Margaret helping keep spotless Summerhill in the spotlight

COMMUNITY HERO - The beautiful approach roads into the scenic village of Summerhill are in no small part down to the work of horticulturist Margaret Neary who is one of an 11-strong voluntary committee team at Summerhiill Tidy Towns. Margaret tells AINE FAHERTY why it's all a labour of love with a strong emphasis on climate and protecting our environment

Anyone passing through or living in Summerhill will see that its approach roads are distinctly well groomed and there is a good colourful, vibe in the village. This is due in no small part to the work of horticulturist Margaret Neary who is one of an 11-strong voluntary committee team at Summerhiill Tidy Towns.

Margaret gets great enjoyment from her work with the Tidy Towns and has been invaluable to the group in offering her expertise and knowledge. “It’s a passion for me and I love doing all the planting and recommending what’s best.” The Dublin native is keen to highlight that it is a great “team effort” within the organisation, which also includes efforts made by anyone who comes out to tidy or help in any way. “The whole idea is basically trying to make Summerhill a better place.”

The Summerhill resident of 22-years got involved in the Tidy Towns initially because it is such a ‘positive project.’ “It is such a pretty village, and they are a good crew in the Tidy Towns and I like to be out getting the hands dirty,” she says, enthusiastically.

Margaret is personally out doing something or other around the village about twice a week, with the traditional days Tidy Towns meet-ups being a Tuesday and Saturday.

Others choose different days that suit them. “There is always something to be done,” she says. “We estimated that 40 hours was spent just weeding beds last year,” so there are a lot of volunteering hours in that alone.

The group is of course mindful to not use any chemicals for weeding and has now invested in gas burners for weeds, which she says is effective but time consuming.

Summerhill Tidy Towns collaborates with the Third Age, Summerhill Community Centre and with residents’ associations around the village. “We have been busy planting pollinator plants in our beds, and shrubs and perennials around the village and last autumn we planted about two and a half 1,000 bulbs in conjunction with residents of housing states Hillview, Beechcraft, Cherrycourt and Castle Lawns. It was a great project to get all of that done.”

According to Margaret, many businesses are also very good to support Tidy Towns through sponsorship and other initiatives such as when Shaws pub put nice planters outside their premises to enhance the area and created a nice outdoor space.

With the Village Green being the central point in the village, Margaret is glad to see the space brought back to its former glory, following two ponds being removed. “It is restored to an unfussy area with its low limestone walls around it, which are very pretty with daffodils in the spring and then marigolds.”

The committee has entered the Tidy Towns competition for the last six years and it has increased its level of competitiveness year on year, starting off on 244 points and rising to a very impressive 285 last year. “We're happy with that. And that kind of keeps us motivated and looking at new projects to get involved in to make more attractive for the village.”

The focus now in the Tidy Towns competition is on sustainability, climate change and biodiversity and so the group is consistently trying to preserve the biodiversity that’s already in place and keep it there for future generations. It is also trying to preserve the heritage of the village as it has a lot of artefacts from the past and houses dating back as far as the 17 and 1800s.

Another initiative underway is to ‘Leave no Trace’ with the team committing to not being wasteful and ensuring that containers are all eco planters and there are water butts preserving water for plants in place around the village. It also posts details of some initiatives on Facebook and in the parish newsletter to highlight the great work that is underway and in a bid to entice new volunteers into the fold.

“We are always looking for more volunteers to join us. We are an aging group, full of energy and we love doing it and we are all very proud of our village and we want the place to always look its best and colourful and doing the right things in terms of the Tidy Towns competition,” but we need more people. Margaret wants a shout out to the teenage and young adult group particularly to get involved where they can harness their awareness of climate change and environmental concerns for future generations.

“We're not just doing it for ourselves, but we're also doing it for the whole village and the community and hoping that they can follow our example and make their own gardens more, biodiversity friendly and that is the kind of message that we're trying to provide,” Margaret says with her usual enthusiasm and energy.