TIDY RANDALSTOWN
TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2025
Registered Charity Number 108537
INTRODUCTION
Tidy Randalstown is an environmental group constituted within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. It attained registered charity status on 22 February 2022. Our governing document is our constitution.
Tidy Randalstown’s purposes are
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the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
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the advancement of citizenship or community development
The beneficiaries of the charity are the citizens of Randalstown and all who visit the town for business or pleasure. No harm flows from the purpose of our organisation; nor does any private benefit stem from its activities. In setting our objectives and planning our activities for the year the trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped to achieve the charity’s purposes and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries.
Charity Trustees
Moore Blair (Treasurer) Helen Boyd (Chairperson) Stephanie Burns Robert Fulton Linda Houston Gerry Lynch Olive MacLeod OBE Jane McTaggart Suzanne Winter (Secretary)
Committee members co-opted in 2025
Edel Etherson
Financial Year
1 January – 31 December
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OUR SOURCES OF FUNDING AND SUPPORT
Tidy Randalstown is totally reliant on donations from a range of sponsors (including some major donors), from the local community and from grant funding for specific projects. Full details of income and expenditure are set out in our financial report.
We also benefit from many examples of support in kind, among which are the continued use of the yard off New Street as our base, courtesy of Patterson’s Butchers, food and catering services provided by Kearney’s Supermarket, donations of equipment such as a rucksack leaf blower donated this year by McManus Hardware and Peden Power, use of the Scout Hall and the Rugby Club for events, and donations of plants from Coleman’s Garden Centre and bulbs from Ben Vista Garden Centre. The occasional loan of specialist equipment and expertise, eg in the form of a forklift truck and driver by McManus Hardware is also invaluable for tackling certain jobs.
Finally, we must acknowledge the support we receive from Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in the form of advice, guidance and practical help, whether from the officer team or elected members.
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SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2025 was another busy and successful year for Tidy Randalstown. Routine work consisted of twice weekly team mornings when volunteers from a core group of 25 undertook a variety of activities which included street sweeping, planting and maintenance of community gardens, street planters, window boxes and hanging baskets while other volunteers engaged in regular litter picking activities throughout the town and immediate surrounding area.
From late spring through to autumn, 26 volunteers participated in a weekly watering rota covering hanging baskets, street planters and community gardens using bowsers, watering cans and milk cartons.
Total volunteer hours recorded for the year amounted to 7225. This equates to nearly 4 full-time workers giving their time to make Randalstown a better place for everyone, whether they live in the town, do business here, or just visit.
Highlights month by month…
| JANUARY | Big 7 Travel names Randalstown one of the “Greenest Places in the UK”. JoeMahon attendsTidyRandalstown Friends’ Eveningas specialguest. |
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| FEBRUARY | TR receives grant of £455 from Asda towards community cleanups. Workcommences oncleaning upapproach roads |
| MARCH | Big Spring Clean attracts 65 participants who collect 93 bags plus 5 ton bags of litter and waste. Steak night fundraiser attracts a good attendance and raises £385 after costs. |
| APRIL | Street collection raises £1032. New reservoir planters received for use in the OC area to replace worn out barrelsandintroducea freshplanting scheme. |
| MAY | Lady Mary Peters spends a morning with TR to “lend a hand”. TR volunteers help Maine Integrated PS tidy up their sensory garden. TR’s own water supply for Elevation and the Heritage Garden becomes operational. Elevation judged for the Green Flag Community Award. TR learns that it is to receive a grant of £15940 from the National Lottery Community Fund. |
| JUNE | Coleman’s Garden Centre donates 31 hanging baskets planted to TR’s design. Randalstown is a finalist in the Best Kept Ireland awards with four TR volunteers attending the awards ceremony in Dublin. TR hosts visitors from Well Kept Waringstown for a walking tour of the town. ASDA Community Champion Ashley Ritchie spends a morning working with the volunteers and presents TR with a Diamond Award recognising ourcommitment. |
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| JULY | Visitors include Ita McErlean from Northern Area Community Network who spends a morning learning about TR. 26 volunteers are kept busy with routine and emergency watering to ensure ourplants survive droughtconditions. |
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| AUGUST | Tidy Randalstown receives Community Green Flag Award for Elevation. Neillsbrook and Maine Folds receive similar awards. Volunteers enjoy their annual barbecue and a ‘mystery outing’ to North Down, including an evening meal and chat shared with Helen’s Bay and Crawfordsburn Community Association. |
| SEPTEMBER | Notification received that a refurbishment project in the Secret Garden will receive £1557 from the Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful Small Grant Scheme. Final round of RHS maintenance funding for Elevation (£4931) received. TR to be nominated Volunteer Team of the Year by our Council in the Green FlagBestof theBest Awards. |
| OCTOBER | Robin Swann MP visits Randalstown to meet TR volunteers and view our work. TR receives gifts of rucksack leaf blower from McManus Hardware and Peden Power, and 8000 snowdrop bulbs from Ben Vista Garden Centre. Randalstown wins Small Town Category in Ulster in Bloom – for the 7th consecutive time! – and picks up the Special Award for Wellbeing. First planters funded by National Lottery Community Fund received, placed and planted up. Helen Boyd represents TR and community gardens across NI at the launch of the RHS “State of Gardening” and Space to Grow” reports at Westminster and TR features as a case study in the “Space to Grow” report. On the same day Robin Swann MP commends the work of TR in an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons. |
| NOVEMBER | Annual Table Quiz raises over £825 of funds for Tidy Randalstown. TR volunteers are joined by YFC members for a tidy up day to prepare the Secret Garden for a refurbishment project. Two trailer loads of green waste are removed for composting off site. Detailed planning gets underway for NatureFest to be held in March 2026, focusing mainly on schools. |
| DECEMBER | Volunteers enjoy their annual Christmas Dinner at the Rugby Club plus an impromptu plein air Christmas Eve party in Elevation. Enkalon Foundation awards grant of £1000 towards essential equipment. Annual fundraising with the local business community raises £2730. |
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CHAIRPERSON’S REMARKS
As we look back on 2025 it’s time for Tidy Randalstown not only to take stock of the past year but also to take enormous pride in what has been achieved through the efforts of our volunteers. The awards – eg the Green Flag community Award for Elevation and the Small Town winner award in Ulster in Bloom – are only a small part of the picture. The whole community wins from having a town that is well kept and attractive. Nature wins from our gardening activities which focus on sustainability and create corridors and corners for pollinators and other wildlife all around town. Our volunteers win from spending time being active in the fresh air and from the friendships forged in our supportive volunteer community.
Back in September, Tidy Randalstown received a message from the Private Secretary’s Office at Kensington Palace offering us the gift of 5 roses named ‘Catherine’s Rose’ after the Princess of Wales and launched at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show; this was in recognition of our RHS links and community outreach work – what an honour! Proceeds from sales of this rose are going to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
It was also a particular honour for me this year to be invited to represent community gardeners across Northern Ireland when the Royal Horticultural Society launched two landmark reports on gardening across the UK at Westminster in October. The occasion provided a wonderful opportunity to network with key players in the community gardening movement and to highlight our work. To learn that our MP, Mr Robin Swann had proposed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons the same day commending the work of Tidy Randalstown added extra excitement and gratification to the event.
As 2026 commences we look forward to the completion of some significant projects:
- refurbishment of the Secret Garden, funded by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful
• Improving Spaces and Places, funded by National Lottery Community Fund We will also be trialing solar power as an energy source for our electric water bowsers – an exciting venture for us.
Our NatureFest event, supported by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, will take place on 20 and 21 March and will include a day of learning activities and fun for children from the local schools followed, on the second day, with events for adults comprising a talk, demonstration and workshop on the benefits of growing flowers for cutting.
I take this opportunity to express my personal heartfelt thanks all of those who volunteer for Tidy Randalstown, in whatever capacity. You are truly inspiring!
And to all our funders and supporters, please know that we appreciate all you do and we hope that you will consider our work worthy of your continued support into the future.
Helen Boyd 13 January, 2026
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