On Monday 21st March the Boules launch took place on the new court provided by FCC just beside the Croquet Lawn at Newbridge House. It was a great afternoon; even the weather came good! As you can see from the photographs a great crowd turned up, about 25 people coming mainly from AAfA & Men’s Shed, with some FCC staff & a few other people! Country Crest Farm Shop managed by Maurice Brady, who was a great support to all with home deliveries during the pandemic, sponsored all of the equipment for the community. This included all the sets of boules, rings, tapes, rakes & brush etc. He came on the day and joined in with the craic! With some prizes of Easter chocolate bars for all who played till the end!Again, we thank FCC in particular Paul Smyth CEO of the Operations Dept which includes Parks, for putting in the Boules Court and we do hope in the not too distant future another will happen, when it is possible! His staff especially Lourda Darcy, Therese Casey, & Aileen O’Connor all deserve special mention for the vision along with the community to have a court. Huge thanks to Colm Connell from the Operations Dept who is in charge of maintenance in the Parks and Ivan Smyth Farm Manager for Newbridge Farm, who not alone came along on the day to launch the Boules, but joined in and played a game or two! Without our local councillors and representative supporting this venture it would never have happened - so in particular to Adrian Henchy, Paul Mulville, Rob O Donoghue and Corina Johnson a big thanks.We again must thank Tom & Eileen Donnellan for the Coaching Course in early February, otherwise there would be rows over the rules! and also for their guidance in selecting equipment. Just for the record Carolyn Smith made and put in the score boards and Jim O’Donohoe sorted out all the boules sets - a bit of role reversal or anyone can do anything! To AAfA, Men’s Shed, Senior Citizens, LSA and many others who supported or helped or spread the word a big thank you! So we hope more people will learn the game which is fairly easy but don’t be fooled like Croquet fairly competitive and join in in the fun! Further information contact Breda Dockrell 086 8693243 or Carolyn Smith 087 9284307.