Athboy Tidy Towns looks back on ten years of achievement

A special meeting of Athboy Tidy Towns group will take place tonight (Wednesday) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the group, when all current and former members are invited to the Old Darnley Lodge Hotel at 8pm. The town of Athboy has benefited greatly from the activities of the group, which has been involved in many projects in the town. These include Meath Leader-assisted projects, such as the spiral bed small planting scheme at the junction of the Frayne and Delvin roads, a comprehensive plan for green area at Church View, working with residents of all ages to develop a plan which included pocket playground, reseeding a green area and appropriate planting of flower beds, shrubs and trees; and the Cowpark Project, in partnership with Athboy Social Needs and Recreational Company Ltd, which resulted in the provision of scouts camping area, archery range, wildflower meadow, sculptures, tree-planting, signage of the flora and fauna and a river walk. A management plan prepared by Dr Tina Aughney formed part of this project, as the Yellow Ford river was a proposed candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Copies of this plan were presented to the library and schools. It remains an objective of Athboy Tidy Towns to extend the river walk around the perimeter of the cowpark. Projects supported by Meath County Council included the urban tree planting scheme. This resulted in the planting of 20 trees along Main Street and Bridge Street. The river project opened up the view between the two bridges, with a management plan, signage and appropriate planting both on riverbank and along Barrack Lane. The cemetery wall project grant assisted the stone facing of the cemetery wall and planting of beds at the entrance to cemetery on the Cloran Road. A pilot allotment project at the Cowpark was also initiated, and there are currently 17 allotment holders availing of this facility. Local Agenda 21 funded initiatives include community composting units at the allotment site, the 'Butts Out' campaign aimed at addressing the high level of litter generated by cigarette butts, and workshop planting of new native hedgerow along the allotment site. Athboy TT also secured funding from The Heritage Council for fencing to define the Special Area of Conservation at the Cowpark. The Tidy Towns has an excellent record of consulting and working with local organisations, including the 8th Meath Scout Group (Athboy), schools, No Name Club and Macra. A former chairperson, Ursula Brennan, designed the plans for the Churchview project and The Heritage Garden. The latter secured Leader funding for Athboy Heritage Forum. The TT group also hosted a number of information meetings on composting, biodiversity and recently the presentation by Dr Stephen Davis, UCD, on LiDAR imagery of the Hill of Ward, which drew an attendance of over 70. Members of the Tidy Towns committee were the first point of contact by RTE's 'Dirty Old Towns' programme, hosted by Diarmuid Gavin, which was aired this year, leading to the Athboy Farmer's Market initiative. Athboy Tidy Towns currently has grant approval from Meath Partnership for an enhancement project for all eight approach roads. The development plan for this project was prepared by Jane McCorkill, a gold medal winner at this year's Bloom Festival. This work has commenced and will be completed at a cost of €24,000. A licence agreement is in place with Meath County Council for the project.