Trim Tidy Towns volunteers honoured
A presentation to mark the contribution of Brian Heffernan to Trim Tidy Towns during his 25 years as chairperson took place in the Castle Arch Hotel, Trim, this afternoon.
The event also honoured longstanding volunteers Noel Rochford for his incredible 60 years of volunteering and also Vincent Adair who has been with the group for over 20 years.
Meath County Council's Deputy Chief Executive Fiona Lawless and Director of Service/Trim Area Manager Des Foley, Meath West TD Aisling Dempsey, Trim Munìcipal District Cathaoirleach Ronan Moore and councillors Noel French and Joe Fox were among those in attendance.
Locally carved candle holders and a plaque made from a local tree were presented to Brian by Joe Donohoe, while Cllr Moore presented a certificate in recognition of Brian's outstanding contribution to the local Tidy Towns group and the town of Trim.
During Brian's tenure, Trim has enjoyed many successes from a gold medal in Entente Florale in 2015 to a gold medal in Communities in Bloom in 2024 but the highlight is undoubtedly winning the national Tidy Towns Title in 2022, adding to the previous wins of the 1970s and 1980's
Trim MD Cathaoirleach Cllr Ronan Moore: "We all know how important tidy town is in the fabric of the country and I think Trim is a really special place. It is no accident that it has been so successful so many years.
"Only looking around the room and out on a daily basis you can see how proud people are in the community and how indebted we are to the volunteers within the tidy towns for the time and work they put in."
Cllr Noel French paid tribute to Brian for his work and pointed out that he had actually been involved for 26 years, having joined Tidy Towns in 1999.
"Brian has a way of leadership where he is an extremely modest guy and he will push other volunteers out in front to take the limelight but Brian's method of leadership brings a whole lot of people together. He has a huge network of support built up over a long period of time.
"He started in the Tidy towns in 1999. At that time, Trim had won the tidy towns a couple of times but he was starting virtually from scratch apart from Noel Rochford who is around a lot longer and saw the previous tidy towns wins. I want to celebrate the remarkable dedication and tireless efforts of Brian Heffernan- a true champion of the community and the environment through his work with tidy towns. His voluntary work has left an indelible mark on our town and its residents.
"Through his leadership, vision and passion, Brian has inspired count less volunteers and community members to come together in a shared mission to create a cleaner, greener and more vibrant Trim."
Deputy Chief Executive Fiona Lawless spoke of how Trim is the "envy of every other MD in the county" and how ingrained the community spirit is in the town and how proud everyone from Trim is of the town.
Brian expressed his gratitude for the gifts and said the real reward for him was things like seeing the hedging that had been planted along the ring road, the trees, and cited several other improvements around the town that the tidy towns volunteers had been involved in.
He quickly shifted the focus from himself to the other two volunteers- Noel Rochford and Vincent Adair and spoke of what an inspiration they were to everybody.
He quoted from an article in the Meath Chronicle on Noel where he said: " Only for the tidy towns I would be dead. I would be dead living on my own, looking out the window. Now I am full of life, I have something to do, people to meet." And added that the town would be dead as well without Noel.
Brian also recalled the time 'colourful character' Vincent had been buried alive for five days in a makeshift coffin to raise funds for charity and how apart from volunteering with Trim Tidy Towns he was also involved with Meals on Wheels, Men's Shed and Meath Tourism. "You give everything to your community," said Brian.
"The town would be a lot worse place without you and Noel. everybody would like to thank you both," he said.