Blog Archives

Wexford Tidy Towns – Gold Medal Winners 2024

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1st November 2024.

There was a mix of anticipation and anxiety as three of our members mingled at Croke Park with hundreds of Tidy Town volunteers from all over the country for the annual SuperValu Tidy Towns Awards.  The crossed fingers and whispered prayers did their work, and there was joy and relief when Marty Morrissey announced that – for the 4th year in a row – Wexford Tidy Towns had won the Gold Medal award

 

While we were limited to 3 representatives on the day, the credit for this national recognition, and the shiny medal, is shared by a large bunch of tireless volunteers, who have turned up and worked hard throughout the year, in all kinds of weather and conditions, sharing their time, skills and cheerful company  to make Wexford a cleaner, brighter and more attractive town for its residents and many visitors.

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Of course, in 2024 Wexford hosted Fleadh Cheoil Na hEireann, with an estimated 650,000 visitors during the 8 days in early August when the competitions and festivities took place.  Wexford Tidy Towns played a huge part in managing the cleanliness and appearance of the town, working with the Green Team to co-ordinate two daily shifts of volunteers, ensuring the visitors were greeting with clean and tidy Wexford streets and lanes.  A special thanks to all for their efforts in that hectic week!

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Achieving Gold Medal status shows us that we are doing the right things.  Gold awards for four years in a row shows that we are consistently reaching, and going beyond, this standard.  In 2024 the marks awarded increased from 351 to 363 – significantly our marks in each of the 8 categories had all increased over 2023 – see the 2024 Adjudicators Report

 

 

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We would like to sincerely thank Staff and Councillors from Wexford Local Authorities, who have consistently lent their support, providing funding and manpower to effect improvements to our town,  always taking on board projects promoted by our group, and suggestions from NTT adjudicators.  A number of our Councillors regularly give their time to help out at our cleanups and other projects.

Thanks also to the local businesses who have helped by keeping their own premises invitingly clean,  and especially to those who annually  participate in the Wexford in Bloom summer flowering project,  and of course to those who have kindly provided refreshments to our volunteers at the end of  the hard hours of work making our town sparkle.

Not forgetting the many Housing Estates and Community Groups who regularly organize their own cleanups, painting and planting and maintain their areas in top condition.  We provide assistance for these teams with litter-pickers, bags, gloves and organize collection of the rubbish.

 

Philomena Murphy,

Chairperson, Wexford Tidy Towns

Posted in Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

Gold Medal – National Tidy Towns Awards 2022

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October 2022.

We are thrilled, and very proud to be awarded the Gold Medal in the 2022 Supervalu National Tidy Towns Competition!!!!

We want to offer our sincere thanks and congratulations to the tireless volunteers who gave us their time, hard work and much-valued company, in all weathers all through the year to bring us to this level, in what has become fiercely competitive arena.   Whether you are a stalwart turning up for each event, join our group whenever possible,  or maintain your own neighbourhood,  this award is for you.

 

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We would like to sincerely thank Staff and Councillors from Wexford Local Authorities, who have consistently lent their support, providing funding and manpower to effect improvements to our town,  always taking on board projects promoted by our group, and suggestions from NTT adjudicators.  A number of our Councillors regularly give their time to help out at our cleanups and other projects.

Thanks also to the local businesses who have helped by keeping their own premises invitingly clean,  and especially to those who annually subscribe to our Summer Wexford in Bloom flowering project,  and of course to those who have kindly provided refreshments to our volunteers at the end of  the hard hours of work making our town sparkle.

Not forgetting the many Housing Estates and Community Groups who regularly organize their own cleanups and plantings and keep their areas in top condition.  We provide assistance for these teams with litter-pickers, bags, gloves and organize collection of the rubbish.

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This win follows on from winning our first Gold Medal in the competition in 2021, having won Bronze Medals in 2013-2016 and Silver Medals in 2017, 2018, and 2019 ( No competition was held in 2020 ).   We will be working all out to retain this coveted status in 2023!

Philomena Murphy,

Chairperson, Wexford Tidy Towns

Posted in Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

Civic Reception & Mayoral Award for Wexford Tidy Towns Volunteers

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Mayor Garry Laffan with Wexford Tidy Towns chairperson Philomena Murphy at Civic Reception for Wexford Tidy Towns.

 

Wexford’s Mayor, Garry Laffan hosted a Civic Reception on June 20th 2022 to congratulate Wexford Tidy Towns on the award of the Gold Medal in the National Tidy Towns competition 2021, and acknowledge the efforts of volunteers whose tireless work over the years led to this notable achievement.  The Civic Reception was attended by Mayor Laffan, Councillors, Tidy Towns chairperson Philomena Murphy, and Tidy Towns volunteers.

 

Wexford Mayor presents award to Tidy Towns chair Philomena Murphy at the Civic Reception on June 20 2022

Wexford Mayor presents award to Tidy Towns chairperson Philomena Murphy at the Civic Reception on June 20 2022

 

 

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Mayor Garry Laffan, Ann McCann (Wexford in Bloom), Philomena Murphy (Chair, Wexford Tidy Towns) and Mary Bowie (Secretary, Wexford Tidy Towns) at Civic Reception for Wexford Tidy Towns / Wexford in Bloom.

 

Posted in Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News Tagged with: , , ,

Wexford win Gold Medal in National Tidytowns Competition 2021

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We are over the moon to announce that Wexford Tidy Towns has won a Gold Medal in the 2021 SuperValu National Tidytowns Competition!!!!

Thank you and congratulations to all of the volunteers who gave their time, ideas and friendship to our group, and who turned out in all kinds of weathers throughout the year to attain this fantastic achievement.

 

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Thanks also to Wexford Local Authorities, Staff and Councillors, who have been a huge support over the years, facilitated all of our projects, and funded and carried out improvements to our town’s environment based on requests from our group and recommendations from the Annual Adjudicator’s reports.  Some councillors are regular attendees at our cleanup and other projects.

A big thanks  to the many Wexford Businesses who have helped by keeping their own premises clean and bright,  to those who have participated in our annual Summer Wexford in Bloom project,  and others who have kindly provided tea/coffee and refreshment to our volunteers at the end of  the hard hours of work making our town sparkle.

Not forgetting the many Housing Estates and Community Groups who regularly organize their own cleanups and plantings and keep their areas in top condition.  We provide assistance for these teams with litter-pickers, bags, gloves and organize collection of the rubbish.

This is the first time Wexford have won Gold in the competition, having won Bronze Medals in 2013-2016 and Silver Medals in 2017, 2018, and 2019 ( No competition was held in 2020 ).   Now we begin the push for Gold#2 in 2022!!

Philomena Murphy,

Chairperson, Wexford Tidy Towns

Posted in Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News Tagged with: ,

Wexford in Bloom 2021

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The flowering of the town, both in communal areas and for local businesses committed to flowering their own premises, requires planning by our team from early April, with the ordering of the window boxes, the selection of flowers and plants, and the expertise of the nursery in tending to them to produce an explosion of colour at just the right time to provide the uplifting and dazzling colour transformation of the town in early June.

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Unfortunately, in 2020, the Covid situation meant that, for the first time in 10 years, we were unable to carry out this beautiful transformation. For 2021, however, we made the decision to put the machinery in motion, and all of the flower displays are being implemented on June 1st. Our planting collaboration with the nursery will ensure that there will be a rainbow of colours in the town all the way to September!

Posted in Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News Tagged with: ,

Wexford Tidy Towns – January 2018 to date

Check out the posts on Wexford Tidy Towns Facebook Page to keep up with all the good things we’ve been getting up to!

June 2019

–  25th June.  We were at Farmleigh House today, as we were shortlisted for the Ireland’s Best Kept Town Awards – an all-island competition which sees the best towns in the TidyTowns competition compete against their counterparts in Northern Ireland’s Best Kept competition.  We were delighted to finish runner-up in the Best Kept Large Urban Centre category.  Congratulations to Bangor, County Down who pipped us to first place in the category, to Bantry Co. Cork who won the overall award, as well as the Best Kept Small Town category, and to all the other category winners and runners-up.

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–  10th June.   Thanks so much to the ten volunteers who did a great job on a Monday evening, weeding, planting and cleaning in 1798 Street and environs.

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– 8th June. Grasscutting and clean-up at the Angel Garden, Ferrybank, before the “Life after Loss” Vigil.


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May 2019

– Flowering the town with Wexford In Bloom:


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Posted in Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News Tagged with:

October to December 2017 with Wexford Tidy Towns

Wexford Tidy Towns volunteers continued their trojan efforts to keep Wexford clean and beautiful in the later Autumn and Winter months. Action Days and clean-ups saw lots of tasks tackled included planting around the town in areas such as Kennedy Park and Peters Square and four window boxes at the Wesleyan Church. Volunteers did lots of litter picking, sweeping and painting around the town. Wexford Tidy Towns even had a meeting with Santa in December in his new location on the Quays of Wexford! Check out the photos below to see some of the activities we got up to during these months. We just want to say thank you to all the Wexford Tidy Towns volunteers for helping keeping our beautiful town as litter free as possible.

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Another big achievement for Wexford Tidy Towns group during this time was our trip to Tipperary on 20th November to collect our Silver Award and the Clean Air Award at the SuperValu South East Region Tidy Towns Awards having been awarded these at the National Tidy Town Awards in September. It was great to see all our hard work rewarded and we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s efforts. Have a read of the adjudicators report here.

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Thank you to all those who helped us in any way in 2017 the volunteers who turned up for clean-ups, local residents who cleaned their own areas, businesses who maintained their premises or donated to our efforts, and every individual who cleans up after themselves. Remember to bin your litter and butts, pick up after your dog, report illegal dumping and we always need more Volunteers, so please join us and help us maintain our Silver Award and win Gold for Wexford in the future just get in touch or turn up at one of our clean-ups. Thanks for the continued support from the community and local businesses. Everyone can help keep Wexford clean and beautiful!

Posted in Biodiversity, Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News