Cork town readies for EU floral competition

A Cork town is looking blooming fantastic as it prepares to represent Ireland in a major European floral competition tomorrow.

The final touches are being put to dozens of new floral displays in and around Ballincollig ahead of judging tomorrow in the prestigious Entente Florale competition.

A panel of international judges which visited Clonegal in Co Carlow yesterday — the only other Irish town in this year’s competition — is due to arrive in Ballincollig tonight.

They will tour the town tomorrow with results due in late September.

Ballincollig Tidy Towns chairman Tom Butler praised everybody involved in preparing the town. “After months of preparations involving thousands of volunteer hours from our own team, people in local schools and local businesses, and with the help of the county council, the stage is now set,” he said.

“We really want to show our town off in the best light.

“Our participation in this competition will have huge spin-off benefits, too, in terms of visitors and tourists.

“We are being showcased on the Entente Florale website at the moment which is viewed by people across Europe.”

The town’s preparations were dealt a blow on Tuesday night when a car crashed in to a perfectly groomed flowerbed on the Poulavone roundabout — one of the town’s gateways. The car exited a nearby housing estate, apparently careered out of control and mounted the roundabout.

The male driver was taken to hospital but was not seriously injured.

Tidy Towns volunteers were on the scene quickly and repaired the damage.

Mr Butler described the incident as a glitch and said it would not derail their efforts.

He appealed to townspeople for a huge effort tomorrow morning to ensure the town is looking its best for the judges.

Ballincollig is representing Ireland in the town category of the European competition.

The European-wide competition was founded in 1975, initially between Britain and France. At present there are 12 member countries with more applications being processed. Each participating country puts forward a representative town and village, which are each visited by a jury.

The overall aim of the competition is to improve the quality of life for local urban and village communities by fostering: nThe greening of towns and villages;

* The planting of flowers and shrubs, and the development of green spaces and parks;

* Development which is environmentally and ecologically sensitive;

* Educational and communication initiatives which promote environmental awareness.

There is also a huge spin-off in terms of tourism for participating towns.

In 2009, Clonakilty set an Entente Florale record — becoming the first town in the history of the competition to win a second gold medal. It won its first Entente gold in 2000.

Abbeyshrule won gold in the village section in last year’s competition, with Clonmel taking silver in the town section.