Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Awards
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Inver College received the School Participation Award at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Gemma Daly, Andrew Spare (Tidy Towns), Martina Peoples (Front row L-R) Fiona Mulholland (Deputy Principal), Kelvin Kawala, Gabriella Gomez and Sinead Colgan (Principal). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 2 of 10
St. Louis Secondary School received the School Participation Award at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (L-R) Patricia O'Reilly (Teacher), Natalie Byrne, Karen Patton (Principal) and Rosemary O'Rourke (Tidy Towns). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 3 of 10
Business Awards presented at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Dick Bourke (Tidy Towns), Frank Markey (Markey's), Joanne Lennon (Valley Lodge), Jackie Tumelty (John Joe Cunningham Bar & Lounge), Kieran Roche (Tidy Towns) (Front row L-R) Stephen Ward (Matilda's Bakery), Micheal Muldoon (Shirley Arms Hotel) and Aaron Carolan (Touch & Glow). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 4 of 10
Carrickmacross Camera Club who received the Community Participation & Support Award at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Jim Carolan, Brian Byrne, Ann Brennan, Jacinta McAree Murphy (Front row L-R) Angela Gartlan, Bridget Quinn and Breda McGuigan (Tidy Towns). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 5 of 10
Residential Awards presented at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Colm Birdy (Crann Nua), James Lambe (Tidy Towns), Shane Crosby (Tidy Towns), Breda McGuigan (Tidy Towns) (Front row L-R) Teresa Carolan (Cloughvalley), Michael McBride (B & C Contractors who received the New Development Award for Gleann Droimnin Estate) and John Hughes (Highfield). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 6 of 10
Summer Flower Power Award was won by Monaghan Volunteers was presented at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Claire Cunningham (Tidy Towns), James Lambe (Tidy Towns), Shane Crosby (Tidy Towns), Breda McGuigan (Tidy Towns) (Front row L-R) Sandra Aigbe, Barbars Egan and Firdawz Ali. Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 7 of 10
Pride in our Place video presentation by members of the Carrickmacross Camera Club to the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (L-R) Bridget Quinn, Kieran Roche (Tidy Towns) and Jacinta McAree Murphy. Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 8 of 10
Handing over of Tidy Towns 2025 Awards to members of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (L-R) Paul Goodman, Paddy Rooney, Andrew Spare (Tidy Towns), Cathal Flynn (Director of Services Monaghan County Council) and Kieran Roche (Tidy Towns). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 9 of 10
Presentation of Tidy Towns Certificate/Gold Medal/Pride of Place Award 2025 to members of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Councillor Noel Keelan, Dick Bourke (Tidy Towns), Councillor Aidan Campbell, Councillor Peter Conlon, Gerry Hand (Tidy Towns), Andrew Spare (Tidy Towns), Kieran Roche (Tidy Towns), James Lambe (Tidy Towns) (Front row L-R) Chairman of Monaghan County Council P.J. O'Hanlon, Robert Burns (CEO Monaghan County Council), Councillor & Chairman of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney MD Paul Gibbons, Cathal Flynn (Director of Services Monaghan County Council) and Shane Crosby (Tidy Towns). Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.comImage 10 of 10
Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Committee members at the Carrickmacross Tidy Towns Annual Awards night held in Markey's, Carrickmacross on Friday night last (Back row L-R) Shane Crosby, James Lambe, Andrew Spare, Dick Bourke, Kieran Roche (Front row L-R) Claire Cunningham, Gerry Hand, Rosemary O'Rourke and Breda McGuigan. Photo by patbyrnemedia@gmail.com- Veronica Corr -
Some 70 guests attended the annual local awards hosted by the Carrickmacross Tidy Town Committee. The celebratory event held in Markey’s Bar saw many of the attendees rewarded for their support to the local committee throughout the 2025 season.
Tidy Town Chairperson, Kieran Roche, welcomed everyone and MC for the evening was Tidy Town Secretary Gerry Hand. Details of the phenomenally successful 2025 campaign were outlined, including the committee achieving its 13th successive gold medal in the national competition.
Other successes included representing Monaghan County Council in the Biodiversity Section of the Pride of Place competition. Everyone in attendance were congratulated on their support for the Tidy Town efforts, not just in 2025 but over many years.
The critical importance of collaboration between voluntary and statutory groups was emphasised and was the key to success in the case of Carrickmacross community, where Tidy Towns, local authority and the community largely worked together. The involvement of schools and volunteer Monaghan immigrants were highlighted as being successful partnerships, which needed to be further nourished and promoted.
Mr Hand took the opportunity to state that communities only work when all actions begin at ground level, where locals have their input and a degree of ownership of what is best for their communities, with the support of the authorities.
He also briefly outlined many other achievements of 2025 and the plans for the 2026 campaign, which include further developments at the Eco Meadow and invited those who had yet to visit this wonderful amenity to do so and see the positive effects it could have on peoples’ wellbeing and community mental health.
He praised all those who had supported the committee financially, including local authorities through grant systems and private individuals who wished their generosity to remain anonymous. The annual Tidy Town calendar, supported by the local Camera Club, had raised €80,000 over the last 12 years and all that money was spent on local projects to enhance the town.
The committee was also in the process of launching its own dedicated website to highlight all of the good work that is carried out around the town and one of the first pieces that will be posted is a short visual history of the Tidy Town Committee, produced by Jacinta McAree Murphy and Brigid Quinn, which was presented to Committee Chairperson, Kieran Roche on the night.
The big news of the night was that €500,000 had been allocated from the Town and Village Renewal Fund and the long-awaited water feature, lighting of public buildings and improvement of shopfronts to traditional styles would benefit as a result. Those who had worked tirelessly to achieve that level of funding were to be congratulated.
Frank Markey was acknowledged and thanked for hosting the awards night.