Broadford is in bloom with a position in Going for Gold final
It’s the first group through to the final of the annual competition to keep Limerick neighbourhoods tidy
BROADFORD Development Association has come out on top in the first week of this year’s Going for Gold competition in Limerick.
The team will now be making their way to the final of the competition being held in October this year.
Askeaton, Athea, Ballingarry, Ballyhahill and Ballysteen are still in with a chance of obtaining a place in the coveted final as the judges will be selecting wildcard finalists in the coming weeks.
Committee member Kathleen Barry said that the group received “great support” from the whole community in Broadford. “They're a fantastic community to support whatever is happening and when we put it out there that we needed those votes, all the different groups came and voted for us.”
She added that the committee “looking forward” to the next round of the competition. “We'll be ready. “We'll have Broadford spick and span by then.”
They've already arranged to meet next week to see where they can go from here to make further improvements in the village.
Ms Barry said: “Without calling on the different groups in the community, we wouldn't have got through because we never got through before and we just put in a big effort this time to get through.”
Broadford Development Association has done a lot of work within Broadford Arboretum, a major eco tourist attraction in West Limerick. A fence was erected around the area of trees within the arboretum in 1998 and committee member Kathleen Barry said they wanted to remove that fence to encourage visitors to engage more with the site. “At the same time, part of the fence needed to be repaired just for health and safety reasons in another area so we removed part of it.”
The development association is also hoping to rebuild the wildlife pond later this year and to carry out further works on the arboretum. They have held some great events in the wildlife arboretum such as Broadford Garden Day to celebrate Biodiversity Week last May.
Limerick Going for Gold encourages communities to be environmentally aware and keep their neighbourhoods tidy. A top prize of €10,000 and other monetary prizes are up for grabs this year.