President Michael D Higgins is to attend the annual Cathaoirleach Awards for the first time this Saturday June 22 at Belvedere House and Gardens.
The President is the special guest at the seventh annual awards ceremony, which celebrates those involved in community and voluntary activity in Westmeath.
The Cathaoirleach Awards are broken into six categories, namely Community Animation; Youth and Sports Development; Heritage, Culture and the Arts; Disability; Active Elderly; and of course the Cathaoirleach’s own overall special recognition award for 2013.
The Westmeath Pride of Place award winner will also be honoured at the event. Pride of Place is an all-island competition which recognises improvements by local communities to create civic pride in their area. Awards will be made on Saturday to those who will represent the county in the 2013 national competition.
The event will be of key interest to community groups, as the cathaoirleach will also announce who will receive community grants this year, including community and voluntary groups, residents associations, and Tidy Towns groups.
Last year, in 2012, Westmeath County Council distributed in excesses of €250,000 to community and voluntary groups in the form of grants and awards, in recognition of the work that the sector carries out on a day-to-day basis.
The Cathaoirleach Awards go some way to recognising the involvement of individuals in their communities, and how they can influence others to become involved and active. The council would like to congratulate all those who give their time and effort to improve their communities.
