement.’

The competition, organised by the Department of Rural and Community Development, has been sponsored by SuperValu for 28 years and is one of Ireland’s longest-running sponsorships.