2009.........."ITS YOUR TIDY TOWNS"............2009

"Launched in 1958 and still going strong, Tidy Towns is the competition that brings everyone "together" to work in a common cause in improving their town or Village. €20'000 in prize money annually, it gives all participants something to aim for, but the real reward is getting to know your neighbours and improving your local environment" .............(Quote from Tidy Towns)

***************************************************************

Reduce....Reuse....Recycle

Tidy towns is not just about our village looking beautiful, it also concerns issues like waste management and caring for our environment.

" There is a lot of confusion about what happens to our waste. On the departments website "Race Against Waste they explain the methods currently used and give an easily understandable explanation of the benefits achieved.

You too can Take Action at home, at work, and in your area Learn about the issues, what happens to our waste, and Irish/European legislation or conduct a "Waste Audit"

******Calculate your carbon foot print here
*******Useful SEI downloads here

Please use the recyling facilities located adjacent to the community centre and at the national school, see map below for locations.

********************************************************
This Year......2009

A delegation of Ballynacally Tidy Towns Committee attended the Royal hospital in Kilmainham, Co. Dublin on September 6th for the supervalu Tidy Towns award ceremony.
With Ennis receiving the tidiest largest urban centre award it was announced that our village had recieved a Silver medal for the 2nd year in a row and received a score only 6 points below the winners. The link above outlines the adjoudicators report, which shows where we scored well and where there may be room for improvement.

A copy of this report will be distributed to the local villagers soon. The committee would like to sincerly thank all those who dedicated their time and helped out in any way, whether watering flowers, weeding, painting or making their own houses more beautiful etc, well done and thank you.

Of course our village could not have looked so well were it not for the FAS community services team who tirelessly work on maintaining our village greens and helped with the watering of the shrub beds and hanging baskets, and helped with the litter watch, we are indeed lucky to have this scheme.

As part of this years plan the committee had; planted many new flower beds, erected some special features to represent the island life, Installed a new playground and landscaped the fair green with grant aid from the new clare local development company as well as lots of other ideas. (see below for full list)

This year the theme was as the tidy towns slogan said..."caring for our environment" with lots of new initiatives such as increased recycling facilities and increased bio-diversity awareness. A heritage display board was planned at the village entrance and a biodiversity display board is planned for the fair green. The new playground has been designed to protect the character of the village fair green in response to adjoudicators advice.

Other local villages also entered and if you would like to view their reports please click below

Lissycasey
Kildysart
Labasheeda
Cranny
Ennis

All reports from all entries and all reports back as far as 1996

2009 works included.....................

Painting, fences signs, gate, walls etc

Litter collection, see map above

Flower planting, including hanging baskets, beds and boxes

Gen landscaping, including weeding, including hedge trimming, grass cutting

New works, creation of new flower beds and village entrance feature.

Again we would like to thank the FAS community services team for their help in maintaining Ballynacally so beautifully, Cutting grass, trimming hedges, watering pots and hanging baskets etc, we know we are lucky to have them.

........................................................................................................

Letter to village residents (May 2009) . . . . . . . ***click here

Additional features added to the village for this years competition include......

**New playground
**Landscaped fairgreen
**Stone sculptured seat in fairgreen
**New larger hanging baskets
**Failte flower bed
**Galatea boat flower bed
**Flower beds at forge cross
**Picket fence and hedge planting in Roscliff court
**Tree planting in Roscliff court
**New flower beds in Roscliff court
**Heritage Trail
**Heritage display board
**Bio-diversity display board
**Rainwater harvesting
**Waterfall viewing area created
**St. Martins well seat
**Boat shaped flower boxes
**Clothing recycling bank
**Mobile phone, ink cartridges and battery collection bins

****************************************************************

Last year .... 2008

Results

Fantastic news of a silver medal for Ballynacally spread around the village after the awards show in Dublin castle on Monday 8th October. Ballynacally scored a massive 292 points just 10 below Irelands tidiest town. Previous rival Quin and Doonbeg have faded into the distance scoring almost 20 points less. Ballynacally topped its category in Clare by also beating Mountshannon. We scored third best overall in clare behind Kilrush and winners Ennis. Next year will be our year to top the country according to chairman James Maher who along with his committee propose new plans to impress the judges. But of course to win we need even more help than this year, we will need the whole village to get behind the event for a final push to make the top spot in 2009, and we can do it.

Building on last years increase, the committee have continued to bring awareness on bio-diversity, recycling, sharing of information etc, which obviously has impressed the adjudicators and the committee have many more tricks up their sleeve for next year

Much congratulations and thanks are due to the Tidy towns committee and especially the the many local people who collected litter, watered flowers. Thanks to Pj O'Dea for his valuable assistance on the flower selection and planting. A special word of thanks to the villagers who presented beautiful flowers on their premises, (please read the report below).
Also a word of thanks to the previous committee for their work which still wins praise from the adjoudicators and last but by no means least to FAS and the Community services team for their invaluable work throughout the year, without which the tidy towns competition would be very different indeed. Well done to ALL involved.

Download the 2008 adjoudicators report here.
They seemed very happy :) and they did award a silver medal...... :)

Letter to residents (May 2008) . . . . . . .. ***click here

April 2008 newsletter. . . . . . . . . . . . .........***click here

Preperation for tidy towns 2008 pics . . *** click here

2008 (April)news..........

2008 has seen return to old ways with the loss of many of our FAS community services staff to our neighbouring village which means that the committee and many villagers have come out to carry out various works such as painting, trimming, flower planting etc. Well done to those who are putting in long hours especially those living outside the immediate area of the village for their commitment

We are endeavouring to score very high this year and although we were initialy worried about the community services cutbacks, it has in some way served to stimulate community spirit and has renewed fresh pride in many peoples minds. We are still thankfull for the valuable work carried out by the FAS team, as grass cutting alone would swamp us with work.... lets keep the impetus going through the summer and impress those adjudicators into a winning result........... and as they say.......lets get out and get dirty.....

********************************************************
2007 Results........

Latest Tidy Towns News 2007

 View all the adjudicators reports here.

View information on the AWARD ceremony here

Fantastic news was received recently as the Tidy Towns competition results were released. Ballynacally have increased their score by a whopping 21 marks to win the coveted endeavour award for the second time in recent years.
Topping the county last year, Ballynacally have soared ahead of their usual rivals Quin and Doonbeg in this years competition, however Mountshannon who previously won a gold medal have this year moved into our category and have taken the top spot.
This will give the committee food for thought in next years competition as Mountshannon have retained top of their category for many years but Ballynacally have moved to a new level this year and are only 8 points below the east clare village now and are striving for the top spot in the country
.
Building on previous years steady increases, the newly formed committee under the chairmanship of James Maher have made a number of strategic decisions to bring awareness on bio-diversity, recycling, sharing of information etc, which obviously has impressed the adjudicators and the committee have many more tricks up their sleeve for the following years.

Much congratulations and thanks are due to the Tidy towns committee and especially the dedicated work from James Maher (chair)and Martin Kelly (treasurer) who spearheaded the campaign, also many local people who collected litter, watered flowers. A special word of thanks to the villagers who presented beautiful flowers on their premises.
Also a word of thanks to the previous committee for bringing us to a mark of 250 points in 2006 and last but by no means least to FAS and the Community services team and Francis McGuane for their invaluable work throughout the year, without which the tidy towns competition would be very different indeed. Well done to ALL involved.

We eagerly await the adjoudicators report which is due very soon

The latest points score in Category B 2007

Mountshannon 279 (new to this category this year)
Ballynacally 271
Tuamgraney 259
Doonbeg 255
Kilmihil 243
Kildysart 230
Lahinch 230
Scarriff 230
Tulla 218
Lisseycasey 217

.........................................................................................................

2006 Results........

Only 1 point ahead of Doonbeg, Ballynacally development association face a new challenge this year with the news that the FAS community services team are to take up work on the other side of the parish in Lissycasey.

Lissycasey are to enter the tidy towns competition this year and the Community services team will have to dedicate many years of hard work to bring the village to a level similar to our village.

According to Frances McGuane the community services supervisor, her FAS team will not be able to spend as much time in Ballynacally and will only be able to offer maintenance works such as grass cutting and flower planting.
This is still of course invaluable help as the grass cutting alone would swamp the committee with maitainance work. However if we want to move forward in this competition which is always the goal, then the committee and local householders will have to take a more "Hands on " approach and as the TV add sayd "get our hands dirty" One example of the work local people can help with is watering flowers, if anyone could take 1 hanging basket to look after it would be immensley helpful...

So lets look forward to some good results this year with the combined efforts of the local community services team and all local volunteers and householders.....
we can do it...........

Ballynacally Development Association, Ballynacally, Ennis, Clare, Ireland.
Phone : +353-65-6832033 Fax: +353-65-6826005 E-mail: info@ballynacallydevelopment.com
Photo's M.McMahon

©Copyright 2004 by Ballynacally Development Association. All rights reserved
Click here to see our disclaimer