The County Monaghan village of Oram has won the national Pride of Place award. With a population of just 190, the border village beat off competition from three other villages to take home the top prize in their category. For the first time in the competition's 22-year history, the awards ceremony was hosted in County Monaghan at the Hillgrove Hotel on Saturday evening.
Cathaoirleach of Monaghan County Council, Cathy Bennett had the pleasurable task of presenting Oran with their award and the event was hosted by RTÉ's Brendan McArdle from Castleblayney. Chairperson of Oram Community Development Group, Louise Rooney, told Northern Sound winning the prize was a joint effort of which everyone in Oram is very proud of. Louise explained; "We are absolutely delighted out here in Oram to have won the pride of place competition and to have the work that's gone on in the village recognised at a national level. We want to thank Monaghan County Council for nominating us for the award and thank them for all their help over the years. They've been absolutely fantastic to work with together with Carol Lambe. We want to thank everyone who has been involved in the major projects. It's just amazing when a whole area comes together that we can achieve such fantastic things and be victorious in such a major competition. We're just absolutely delighted."
