Over 2,800 hours volunteered by Bettystown Tidy Towns group
Hannah McNamara
Meath County Council recognised and congratulated Bettystown Tidy Towns for all the hours they volunteered in 2023 to help their community.
Bettystown Tidy Towns gave up 2,830 hours of their time last year carrying out daily litter picks and installing beach recycling and cigarette butt bins as well as organising coastal education days in collaboration with local businesses and schools.
2023 was a successful year for the community group having secured their first Green Flag Award in the spring and receiving the Tourism Special Recognition Award at the Ocean Hero Awards in December.
These awards were in recognition of the work of the community group throughout the year such as the collection of 819 bags of rubbish, 361 bags of recyclables and 50 items too large to bag (chair, bike, etc) across the 12 months.
With the completion of the dunes boardwalk, BTT got the local community involved in twelve beach clean up days, four coastal education classes and three marram grass planting events. They also planted over 2,000 spring bulbs with volunteers and students from local schools. With the support of a local land owner, they also created a 'Mini Forest' (Miyawaki Method), with a variety of trees.
Bettystown Tidy Towns are not only concerned with litter picking and tree planting, as a coastal village they are very conscious of the local environment and how they can enhance and maintain it. Water harvesting, pollinator friendly planting and recycling of waste collected are additional ways the group preserve their community.
BTT installed street art, murals, a large clock and a bespoke sculpture by world renowned artist Linda Brunker as part of the village enhancement projects. To further enhance the community they also added more public beach seating, street planters and hanging baskets.
In response to BTT's hard work Marina and Denis Reddan of Reddans Bar and B&B, Bettystown said: “BTT has created a very positive community spirit in the village. The events they organise, including the Christmas street decorations, Halloween decorations and street planting create a very positive atmosphere. Before BTT was set up we didn't even have a welcome sign to advise people they had arrived in Bettystown. BTT have installed bespoke welcome signs with flower beds, murals and original pieces of art on the approach roads to welcome people to our seaside village.”
As part of the Supervalu Tidy Towns competition 2023, Bettystown Tidy Towns were awarded the Waters and Communities Highly Commended award for their work along the coast and with the local streams. They also won three awards in the Meath Co Council Pride of Place competition.
Meath Co Council congratulated Bettystown Tidy Towns on their major success in 2023 and recognised all the hard work the group put into their community: “Well done to Bettystown Tidy Towns volunteers who gave 2,830 hours of their time in 2023 to help their community. Congratulations to all involved!”
Bettystown Tidy Towns said: “It is nice that the work of the volunteers is recognised. Our volunteers are people who want to make a difference to our area and are keen to have Bettystown looking as well as possible.
“They have created a little community made up of different ages, abilities and nationalities who enjoy the social aspect of the group as well as the satisfaction of keeping our village tidy for residents, businesses and visitors to our seaside village.”
Bettystown Tidy Towns are always looking for more members to join. The volunteers meet every Saturday in the village square from 9am. They can also be contacted on their social media pages.