Paddy O’Callaghan and his daughter Niamh Kelivanova completed their Skydive in aid of Balbriggan Meals on Wheels on Friday 4th August at The Irish Parachute Club in Clonbullogue, Co Offaly. Having been postponed a couple of times, due to injury and the weather, they were thrilled when they finally got to take to the skies. Balbriggan Meals on Wheels would like to extend a huge thank you to Paddy and Niamh for choosing to fundraise for them and are extremely grateful to everyone who sponsored them. Well Done to Paddy and Niamh! To donate to Balbriggan Meals on Wheels visit our facebook page balbriggan.mealsonwheels/ and click the donate button.

Fingal Rowing Club, based here in Balbriggan, were in Wicklow recently competing and celebrating a successful final Regatta of the season. The honours achieved by the members is truly fantastic including: The Intermediate Mens 1st, Intermediate Womens 1st, Novice Womens ‘A’ 2nd, Novice Womens ‘B’ 3rd, Junior Women 2nd, Mixed 2nd and Vets 2nd. What a day for our wonderful club! Every single member did us proud. Congratulations to all rowers, coaches, coxing and supporters, a wonderful addition to the town.

A recent TG4 Cúltír Fingal programme featured Balbriggan including the Bremore Passage Tombs and music from the Irish Institute of Music & Song. CÚLTÍR focussed on Fingal on TG4 on Sunday 28 August. The new exciting series, Cúltír (“Hinterland”) on TG4 has been supported by Fingal County Council as part of its Creative Ireland Programme and will featured Fingal on Sunday 28 August at 9.30pm. The Fingal programme explored Fingal’s priceless Neolithic heritage at the Bremore Passage Tombs with Fingal Co Co Heritage Officer Christine Baker, as well as showing the contemporary, modern, urban, vibrant Fingal. Singer Pauline Scanlon and violinist Aoife Ní Bhriain celebrated the music and ancient culture of Co. Fingal. For Aoife, it’s a happy homecoming to her native county, as she performs with her father, legendary piper Mick O’Brien. A lively and diverse night of music from the Irish Institute of Music and Song in Balbriggan saw the great Leslie Dowdall host on-stage, while dance troupe ProdiJIG, rapper JyellowL and balladeers Sean Fitzgerald and Daragh Lynch headed up an eclectic line-up which also included folk fusion quarter Pontún and young fiddler Róisín O’Connor, supported by her parents Paudie O’Connor and Aoife Ní Chaoimh . Meanwhile, Aoife went in search of Fingal’s ancient roots, including visiting Garristown Mill and the Hide Sculpture and met the county’s famous “Mummers” as well as David O’Connor, Seán McPhilbín and Garett Phelan along the way.

Balbriggan’s own Andrew Coscoran recently broke his own Irish 1500m record for the second time in two months. This was another outstanding performance from Andrew at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Chorzow, Poland in mid July as he finished 4th with an amazing time of 3.30:42, - knocking over two seconds off his previous best that he recorded in Nice in June ! The race was won by Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway in a new European record time of 3.27:14. Kenyan’s Abel Kipsang and Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot finished second and third, respectively in the race. Coming as it does following his recent great form it is another excellent result for Coscoran who is being coached by Feidhlim Kelly. Andrew Coscoran now holds the national record for the metric mile indoors and outdoors. He will now turn his attention to making a final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest later this month. Fantastic Andrew - Balbriggan is proud of you

Although heavy rain meant Glebe North FC had to somewhat abandon their plans at the end of the recent week 1 of their Summer Camp it did not dispel the smiles and enthusiasm for the club and the camp from some of their young participants. With a very wet Friday, the club closed their week 1 of FAI football camps. However the kids said overall it was a a great week with a lot of fun while learning and developing football skills. Well done to the club who called the early ending which was the right call due to very poor weather conditions. While disappointed, the smiles on the kids faces and the fact they are looking forward to next year tells the whole story. A big thanks to the coaches Robbie, Sean, Michael, Eoin, Graeme, Alan and Sarah. Well done to all!

Staying with Soccer and Congratulations to Balbriggan’s own Diane Caldwell on her selection for the Ireland squad who flew out to Australia and New Zealand recently for Ireland’s first ever appearance at a FIFA Women’s World Cup! What an amazing achievement, well done Diane!

Jack Monaghan Head of Football Development and Dave Byrne Club Secretary at Balbriggan FC were delighted to get the opportunity to speak with Duncan Smith TD when they attended the Dáil recently to watch the Labour Party debate on funding grass roots football. The Government supported the Labour Party’s motion to invest in and support Irish football. We are looking forward to seeing investment and real action to develop and build the domestic football game in Ireland.

Huge congrats to Brian Dunphy and Aadi Wankhade who were part of the Leinster u15 team that won the Inter provincial title last month. Well done lads , all that hard has paid off for you!

Also this month and not to be outdone by the boys, a huge congratulations and a massive well done from all at the Brig to Erin Knight and Izzy McLean who were part of the Leinster team that won the Interprovincial Girls u15 tournament that was held recently. Well done Girls , keep up the hard work. Please also note Week 2 of the Cricket Summer Camp ..from 8 to 11 of August is upcoming..this is for ages 5 years and up and is a great way for children to enjoy the sport,

The Aer Lingus Social and Athletic Association was originally founded in 1966 by employees in Dublin Airport and is still going strong today, ALSAA Tennis Club is now open to everybody. Membership in the first year was £1.00, which was more expensive than it sounds as the club had no courts. Although no longer at £1.00 the membership is still great value particularly if you are interested in any of the many other sports ALSAA has to offer. In ALSAA Tennis Club, we pride ourselves in having a welcoming and intimate club where everybody is on first name terms. We cater to all levels, from the player who just wants some fun, social tennis to those who want to pit themselves against the very best in other clubs around Leinster. We are an extremely active club, hosting a range of club tournaments and events throughout the year. We’re always open to new membership so come check us out. Our club is located on the grounds of the ALSAA Sports Complex (.alsaa.ie), Swords Road, Swords, Co. Dublin – Eircode: K67 YV06.

So why don’t you join a vibrant Tennis Club? We take pride in having an active social tennis club for all our members, whatever your level. Enjoy club tournaments, social tennis, and our annual club championship. Something for everyone. You can check us out on our website (), on Facebook (https://facebook.com/alsaatennisclub) and our email address is alsaatennisclub@gmail.com.

We would love to have you as a member and all levels are welcome. ALSAA membership is €200 (which you spread out over 12 months), with membership to our tennis club being an additional €110. Please ring John on 087-6526378 if you have any questions or would like to join.

Skerries RNLI would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff and customers in Tesco Balbriggan They recently presented the life boat station with a cheque for €825 raised through the blue tokens. The local branches of Tesco and their distribution centre in Donabate have been incredible supporters through the years, always helping the volunteers to save lives at sea.

The demesne consists of the ancient townlands of Kilmainham, Ardgillan and Baltray. The district was originally controlled by the Gaelic O’Casey family and later the Earl of Tyrconnell. However, the period 1600 – 1700 saw great changes in the pattern of land ownership in Ireland due to the confiscation and redistribution of land after the Cromwellian and Williamite wars (1640s and 1680s respectively). In 1658, the “Down Survey” records that Ardgillan was owned by a wine merchant, Robert Usher of Tallaght, Dublin and by 1737, the property had been acquired by the Reverend Robert Taylor, one of the Headfort Taylor’s, whose grandfather had collaborated with Sir William Petty on the mid 17th century “Down Survey of Ireland”.Ardgillan remained the family home of the Taylors (later changed to Taylour) for more than two hundred years up until 1962 when the estate was sold to Heinrich Potts of Westphalia, Germany. In 1982, Dublin County Council purchased Ardgillan Demesne and it is now managed by Ardgillan Castle Ltd., under the auspices of Fingal County Council. Ardgillan park is unique among Dublin’s regional parks for the magnificent views it enjoys of the coastline. A panorama, taking in Rockabill Lighthouse, Colt Church, Shenick and Lambay Islands may be seen, including Sliabh Foy, the highest of the Cooley Mountains, and of course the Mourne Mountains can be seen sweeping down to the sea. The park area is the property of Fingal County Council and was opened to the public as a regional park in June 1985. Preliminary works were carried out prior to the opening in order to transform what had been an arable farm, into a public park. Five miles of footpaths were provided throughout the demesne, some by opening old avenues, while others were newly constructed. They now provide a system of varied and interesting woodland, walks and vantage points from which to enjoy breath-taking views of the sea, the coastline and surrounding countryside. A signposted cycle route through the park since June 2009 means that cyclists can share the miles of walking paths with pedestrians.