MACROOM Tidy Towns held its agm at the Castle Hotel where secretary Lisa Manning presented her 2024 annual report.
Lisa stated that volunteers carry out an unbelievable amount of work in so many different areas and that the gold medal award would not have been possible without all their efforts. There was an increase of 14 points from the previous last year to 377 which is a major increase at this level.
Macroom is now only nine points behind overall winner.
Lisa also commended all those individuals, groups and organisations that are not regular volunteers but do their bit in their own way to help with sponsorship and other local initiatives.
An idea of some of the work carried out by Tidy Towns over the last year includes: Sensory Garden, Fairy Garden, Famine Memorial, Biodiversity Garden, Riverside Walk, Tom Creedon Park Walkway, maintaining 67 large hanging baskets, biodiversity planting, erecting biodiversity signs at many sites, grass managed in the required estates, leaf compost managed and used regularly, flower beds at Town Hall and square planted and maintained by Bishop McEgan students, shrub bed maintenance, litter management, sweeping, clearing poo bins, and weeding.
Macroom Tidy Towns had a shop window display at 8 Main Street, kindly given by Matt and Henry Murphy. The group also participated in school liaison talks and had interactions with St Joseph’s NS, Macroom Family Resource Centre, Bishop McEgan College, St Marys, Foróige, and Ardilaun Brownies.
The daily litter picking around town is done with assistance from members of Cope.
Macroom Tidy Towns participated in An Taisce National Spring Clean in April and the Cork County Council Anti-Litter Competition.
Macroom Tidy Towns is grateful for the sponsorship and help it received throughout the year including: donations and sponsorship from the Castle Hotel; bedding plants and flowers from Lidl; the Christmas party at TP’s was sponsored by Jack and Breda Cotter; Cygnum Hartnett’s Cross erected a new bridge at Bealick Mill; Greg’s Garage Masseytown sponsored new Tidy Towns caps; Kool Cafe held a games night, and donations were received from the Macroom Malayalee Group and The Auld Triangle.
Macroom Tidy Towns attended several events during the year including: the Meet the Clubs Day organised by Macroom Lions Club; celebrations of 125 years of Cork County Council at County Hall; business breakfast held in conjunction with the Lee Valley Enterprise Board and IRD Duhallow and a coffee morning in Bishop McEgan College.
Tidy Towns volunteers helped at the following events: as stewards at West Muskerry’s Athletic Club’s 40th birthday road race; attended the official opening of the Briery Gap, and had a stand at Good Vibes Forum in the Town Hall, where the group provided information on biodiversity works.
Tidy Towns had the addition of Cope volunteers in 2024 who contributed hugely to the litter picking and also had new volunteers from the Asylum Seekers. As an organisation Tidy Towns has supported the Lee Valley Enterprise Board and helped with the St Patrick’s Day Parade, The Food Festival, The Christmas Lights, all major events that take place in Macroom throughout the year.
Martin Coughlan, Tidy Towns chairman thanked Lisa Manning and Judy O’Sullivan for all the work done throughout the year; Brian O’Sullivan for the hours he puts into the organisation; Jo Cronin for all the work that was done for the Tom Creedon Park Cycleway/Pathway, and Paul Kingston, Shelia Murphy, John Lyons, Richard Manning, Murty Lehane and Liam Walsh for their dedication to the Saturday morning clean ups. He also thanked Rory Buckley and the Castle Hotel for the provision of the meetings room and refreshments.
Macroom Tidy Towns is a group small in numbers but with great spirit within.
Long may they continue to be such valuable asset to the town.
