Residents donate €500 prize money to St Vincent de Paul

RESIDENTS of Redwood View in Kilnamanagh, which recently won a Tidiest Road competition, have donated their €500 prize money to the local conference of poverty charity St Vincent de Paul.

The Tidiest Road competition was held in the area in recent weeks as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Kilnamanagh estate.

Local politicians Charlie O’Connor and Mick Duff judged the competition, with Redwood View beating off stiff competition to win the contest.

PJ Conroy, who lives in Redwood View and regularly cuts the grass on the road and helps to maintain the area, said he was delighted when he learned that the road had won the prize.

“I thought the road mightn’t win because another road had a few more flowers than we had,” PJ told The Echo.

“But I think the green space in our area was kept quite well.

“I was delighted when we won.

“I think all the roads made a great effort, and hopefully there’ll be even more that will participate in it next year.”

The prize for winning was a €500 cheque to be donated to a charity chosen by the winner, with PJ adding that he decided to donate it to the local conference of SVP.

“I felt that there might be people in need locally, and I wanted the money to stay local,” he explained.

“I’ve always been aware of SVP and the work they do, and I would hope that this will relieve some of the anxiety people will have and it will make someone’s life a little bit better.”

PJ, who has been cleaning the road and cutting the grass for several years, said he intends to continue doing so and will continue to be involved in weekly clean-ups in Kilnamanagh.

“I get personal satisfaction from doing it,” he said, “and the neighbours will tell me that it’s excellent and the road looks well.”

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