The start of the New Year brought exciting achievements for Takemusu Aikido Society, as two major milestones were reached during an international seminar held in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 2nd to 5th January. This gathering of Aikido practitioners from across Europe included over 50 participants from Sweden, Lithuania, Poland, France, Germany, Ireland, and beyond.

The seminar was led by Ulf Evenås Sensei, a revered figure in the Aikido world and he was awarded the rank of 8th dan, the highest possible grade, reflecting his extraordinary contributions to Aikido’s development as a martial art and way of life.

The seminar unfolded against a backdrop of wintry beauty. Sweden welcomed the Irish visitors, Raman Bekarevich and Jan Toth, with cold winds and bare landscapes. However, overnight snow transformed Gothenburg into a winter wonderland, adding a magical touch to the experience.

The culmination of the seminar was the dan grading examinations, a rigorous test of skill and dedication. Candidates were evaluated not only on their technical proficiency but also on their understanding of Aikido’s principles. These gradings represent years of consistent practice and embody the art’s values of discipline, harmony, and resilience.

For Takemusu Aikido Society, the seminar brought two proud moments. Raman Bekarevich, the head instructor, was awarded the rank of 4th dan. This rank signifies the pinnacle of technical mastery in Aikido, requiring the ability to perform all techniques with exceptional precision and fluidity. Beyond this rank, Aikido practitioners are no longer tested on technical skills; instead, they are recognised for their contributions to the art and their role in guiding others.

Another significant milestone was achieved by Jan, an assistant instructor at the club, who earned his Shodan (1st-degree black belt). This achievement was particularly meaningful as it marked the first black belt awarded to a student of Raman Bekarevich and a historic moment for the Takemusu Aikido Society. Jan’s success symbolises the dedication and strength of the club’s teaching and its commitment to fostering the growth of its members.

You too can become part of this story. Takemusu Aikido Society offers regular classes open to everyone, including complete beginners who are curious to try something new. Classes are held every Sunday in Balbriggan and on Mondays and Wednesdays in Dublin. To start your journey, visit www.aiki.ie or email at info@aiki.ie.

The Irish Chamber Orchestra turns the spotlight on the saxophone in the first concerts of its Spring Summer Season 2025 with its debut performance in the Lark Theatre Balbriggan on 7th February being joined by the extraordinary saxophonist Jess Gillam.

Jess has forged an amazing career since shooting to fame as the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician. In her twenties, she has already achieved an MBE for services to music, a Classical BRIT award, her own show on BBC Radio 3 (This Classical Life), and appearances at the BBC Proms both as their youngest-ever soloist and latterly, as a presenter.

From BACH TO BOWIE is an electrifying, eclectic showcase that demonstrates Gillam’s versatility on saxophone as she, along with Irish Chamber Orchestra, sweep audiences away on a voyage of discovery.
Celebrate the youthful wonder in Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 2 as ICO revel in the composer’s sense of fun and sheer joy in making music. Feel the pull of this energetic tug-of-war between orchestra and saxophone in Bach’s Concerto in A Minor as Gillam soars high leading the orchestra in its flight of fancy. Hear the rhythm and purity of expression bursting to life in David Heath’s The Celtic as he delights in the saxophone’s singing quality.

Audiences can catch a breath with ICO as Elaine Agnew’s atmospheric Twilight evokes a peaceful time of meditation after sunset before sunrise.

Meanwhile, Jess’s rendition of Boulanger’s Cantique is tender with an exquisite melody that captures the most enchanting image of stars sparkling in the night sky. Bowie’s iconic Life on Mars will mesmerize as the saxophone stretches into the stratosphere of the unknown - a real treat!

John Harle’s nostalgic and wild “Rant” is a traditional British folk dance, dedicated to Gillam and her saxophone. Explore and enjoy “her energy, her sound and her presence, painted in music from her own part of England” says Harle.

Work will continue at pace on delivering the major infrastructural elements of the Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation Programme in 2025, after a series of significant developments last year.

According to Dr David Begg, Chairperson of the Our Balbriggan Leadership Group, 2024 was one of momentous progress for the €54-57million plan.

Following the appointment of a contractor, John Craddock Ltd, work began on the plan’s flagship €15million project, the re-development of the Quay Street and Harbour area - including the RNLI Boathouse.

Separately, enabling works have commenced at the boat and bathhouse at the Martello Tower to bring these back into use. The Quay Street and Harbour redevelopment is due to be completed in late 2025.

The Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation Programme is set to transform the town through public investment, and has seen work commence and continue on a number of key infrastructure projects.

“Five years on from the launch of the Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation Programme 2019-2030, the bricks and mortar transformation of Ireland’s youngest town is now beginning to take real shape,” said Dr Begg.
“There has been huge progress on the ambitious vision contained in the Rejuvenation Programme, the result of an historic community engagement which saw more than 25 per cent of Balbriggan’s residents outline their preferences for the future of the town.”

Work at the Quay Street and Harbour area has already seen the Mill Street Town car park redeveloped, with new trees and public lighting in place. And an exciting milestone was reached with the appointment of a design team to redevelop the De Bruns site.

Fingal County Council appointed an architect-led multi-disciplinary Integrated Design Team (IDT) for the transformation of 6a-14 Bridge Street.

The Integrated Design Team model, which employs local stakeholder engagement to progress plans, has already been successfully deployed on other Our Balbriggan projects, including the Quay Street and Harbour project and the development of a creative hub at 2-4 Dublin Street, on which work is ongoing.
Leading award winning Dublin City-based architects, McCullough Mulvin is leading the IDT for De Bruns and is co-ordinating ongoing local stakeholder engagement for the 10,000 square metre site.

Fingal County Council has proposed a mixed-use commercial, community and residential development, with the River Bracken at its heart.

The plan is to link Millpond Park to a new park entrance at 14 Bridge Street to facilitate a pedestrian and cyclist route down to the transformed Quay Street and Harbour area.

It is estimated work will begin at the site in 2026.

The buildings are within an architectural conservation area.

A review of the Our Balbriggan Leadership Group and its Pillar Groups was completed in 2024 to future proof governance.

The Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation Programme is led by Fingal County Council’s Economic, Enterprise, Tourism and Cultural Development Department

Balbriggan Meals on Wheels was established to provide meals for people who are ill, recovering from a serious illness, or for some reason are unable to provide meals for themselves.

It’s not all about delivering meals, however!

As well as cooking and distributing meals, we host a Dinner Club three mornings per week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday in our premises at 14 Hampton Street, Balbriggan. At the Dinner Club, you can enjoy a hot meal and relax in the company of the other members. This provides an enjoyable social outlet to people who primarily live alone. We also run activities and occasional trips for Dinner Club clients.

If you, or anyone you know would be interested in coming along to the Dinner Club, please contact us on 01 8416743 (9am – 1pm, Mon – Sat) for further details.

Did you attend our last fundraiser of 2024 in Hers Upstairs above Mrs O’s in the Central Pub Drogheda St Balbriggan? We sold Christmas cards, car raffle tickets and calendars and raised €329.75 for our Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs. Thank you to Andy, Simon of Mrs O’s and everyone who attended and supported us on the day. We hope to see more of you in 2025.

If you want to continue to support our Branch and also have a fun and entertaining February weekend, the Annual Balbriggan Feis is back and being held on Saturday the 8th and Sunday 9th February at Clann Mhuire GAA Hall, Naul, Co. Dublin, K32HK76 with all proceeds in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Musician Kevin Warren will be in attendance and there will be plenty of fantastic dancing for you to enjoy! Entrance tickets are available on the day at €5.00, why not go along for a great day out and to support our Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs. Last year the wonderful sum of €9,500 was raised for our Branch. We want to say a big thank you to the organisers Damien O’Shaughnessy and Anne McFadden, the participants, attendees and volunteers who put the Feis together for their amazing continued support.

Finally, we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who supported our Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs in 2024, we are delighted to say a fantastic total of over €50,000 for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind was raised throughout the year, which would not be possible without your support! Please keep an eye on future articles and we will confirm the exact amount.

In 2024, 27 people visited the HQ in Cork from our Branch, if you would be interested in visiting the HQ in 2025 please reach out to us on the information below;

Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Irish Guide Dogs you can do so phone/text 0857663107, email: GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or find us on Facebook at Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.

St. Mary’s Baton Twirlers were delighted to attend the recent 2024 Balbriggan Town Awards and take home not 1 but 2 Awards.

2024 Junior International Athlete of the Year was Rebecca Doran from St. Mary’s Baton Twirlers for her fantastic performances at EFBT European Championships in Czech Republic. Winning 6 medals in finals including 2 gold medals.

Susan Mullen, St. Mary’s Baton Twirlers was awarded a Special Recognition Award for 45 years at the Club. Susan a member of St. Mary’s Baton Twirlers since its formation in 1979. During her 45-year journey with the club she transitioned from an athlete to Coach and PRO. Her extensive efforts in training the athletes, assisting with organising both National and International competitions, to ordering costumes and sourcing club gear for the club, and ensuring every detail is attended to for international competitions trips, her contributions have been invaluable.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity will host a fundraiser themed ‘’Winter BBQ with live music at the castle ‘’ at Bremore Castle, Balbriggan on 25th January that will see a wide range of entertainment provided on the day that is held in conjunction with several other events around the country.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (GOCC) gather funds for medical equipment and has done so for the past 30 years, and each year a different hospital department benefits from the fundraising efforts. During the 33rd Grand Finale in January 2025 they are gathering funds for children haematology and oncology equipment in Poland.

The event on 25th January will host a food market, a GOCC merchandise shop, the Seventh 24-hour Relay for GOCC with Polish Runners Club Ireland, as well as great concerts.

The organiser of the event Sylwia Polasińska explained, “The whole event is volunteer based, everyone involved does it out of the joy of doing something good for the locals, out of the desire to support GOCC - a non-profit organization that truly unites Poles around the globe, and allows us to directly support our families in Poland, and additionally allows us to promote local entrepreneurs who put their whole hearts into the success of our summer-hot blaze in the middle of the Irish winter!”

“This time, a cheerful reggae/ska band from Poland, Cała Góra Barwinków will fly in, a local band Rock’n’Grants will perform in Balbriggan for the second time, students from the B-Music School of Music from Swords will again sing on our stage, and we are still adding more musicians to join us on 25th January 2025,” she added.

CGB is famous for its well-received, energetic concerts. They have performed at almost all major festivals, as well as Pol’and’Rock Festival twice – in 2003 and 2013, and the Heineken Open’er Festival 2007 in Gdynia, Poland. They have currently performed almost 1,000 times in Poland and abroad.

Please visit the GOCC Facebook Page and Follow us for more insight on a regular basis: WOSP Balbriggan.
The accompanying pictures are from the 2024 event.

What a busy 2024 it was for the Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs! As we step into 2025, we look forward to more fundraising, merchandise stands and meeting new people. We would also like to welcome our newest volunteers to our Branch, Michael & Shivaun Bowden, David & Vanessa Parry, and Yuzhe Orben! Thank you for dedicating your time to the Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs! If it is a new year’s resolution of yours to volunteer, why not join our Branch and make a change? You can contact us on the details below and we would be delighted to have you!

While things might be quiet at the moment, coming up in February there is the annual Balbriggan Feis in Naul GAA Club to look forward to. Thanks to Damien O’Shaughnessy and Ann McFadden the organizers. We will have more details on that in the next month so make sure to keep an eye on our social media. There are still ways to support our branch, you can donate any old coins or stamps to us by contacting us on the details below or you can drop them into the Library in Skerries. We can turn any foreign coins, sterling coins, old Irish coins or old postage stamps into cash for our branch! You can also tap to donate in one of our many locations which are Specsavers located in Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan, Skinny Batch Bakery and Café in Lusk, Specsavers located in Ashbourne and also Specsavers located in GPO Arcade, Dublin.

Finally, we would like to say massive thank you to everyone who supported our Branch this year and we wish you the happiest Christmas and new year! We hope to see some familiar faces when we get back out there in the coming weeks!

You can contact Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Irish Guide Dogs by phone/text 0857663107, email: GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or find us on Facebook at Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.

Fingal Libraries is delighted to announce that Balbriggan Library has been awarded a Library of Sanctuary by Places of Sanctuary Ireland, making Fingal the first local authority in Dublin to receive this award.
Following the submission of an extensive portfolio, Balbriggan Library was recognised for the consistent and innovative work that goes into making the library a champion for inclusion and welcome. The award is particularly special as it means it becomes the first public library in Dublin to receive such a status.
At the award ceremony Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. JK Onwumereh remarked: “The ethnically diverse population of Balbriggan makes the local Library an ideal candidate for such a prestigious award. They have created a community of welcome for all, whether they be migrants, Ukrainians coming into the county, or any type of marginalised groups living in the town”.

Dr. Veronica Crosbie from Places of Sanctuary Ireland presented the Library of Sanctuary award to the Deputy Mayor and the staff at Balbriggan Library at a celebration which took place in Ireland’s youngest town. Among the attendees were local agencies such as Cairde Balbriggan, Balbriggan Integration Forum, Le Cheile Day Hospital, Our Balbriggan, the Association of Ukrainians in Ireland, and the students of Bremore Educate Together Secondary School.

Dr. Veronica Crosbie commented: “Balbriggan Library demonstrates a commitment to supporting refugees and international protection applicants. We are delighted to include the library in our growing network of places working hard to combat racism and foster inclusive communities where everyone can flourish.”

Betty Boardman, County Librarian of Fingal Libraries added: “This award is testament to the hard work and enthusiasm displayed by the staff at Balbriggan Library. Fingal Libraries strive to strengthen and support communities by providing a dynamic, inclusive, and responsive library service. I would like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate them on this wonderful achievement.”
Places of Sanctuary Ireland complemented Balbriggan Library on their “brilliant and very attractive portfolio”.

Discover more about Places of Sanctuary Ireland: https://ireland.cityofsanctuary.org/about

On Saturday 16th of November, at the National Garda Youth Awards held at the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise, Balbriggan woman Aisha Alameen Betro was celebrated for her outstanding commitment to community safety.

Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris presented the prestigious National Garda Youth Award in the Community Safety category to Aisha for her incredible work in improving access to life-saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).

A member of an Garda Síochána explained: “Aisha took it on herself to research the availability of defibrillators across Balbriggan where she lives. She quickly found that there were incredibly few defibrillators that were accessible 24/7, 365 days a year. To highlight the urgency of this issue, Aisha examined the prevalence of cardiac issues across Ireland, gathering data as she went. When she had all the information she needed, Aisha recruited four young women and established the Aisha AED Initiative. The AED Initiative issued informational leaflets on defibrillators, cardiac events and emergency procedure across North Dublin; helping to educate the public on where their nearest defibrillator is in the event of a crisis. Launching the AED Initiative’s first 24/7 365 defibrillator in Balbriggan Garda Station in June, with plans to place more accessible defibrillators in her town.”

Speaking of the award Aisha said: “I am absolutely delighted to have received this award from the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris. This award recognises the work I have been doing in Balbriggan and encourages me to keep going to reach a future where no one passes away due to not being able to access an AED. Our vision is that Aisha AED Initiative will become a cornerstone for community safety, with AED/CPR education and training, and further AED installations in the future.”

Balbriggan Community Council stated: “Aisha Alameen Betro and the four young people Ciara Leonard, Alicia Rice, Mizna Shadid and Zainab Shahid have been an inspiration and have created a collaborative movement within Balbriggan aimed at providing lifesaving AEDs for the entire town and have advocated with community groups, individuals, stakeholders, political representatives, both locally and at Dail Éireann. We’re incredibly proud of Aisha and the other four young women and look forward to continuing to work with these truly exceptional young women” For further information, please contact Aisha AED Initiative on aishaaedinitiative@gmail.com or Balbriggan Community Council on balbriggancoco@gmail.com