This year’s Best Presented Estate Competition and Best Business Frontage Competition showcased the incredible pride that residents and businesses take in making Swords a greener, cleaner and more welcoming place. The winners were announced during the Fingal Horticultural Society’s Horticultural Show on the August Bank Holiday Monday, where participants gathered to celebrate the dedication and community spirit behind this year’s outstanding entries.

The Best Presented Estate Competition, generously sponsored by Member First Credit Union, recognises the hard work of residents’ associations and neighbours who go the extra mile to keep their estates looking their very best. Judging considered overall cleanliness, landscaping and green spaces, as well as biodiversity enhancements. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners: Carlton Court (Overall Winner), Rivervalley (2nd Place), Brackenstown Road & Park Avenue (3rd Place), Seatown Terrace (Best Small Estate), Castlegrange (Most Improved Estate) and The Nurseries (Best Biodiversity Enhancements). The standard was exceptionally high, reflecting the tremendous commitment of communities across Swords.

The Best Business Frontage Competition, organised jointly by Swords Tidy Towns and the Fingal Horticultural Society, celebrated the businesses that help make our town an attractive place to shop, visit and enjoy. This year the competition featured two categories: Best Business Front Window and Best Public House Frontage. A huge thank you goes to our own Georgy Hughes and Matt Cullen, who organised and judged the competition from start to finish, dedicating countless hours to ensure its success.

Congratulations to this year’s business winners. In the Best Public House Frontage category, The Old Schoolhouse received the Perpetual Cup and Gold Certificate, followed by The Pound with Silver and The 44 with Bronze. In the Best Business Front Window category, McNamara’s Pharmacy (Dublin Road) was awarded the Perpetual Cup and Gold Certificate, with BFF Cake Boutique receiving Silver and Greenstraw Bronze. Georgy and Matt remarked that judging was particularly challenging this year due to the exceptionally high standard of entries – a wonderful reflection of the care and effort local businesses invest in our town.

A sincere thank you to everyone who entered both competitions. Your commitment helps make Swords a more vibrant, attractive and biodiverse place to live, work and visit. We look forward to seeing even more fantastic entries next year!

On Friday the 24th of October 2025 Swords Tidy Towns were successful in retaining their National Gold Medal status at an award ceremony that took place in Croke Park. The ceremony was attended by Tidy Towns groups from all around Ireland, lunch was provided afterwards. A big thanks to SuperValu who once again sponsored the whole event.

Later on that day the Swords Tidy Towns volunteers met up at the Whiskey Room in the Old Schoolhouse to celebrate our success. The Old Schoolhouse provided food platers on the night which were very much appreciated by all.

By Matt Cullen, Schools Liaison Officer, Swords Tidy Towns

The Protecting Wildlife Under Threat Art Competition was initiated in January 2025. It was a collaboration between Swords Tidy Towns (STT) and Swords Woodland Association (SWA). It was open to students to enter it from all secondary schools and Youthreach in Swords. The following schools participated; Fingal Community College, Swords Community College, Colaiste Choilm, Loreto College, and Youthreach. A total of 112 entries were received, we were delighted with the response from each school and wish to thank the students, teachers, and each school for their time and participation in the art competition.  It is worth noting that when we started the art competition with the schools in 2019, we had 53 entries, so it is great to see the increased number of entries and more schools participating in the competition. 

Students were encouraged to use their creativity and were asked to submit a poster that reflects the subject of Protecting Wildlife Under Threat. They were given the opportunity to create the poster in any medium on A3 paper. It was truly wonderful to see such a diverse and very creative range of posters entered by the students. The judges wish to thank both the students and teachers for all their great work. They were delighted with the high standard of the entries. Swords Tidy Towns are very thankful to judges Eric Duffy (STT) and Joe Newman (SWA) for their help in the judging of the competition. The judges were so impressed with the standard of entries that they added three special merit awards, (total donated by the judges: €60) to add to the six prizes provided by Swords Tidy Towns . 

The outcome from the judging resulted in the following students receiving vouchers:

1st Prize: (12 to 15 yrs.) Elma Luque Sakka (Loreto College)                         €100 voucher

2nd Prize: (12 to 15 yrs.)  Leon Hanlon O’Neill (Colaiste Choilm)                    €50 voucher

3rd Prize: (12 to 15 yrs.)  Darcy Hayden (Swords Community College)           €25 voucher

1st Prize: (16 to 18 yrs.) Toby Thompson (Colaiste Choilm)                            €100 voucher

2nd Prize: (16 to 18 yrs.) Alex Shen (Colaiste Choilm)                                      €50 voucher                   

3rd Prize: (16 to 18 yrs.) Shaiganne Harford (Youthreach)                                €25 voucher

Merit Prize: (Age: 13) Alphons Antony (Colaiste Choilm)                                €20 voucher

Merit Prize: (Age: 16) Mariana Pena (Swords Community College)               €20 voucher               

Merit Prize (Age: 16) Martyna Nawrocka (Fingal Community College)         €20 voucher

Congratulations to all the winners and commended posters! The winning entries and commended posters were displayed in The Atrium, County Hall, F. C. Council, Swords during Bio Diversity Week from Tuesday 20th to Friday 23th May 2025 from 9am to 5pm.  Many thanks for the great help from Zer Barokas and Deirdre O’Farrell who are part of the Fingal Biodiversity Team and all relevant staff in Fingal County Council for helping to make this competition a great success. It shows the level of interest, commitment, and the importance by all concerned in focusing attention on environmental/diversity issues that affect our planet.

Our Open Day took place during Fingal County Council’s sixth Annual Inclusion Week, which ran from November 11 to 17, 2024. The FCC Community Development Office’s stated aim was “to celebrate and promote community efforts to address social exclusion throughout the region”.

STT received a grant of €250 to cover the cost of its event.

Our team planned activities, which would appeal to young and old. Our crew at the polytunnel worked hard preparing give away plants, and gathering natural materials for art and craft activities to suit all age groups.

Our Chairman, Ken Duffy, approached the manager of Lidl on the Dublin Road, who very kindly agreed to provide all of the refreshments for our event. 

The weather gods smiled on us on Saturday, November 16, which drew lots of visitors.

Members Mary and Gerry planted spring bulbs and gave gardening tips outdoors.

It was a hive of activity inside the polytunnel. Niamh and Marcela enjoyed helping the children make Christmas decorations using natural materials, a wonderful alternative to buying plastic ones.

Catherine, who has experience as a florist, was in charge of Christmas wreath making. She was ably assisted by Rose, our polytunnel manager. 

On hand was Ramune, our master composter, who could give advice on composting and leaf moulds. She had organised a wide variety of seeds for pollinator plants. Hopefully local gardeners will have great success with these give-aways. 

Saturday’s event provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase the range of STT’s activities to the public. It’s not all about litter-picking! 

It was a chance for folk of all age groups to meet and to share activities making it a truly inclusive event. Feedback from the public, including members of Fingal Horticultural Society, was very positive. 

The Rock Garden was a joint venture between Fingal County Council and STT. Two of our members were directly involved in the planning of the conversion of this neglected green area just off Main St into a tranquil garden. 

It was the site of a former quarry, and its history is represented by a raised stone-filled garden. Display boards show the story of its past.

Since it was officially opened in 2017 it has become a very popular spot for locals and visitors, who enjoy sitting there and taking time out from their busy lives. 

STT takes care of the weeding, which helps to keep it in pristine condition. The judges seemed very impressed when they visited on September 28.

We were delighted to be notified several weeks later that the Rock Garden had once again been awarded a Green Flag.

It was a golden moment for STT members who attended the National Tidy Towns Awards ceremony on November 1st, when Swords appeared on the screen amongst the names of gold medallists for the first time.

It was the culmination of twenty years of incredible effort by dedicated volunteers. Back in 2004, our group was formed in response to the 2003 report by IBAL (Irish Business Against Litter), which had listed Swords as one of the dirtiest towns in the country. 

Amongst our group’s representatives at Croke Park this year was Matt Cullen, who has been a STT member since its foundation, and a volunteer with various groups over the past 50 years. 

This year STT was highly commended in the Circular Economy Award. Present at Croke Park was member, Ramune Kuzminiene, who in May, 2003 launched STT’s first clothes swap. This has run successfully every month since then. The occasional seed and plant swaps are also very popular with the public. 

That afternoon, in the Whiskey room at The Old Schoolhouse in Swords our members gathered. It was time for celebration. It was wonderful to finally achieve Gold after winning 6 Silver Medals in succession. 

We were well looked after by Willie, Manager of the Old Schoolhouse and his lovely staff. As a special treat, long-term member Georgy Hughes baked a delicious cake in honour of the occasion.

Not being ones to rest on their laurels, our group was back in action the following morning.

The Regional Awards ceremony of Tidy Towns Ireland was held on September 13 this year. Hosts for the day were Tidy Towns Abbeyleix, the National winners in 2023. 

Our members Ken, Georgy, Rose, Matt and George gathered with the other Leinster winners at the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel to receive their awards and to celebrate their success. 

Guests enjoyed a delicious meal and musical entertainment by Spink Comhaltas. It was also a wonderful opportunity to chat to other Tidy Towns group members. 

STT was presented with its sixth consecutive Silver Award. We were also the winners of the EPA Circular Economy Award for 2023.

By Grace Dunne

STT members George; Grace; Matt and Mary together with independent judges, Michael Connolly (Horticultural Society) and Martin Nulty (Tully’s Nurseries) organised this year’s reimagined housing estates competition.

The idea was to move away from the emphasis on “tidiness” and to recognise evidence of community involvement and biodiversity efforts, among other things. Another difference in this year’s competition was the idea of inclusion. Rather than inviting estates to enter the competition, Tidy Towns judges independently visited and judged 84 residential areas in Swords.

Among the 84, we found some hidden gems. The lack of litter among such a large number of homes was a great delight to the judges. 15 residential areas reached the final ( see list below). Prizes and certificates were presented at this years Annual Horticultural Show in Swords on Bank Holiday Monday 5^th August. Among the prizes were sustainable items such as wheelie bins clips, suitable for securing green bins on stormy days. This allowed Tidy Towns to support a start up company whilst also promoting litter control.

Our Tidy Towns Chairperson, Ken Duffy, secured sponsorship for this competition, for 5 years, from Member First Credit Union (MFCU). Member First are big on community as are the Tidy Towns all in all  a great fit.

1st place: The Nurseries 

2nd place: Carlton Court / The Paddocks

3rd place Glen Ellan / Sandford Woods

Special Biodiversity prize: The Nurseries 

Remaining finalists, in no particular order:

Glasmore Park — Highfields — Ballintrane Woods — Forest Hills apartments — Comyn Manor — Forest Ave/Dale/Green/Way/Walk — Rivervalley Court/ View/Way — Castlegrange — Lissenhall –Millers Glen/ Meadow Bank — Rivervalley Rise — Hilltown