Hollyfort Development
Group/Tidy Towns Report 2017
In November 2013, a public
meeting was held to discuss the state of Hollyfort Village. Four years later,
the village is stunningly attractive due to the huge amount of work carried out
by this committee and its supporters. This report highlights events since
November 2016.
Events
Hollyfort joined Craanford/ Monaseed community in the Young at Heart Xmas Party in December ’16.
This was followed by our annual Christmas tree lighting with over 50 children
attending. Unfortunately, our annual concert with Ballythomas School was
cancelled due to bereavement.
A Fun-run and family walk
was held in March ’17 and was a success both in community and fund-raising
terms. Our Summer Concert in July with the ‘Growlers’ and local talent was
another successful community event, which raised funds for the village and
local church. Three community events were supported for the first time by the
Tidy Towns (1) an Easter Egg Hunt run by Anne Cooney (2) Hillbilly Horseshoe
League when an All-village resident’s team entered and (3) Gap Arts Festival.
The Gap Arts Festival held a Poetry Event with Paula Meehan, Ireland Professor
of Poetry, in the Old School. New lampshades/bulbs were purchased and the venue
was highly praised by the festival organisers. The workshop was followed the
next day by a poetry reading in St. John’s church. Several people from the
village took part in the workshop and their reading in the church was commended.
A register of ‘Invasive
Species Sites’ by the Bann River was initiated by Deborah Darcy in May and the
register continues to be updated. An exhibition of photographs of Hollyfort’s
heritage trees and Tree Council posters was held in the Old School and Heritage
trees in the village were registered with The Tree Council, who will be
visiting the sites this year. For Heritage week in August, a ‘Herbs and Wild
Food’ talk was organised with Nicky Darrell and Alex Duffy, and was a most
interesting event. In November, our annual Halloween Fancy Dress Party continued
to be well supported as too was the Fundraiser 4-Griffin.
Planting, weeding and
grass and hedge cutting continued throughout the year, which was particularly
onerous due to lack of a Tus worker which, I’m pleased to say, we have now been
allocated. Litter picking was ongoing and a litter survey was carried out on Ballintlea
road. The open drain in the village was fitted with a grill by the council and,
in May a new composting site was erected in the village.
Awards
Hollyfort won a Gold Standard Award in Nth Wexford 2k
Clean 2017 and also €50 voucher in 'The Little Things that Matter' photo
competition. Our entry was Highly Recommended in the ‘Access for All’
competition and awarded a grant of €1,000. We were also awarded €504 in the
Community Facilities competition. This week, we were awarded €1,000 in
celebration of 60 years of the Tidy Towns. We once again entered the
Tidy Towns Competition and were awarded an extra 7 points. The adjudicator remarked,
‘Your committee is doing sterling work and we concur with last year’s
adjudicator that your village has great potential in this competition.’
The committee regretted the resignation of the chairperson
mid-term and we thank Pat Howard for his hard work and enthusiasm over the
years. Thanks also to all the committee members who continued to take up the TT
challenge and, with the help of numerous supporters, have made 2017 another
successful year for the village.
