Slane wins National Pride of Place Award.

Meath scooped two national awards  at the IPB Pride of Place Awards 2017, which were held in the Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny on Saturday. Slane Tidy Towns were the winners of the main competition in the category for populations of 1000 - 2000, while Trim was named runner up in the main competition int he category for populations over 5000.
Commenting on Slane the judges noted that “community involvement is the keynote of this excellently presented village, which has a number of recently completed enhancement projects – the result of widespread community consultations with a large number of organisations and agencies. The projects were undertaken mainly by voluntary labour to a very high standard of design and construction. All activities are promoted through social media, which engenders enthusiasm and great community spirit”.
The judges were highly impressed by the projects and initiatives undertaken by Trim Tidy Towns. The group works with a variety of community stakeholders including; green schools, living history group, the Blackfriary Community Project and the OPW’s Friends of Irish Heritage Initiative, enhancing and maintaining the town of Trim for all.
Two other groups also represented the county in this year’s competition - Black Friary SMART Project, Trim in the Community Based Youth Initiative category and Kells Type Trail / Kells Local Heroes in the Creative Place Initiative category.
The award ceremony was held in the Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny, with over 850 people in attendance, representing towns, villages, cities, housing estates and projects from all over the country. Cllr Wayne Harding has described as absolutely fantastic the achievement of Slane village in coming first. "Slane Tidy Towns should be delighted with themselves for being the anchor organisation in relation to the application for the award but all groups should take pride in this award especially "The Hub" and Slane Youth Cafe. Slane is vibrant and I expect many more awards to come," he said. Trim's Cllr Noel French, a native of Clonakilty said it was wonderful for his two home towns of Trim and Clonakilty to win the two top awards in their category, but said that he would have been happier if the paces had been reversed.
"This is a wonderful result for the town of Trim, following our achievement in the friendliest place in Ireland last month."
"The volunteers who attended the event in Letterkenny on Saturday night were picking litter on Market Street, Trim, by mid morning Sunday. There is tremendous volunteer and community spirit in Trim. "
He pointed out that the Tidy Towns is led by Brian Heffernan who provides the leadership and inspiration for all the work. "The work of the County Council workers is also greatly appreciated."