Raheny Tidy Village Group Newsletter - Winter 2026
Tidy Towns Award
We were beyond thrilled to be awarded a third Gold Medal in this year's Supervalu Tidy Towns awards. It is a huge testament to our dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to keep Raheny at its best.
The adjudicators complimented Raheny on our “strong sense of community, pride of place, and ‘village feel’“. They also admired our planting, our Dublin Canvas Artwork and the beautiful murals.
We were delighted with the adjudicator’s comments on the tidiness and litter control in the village: “Excellent work being done in this category, Raheny was practically litter free on the day that I visited despite its size and how busy it was.” This is a fantastic result as the judging season runs from June to August and the judges can visit at any time. It is a testament to the amazing work of our volunteers who are out in all weathers.
In addition to winning a Gold Medal, we won two national awards this year: first place in the Leave No Trace Competition and first place in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan – Local Authority Award.
To read our adjudication report, click here.
The award is the icing on the cake after a year of incredible work by our volunteers. Throughout the year, in all seasons, we’re out sweeping, litter picking, tackling graffiti, planting, watering, protecting biodiversity and our river, and running our Community Garden.
Thank you to all our dedicated volunteers, businesses, schools, residents, community groups, heritage and sporting groups, and churches who work with us to make Raheny a great place to live and do business!
Dublin City Neighbourhood Awards
The Dublin City Neighbourhood Awards ceremony took place in the beautiful Round Room at the Mansion House, hosted by Dublin City Council and Lord Mayor Daryl Barron.
We were thrilled that Wink Organic Hair Salon won both the Overall Business Award for Dublin City and the Business Environment and Sustainability Award. A huge achievement for Niamh and her team! We were delighted to enter Wink into the competition.
Raheny Tidy Village Group won second place in the Community Environmental Initiative for our Water Conservation Project, as well as second place in the Best Urban Village category.
Raheny had a fantastic evening at the awards, with Rathmore Park and Belmont Park also winning awards. Bread Naturally took third place in the Waste Management Initiative, while The Manhattan came third in the Best Shopfront category. Congratulations to all the winners!
Sculptures
We hope you’ve noticed the three new sculptures installed in the village. These fantastic works of art were created by Will Fogarty from fallen trees, using only a chainsaw. What a talent he has!
Raheny Tidy Village Group organised the installation, funded through discretionary funding from Dublin City Council and in partnership with Lord Mayor Daryl Barron.
A huge thank you to SuperValu and Blooming Boutique for sharing their spaces with these beautiful works of art.
Thank you to Brian Flood and all at Castlerock who helped install the sculptures.
Sunflower competition
Congratulations to Gail, who won our Sunflower Competition this year with her fantastic display. We had some brilliant entries and are already busy collecting seeds to grow next year's sunflowers!
A huge thank you to SuperValu for its continued sponsorship of the competition and for donating a fantastic hamper for the winner.
Chair Pilates
We held a wonderful Chair Pilates event in September to celebrate Positive Ageing Week.
Participants learned some great exercises they can do at home, and enjoyed the class as well as the chats over tea, coffee and cake afterwards.
Thanks to Raheny Age Friendly for co-hosting the event, Paul Eglington from River Holistic Centre for teaching the class, and CARA Hall St Anne's Residents Association for providing the venue.
Thanks also to the DCC North Central Area Community and Social Development Team for their funding and support.
Beach Clean
A big thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's beach clean! We're seeing less litter each year, which is great to see.
The biggest culprit this year was dog poo bags. Dog walkers, please use the bins near the beach or at the end of the Causeway.
Bull Island Events
We held two events on Bull Island in September.
Brian McMahon, Park Manager, gave a fantastic talk on the history of Bull Island and its biodiversity.
We also held an Explore Your Shore event, where attendees explored North Bull Island's coastal environment as citizen scientists.
Clothes Swap
Thank you to everyone who attended our Clothes Swap in October. As always, it was a fantastic event, with people going home with new outfits!
We were delighted to run the swap in partnership with Raheny Age Friendly and Raheny Shamrocks again this year. A huge thank you to St Anne's Residents Association for providing the Cara Hall venue.
Beginners' Gardening Course
We held a Beginners Gardening Course over the summer, covering topics such as seed sowing, plant division and creating healthy soil.
Special thanks to Lorraine from our group, who gave up her time to share her expertise and run the course. We received really positive feedback from attendees!
National Heritage Week
We were busy during National Heritage Week in August, hosting a Bat Walk, Santry River Detectives, a Bees, Biodiversity and Honey event, and a pesticide amnesty. All the events were well attended and went really well!
Wild Orchids of Raheny
Over the past three years, Raheny Tidy Village Group has been monitoring the wild orchids growing in Raheny. This year, the results were outstanding. We had more than doubled the number of wild orchids recorded in the Raheny area, with a total of 684 orchids counted in 2026!
Read more and watch a video of some of the wild orchids recorded here.
Autumn Seed Swap
Our Autumn Seed Swap takes place on 31 October 2026, from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., outside SuperValu.
Our dedicated volunteers have been collecting seeds throughout autumn, with a target of gathering 1,000 packets to share with the community this year.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Leaf Fall
As we all know, it's leaf fall season in Raheny! We collect leaves for composting in the leaf cages around the village. We recently emptied the cages in preparation for this year's collection and were delighted with the leaf mould, which we've used on our flower beds.
This year, we'll also place some of the fallen leaves directly on some of the flower beds where they will break down and improve the soil health.
Get Involved
We welcome new volunteers at any time. Our group meets every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. outside the Catholic church in the village. There is no obligation to attend regularly - just come along when you can.
If you plan to join, please complete the volunteer form on our website in advance. Volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by a guardian. Please complete the volunteer form here.
If you would like to contact us, email rahenytidyvillage@gmail.com, or message us on Facebook or Instagram.
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