Tidy Towns honours for Ballinahown and Athlone

Ballinahown is top of the tree once again in Westmeath's Tidy Towns stakes, winning the county title today at the annual SuperValu Tidy Towns awards.

The picturesque village, which also won a gold medal for their efforts, was awarded 371 marks, just five off the overall national winner Abbeyleix, in Co Laois. The score was a big jump on the 356 total garnered in the competition last year.

Geashill in Offaly was judged Ireland's Tidiest Village for 2023, earning a score of 375 from the judges, just a single point off overall first place.

Tyrrellspass was second in county Westmeath this year, earning a bronze medal and a score of 364, while Athlone was in third place in Westmeath. The town also retained its gold medal status with a total of 361 awarded by the judges, up substantially from 347 last year.

Gold, silver and bronze medals for entrants are awarded to scores that fall within a set range from that year’s winning score.

There was another triumph for Westmeath on the day in the shape of Milltownpass, who won an Endeavour Award, with Tyrrellspass highly commended in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan prize.

Over in Roscommon, Keadue (373) claimed the county title once again and a gold medal, with Castlecoote second (368) receiving a silver medal.

There was a bronze medal for Ballintubber, who came third in county Roscommon with 364.

Rahara was awarded an Endeavour Award at the ceremony in Croke Park, Dublin where over 600 TidyTowns volunteers were present and thousands more tuned into the live-streamed event online.

This year, 887 towns were competing for the prestigious awards demonstrating the continuing huge national interest in the SuperValu TidyTowns competition which has been running since 1958.