Three Fingal communities to represent Fingal County Council at 2020 IPB Pride of Place Competition

This year the awards ceremony will be virtual, hosted by Marty Morrissey, and the three communities will be waiting to see if they succeed in winning any of the prizes on the night.

Pride of Place is an All-Ireland Competition which showcases the best in community development and achievement on the island. The competition is organised by Co-operation Ireland and is open to every local authority north and south to nominate groups to represent their county. This year, due to the pandemic, the competition pivoted online, and judging was carried out by way of video calls to the participating groups.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David Healy said, ahead of the finals event: “Pride of Place is a very important event each year for Fingal and allows communities to highlight the great work they do in partnership with the local authority. This is especially so in a challenging year like 2020 with the Covid 19 pandemic playing havoc with so much of community life as we know it. I would like to wish the very best of luck I to all three groups in the 2020 competition.”

In 2019 Fingal County Council had two winners in the Competition finals, held in Kilkenny, when Flemington, Balbriggan won the overall prize for urban neighbourhood and Whitestown Estate Management, in Blakestown, D15 was the runner up in the housing estates category.

This year, Swords Tidy Towns represented Fingal in the population over 5000 categories.  This hard-working local group is the life and soul of Swords and has worked very hard to keep things going throughout the worst of the lockdown months. The group took part in a zoom call with the two judges in August and are hopeful of a good result on Saturday 21st.

Speaking about this year’s Fingal Pride of Place entries AnnMarie Farrelly, Chief Executive of Fingal said “The annual Pride of Place Competition is a wonderful way for the communities of Fingal to showcase all that is best and most innovative in the county, and it is a great advert for communities working hand-in-hand with the local authority. I wish the three communities up for awards all the best, and hope they are rewarded for all of their hard work.”

Ballyboughal Hedgerow Society is a very active group in the north Dublin village and was delighted to represent FCC in the Creative Place Category. The group outlined to the judges how the hedgerows of the village are integral to community life in Ballyboughal and how the various educational and cultural events the group delivers each year has helped to keep community spirits alive, even in 2020 with all the challenges around.

The third group represents Fingal in the 2020 POP Finals is the Skerries Age-Friendly Initiative. Entered in the category of Coastal Communities and the islands, Skerries Age-Friendly Initiative demonstrated to the judges how Skerries is one of the best coastal communities on the island of Ireland in which to grow old. The various initiatives of the project, including the acorn tablets project which kept communities in touch during the worst of Covid 19, were outlined to the judges in a Zoom call, which took place in Skerries Community Centre in late August.

Margaret Geraghty, Director of Housing & Community for Fingal County Council, said: “These three community groups are amazing representatives of Fingal that show all of the hard work residents do alongside the Council that show pride in our communities. I hope that these groups come back with the awards they deserve and continue Fingal’s tradition of being a great place to live.”

This is the 18th year for the Pride of Place competition and this year the finals will be a virtual event, which can be viewed at 7pm on www.prideofplace.ie.

Co-operation Ireland requests that community groups adhere to all relevant local public health advice across the island when viewing the 2020 IPB Pride of Place Virtual Awards. Please ensure that groups do NOT gather either indoor or outdoor to view the virtual awards.

For more information on the pride of place visit www.prideofplace.ie or contact Rafe Costigan at [email protected] or 087-2203944