Town is honoured for its community and enterprising spirit
THERE was cause for celebration at the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Tourism awards in Tullamore last Wednesday, with Tubbercurry picking up a prize.
The community and enterprise spirit of the area was lauded and Tubbercurry was runner-up in the Connacht/ Ulster under 3,000 population category.
Geraldine Brennan, who is President of the Tubbercurry Chamber of Commerce, said it was a fantastic night. “It was great to be there at the ceremony, there were lots of people from all the towns and villages around Ireland, so it was really nice to meet everyone.
“Louise Kilbane was there and so too were Sheila Lenehan and Joanne Hosey from the Bank of Ireland.
“We won and so too did Sligo BID, Finbarr Filan was also there.
“The category we were runner up in was the Connacht/Ulster population of under 3,000 people. We received a prize of €2,000. Cootehill in Cavan was the winner.” She said it was fantastic recognition for Tubbercurry. “It was great because it’s an acknowledgement for all the businesses in Tubbercurry and also the community groups in the region.
“There are so many and it’s great to see it.
“We represent them all by going to these nights but you’re also hoping to get something out of them. There is a lot of volunteers be it the golfers, tidy towns, various schemes around the town, they are all doing their bit and again it’s a sense of community and supporting the businesses within the community,” Geraldine pointed out. She said Tubbercurry is vibrant with its many local and indigenous businesses.
“We’ve a lot of small indigenous business around here. Of course Tubbercurry is renowned as being the home of toolmaking and on the day we had the judging, it was fascinating listening to the history of Tool and Gauge and the work being provided.
“It’s definitely something to be proud of. There’s a great sense of community here, we have the drama, the music, the football, we’ve all that.
“After the awards there was a bit of networking done too to see what the other towns are doing.
“I think it’s important that we do a sort of town twinning among ourselves too.”
Tubbercurry is shortlisted for an array of awards at the moment. Geraldine laughed: “It’s our awards season. On Friday I was in Westport as we were runner-up in the Anti-Litter Anti- Graffiti awards for our mural on the side of Teach Laighne. We won a €1000 prize for that and it will be reinvested in the youth clubs such as Foróige and NoName who worked on the mural. It’s all about reinvesting in ourselves and hopefully we will progress from there.
“We’re receiving lots of congratulatory messages after the Enterprise awards, an Chroí is also shortlisted in this week’s Chambers Ireland awards, we’re the only one from Sligo shortlisted and then the Pride of Place is on December 2nd. “It’s busy!,” Geraldine added.