Small but beautiful, a winning formula

Anyone with a nervous disposition wouldn't have stood a chance when the Tidy Towns results were announced in Dublin Castle yesterday.

As soon as Keadue village was revealed as the overall winner, the mobile phones were whipped out, and there was a stampede to the door to pass on the news.

It was like being in the middle of Wall Street, except it was stalwart community represent- atives in pearls and not sharp-suited traders who were shouting down mobile phones.

The Keadue Tidy Towns committee remained serene amid the chaos. That was partly because they felt they were still asleep, explained committee member Ms Peggy Campbell.

"It's like a dream. I'm expecting to wake up any minute now," she said happily.

Keadue is a very small place, she said, but it had great community spirit. "We have only two shops, two pubs, a church and a health centre. Even our post office is gone."

Blink and you would miss it, she agreed, but her committee members immediately rejected the notion that Keadue could be dismissed with a blink.

"You would have to blink a few times before you would miss Keadue," said Ms Bríd McMorrow. "It's a lovely place."

Asked if there would be a big party in the town last night, the women smiled enigmatically.

"It all depends on what's waiting for us when we get home," said Ms McMorrow.

"But we want to see Nationwide anyway," said Ms Campbell, of the RTÉ programme that was carrying the Tidy Towns highlights last night.

They may have come first out of nearly 700 towns and villages, but their only concern was setting the video recorders.

"Would someone tape it for us?" Ms Campbell wondered aloud. "We'd hate to miss that."