By Lesley Walsh
DONAGHADEE’S winning formula ‘doesn’t just happen’ without the dedication of an army of committed volunteers, the Mayor has said, as the town secured its latest major community accolade.
Ards and North Down’s first citizen Gillian McCollum is celebrating the seaside town’s newest and prized award, Ireland’s Pride of Place 2025 Awards, in which Donaghadee Community Development Association’s (DCDA’s) band of 152 volunteers were lauded for their ‘selfless’ dedication to curating the best place of its size in Ireland.
The award, conferred in a ceremony in Limerick on Friday, comes after a record five consecutive titles in the RHS Britain in Bloom competition, as well as an Ulster in Bloom award, in one of the most successful years in Donaghadee’s history.
The town’s latest victory was secured in no small part due to the town’s many ‘unsung heroes’, including the town’s Dee Bloomers, and was achieved in the category for towns with more than 5,000 people.
The IPB Pride of Place awards is an annual competition organised by peacebuilding charity, Co-operation Ireland and sponsored by IPB Insurance. The awards were established to promote and celebrate the best in community development, recognising ‘the selfless efforts of people in making their local neighbourhoods better places to live, work and socialise’.
The year’s awards marked the 23rd year of the all-Ireland initiative. Selecting Donaghadee as the cream of the crop in its category, the IPB judges commented: “Throughout the summer, the judges were deeply impressed by the passion, creativity, and commitment shown by community groups… demonstrating pride, resilience, and an unwavering sense of community spirit.
“From planting, delivering and maintaining beautiful floral displays and early mornings spent watering them, to hosting judges, organising vital community projects and keeping the town looking its best, it is the unpaid work of local volunteers — co-ordinated by the Donaghadee Community Development Association (DCDA) and the ‘Dee Bloomers’ — that has placed Donaghadee firmly in the spotlight.”
The judges also praised Donaghadee’s powerful, volunteer-led approach, aided by a fruitful partnership with Ards and North Down Council, which have resulted in the transformation of public spaces and ‘a community spirit that clearly improves daily life’.
They further highlighted DCDA’s ‘outstanding volunteer co-ordination, broad inclusion across the community, and the tangible impact of projects on residents and visitors’, while recognising the town’s ‘exceptional volunteerism, partnership and real, on-the-ground results’.
In a year defined by accolades and community spirit, the town also secured the Best Kept Small Town, in the Northern Ireland Best Kept Awards, in October, and was runner-up in the Gardening for Wildlife Award.
Individually, the town’s Stormy Cup cafe won the ‘World’s Best Ulster Fry’ award, created by chef Richard McCarthy, in August. Just last year, the town was voted as one of the Best Places to Live in Northern Ireland, being named the very best the year before.
Mayor Gillian McCollum said on Friday: “In the category for towns with a population over 5000, the competition is incredibly tough but the judges singled out the Donaghadee Community Development Association for ‘the enthusiasm of the dedicated volunteers, the professionalism and high standards shown in every aspect of their work, the quality of their relationships with every sector and their outreach into community’.”
And stressing, ‘it doesn’t just happen guys’, she added: “Huge congratulations to every single one of you. You make the borough proud.”
