Following on from its Gold Medal success in the National Tidy Towns
Competition the village of Dromiskin was once again in celebratory mode this
time as a result of the award of the fourth Community Green Flag for
Dromiskin Heritage Park and a first Community Green Flag for Ginnety’s Pond
Nature Park. This international award acknowledges excellence in the
management of green spaces which are freely open to the public and is the
benchmark for the presentation of public spaces using eight key criteria with
an emphasis on environmental management. The Community Green Flag is
awarded for public spaces managed solely by volunteers, with 25 such
awards in Ireland this year and Dromiskin being the only community in the
country to be awarded this prestigious symbol for its two public spaces.
The flag raising ceremony was held on Sunday 10th November where
Chairman of Dromiskin Tidy Towns Pat Mulligan welcomed local politicians,
Green School Committee members from St. Peter’s N.S., School Principal
AoibheannLynch and local residents to join with committee members and
volunteers to celebrate this great achievement. Pat paid particular tribute to
the Hand family, also present, without whose generosity this success simply
wouldn’t be possible. The committee was delighted that the Chairman of
Louth County Council Cllr. Kevin Callan took time out from his busy schedule
to attend the event and officially raise the two flags. Cllr. Callan made
reference to the fact that public representatives are very rarely invited back to
a community in a short space of time for such a positive news story having
visited Ginnety’s Pond Nature Park in August for its official opening. He
stressed that to achieve two flags is unique and that what happened in
Dromiskin is an example that the rest of the country can and should follow.
Volunteering his skills and expertise with Dromiskin Tidy Towns, both Parks
now flying the Community Green flag, were designed and managed by
Landscape Architect and local resident Kevin Halpenny. In his address at the
event Kevin stressed that this was a very special occasion as the Green Flag
is a recognised symbol of excellence across the globe and is not awarded
lightly. Kevin expressed the view that the Community Green Flag is all the
more special because it recognises communities that, of their own volition,
provide and manage very high quality infrastructure and expressed the view
that it is unprecedented for one small community to achieve the award for two
public spaces.
Green School Committee member Caolán Corr recited a poem written
specially for the event and highlighting the huge success achieved by
Dromiskin Tidy Towns this year. The celebration ended with a cuppa, cake
and a chat in St. Peter’s N.S. The members of Dromiskin Tidy Towns
sincerely appreciate the support they get from the local community, local
businesses, Louth County Council and our elected representatives.
