Collentine attributes Pride of Place success to community cooperation

A beaming Cllr Bill Collentine listened with pride as Mullingar Tidy Towns – of which he has been chairman for some years – was warmly praised at the meeting on Monday of Westmeath County Council’s Economic, Enterprise and Tourism SPC, for its previous weekend’s success at the national Pride of Place awards.

SPC Chairman, Cllr John Shaw, described the group’s performance as “tremendous”.

“It’s an absolutely fantastic achievement for Mullingar, and in particular I want to congratulate our member here, Bill, the chair of Mullingar Tidy Towns, who has done an incredible job there over the last number of years,” he said.

Cllr Shaw said he believed the actions of the Tidy Towns Group in Mullingar had helped drive economic activity and contributed to a general “feelgood factor” locally.

Cllr Collentine responded that the group had been delighted to receive the award, but stressed that the success of the Tidy Towns in its work in Mullingar had come about due to the cooperation of many groups, including the local schools, the county council, Waterways Ireland.

On the day of the judges’ visit to Mullingar, he continued, many different groups had again taken an active role – even to the extent that there were 1916 re-enactors at the Joe Dolan statue to greet the judges.

“We have a great town; we have a beautiful town,” he said proudly, extending all those who had contributed to the effort.