It’s that time of year, Tidy Towns judges are visiting everywhere in Ireland.

And as you probably know already, “Tidy Towns” is not about towns being extremely tidy (though an absence of litter is still a huge pro)… the focus is on making our town as attractive a place to live in or to visit as possible, in keeping with the overall goal of sustainability.

We recently asked Maeve McGann, chair of Skerries Tidy Towns, what we all here in Skerries – each group / committee / neighbourhood – could do to maximise our chances in the national Tidy Towns competition, apart from picking up stray litter…

This is what Maeve answered:

The judges go into every nook and cranny.
They expect kerbs to be clear of growth. This is extremely difficult to achieve.
All businesses need to be well presented. If possible to have good window displays.

We would really appreciate if residents and businesses could help by keeping their own area of kerb free of growth. This is particularly important where there are cobbles or limestone kerbing as these are heritage features in the town.
The formally planted perennial beds need to be well maintained.

The judges like a balance between formal planting and rewilding areas.
All residential areas are visited and any extra work undertaken in these areas is noted.

The judges will pick up on even isolated pieces of litter anywhere in the town… So do pick loose pieces of litter up and always dispose of litter conscientiously.
Also, they really don’t like grass clippings left near amenity areas or just dumped in public view.
These are all areas we depend on residents to help with.

Our local competitions are always applauded… these are judged during the summer months, and the winners announced in the autumn.

All houses, business premises and housing estates are taken into consideration for a prize by the TidyTowns Committee.

So… let’s all help make Skerries look as good as possible over the coming months – and let’s do so in a sustainable way! 💚 We of Sustainable Skerries are particularly happy that Skerries Tidy Town are tackling the kerbstones without chemicals.

We should all get out and tidy up around our homes, businesses, and wherever else we can.

And we’re delighted that Skerries Tidy Towns included a number of biodiversity projects and sustainability projects in their 2022/23 report to the national competition – many of which our Biodiversity Group around Charlie and Marion Heasman were involved in!

Best of luck to Skerries in the 2023 national competition!

All pictures from Skerries Tidy Towns on Facebook.