'Cleaner and Greener' award for Cullybackey

Celebrating its fourth year, the awards ceremony took place at Killymoon in Cookstown today (Wednesday).

As well as the Community Spirit and Cleaner and Greener awards, this was the inaugural year of the Sustainable Village award.

The new award will be the overall winner of the two existing categories and aims to celebrate the vital contributions of villages that encourage environmental, social and economic sustainability.The Rural Community Awards aim to acknowledge rural communities working to foster a vibrant community in their areas and competition entries highlighted the tremendous work being carried out in rural communities across Northern Ireland.Each winner will receive £1000 to use to support and extend activities/projects which benefit their community as well as a plaque to display in their village.

Within each category there are two prizes, one for villages with a population of less than 1,000 and one for populations of 1,000-5,000.

Margaret Murphy, Secretary of the Cullybackey Community Partnership said: “We are delighted to receive the Cleaner and Greener award in the Large Village category at the Housing Executive’s Rural Community Awards.“This is a collective success for everyone in Cullybackey and all residents should be pleased with this award. A lot of hard work was undertaken to secure this award, so this is for everyone in Cullybackey.“The Housing Executive continues to place a strong emphasis on engaging with the rural community through these awards, and we would encourage local community associations to participate in next year’s awards.”Siobhan McCauley, the Housing Executive’s Director of Regional Services added: “The Rural Community Awards are a positive example of the Housing Executive fostering vibrant communities in acknowledging the vital contribution made by the rural community in improving the lives of residents.”