Cullahill revives Tidy Towns
Cullahill Tidy Towns at a recent clean up of the Old Church and Castle. Back - Joe Dollard, Liam OSullivan, Joe Costigan, Eamon Fitzpatrick, Michael Kells, Eamon Delahunty, Eoin Saunders, John Delahunty, front - Vincent OSullivan, Pat Barnaville, Paschal Bergin, and Michael Killeen
THE community of Cullahill have decided to revive their Tidy Towns committee and this year will be entering the Tidy Towns competition. The new committee of 13 was formed in January of this year and since then have been hard at work.
Committee chairman Paschal Bergin told the Leinster Express that already there has been great community spirit and interest from locals in helping out with various clean ups in the village.
“We have a beautiful castle ruins and a church in the village and we have been doing a clean up in that area. There is also a lime kiln there. We have already been out on two Saturdays, the first day we had 25 people, and the second day we had 15 people. We also had local farmers giving the use of their tractors to help. The castle walls were covered in ivy so it is a big clean up”.
The committee also includes president Fr Tom McGree, secretary Noel Delaney and treasurer Joe Dollard. Already the group have planted daffodills on the main road in and out of Cullahill and on other approach roads. “They are just starting to come up now for this year, but they will be really nice next year”.
Paschal said that there are a few derelict buildings in the area and they are the biggest problem residents face. But already there have been great improvements and the locals in the area are now putting together the history of the buildings.
“There are people stopping all the time and they don’t know anything about the castle. We would like to try and get a plaque to put on the building with the information, and we are gathering up some of the history at the moment. The castle was destroyed in the 1600s by Cromwell and has been uninhabited since then”.
The castle, the old church and the lime kiln all date back to the 1400s, and when the group have completed their work on these buildings, they will carry out work in other areas of the village.
Paschal said that FÁS workers have been doing a great job cutting the grass in the village and keeping it tidy over the past few years. He added that the Tidy Towns committee are hoping to do well in this year’s competiton, as Cullahill previously won a tidiest village award in the national competition in 1976. “We will be making every effort to do well again”, he said.
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Thursday 23 May 2013
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