Media personality and environmentalist, Duncan Stewart, journeyed to Athlone recently for the inaugural hosting of the Arcadia Climate Awards.
Originally due to take place in 2021, the Arcadia Climate Awards were temporarily postponed due to the pandemic, but the presence in Athlone of such a famed personality was a welcome boost for the environmental initiative.
Speaking to the Athlone Advertiser this week, Director of Arcadia Retail Park, Fiachra McLoughlin, expressed his gratitude to all those who made the awards initiative a successful occasion.
“We at Arcadia were delighted to sponsor the Arcadia Creative Climate Awards hosted in conjunction with the Junior Mayor initiative, under the guidance of Cllr Frankie Keena.
“We were also delighted to get such support from Duncan Stewart of national fame who praised our local initiative as an important one which he would like to see spread all over the country.
“It was great to see the enthusiasm from local schoolchildren and how much they enjoyed working on their various climate initiatives. It was a real credit to the teachers and the schools for the work done and many of the projects involved the parents also.
“Duncan added a real star attraction to the events but I would also like to pay tribute to Noel Gavigan, a biomass and sustainability consultant, and Therese Kelly, of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, who were so generous with their time and deep expertise. All three of our expert judges were great at engaging with the children, both primary and secondary school.
“At the evening event, hosted in Dead Centre Brewing, our experts got the audience thinking about how Athlone could lead the way on environmental matters to become a model of low-carbon living with the right focus on our beautiful natural environment, transport and sustainability,” Fiachra asserted.
Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, Cllr Frankie Keena, noted that the Arcadia Climate Awards were testament to the success of the Junior Mayor initiative which had proved to be very successful in local primary and secondary schools.
“As part of the Junior Mayor Initiative, the Arcadia Climate Awards competition involving participants from local primary and secondary schools has proved a true success and I would like to express my gratitude to Fiachra McLoughlin and the team at Arcadia for their sponsorship of this event.
“The main reason that I established the School Junior Mayor initiative was to afford students a voice and their participation in the Arcadia Climate Awards is a prime opportunity to realise their thoughts in this regard.
“Duncan Stewart, Noel Gavigan and Therese Kelly are the three judges charged with the difficult decision of choosing the winning primary and secondary school.
“Even though awards adjudication is online, Duncan visited Athlone on Thursday last for a number of engagements. His day started with a cycle on the greenway with students from a number of schools and then he met with Junior Mayors and staff members for an informal chat in the Athlone Civic chamber.
“These two events offered enlightening and rewarding engagement with students speaking about their respective school climate projects with Duncan. The standard of the entries from the respective schools is really strong and diverse and I would like to commend such
