Terrylass village just misses out on being crowned national Tidy Towns winner

Tipperary narrowly missed out on this year’s Tidy Towns national prize with former winner Terryglass coming just five points behind eventual winner Trim in county Meath.

In the south of the county, Kilsheelan took top honours with a mark of 359.

However, there was some consolation for the Premier County with Cahir being named as the overall winner of the Young Persons in Tidy Towns Award and also the overall winner of the SuperValu AsIAm Inclusive Communities Award. The town received 346 marks, an increase of eight on 2021.

The lakeside village of Terryglass improved by 11 points on last year and the judges said its “neat, tidy streets gave a very good first impression to the visitor”.

The colourful displays of pollinator-friendly plants and flowers in window boxes, baskets, planting along the roads, and on individual properties and gardens were also noted.

There is always fierce competition between towns and villages in north Tipperary, with Birdhill, another former national winner, earning 352 marks, one more than nearby Silvermines.

Kilsheelan just pipped Emly by one mark to take the tidiest village title in the south.

The adjudicators were “happy to report that litter was not a problem” in Kilsheelan.

The judges described the river garden as “quite beautiful”, while the entrances to the village were equally impressive with beautiful planting beds and neatly cut, tree-lined, grass margin. The green spaces in the heart of the village also looked good.

Among the larger towns, Nenagh increased its marks by 10 to 336 with the judges saying many businesses had window boxes, hanging baskets, and tubs all with a mix of annuals and perennials, and some very fine two-tiered planters made from recycled material were dotted at various parts of the town.

“Overall the standard was very good,” they said.

Roscrea improved from 327 in 2021 to 338 this year and the judges said that the core of the town was now “very impressive” due to the public realm work that had taken place.

Templemore also improved its mark from 305 last year to 312. The judges said that the general tidiness was good and there was very little clutter or obtrusive signage.

“It was a pleasure to return to Templemore after many years of absence and see the excellent changes that have occurred in the interim,” they said.

Down south, the judges said that Cashel Tidy Towns had extra motivation this year with the Royal visit.

They noted the CCTV at the bottle banks and that there was no evidence of litter on the day they visited.

Cashel increased its marks by seven to 346 on last year’s results.

Tipperary Town had a big improvement from 321 to 332 marks, with the judges noting some “extremely positive work” being undertaken by the committee as influencers and on the ground activity.

“The town is beginning to revive after a fallow period because of industry losses and commercial activity decreases,” they said.
The judges noted that Cahir had also benefited from the Royal visit.

“As a result of the Royal visit you have been able to lobby the council to remove a lot of the unwanted signage from the town. Hopefully they stay removed and don’t slowly creep back in,” they said.

In relation to Clonmel, which got 352 marks, the judges said that it was unfortunate that as a result of Covid some of the community groups had ceased to function, but they noted Tidy Towns was trying to find ways to reconnect with its communities and residences.

They singled out the work on the town’s laneways for mention, making them more accessible to people.

Carrick-on-Suir, 304 marks, was “looking well on adjudication day”, the judges said.