ENNIS’ winning ways in the national Tidy Towns competition continue this year – helped along by people coming together from the county capital and all over the world.
The county capital has once again secured a gold medal in the prestigious competition with the judges praising the “huge effort” of volunteers in Ennis while the town was described as “a quirky, friendly and fun place to visit”.
According to chair of Ennis Tidy Towns Mary Howard part of the secret of Ennis’ ongoing success is the spirit of collaboration within the town.
As part of this, the group has welcomed volunteers of various nationalities who are now living locally, including those staying in International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS)  accommodation.
“We have multiple nationalities involved with Ennis Tidy Towns, Irish, Lituanians, Polish, Armenian, people living here from the US and Canada,” she said.
“This past year we worked very closely with the IPAS centre locally and about 16 of the men can on board with us for a number of projects. They were from Jordan, Palestine and Nigeria and they were the most lovely bunch to work with, very respectful and kind and they really wanted to get involved. All of these people have been working shoulder to shoulder with the local volunteers here from Ennis and it’s just lovely to see.”
Mary, who took over the role as chair of the group earlier this year, told us they are “delighted” with Ennis’ performance in this year’s competition, coming at a time of transition for the committee while major public realm works continued in the town this year. The adjudicators gave 382 points to Ennis, up from 374 last year.
The adjudication report noted the ongoing Public Realm works with the judges saying it is “a major project which no doubt is causing huge problems for traders and shoppers alike. The standard of work being done looks superb and no doubt, it will have a half century’s lifetime, if not much longer than that.
“The redeveloped area around the base of the Daniel O’Connell monument will enhance the feature much more than it is at present”.
Following their second judging the adjudicators stated, “On completion of the regeneration programme, the town will have a new lease of life.”
Mary said that the committee’s focus this year was on the retention of the gold medal, and “once that happened I was very, very happy as were the volunteers. It was a big thing, because there are a lot of works going on in Ennis and when I became chair it was the middle of an election so it took a while to get everything settled in and projects going.”
Increasing the group’s points by eight was “no mean feat” with the judges’ report “quite positive and anything they critiqued is easy to rectify and will be rectified very quickly.”
She continued, “The town of Ennis is a great town for collaboration. We have massive support from the council staff, the business community, residents groups, from schools.
“There are groups like the Brothers of Charity, the Lions Club, the Girl Guides, the Mens’ Shed who all get involved in projects and we are on the constant look out for new partners for different projects. We are currently working with the Community College and primary schools.
“The end result of all of that is that Ennis, a town of almost 30,000 people, is up there fighting, and fighting at the upper levels of the Tidy Towns.
“We are there or thereabouts every single year. We’re only a few points off the overall winner of Ballincollig.”
She voiced congratulations for the other Tidy Towns’ groups in the county, while mentioning the other eight medal winners for Clare.
“We’re delighted for them, they did really well, Kilrush, Ballyvaughan, Shannon, Quin, Clarecastle, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Tuamgraney and Ruan all got medals as well,” she said.
“With Tidy Towns you are in competition with 904 other towns and villages and the standard is incredibly high.
“The pressure is on the whole time.”
Ennis Tidy Towns support comes from people of all ages, with Mary acknowledging the efforts of some of the younger volunteers.
“We had a number of projects this year we were very proud of, one in particular was our sunflower project where a number of children, the children of Tidy Towns volunteers, planted sunflower seeds and nurtured them and cared for them through the summer months,” she said.
“Then they gave them to the residents of Cuan an Chláir. It was very special to see the impact of working on this on the children and the positive impact on the residents themselves”.
Another popular project was the recent Hallowe’en costume swap which “ended up being hugely positive” with Mary promising next year’s event will be “much bigger and better”.
This year’s competition may be over, but the work never stops for Ennis Tidy Towns with Mary saying, “We have great plans for the future”.
The group are currently working on a sustainable Christmas market in partnership with Ennis Community College, repurposing lego to create items including bird tables while plans are also underway for ‘repair cafes’ to be held including helping people fix their bikes or rejuvenate old clothing.
They are partnering with Sweet ‘n’ Green on a number of projects including the recent launch of their coffee ground reusing scheme for gardening. There are also future hopes to make Ennis a disposable cup free town, Mary revealed.
“The project is still in its infancy, but we want to be able to have a cup designed that can be bought and reused in the town. And if you want to cash it in you can, for instance, tourists coming to Ennis, who are here for a few days, they can buy the reusable coffee cup and when they’re finishing their visit to Ennis, they can go to any of the cafes that have come on board and cash in the coffee cup.”
While the idea, which is being driven by Siobhan Landy of Sweet ‘n’ Green, is still in the early stages, there have already been “positive interactions” with cafes and restaurants and it is hoped that this will help tackle food related waste which is an ongoing issue, Mary said.
Ennis Tidy Towns, who have won the overall Tidy Towns award in 2005 and 2021, are also helping other Clare groups by sharing their experiences. In collaboration with Clare County Council they are holding a series of workshops with different groups next month.
The group are always on the look out for more volunteers to get involved or groups to get involved in various projects and Mary is urging anybody interested to get in touch.
She concluded, “There is amazing work being done by Tidy Towns groups the length and breadth of the country. It is the best initiative ever introduced to the country and it’s a pleasure to drive around Ireland and see what is going on. Here in Clare, the work that is going on and the level of civic pride and volunteerism is just extraordinary.”