Local Heroes: Transforming a village one flowerbed at a time

Carlanstown Village has been getting something of a steady makeover in the last couple of years as the Tidy Towns group, spearheaded by Therese Cudlipp breathes new life into the north Meath town, one flowerbed at a time.

“When you drive by an area that is bugging you, it is great to say, ‘right I will go out there and I will do something about it by taking ownership of it and giving back to the community,’” says Therese who embraces the outdoor life and likes nothing better on a Saturday morning then to take on a project like this around the village.

“It is not only for your own pleasure but for everyone else’s too.”

“It was from making improvements in the estate, that I knew I then wanted to do more for the village,” she said. “I wasn’t part of the Tidy Towns at the time but then one of the ladies had to step down and then I just said, ‘I love being outside, I don’t know a huge amount about it, but I would love to get involved.’”

That was two and a half years ago and now Therese couldn’t be without it, highlighting the advantages to her mind and body from spending more time outside. She explains that the work is year-round with the first meeting held at the end of January annually where plans are discussed for the year going forward. There is a strong team in the Tidy Towns with Therese as chairperson and co-ordinator. Very much part of the Tidy Towns team at present are Peter Carolan, who works on a Community Employment Scheme as well as Thomas Tobin and Charlie McGrath who are Tus workers.

“They do the bulk of the work and have done Trojan work together to make the village bright again along with five or six volunteers. Most of the people working as volunteers also work full-time, so having the extra help has been invaluable.”

Therese herself works full-time as a GP practice nurse in Blanchardstown. She was born in Rathbeggan where mother Mary and father John still live. When she bought her first house, she moved to Navan, before making her way further north to Carlanstown just before her eldest child was born.

“It is a lovely area and everyone is really friendly and you just fit in,” she says of where she lives her three children Leia (18), Luke (15) and Ryan (12).

When her children were younger, she didn’t have the time to spend on personal projects like this and didn’t really get to know too many as a result. As the kids grew and spent time in their dad’s at weekends, Therese reached out to meet new people in the community and has found it a wonderful way to link in. She finds it very rewarding too when someone shows their appreciation for her work and the work of the group:

“This morning a gentleman I didn’t know came up and wanted to know how he could help out and he wanted to donate money. It is good to know that people might not want to get involved in the work for whatever reason, but they still want to support us.”

Businesses in the town including Centra, Kiernan's, The Village Stores, McNally's and Gerry's have all been generous in their support of the ongoing initiatives of the Tidy Towns. One of the projects underway this year is to revamp a flowerbed across from Centra and clear a way for an old farming tool – an antique Spud Cutter – that was once used in the fields around the village. “It was donated to the village years ago but nothing was ever done with it but it is now painted brightly and it will make a really nice feature in the village.

Other plans include planting spring bulbs shortly in planters on approach roads and arranging flowers in hanging baskets, painting some of the walls throughout the village and placing flowers in tubs. This injection of colour is good for everyone she believes and encourages everyone to take a little bit of pride in their home-town.

Plans are afoot also to step-up its conscious commitment to bio-diversity with the introduction of a water butt that will harvest water from gutters in an area behind the Take-away in the village. “This just needs to be connected and that water can then be used to water plants.”

The group is also working on developing two of its own composting areas – in Deer Park and another on the Kells Road.

Now that the brighter evenings fast approaching, Therese is looking forward to pottering around the village and getting stuck into these various projects.

With her plentiful energy and enthusiasm for her work, it will be lovely to admire the results as summer approaches.