Dab hands for Tidy Towns

THE children of An Bóithrín GAA Club, along with Ennis Tidy Towns, has been helping to brighten up the town this week with a colourful painting project.
The children got their brushes out to paint a house in the Old Boreen in Ennis on Tuesday. According to Áine Purcell, chairperson of Ennis Tidy Towns Committee, “As well as brightening the area, we want to encourage local children to get to know the history of our town. An Bóithrín is called after the old boreen and we wanted the children to realise this connection and that in its day so many children would have lived in the boreen.
They really enjoyed the experience and there was also a talk on the history of the boreen. It was fantastic to see the young people getting involved and being so enthusiastic. All over Ennis, there are lots of young people getting involved in clean-ups and other initiatives to improve our town,” she said.
She added, “This was all about trying to get the Tidy Towns initiative back into the heart of Ennis, our motto is Our Town, Love It. There is an onus on us to keep the heart of the town alive and we have had an incredible response so far. We have gone around to individuals, shops and businesses asking for help and if each one does their bit, then it can have a huge knock-on effect.”
The house-painting initiative is just one of many projects being carried out by the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee around the town. There have been number of clean-ups and plans are underway for the launch of an anti-gum litter campaign and a composting workshop in May.
The committee has also launched a Facebook page, which has proved to be very popular among young people aged between 15 and 17.
“The Facebook page has proved very popular, it’s been a huge success and we are asking people to ‘like us’. Ennis Tidy Towns has a very strong heritage when it comes to the national competition. What we are doing now is taking what has been working very well in previous years and acknowledging the commitment of those people and we are adding to that and moving forward,” she said.
“This is my first year as chairperson, having been involved with the Tidy Towns for the past 13 years. It’s fantastic, we’re all working as a team to be a catalyst for the community. We are all volunteers from the community, in the community and working for the community,” she said.
The committee is now working towards regaining the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre, which is currently held by Kilkenny and Áine is encouraging people to get involved in making this happen.
“We have always achieved very high standards here in Ennis in the national competition, we have a very good reputation in Tidy Town circles.
“A lot tourists come to Ennis as a result of this. We want to enhance the town for our children and our grandchildren and if that improves business, then it is a fantastic bonus.”