Athy Tidy Towns hold annual awards

ATHY took pride in its own appearance on 13 December with its 18th Athy Tidy Town Awards.

Held in the Municipal District Office and compered by Patricia Berry, the PRO of Athy Tidy Towns, almost 30 awards were handed out to all sorts of winners in many varying categories.

“It was more than estates,” said Patricia Berry, and she wasn’t wrong.

There were awards for Biodiversity, Creativity, Youth Endeavour, and seven separate estate awards.

There were an estimated 120 people there, and while Athy Tidy Towns is on the go for 26 years, this was the 18th year of the awards.

The awards were presented by the Chair of Athy Tidy Towns Ger Brennan and the present Mayor Cllr Aoife Breslin, with music on the night from Jim Fitzpatrick.

“We even had a song from the singing Garda Sean, who was also Santa on the night,” said Ms Berry.

“We had Residents’ Associations, businesses, the Tidy Towns committee, Deputy Wall, O.N.E., the scouts and schools were all guests on the night,” she said.

What was very powerful was the number of young people involved, because it’s important to get them involved in Tidy Towns going forward,” she said.

“”The prizes were only by category, there was no overall winner because the estates are all different sizes,” she said.

“I want to make mention of two young volunteers from Athy Community College, Ella Robinson, and Cathal Burke, who got two volunteer awards,” said Patricia.

All in all, a tidy night, it seems.