Castlebar Tidy Towns comes of age with 25th anniversary celebrations
Castlebar Tidy Towns is celebrating its 25th year of existence having won a silver medal in this year’s national Tidy Towns competition.
This is just reward for the efforts of the many volunteers and the entire community spirit engendered during this period.
The milestone will be marked when the organisation holds its annual awards night in Room P002 of Mayo GMIT Campus on Thursday evening at 7.30 p.m.
The Castlebar Tidy Towns Committee was spawned from its parent body, the Castlebar Chamber of Commerce, back in November 1994.
This was at a time before the Celtic Tiger had erupted and when emigration and unemployment were at a very high level and most rampant in the western province.
The original grouping that formed the first Castlebar Tidy Towns Committee was Mary Fahey Tighe, Ger Deere, Anne Staunton, Michael Mullahy, Chris and Joe Butler.
Shortly afterwards this group was supplemented with the additions of Liam Durkan (RIP), Dr. Karol Donnelly, Ronan Ward, Tony Tighe and Liz Kelly and, in more recent times, Noel Byrne, Patricia Conway and Ann Cresham.
Indeed, it is also true to say that many family members of the aforementioned group of people were active participants in many Tidy Towns projects also.
The purpose for the formation of the Tidy Towns group was to see how it could enhance the town and its environs in every respect, make it a more attractive place to live and work, attract potential employers, and encourage tourists to visit Castlebar as a shopping destination.
The national Tidy Towns concept is based on many facets of the environment – not just litter.
It involves the Built Environment and Streetscape, Landscaping, Litter Control and Tidiness, Wildlife and Natural Amenities, Sustainable Waste, Residential Areas and Housing and Approach Roads and Streets.
A huge aspect of the national profile is the involvement of the entire community.
Part of the process was to involve all sections of the community where a civic spirit and pride of place was paramount to the success of the grouping.
In order to achieve this spirit the original committee set about contacting the various groups in the locality with a view to getting them involved and helping out.
Contact was made with residents’ groups, schools, the town business sector, industrialists, sporting organisations and voluntary groups.
A working group was also set up to meet with the local statutory authorities – Mayo County Council and Castlebar UDC (later town council), which was to be a key aspect of the overall programme and where much of the future success and achievement was to commence.
In order to involve all sections of the local community a number of competitions were held and several visits to schools took place outlining the need to have respect for the environment, with an emphasis on litter control; the need to educate the youth and all other sections of the community in this area was one of the priorities of the committee.
The Tidy Towns adopted the slogan ‘Keep Castlebar Clean’ with ‘Sir Cleanalot’ as its mascot. Several initiatives took place over the years to promote the cause that littering was bad for the environment and community, and that we all needed to change our habits and our attitude towards littering.
To this day much of the emphasis on Tidy Towns remains on litter control and tidiness, and the general awareness and educational programme that continues to be necessary.
The committee then set about undertaking a number of key projects and acted as a lobby group with councils for several other town enhancement programmes, namely upgrading of the Mall, the Market Square Enhancement Scheme, cleaning and modernising of the town river.
The big project, however, was the Lough Lannagh Enhancement Scheme where the Castlebar Tidy Towns committee had a direct input.
This project saw the introduction of a new lighting scheme, construction of formed pathways with seating, a nature trail, floodlighting on the lake, litter bins and security cameras.
This project in later years was to become the centrepiece of the town.
In recognition of this wonderful work carried out at Lough Lannagh under the leadership and drive of former chairman Liam Durkan, Castlebar Tidy Towns were regional Ireland West winners in the Green Town 2000 project.
The citation on the plaque presented to the committee read: “This Bronze Plaque depicts a town and its environment, it symbolises the connection between nature and the environment, and our need to sustain it. The plaque represents a partnership with nature and the community.”
This project, we believe, was a reflection of the entire community as it involved the local people, Castlebar Town Council, South Mayo Leader Company, local business sponsors from the business sector and Castlebar Tidy Towns Committee.
The Tidy Towns continues to encompass the community in many projects and continues to have competitions to involve many groups.
In more recent times the committee has also formed an excellent relationship with the Love Castlebar group and worked jointly for the betterment of Castlebar as a whole.
The committee has moved on with new members looking at new projects but many of the original aims and objectives are still very much part of the overall goals and ambitions.
In recent years Castlebar has received a number of bronze medals from the national Tidy Towns adjudicators recognising work and achievements to date and this year the achievement of receiving a silver medal is indicative of the major progress that the committee and the entire community has made to make Castlebar a better place to live and work.
The committee expresses its deep thanks to all those that contributed to that success – Castlebar Town Council, Mayo County Council, voluntary groups, sports groups, business sector, schools and colleges and volunteers.
The current members of the Castlebar Tidy Towns Committee are Ger Deere (chairman), Ann Cresham (secretary), Patricia Conway and Alan Mee.
Anyone interested in becoming a member can contact any committee member.
(The history of Castlebar Tidy Towns was compiled by Joe Butler).