Diocesan News
Preservation Award for St Mary’s, Killarney
This year Killarney retained its Gold medal in the Tidy Towns competition. Following this award, the Killarney Looking Good Committee held its own annual Awards Ceremony in the Killarney Plaza Hotel on 15th November to reward the many people who invested so much energy and dedication to making their business, area or house ‘look good’ for the Tidy Towns competition. There were thirty different categories awarded.
St Mary’s Church won the Preservation Award for the church railings restoration project, and indeed not only did the project win its own category, it was also voted overall winner for 2016.
This project was first proposed in October 2015. Because of the dynamic project management of Klaus Nölke (a former Director of Liebherr and a member of St Mary’s Church) and the active participation of the Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce and the Killarney Looking Good Committee, sufficient funds were raised from local businesses and individuals, and promises of resources and materiel help received by Christmas. The removal of the decrepit Victorian railings started on 4th January 2016 and the project completed a week before St Patrick’s Day (the start of the tourist season in Killarney). The subsequent assessment of the overall project indicated that the project cost €90,000.
This is a wonderful acknowledgment of the effort and generosity of the whole town and the many financial and resource benefactors, and more especially of the skills of Klaus Nölke.
The Ven Simon J Lumby (Archdeacon of Limerick and Aghadoe, and Rector of Killarney), on receiving the overall award, paid tribute to the effects and achievements of the whole community. He said: “I am delighted and honoured to receive this award on behalf of the whole community, without whose dedication and generosity this project could not, in such a short time, have succeeded so marvellously. The railings stand as a tribute to the whole community and as a delight to the visitor’s eye.”
Communications Officer, Tuam, Limerick & Killaloe
089 448 9353
Stephen Fletcher
[email protected]