THE VILLAGE of Castlecoote made significant gains in this year’s Tidy Towns competition to take the crown as the tidiest town in the county, from competition stalwart Keadue, by just one point.
Castlecoote made significant gains of six points this year to score a total of 307 points out of a possible 400 marks to take home the county title and the top county prize of €1,000.
Keadue, a former winner of the overall national title, increased its score by two points to 306 marks this year for which it was highly commended in the county awards category and was awarded a cheque for €800.
This year the national competition attracted a record level of 855 entries with the top prize going to Abbeyshrule in County Longford, which also claimed the award for Ireland’s tidiest village.
Other winners included Clonakilty, County Cork which received the award for tidiest small town, Westport, County Mayo which received the award of tidiest large town, and Ennis, County Clare which was named tidiest large urban centre.
Abbeyshrule took the tidiest town in Ireland title this year with a score of 312, showing that Castlecoote and Keadue followed closely behind the overall title holder.
The village of Cloontuskert also continued to build on its record in the competition to again secure a commendation in the county awards and receive a cheque for €500. Cloontuskert improved its score by four points to achieve 293 marks this year.
There were also a number of medal winners again this year, with Castlecoote taking home a gold medal award and a cheque for €900, Keadue earning a silver medal award and prize money of €700 and Cloontuskert taking a bronze medal award and a cheque for €400.
This year’s endeavour award, for making the greatest improvement on last years score, went to Ballyleague. The village scored 231 marks this year representing an 8.45 percent improvement on its 2011 score.
There are now 28 towns and villages across the county participating in the national competition, each aspiring to improve their local community and environment.
Going on the results of this years contest, there were plenty of reasons for tidy towns committees and communities across the county to celebrate this year.
Cllr Orla Leyden has congratulated Castlecoote Tidy Towns Committee on receiving a Gold Award, saying that it was a great achievement for the local area and a boost for Mid Roscommon to see one of its villages among the highest scoring places in the country.
Cllr Leyden added that the work of volunteers in the various Tidy Towns committees throughout the county was enhancing Roscommon and making it an even better place to live and also making it a nicer place to visit.
The councillor concluded by saying that we needed to recognise and thank all the volunteers that worked so hard in their local communities and thank Roscommon County Council, FAS and the Rural Social Scheme for assisting the work of Tidy Towns throughout the county.
