The Cork County Council Anti Litter Challenge 2007 was launched by the Mayor of County Cork on Monday 23rd
April 2007 at County Hall.
This is the 14th year of the competition, which aims to increase the awareness in communities of
Litter Pollution and to put the solutions to the problem in the hands of communities.
The competition is divided into 4 categories of Towns and villages and each entrant was judged once a fortnight
between 27th April and 21st May.
This is an important fact to note because unlike the Tidy Towns awards who visit only once, the litter free
awards are judged on an ongoing basis and are more reflective on how a community is progressing in the battle against litter.
The awards for the Cork County awards took place in the County Hall on the 13th September 2007.
In the face of very stiff opposition Blarney village won 1st place in its category.
This fantastic achievement was only reached with the hard work of the Community Employment Workers, who regularly
work well past their contracted hours to keep the village looking so well, Pat O Mahony, Adain Kelly, Noreen Reedy and Lawrence
____________.
I must particularly acknowledge the hard work of the voluntary group, which meets under the leadership of
Derry McSweeney to target all the litter black spots in the village.
I would also like to thank any of the resident groups and the individuals who give their time so generously
to keep their own areas clean.
The combined result of all these people working together is apart from winning the litter free award this
year we ,as a village also had a marked improvement in the points awarded to us in the Tidy Towns awards.
A lot has been done over the last months,
- The street lighting has been upgraded to lights more keeping with the character with the village, which will
extent to other parts of the village.
- New permanent Christmas lights have been erected and should last for years to come.
- The Waterloo walk has been rebuilt and a memorial to the late Gerry O Conner will be put in place in the
next few months.
- The signage around the village has been targeted to be changed in 2008 to signs more in keeping with the
new lights and to be less confusing to our visitors.
All this work costs money and if we are to continue the Stirling work carried out so far we need once again
to raise funds. To this end , David Scally has organised a Golf Classic to be held on the 25th of Oct in Lee Valley
Golf Club.
Finally I want to acknowledge the huge efforts the Blarney Development Group Committee has put in over the
last few years.
With out the commitment of Helen Allcorn, Claire Lyons, Derry McSweeny, David Scally and Freda Hayes, Blarney
would not be in the wonderful condition it is in.
Thank you for your time….
Colin Murphy
