Muff Tidy Town Initiative wins Endeavour Award

The endeavour award is awarded to the tidy town that has the biggest jump in points scored from one year to the next in every county.

Muff Tidy Towns Initiative (MTTI) is a collaboration, involving Muff Community Development Co-op Society, individual volunteers and community groups, local residents and businesses operating in the village area.

 It was very active prior to the interruption of the Covid-19 period but has lost some of the momentum in the post Covid era. Participation by groups and individuals in area clean-up efforts are ongoing, in addition to a network of dedicated local volunteers, residents and businesses who have adopted a stretch of roadway or public area and maintain it on an ongoing basis.  

Entry to the National Tidy Towns Competition is secondary to the other community building and engagement actions which Muff Community Development and MTTI undertake. The annual competition does, however, give an important structure to and acts as a review mechanism for planned activity leading to the provision of signage, streetscape improvement and information display.

This year the team in Muff won the endeavour award. Endeavour Awards are based on the scores achieved by entrants in the national competition. A reward for the biggest improvement by an entrant in each county from the previous year. 

The committee was shocked and delighted with the news, as the group has been rebuilding after Covid and non-participation in the competition in 2021. Since first entering the competition in 2016 Muff has built its score on an incremental basis by 50 points to a score of 254 in 2023. In their assessment, their competition entry would not have been expected to break new ground and were surprised to have increased the score by 13 points, the highest in the county.  

The flowers at Churchwood

“It’s a recognition of effort,” commented a spokesperson for Muff Tidy Towns Initiative.

“It also provides an opportunity to kick-start the future development of the organisation and the establishment of a whole community of professional planned approaches to development. 

“Having always received encouragement from the adjudicators, 2023 was the first formal recognition of progress by continuous improvement through learning from small incremental achievements and successes. The experience of volunteers from other more successful Tidy Towns groups has been useful in motivating local enthusiasts. This may be a motivational moment.”

Over the past year the number of hanging baskets and other floral displays has increased to 50 baskets and 12 planters. Tending, maintenance and prolonging the display period required the purchase of a quad bike and tank for daily watering. Following the purchase of 10 self-watering baskets in 2023, it was decided to purchase a further 40 in 2024. These are fed via a wick from a seven litre water tank in the base of the basket. The amount of labour, fuel, waste water and environmental pollution involved in care and maintenance has been greatly reduced as a result, as the task of watering is now required only once per week.    

The Muff tidy town team had two big clean ups this year. The entire community from Redcastle to Muff participated in sprucing up the area for spring and summer.

The team at Muff receive most of their funding from Donegal County Council as well as funding from the Department of Community and Rural Development. 

Muff has big plans for their future. It is planned to reset the initiative over the next year with a call to action, followed by the development of a planning process, guided by an experienced practitioner, to produce a three to five year blueprint for future development. Part-funding for this phase has been secured. 

The award ceremony is taking place in Westport on Tuesday, September 10. Muff Community Development has already received the €500 prize.