St Patrick"s parade entries honoured

Mullingar St Patrick"s Day Committee stalwart Frances Guckian received an award for her Outstanding Contribution to the patron saint"s day at the annual post-parade awards ceremony, held at the Greville Arms Hotel on Friday night.Committee member Enda Geoghegan who presented Ms Guckian with the award told the audience how she had brought the committee together in 2006 and had been instrumental in bringing back Mullingar"s parade and making it the 'best in Leinster'.'Frances has been a magnet for like-minded individuals who as a team have revived our St Patrick"s Day parade and have worked tirelessly to do so,' he said.'The enjoyment and colour that the parades have brought to the town have been immense. There were over 35,000 people at the parade, despite reports in the media to the contrary.'In the midst of all of this Frances has been central and she could silence a rowdy committee member with one tap of her ball point pen,' he joked.Accepting the award Ms Guckian said that she had been 'very lucky' to have worked with the St Patrick"s Day Committee in Mullingar, most of whom already had experience of working on other projects.'We have been fortunate to get a great mix of people who have worked together very well,' she said. 'It"s brilliant to see the younger people in the town getting involved and we saw some fantastic scenes and floats at this year"s parade.'The people involved have shown a great passion for everything that they have done and it is very heartening to see the success that we have had.'Ms Guckian also said that if the parade was to continue that funding would have to continue to be sought.'If we want the parade to keep going it costs money and that is that,' she said.Ms Guckian congratulated all those who took part in the parade and thanked Westmeath County Council, the Greville Arms, the Annebrook Hotel, the Bloomfield Hotel O"Meara"s Garden Centre, as well as all those who helped with setting up stages and barriers for the parade.