Roscrea Tidy Towns mark a successful year

Roscrea Tidy Towns held their AGM in the Courthouse on Gaol Road on Wednesday last, where Chairman, Denis Ryan, welcomed the large attendance.

The mood in the room was high as the Chairman reviewed the year just gone, which culminated with the award of a Bronze Medal in the National Tidy Towns Competition.

This is their eighth medal in the competition since 2013 – seven bronze and one silver medal.
The Chairman thanked Mr Paddy Reidy, Supervisor and the workers of the Roscrea Community Employment Forum, who have assisted them in so many ways throughout the year.

A special word of thanks was expressed to the Asylum Seekers volunteers from Corville House, who turned up in large numbers on Saturdays to help in all areas of work, making it much less onerous for everyone.

On behalf of the group the Chairman had a special word of thanks for Jerry Cahir, artist, for the monetary support following the sale of his art collection as well as the donation of the large collection of sculptures that are installed throughout the town.

Denis also thanked the local councillors and the local authority for their support in the past and he looked forward for their continued support into the future.

Special Guest on the night was Fr Tom Hogan who, while a curate here in Roscrea, was a founder-member of Roscrea Tidy Towns.

Fr Tom outlined the formation and development of Roscrea Tidy Towns; the projects they undertook and completed and those that they had planned that have been since completed by current and past Tidy Towns Committees.

He made the point that many of the projects that they had dreamed about have since come to pass through the work of subsequent committees; that lots of plans often take time to achieve and that it is important to remember that no matter how difficult a plan is that with work it will eventually come to pass.

Fr Tom said that we should never forget the words of President Barack Obama – “Is Féidir Linn”!

Fr Tom also said that they had been very lucky with that first committee – it had all the elements needed for success – The Guiding Hand of the Chair, the meticulous recording of the Secretary, the detailed accounting of the Treasurer and, above all, the presence of Dreamers. Without Dreamers there can be few ideas or visions.

The final element was the workers/volunteers without whom no job would be completed.

As already stated many of the dreams of the past have been achieved by subsequent committees, so we should never give up on our dreams of making Roscrea a better place to live for all and following Fr Tom’s address, the election of officers took place.

The officers elected for the coming year are: Chairman: Denis Ryan; Secretary: Dick Conroy; Treasurer: John Buckley and PRO: Mary Conroy.

During last summer Roscrea Tidy Town received some extra help from some of the Asylum Seekers who are accommodated in Corville House. Pictured above are Sandi, Precious and Abas helping the Roscrea team