Commitment and dedication honoured at Tidy Towns Local Awards

THERE was a record attendance at this year’s Ennis Tidy Towns Local Awards ceremony with more than 250 people gathering in the Civic Room of Ennis Town Council for the event.
The event, honouring Ennis’ success in the competition, was hosted by Ennis Tidy Towns Committee and guest speakers included Deputy Mayor of Ennis Frankie Neylon, Ger Dollard, Ennis town manager; John Dillane, president Ennis Chamber and town clerk, Leonard Cleary.
Noel Crowley, chairman, Ennis Tidy Towns Committee welcomed everybody and said it was encouraging to see an increase in the number of entrants for each of the competitions. He thanked his hard-working committee and in particular the adjudicators, who gave many hours to judge the various competitions.
The Green Area Awards were presented by Councillor Frankie Neylon, who said, “Tonight is a night of celebration and recognition of the voluntary work undertaken by local resident associations and individual householders. I want to publically acknowledge your commitment and dedication in maintaining your gardens, housing estates, business premises and local areas to a high standard. I also want to acknowledge the local authority staff, in particular those engaged in street cleaning and gardening. Their daily routine contributes enormously to the presentation of Ennis as an attractive town to visit, to invest and live in.” 
The following received awards in this category: Approach Road: 1. Clonroad/Francis Street; 2. Tulla Road; 3. St Flannan’s Terrace; Local Authority Estates 0-40 Houses: 1. Stone Court; 2. McHugh Villas; 3. Dalcassian Avenue; Local Authority Estates 41+ Houses: 1. Drumbiggle Road; 2. Clancy Park; Private Estates 0-40 Houses: 1. The Green; 2. Mountain View; 3.  Meadow Court; Private Estates 41+ Houses: 1. Westfields; 2. Willsgrove; 3. Garran na Coille. The overall winner was Westfields.
The Best Kept Gardens Awards were present by Ger Dollard. He said, “This event is an excellent opportunity to acknowledge the work of everybody involved in achieving Ennis’ success in the Tidy Towns competition. The improvement of open spaces, well-maintained gardens and attractive shop fronts makes a huge contribution to how the town is presented and underlines why Ennis achieved an 11th consecutive gold medal in the national competition this year. The Tidy Towns Committee have a model that is working and has delivered exceptional results for Ennis.  I congratulate everybody involved on their awards. Ennis Town Council encourages such collaborative approaches and looks forward to further building on the successes that have been achieved.”
The following received awards: Small garden: 1. Nuala Collins, 39 St Flannan’s Terrace; 2. Teresa Lynch, 96 Clancy Park; 3. Philomena O’Halloran, 17 Bishop’s Court; Medium size garden: 1. Maura Coffey, 36 Orchard Lane; 2. P Robert J Moorhead, 1 Ashfield Park; 3. Stephen and Peggy Malone, 6 Dalcassian Drive; Large garden: 1. Gerry Sexton, Loughville; 2. Eileen Corry, Hazelgrove; 3. Maureen Mortell, Cahercalla Road; Large public garden: Anne McCullagh for the Remembrance Garden. Special Endeavour Award:  Rebecca Hogan.
In the category of public buildings/business floral displays, John Dillane, president Ennis Chamber complimented the businesses in the town centre for maintaining their premises to such a high standard. He said Ennis Chamber are delighted to continue giving its support to Ennis Tidy Towns Committee. The following were presented with awards:
Public buildings: Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral; Garda Barracks; Franciscan Friary; CBS Schools; New Road; Business floral displays: Brogan’s, O’Connell Street; Carraig Donn, Bank Place and the Copper Jug in Lifford; Overall winner: Collins Jewellers.
The theme for this year’s Primary School Art Competition was The great spirit of the people of Ennis in helping to keep Ennis tidy. Leonard Cleary, town clerk, Ennis Town Council, speaking ahead of presenting the awards commented, “I am very impressed with the high standard of the Schools Art Competition. I am certain that the adjudicators for this competition had a very difficult job in selecting the prize winners. I would like to acknowledge all of the participants and to commend them on their artwork.” Mr Cleary then presented the awards as follows: Scoil Chríost Rí: 2nd class, Jack Fitzsimons; 3rd class, Darlene Oyenjekwe, Chisom Ugwueru; 4th class, Inga Trinity Mankayi; 5th class, Niamh O’Connor, Mary Sobmiya; 6th class, Dylan Touhy, Ayo Adedeji, Shannon Mahoney, Ikem Ugwueru.
Holy Family Senior School: 2nd class, Sophie Hogan; 5th class, Sarah Reynolds; 5th class,  Emme Burke, David Gzybowski; 6th class, Mark Russell, Rapheal Faluyi; Room 20, Andrea Sheehan, Room 15, Roksana Kotwica.
Gaelscoil Mhichíl Chíosóg: Junior infants, Eoin Ó Ríain, Ben Mac Gabhann; Senior infants, Blathnaid Ní Dhúlaing, Isabelle Ní Dhálaigh, Abdelrahman Liani, Riona Ní Ealaí, Niamh Ní Leannáin, Keeley Ní Giolla Phóil; Rang 1, James Ó Dochartaigh, Caoimhe Ní Fhaoláin.
Educate Together School: 3rd class, Klaudia Kalejova, Ania Buctan, Nikola Wenta.
Ennis National School: 3rd class,  Saibh McDermott, Sonia Agu,  Julia Przado; 5th class, Donnacha Madigan; 6th class, Colm Shanahan.
Ennis CBS: Senior infants, Monica Mendradzhieva; 1st class, Róisín Collins, Liwia Brodecka; 2nd class, Alexandra Gil, Darragh Stack, Ava Lenihan; 3rd class, Sophie Coleman, Alison Kelly, Ellie Pike; 5th class, Liam Doran, Eabha Keane; 6th class, Chloe Rowley, Christina Njekwe, Ciara Cassidy.