Ardrew Meadows, Athy is the Kildare County Council winner of Pride of Place Awards.

Members of the Residents Association, tried to show how many of the above issues grew..

width=Ardrew Meadows after winning the Kildare County Competition has now been nominated by Kildare County Council to represent Kildare in the IPB All Ireland Pride of Place Awards in association with Co-Operation Ireland.   The purpose of the competition is to acknowledge the work being done every day by communities all over the island of Ireland.

Ardrew Meadows is situated on the outskirts of Athy and there are eighty seven homes (houses and apartments) on the estate.   After weeks of cleaning, planting, weeding and painting the Residents Association welcomed the National Judges to the estate on 15th July 2019.

The Judges were welcomed in the Community Building and took part in a very interactive presentation from members of the Residents Association. The presentation covered issues such as:

  • Athy as a town in Kildare
  • Composition of the Estate
  • Activities on the estate
  • Social Inclusion and Empowerment
  • Collective Action and Participation
  • Partnership with other Agencies
  • New Memorial Garden and rationale behind it
  • Bio-Diversity
  • Equality and Anti-Discrimination

width=Members of the Residents Association, tried to show how many of the above issues grew for them over the years as they came across challenges in their normal day-to-day living. They showed how many of the values that they now champion only became clear to them as a Group encountering situations that arose over the past 10 years.  The new Memorial garden being one such case in point.  They also mentioned that they had chosen to celebrate their 10 Year Anniversary on the judging day.

The Judges had a guided tour of the estate which looked magnificent with all the National Flags of the different Nationalities living on the estate.   The Judges had lunch with the Community and asked many questions of the residents.

Celebrations carried on all evening on the estate (Drumming Workshop, DJ, Inter-Cultural Food Feast and Face Painting) – some celebrations even carried on into the early hours.

width=This was a great effort from all the Residents living in Ardrew Meadows and they are very grateful to Kildare County Council for nominating them to represent the County. They would also like to express their thanks to both Kildare County Council and Respond Housing for the support they have given them over the 10 years and in particular, the help they gave them in preparing for the Judging Day.

Posted:  July 2019