Having connected with the community of Old St. Mary’s during Lockdown, we continue to support them in their work to preserve one of the most important historic sites in Clonmel.
Our annual day out in Old St Mary’s last October continues to be a joyful collaboration between Clonmel Tidy Towns, Old St Mary’s Church Community, Clonmel Scout Group, Local Council Representatives and the public. Old St. Mary’s holds so much of the tangible heritage of Clonmel within their walls that it is of great importance to us as a Tidy Towns Group to engage with them. It’s a long day, starting before nine am and continuing well into the afternoon but such a nice day that we are joined by people who enjoy the connection with our history and the opportunity to connect with others of a similar mind.
Last October we had a wonderful day out with the community. This year we hired a cherry picker as they were concerned about a leaking roof. We cleared all the gutters and down shoots as well as the flat roof over the Church Porch. With a great turn out of parishioners, Tidy Towners and members of the public, we extended our work to the wall on the south side of the church grounds.
Our work is set to become an annual event with the maintenance of the walls and the exterior of the church itself, now part of our community calendar.
This project is a real covid story. As a number of our members worked from home during the first lock down, dog walks during the day occurred. On one such walk on a beautiful spring morning the caretaker of Old St. Mary‘s who was heading off to buy milk ended up having a socially distanced chat with Clonmel Tidy Towns Chairperson.
The overgrown walls were discussed with the caretaker disclosing funding was difficult to find as was manpower. Leave it with me said the chairperson and last September, Tidy Towns members had one of our best days out. The great news is we will be returning later this year, but this time we hire a cherry-picker.
October 2020
May 2022
