Showing Shercock in its best light
Often, the tireless work of volunteers can go unnoticed, but it's impossible not to see the positive impact Shercock's Tidy Towns team has had on the village this year.
Two epic murals celebrating the village's rich cultural and natural heritage have impacted wonderfully on the streetscape. They, along with significant public realm enhancements, were funded through a Town and Village Renewal Grant of €125,000 which the local Tidy Towns voluntary committee secured.
“This project is breathing vitality and pride back into the town and is a project that's been so positively received by the community,” says Carol Smyth, Tidy Towns secretary.
Many of the buildings in the heart of the village have been painted and new welcome signs have been erected through working alongside the municipal district.
“All of those elements combine to improve the overall appearance of the town,” Carol correctly points out.
Two artworks by Bangor-based street artist Friz are particularly eye-catching additions to Shercock's streetscape. One mural on O'Mahoney's gable wall facing Main Street is focussed on biodiversity and the lakes around the area. A second, also on Main Street, depicts the pre-historic figure carved in yew called the Ralaghan Idol.
“It is an archaeological artefact that was found in a bog outside Shercock and is now on permanent display in the National Museum in the Kingship & Sacrifice exhibition,” says Carol of the Ralaghan figure. “That mural asks a lot of questions and has a lot of interpretations, but also reflects our archaeological heritage.”
A third large -cale mural is also in the offing this spring, but its subject matter is being kept under wraps for now.
The team also organised social events, including Shercock's successful inaugural Culture Night and Christmas Carols events.
While such vibrant projects and events benefit the local community, Tidy Towns are also eager to present the area in its best light to visitors.
“Our visitor numbers are going up and up every year and that's mostly due to things like Lough Sillan Lakeshore Park and Camp Gregory who are doing fantastic work to draw those visitors to our small community.”
The team were delighted to increase their marks in the 2024 Tidy Towns competition due in large part to the often thankless job of litter-picking and maintaining flower displays.
“In addition, the competition asks us to carry out our work with the Sustainable Development Goals and so we held events such as books swaps for example, saving over 100 books from landfill. Every small action adds up!
“In 2025, we're hoping to install a water refill station in the town, furthering our sustainability efforts for the betterment of the community,” says Carol.
The local schools are great supporters of the team, and the kids take a special interest in their bio-diversity work. Ecologist Heather Bothwell guided the students as they examined various invertebrates in water samples collected from local lakes.
“We rolled out a community initiative ‘Our community in colour’ where we provided members of our community with pollinator-friendly bulbs that will return year after year.”
Similarly, they are a stakeholder in the recently established ‘Friends of the Upper Annalee’ group who are working to preserve and protect the waters of the Upper Annalee catchment.
“Their water sampling and mapping projects are exciting pieces of work that we're looking forward to participating in in 2025,” enthused Carol.
Looking ahead to 2025 the committee hope to progress meetings they have had with the Active Travel team of Cavan Co Co to develop safe footpaths for all users in 2025 and are looking forward to seeing the planned resurfacing works promised for the Main Street.
In addition to Carol the core group in Shercock Tidy Towns team include Katie O'Mahony, Jody Farrell, Sean Carolan, Sinéad Clerkin, Grace Collins and Michelle McCluskey.
“It takes a passionate and dedicated group of people to make work like this happen and we're very lucky to have a core group of volunteers, supported by a wider network.
“We're also so grateful to the great people of Shercock who support our work, to all the community groups, the schools and businesses - thanks to all and here's to a collaborative and busy 2025!”