Stabannon
Last year was one of the most successful years for the mid Louth village of Stabannon when its Tidy Towns work programme was recognised with an Endeavour Award in Louth Looking Good and this, combined with the fact that the community also won the Youth Award in the campaign as well as gaining an additional three marks in the National Tidy Towns Competition, provided great motivation for the Tidy Towns Committee and its volunteers to continue their great work.
Like all Tidy Towns groups, Stabannon’s plans were impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions which delayed some of the planned work but certainly didn’t deter the committee in their efforts to present the village to the highest possible standard.
Over the last number of years the Tidy Towns group have made the most of the limited space available, in the small rural village, and have demonstrated creativity in landscape design and plant selection which is really paying dividends in injecting colour and interest into the community.
Secretary of the Tidy Towns committee Bernie Lynch explains that “having won the
Pictures: Ken Finegan/NEWSPICS
Youth Award in Louth Looking Good last year we were particularly keen to build on the relationship developed with a number of young people in the community and we’re very pleased that a number of these teenagers, on an individual basis, carried out a variety of tasks in recent weeks “. These tasks included grass cutting and painting of the seat in the biodiversity bed in the Church grounds. This planting arrangement also hosts the well used Outdoor Library with wildlife signage adding to its overall visual impact.
Social distancing has meant that the work programme had to be delivered differently over the last couple of months but this challenge was met head on by the local residents who volunteered to work in family groups to undertake many of the tasks that otherwise could not have been carried out. One such work session saw twenty one people, in a number of family groups, maintaining social distance while tending to the extensive phacelia planting along a verge in the village centre while another family carried out maintenance works to the planting and decorative window murals at Crawleys Cottage with plans for a further