Knockdown Vintage & Estuary Macra committee members presenting a cheque for €3,100 (proceeds from the recent Vintage/Modern tractor & car run and raffle) to Johnny Togher and Sharon Conway, Pieta House.
Also included are Eamon Langan, Mairead Langan, Patrick Langan, Dave Noonan, Patie White and Carol Noonan.

ATHEA TIDY TOWNS  

Chairman Lal Browne cuts the ribbon to launch the ‘Fairy Mountain’

It was all hands on deck last week as we prepared for our Fairy Trail and Flag Launch on Monday Last. We began by weeding the giants garden, planting up the flower bed at the entrance to the graveyard and our two gateway workers John Fealy and Tony Brady painted up the fence. Our composter was completed by Pat Higgins and Jim Sullivan and enhancement work on the Upper Road also took place. Artist Jim Dunne is also busy using his God given skill working on our heritage Mural.

Early Monday morning our committee met to decorate the Fairy Mountain and have it in a presentable and colourful state for the fairies. The crowd that descended on the village at 3pm, surpassed all expectations. Young and Old visited the village from all over the county and were very impressed by what we had created in Athea. We also had the privilege of welcoming a birthday party from Duagh, and a garden club from Newcastle. Treasurer Henry Moran welcomed everyone and gave a brief description of the trail and also spoke of the importance of the community to continue to support the Tidy Towns to make positive changes to our village. He also welcomed any donations towards the cost of the trail from the community. Committee member Pat Higgins then read the story of the Giant and Lu the fairy and had all the children enthralled by his story telling skills. It was then time for Chairman Lal Browne to cut the ribbon!!  The excitement and wonder on the children’s faces as they searched through the trees for the various fairies in residence was a wonderful sight.

Once the fairies had been discovered, it was then time to raise the flags. The Athea GAA  Flag was first to be raised by Mary Casey on behalf of her mother, Kathleen Casey and family in Chicago who were the kind sponsors. The second flag to be raised was the Limerick Flag which was raised by Nicola Scanlon on behalf of Tim and Margaret Scanlon of Scanlon Construction who generously sponsored this pole. The next Flag to be raised was the Munster Flag, which was raised by sponsors, The Quaid Brothers in Dirreen. The next flag to be raised was the Athea Vixens Basketball Flag which was sponsored by Athea Basketball Club, this was proudly done by Tina and Katie Byrne, Laura Quille and Aine Sullivan. The second last flag to be raised was the Athea UTD Flag which was done by Club Members Denis Murphy, Tim Riordan and Pat Hayes. Many thanks to Athea UTD Soccer Club for sponsoring this flag and pole. Last, but by no means least, the brightly coloured Athea Tidy Towns Flag was raised to an applause. This was proudly raised by our president and longest serving community member Thady Hunt.  A massive thanks to all our sponsors who have generously donated funds towards this project. Everyone agrees they are a fantastic addition to our village and will portray how immensely  proud we are to be members of our community. We are still seeking sponsors for the Athea Tidy Towns and Athea Visens flag poles at a cost of €250. Please get in touch with and member of the committee if interested.

We would like to thanks Declan Carroll who provided the sound for the launch, Hannah Mai Collins of Collins nursery who provided us with Ribbons and the Arch, the Hall Committee for the use of the hall, photographers  Caroline O Connell and Bridie Murphy and anyone who helped us in any way to make the launch a success.

As we are now in judging season, there needs to be a major push in the next few weeks to have the village in a presentable state, We would encourage all local residents/businesses within the speed limit signs to attend to all boundary walls, weeds, and fencing,  to erect flower tubs and to water them and to sweep around their residence. Every bit really helps.