Longford Tidy Towns hoping to claim silver award

We feel we deserve it. Great work has been done. Much has been achieved. Flowers are in bloom all over the town in containers, in raised beds and on window sills and in many gardens.

Volunteers have been working hard and many residents of the town and local estates, businesses and schools are now on board too.

Our aim is to make Longford and its environs beautiful, safe, clean and environmentally friendly for everyone to enjoy, not forgetting our bees.

Volunteers are out every Saturday morning and many evenings since last Spring and some choose their own day and time to help.

Apart from litter picking and cleaning, other actions have been taken by Longford Tidy Towns over the last year or two.

What we've been doing

These are some of the things of a varied nature which we have been doing;

Numerous meetings have been held with owners or occupiers of properties in town, which has resulted in over 80 properties being painted.

Presentations have been made to voluntary groups, schools and clubs.

Planting and ongoing maintenance of perennial shrubs and flowers in raised beds at the new pedestrian bridge in town and in the Garden of Remembrance at Great Water Street takes place.

A complete revamp and planting of a raised bed at Churchland Bridge on the Athlone Road where walkers and cyclists begin the last stretch of the Royal Canal Greenway before reaching Longford Town

Tree identifiers placed on more than 50 trees in the Albert Reynolds Peace Park, from Ash to Sycamore to Elm to Oak and even a London Plane. A great educational project.

Arranged the washing of over 200 signs in the town and on the approach roads to town.

Removed tree sucklers from numerous trees, especially along the Ballinalee Road.

Painted a wall and bollards at the rear of the Market Square.

Arranged an appropriate educational float for the St Patrick's Day Parade.

Removed unsightly plastic ties and stickers from poles around town.

Constant promotion of rewilding, sustainability and biodiversity.

Regular updating of the educational display on our Tidy Towns window on Ballymahon Street.

Created a new raised bed containing roses and spring flowers beside the Teagasc office,

Unsightly graffiti is being constantly removed and painted over.

A plan has been prepared for the planting of suitable trees on some local residential estates later this year.

Those are some of the things we have been doing, and much more, with great help from Longford County Council.

We have been busy but we enjoy doing it because we see the results and we hope you can see them too.

Needless to say, we always welcome new volunteers, any age, any nationality.