Athlone Tidy Towns honoured for ongoing commitment
by David Flynn
Mayor of Athlone/Moate Municipal District Cllr Louise Heavin delivered an Address of Recognition on behalf of Athlone Municipal District to Athlone Tidy Towns Committee on Thursday last at Athlone Civic Centre to mark their 18-year contribution to the community, which was said by the council to have brought honour, pride and gold medals.
“To be honest, prior to being a county councillor, I didn’t know much about the Tidy Towns, but after the election in 2019, I really understood the great work the Tidy Towns do in Athlone, and in this year as Mayor, I got to see underneath the bonnet of the great contribution to the town that you do,” said Mayor Heavin.
“In bestowing this award we also want to shine a spotlight throughout the town and on the Tidy Towns and also want to help them gain new members and volunteers,” she said, highlighting that some people may not know they can get involved.
“I’m delighted about the partnership between the county council and the Tidy Towns,” she added.
Mayor Heavin said that in recent times she welcomed many conferences to the town and the one comment people visiting had to make was that Athlone was looking really well.
“It’s all a credit to you and I commend you on all the work you have done over the years,” said the Athlone Mayor.
Willie Ryan, Council Engineer told the gathering that he agreed that the town was looking well, and said that it is a credit to the county councillors, the general public and the Tidy Towns volunteers.
“Volunteerism goes a long way, and surely you get an immense sense of pride and joy in what you do, and nobody pays you for it, and you have to self-congratulate yourselves for it,” said Mr. Ryan, to the Tidy Towns gathering.
Gerry Johnson, Chairperson of Athlone Tidy Towns said it was an honour for the committee to receive the council award. He said he remembered a meeting in the council in 2006 when the then Town Clerk, John Walsh approached himself and John Butler to kickstart the Tidy Towns initiative.
“Our committee, at the behest of the then Athlone Town Council, has been actively involved in the care of the environment of our town and to date we have been successful at national level by being awarded the gold medal standard at the National Tidy Towns Competition,” said Gerry. “Our committee past and present is representative of the wider community of Athlone and has a reputation for being hard working and effective.”
He said from 2009 to 2016, they employed a dedicated team of workers, funded by the council to look after the blackspots of the town.
“Without your ongoing support we could not function, he told the councillors.
“Many of our committee members have been with us since Day One and that speaks volume of their commitment.”
Mayor Heavin presented the council scroll of honour to Marie Gibson, Secretary of the Tidy Towns Committee.
“It took us 18 years to get to where we are today, but we are obviously doing something right, because it’s been reflected in the award of three gold medals so far, so if we keep doing what we’re doing, hopefully we’ll get the big one eventually,” said Marie.