Support sought as countdown now on for Tidy Towns judging in Offaly

The countdown is officially on for this year's SuperValu Tidy Towns Awards and groups throughout the county need your help.
Every week teams of volunteers are out sweeping, cleaning, painting, washing, litter picking and more in towns and villages across county Offaly.

SuperValu Tidy Towns has always been about the National Competition but the spirit of Tidy Towns has permeated Irish society far deeper than that.

Many people today are not even aware that Tidy Towns was originally linked to a single competition organised for 37 years, first of all by Bord Fáilte, then the Irish Tourist Board, and now by the Department of Rural and Community Development.

The success of the competition from the 1950s onwards encouraged many other bodies, notably local authorities and communities themselves, to organise their own initiatives under the Tidy Towns banner consequently spreading the message far and wide.

For instance, in Tullamore, the local credit union sponsors a Tidy Estates competition each year which also includes categories for villages and communities outside the county town.

Hundreds of thousands of people have participated in local initiatives of every shape and size over the last fifty years.

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Their input has made a massive contribution to making Tidy Towns the national movement that it is today.

Year on Year the competition is thriving with committee entries increasing and exceeding over 800 for the last three years.

Many of these local initiatives are still going strong, some with a new title and different focus. Their ongoing success is a constant reminder that Tidy Towns means far more than just the national competition.

It is a spirit alive and well in all those initiatives and those who participate in them. Thousands of individuals and organisations who every day take some action, large or small, to improve their local environment.

The Tidy Towns philosophy and framework is relevant to anyone who wishes to follow in its sprit in their own way.

For months volunteers in communities throughout Offaly have been busy with various initiatives in their own areas.

Now as judging day approaches Tidy Towns committees are appealing for help from the wider community to ensure their areas perform as well as possible in the prestigious competition.
Said Cllr Shane Murray, chairman of Tullamore Tidy Towns: "Please play you part in Tullamore taking the top prize - We can't do it without your help - How you may ask? Simply get involved with your neighbours in your local estates, street or road residents associations, or look after your own patch outside your house.
"Already got that sorted then come along to our work nights every Wednesday at 7pm, meeting up in Kilbride Plaza and Sunday morning at 8.30am in William Street ."
He added that people will also see Tidy Towns volunteers out most days in different areas of the town in hiviz, possibly litter picking sweeping or painting.

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Offaly towns and villages won three gold medals in last year's Tidy Towns and judges in the competition praised the work being carried out by the Tidy Towns groups in the county and commented that they enjoyed their visits to the various towns and villages in Offaly.

Now in the coming weeks committees and volunteers will pull out all the stops to ensure that the county performs even better in this year's competition.

The selfless volunteers on Tidy Towns groups deserve out gratitude for their hard work and we all should be willing to put our shoulders to the wheel in the coming weeks to ensure that Offaly's towns and villages bring home the bacon in the national competition.