SUCH was their determination and dedication to keeping their villages clean and tidy four small West Cork villages ended up in joint first place in this year’s Anti-Litter Challenge run by Cork County Council.
The four villages – Newcestown, Coppeen, Ring and Kilmacsimon Quay – all finished with full marks after all the judging was completed.
‘This necessitated an extra round of judging to determine who qualified to represent West Cork in the Villages county final. Ring was chosen and joined Ballinspittle, who flew the flag for West Cork in the larger villages category,’ said a Council spokesperson.
This year’s Anti-Litter Challenge was another success with 66 villages and 20 towns taking part across the three divisions and the cleanest villages in the county were presented with their awards before the July Divisional Committee meeting in Clonakilty on July 23rd.
Judging took place over six weeks between late April and early June and they faced a tough task especially when it came to the Small Villages category with all four villages finished with full marks.
Speaking to The Southern Star, Breda Buckley of Newcestown Tidy Towns and Development, which tied for top spot with three other villages, wished to acknowledge the support from the Environmental section of Cork County Council.
‘We want to thank them for an enjoyable awards ceremony in Clonakilty and we want to thank Lilly Shorten, Niall O’Mahony and Denise Twohig who represented us at the ceremony,’ she said.
‘I want to thank all our volunteers for their litter picking and ongoing work to ensure our village and environs look well. Our success is due to a wider community effort and we want to thank Cork County Council for organising this competition.’
There was celebrations in the Gaeltacht too with both Ballingeary and Coolea taking first place in the large and small villages categories respectively in South Cork.
The top villages also received €1,000 in prize money, with further prized for second and third place villages as well as the best improvers, which went to Timoleague in the ‘Large Village’ category.
County mayor Cllr Mary Linehan Foley praised all the villages who entered this year’s Anti-Litter Challenge.
‘Community groups are at the heart of the fight against litter, helping us to create cleaner, safer spaces for everyone to enjoy. This year 20 towns and 66 villages entered the challenge and I congratulate all winners in their respective categories. We hope to see even more towns and villages take part in the challenge again next year.’
Meanwhile, the winners in the various Towns categories and Villages county final will be announced at an awards ceremony in County Hall in September.
