Remarks by President McALEESE At STRADBALLY TIDY TOWNS/ENTENTE FLORALE EVENT sUNDAY, 23 MARCH, 2003
Remarks by President McALEESE At STRADBALLY TIDY TOWNS/ENTENTE FLORALE EVENT sUNDAY, 23 MARCH, 2003
A chairde. Tá áthas orm bheith anseo libh inniu. Míle buíochas libh as an chaoin-chuireadh.
Nature gave Stradbally a beautiful setting - so I suppose you could say it was lucky. But no amount of luck gets you a Gold Medal in Entente Florale or twenty-one years of dedication to the Tidy Towns Competition. That amount of success takes the consistent dedicated hard work of people who have a vision for their home village and who make that vision happen. It is their achievements we are celebrating today. Stradbally is very lucky indeed to have such people, people who care deeply, who have a strong sense of civic responsibility, people who want to showcase Stradbally at its absolute best for the enjoyment of its inhabitants and its many visitors.
Behind a day like today, behind all the awards accumulated over the years is a litany of hard slog. Committee meetings, planning, fundraising, persuading, doing, facing disappointments along with the days of success and I’m sure you asked many times “Why do we bother?” But you kept going because you know the value of what you have inherited; you have pride in this lovely place, you appreciate its rich heritage, you have a deep sense of stewardship and care for the fragile beauty of the natural environment and you know that a culture of care has to be maintained year in and year out. You give great witness to the young people of Stradbally and to other communities, which have yet to get organised and focussed as you have.
That is the real essence of Tidy Towns. That is why every day of every month there are thousands of people the length and breadth of this country working hard to sustain their towns and villages never looking for but richly deserving our thanks and praise. They are the life-blood of the Tidy Town Competition and it is they who have sustained and nourished it from its earliest days over forty years ago with its modest aspirations to become the national movement it is today.
As Helen Keller once said -
“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
It has been a great privilege for me to have met so many of these people through the years, and to say thanks to them on behalf of all us who reap the benefits of their labour. That is why I am here today - to honour you for your dedication, determination, selflessness, and commitment over the past 21 years so that today we have so much to celebrate.
Considering the strength of the committee, I am not at all surprised to hear that Stradbally has made great strides in Tidy Towns since it first entered and has become one of the top achievers in the competition. From a modest start with 108 marks in 1982 to 263 marks in 2002 is impressive by any standards. And you were rewarded fittingly in Dublin Castle - highly commended in the County Awards - National Winner of the Landscape Award for your exquisite Village Green, and recipients of a silver medal – again!
I would like to congratulate you also on being invited to compete in the all Island competition – Ireland’s Best Kept Towns and a special honour reserved for only the top achievers in Tidy Towns and Northern Ireland’s “Best Kept” Award.
And it doesn’t stop there! Yet another achievement was being invited to compete for the second time as Ireland’s Village Entrant on an international stage in front of our European counterparts in the prestigious Entente Florale Competition. From there you took some European Gold home to Ireland to add to the Heritage Award you won in the same competition in 1990.
Tell me – do you have a special room to display all the awards you’ve won over the years? If you continue on to be such high achievers, I think you may need an additional hall to display them all! And, as I’m sure you know, three of our past competitors in Entente Florale have gone on to win the overall award in our national competition – so perhaps we’ll see Stradbally taking the top honours in Dublin Castle in the near future? I hope so.
The Stradbally story is an inspiration, and a fine example to others of what an ambitious and clear-sighted community, led by a strong and committed Tidy Towns committee, can achieve at local, national and international level. Of course, the story continues and only you, the authors, know what will happen next, although I suspect that the most glorious chapters are yet to be written.
Go raibh maith agaibh.