Westmeath’s Tidy Towns winners received their awards at a prizegiving ceremony in Co Louth last Friday.
Westmeath’s overall county winner Ballinahown was the only town in the county to be awarded a medal, receiving a bronze medal for their performance in the competition.
The picturesque village topped the Tidy Towns list in Westmeath for the seventh year in a row, picking up 295 out of a possible 400 points, a two-point increase on the previous year’s result.
Other Westmeath towns to be recognised at the prizegiving ceremony were Tyrrellspass which was highly commended, Glasson which was commended, and Streamstown which won an ‘endeavour’ award for achieving the greatest percentage improvement in score in 2011.
Other local winners included bronze medal winner Tullamore, Co Offaly.
This year’s Tidy Towns awards for the Midlands East region were presented on Friday at a prizegiving ceremony in Glyde Rangers Community Hall, Tallanstown, Co Louth. Winners were presented with their awards by Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd, together with Sue Lamon-Diver of SuperValu, proud sponsors of the competition. Also joining the Minister on stage was Kevin Moriarty of Fáilte Ireland.
Speaking at the awards, Minister O’Dowd said: “I’m delighted to pay tribute here today to the great work done by the very many Tidy Towns volunteers in towns and villages across this region. Your work makes a real difference in our communities. It is very encouraging that the Tidy Towns competition continues to grow and that volunteers continue to get out there to do their bit for their own community.”
The overall winner for the region was Tallanstown, Co Louth. A record 821 communities entered this year’s competition, an increase from 764 entries last year.
