Another Golden moment for Inistioge
Inistioge 2 points behind Tidiest Village, 3 from overall winner!
At the Tidy Towns Awards in Croke Park on Friday, Inistioge was awarded our third gold medal, with a score of 373 points. This was two points less than the tidiest village, Geashill, Co Offaly with 375 and just three less than Abbeyleix on 376, which was the overall winner and named Ireland’s Tidiest Town 2023 (not that we are competitive or anything!) It was also very heartening to see our score improve by 12 points from last year and to receive a very positive report from the two judges who visited over the summer.
Tidy Towns Chairperson, Tony Noble commented – ‘this is the most positive report we have ever received. A huge thank you to the whole community for the ongoing efforts which ensured such justified praise. Many aspects of the work were singled out for particular mention, for example’:
The webpage inistioge.ie is one of the best I have seen, the Facebook page is well curated, good images and documentation of key events.
The garden displays continue to amaze, the work done by business owners is evident in the flower displays and seating. The refurbished farm equipment stood out against the grass verges on entering the village.
The hedgehog survey was an excellent piece of work.
On the day of my visit there was no litter to be seen. The ongoing work of volunteers, residents and businesses is reflected in the high standard of cleanliness throughout the village.
Concluding Remarks from Judge 1: Well done on the continuing work in all categories of this competition. Your dedication and the engagement of the community is reflected in the overall quality of the village environment. Keep up your good work.
Extracts from report of Judge 2: We visited St Colmcille’s and St Mary’s Graveyard with the pollinator plan signage clearly placed to inform visitors of the changed landscape management. It is such a lovely spot with butterflies in abundance. The fantastic Riverside Park by the arched stone bridge is a delight and the mauve wallflower planting was full of bees and butterflies as we walked past. Picnics were being enjoyed at the tables by overseas visitor families, which was lovely to see.
Concluding Remarks from Judge 2: We left your village with a feeling of having visited a very friendly community that shows great care and respect for their historic home place. Well done to all involved in this year’s entry and you should all take great pride in the hard work done by the community over the past year, which resulted in the really excellent presentation of Inistioge for this year’s visits.
The full report can be accessed here