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Faces in Fermoy
A new initiative to encourage people to make Fermoy a cleaner town was launched on Tuesday evening. The inaugural 'Fermoy, A Cleaner Town' competition 2013 was launched in the Grand Hotel.
The competition has been devised to encourage community effort and promote people working together to improve the local environment. It's hoped there'll be a strong effort to support the initiative by Fermoy residents and that volunteers will both improve the environment and encourage a sense of pride.
McCarthy Insurance Group (MIG) is sponsoring the event and is working with 'Fermoy, A Cleaner Town' committee which comprises members of the Tidy Towns, to drive it.
Speaking at the launch, Fermoy Tidy Towns PRO Tadhg O'Donovan pointed out that Fermoy has been deemed 'Clean to European Norms' in the IBAL league for 10 successive years but said added momentum is needed to keep the town up in the rankings. With that in mind, the chairman of their anti-litter committee, John Murphy undertook to find ways of improving the anti-litter initiative and sought a sponsor.
John Murphy said their target is for Fermoy to be in the top six in the IBAL league. While he could see 'a great surge' in the effort being made by local schools to combat litter, an extra push is needed for some other areas such as some businesses and residential areas. He was delighted the McCarthy Insurance Group had come on board with them.
Dr Tom Kavanagh who heads up the IBAL campaign told them they would have to give their sponsor value for money. He felt an area that needed to be worked on is the Duntaheen road where there are more than 600 new houses, adding up to nearly 2,000 people, a lot of whom work in Cork and don't shop or get involved in the town.
"You need to change that," he told them, "spread the network a bit." Keeping the town clean is 'a never ending job' he stressed, and while it's true to say Fermoy has been 'Clean to European norms' for the past 10 years, that was from the viewpoint of visitors who were comparing it to their own towns. "I'm delighted the McCarthy Insurance Group have come on board with you, it gives an imprimatur to its importance," he concluded.
"It's about all of us working together, residents' associations and schools, local agencies like the Avondhu Blackwater Partnership, Tidy Towns, Fás and Tús," Noel McCarthy, chairman of the Tidy Towns, said. "Business people need to do their bit too, keeping outside their premises clean. We have improved but we can do better. McCarthy Insurances of course want people to do business with them but they give back to the town," he pointed out, mentioning their sponsorship of local sporting clubs.
"We won IBAL in 2004 and we've been in the top 10 every since but with an extra push we can get back into the winner's enclosure," Tidy Towns secretary, Christy Roche said. He explained that the new competition will see prizes awarded to the best estate, best street, best school, best forecourt, best commercial premises, best shopfront and best community premises such as sporting clubs grounds and buildings. The town will be divided up into four areas for the purpose. Four judges, from outside of the area, will decide the winners. They will assess the areas during May and June and the winners will be announced in July. The competition will have the added advantage of being a precursor for the Tidy Towns judges. "We want people to get involved who wouldn't otherwise be," the secretary concluded.
PRO Tadhg O'Donovan pointed out that the McCarthy Insurance Group was established 50 years ago in Fermoy and while they've grown and have a number of offices now and a large staff, they they never lost their local touch. He too pointed out that they'd given a lot in terms of sponsorship to the town, including supporting numerous clubs. "We are delighted they are involved with this," he told the representatives of residents associations, businesses and schools who were present.
Paul Kavanagh of MIG said they'd been thinking about what they could do in this year of The Gathering to improve the appearance of Fermoy.
"We have created a little local competition and acknowledge the good work done by the Tidy Towns and IBAL," he said. "There has been a huge improvement in Fermoy but there is room for more. I hope this competition engenders a bit of civic pride." Prizes will be plaques for the various categories. They hoped to make it an annual competition, he revealed.
"We have 11 offices with 180 staff but Fermoy is our home town," Charlie McCarthy (chairman MIG) said. He spoke of the company's sponsorship of the local rugby and soccer teams. He thanked the Tidy Towns committee for their kind words about them and concluded by saying "I can see this being a success and the town will be the better for it."
Leaflets advising how to enter the competition and the rules and regulations will be distributed to local shops and schools in the coming days. People can also enter or get more information by emailing info@mig.ie or by calling 021-4224890, or they can be found on Facebook.
Updates will be provided on those areas doing well and not so well as the competition progresses.
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