Excitement in Trim as 'International Communities in Bloom' judges visit
All the hard work of the county council, local community and sporting organisations looks to have paid, with Trim looking fantastic as the International Communities in Bloom competition judges visited.
A massive community effort involving Trim Tidy Towns, the council's outdoor staff, local businesses, community organisations and residents associations was made ahead of the judging.
Having won the National Tidy Towns competition in 2022, Trim represents Ireland in the 30th edition of the prestigious competition. Judges Susan Ellis from Pembroke, Ontario Canada and Bob Ivison from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire United Kingdom, were in Meath to evaluate Trim taking a whistlestop tour of the town and meeting many local groups throughout the day.
Orange is the theme for the competition this year and this has been carried throughout the town in floral displays and also murals.
The community will be rated from 1 to 5 Blooms, based on the scoring obtained and will also aim to obtain bronze, silver or gold levels in the 5-Bloom rating. The other towns in their category include Brooks, Alberta Canada; Rosemère, Québec Canada; Stratford, Ontario Canada and Szentes, Hungary.
The results will be announced in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Canada in October.
Judge Bob Ivison said: It's been an amazing experience and a wonderful example of what local communities are all about, not just the flowers and displays but the community spirit itself, it's tremendous."
Fellow CIB adjudicator, Susan Ellis said her first impression of the heritage town was "Wow!
"It's a complete example of what we are looking for in Communities in Bloom. We are looking for six things. We're looking at general appearance, which is fabulous. We're looking at environmental initiatives and all the great things the community is already doing. We're looking at parks and grounds and landscape, conservation, preservation of the past and the culture, natural and built.
"They know what they are doing here," smiled Susan, speaking in front of Trim Castle.
"It must be why we are surrounded by such happy, jolly people, it's a great community and there is a great sense of community.
Bob adds that the strapline for Communities in Bloom is 'growing great places together' and "that's certainly what's happening here in Trim."
Cllr Ronan Moore of Trim Tidy Towns explained that the competition is like Michelin Star status and if you do well and get up awarded five blooms you can promote yourself as a five star 'Community in Bloom' town.
He said it had been all hands on deck this week in the run up to judging and paid tribute to everyone involved in the efforts with a special mention to Anthony Conlon and his outdoor staff saying Anthony had even held off his retirement to be involved.
Cllr Moore said that to do well in the competition would be another string to the town's bow in promoting itself on the international stage and would be a great boost for tourism, particularly the Canadian market.
The judges have visited several locations around the town including Norman Pratt Park, Newtown Cemetery, the Porchfields, the Blackfriary archaeological dig site, the Sensory Garden, Boyne Valley Activities, and met with 12-15 local groups in Trim GAA.
Donna Pringle, the council's District Engineer said it was great for the town to represent Ireland and there has been a great buy in from the people of Trim.
“We have the new murals there has been a lot of painting, we have touched up the road markings. Anthony Conlon and his team do a wonderful job planting every year, but this year they have excelled themselves,” she said.
Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit volunteer and partnership-driven organisation that uses a multi-tiered competitive evaluation process to foster community strength, involvement, and continuous improvement.