An inspirational young Balbriggan man has produced a fascinating anthology shining a spotlight on the town’s creative talent. Motivated by a desire to connect with other creative people, illustrator, designer and writer Matthew Kelly, 21, from Clonard Court, received funding from Fingal County Council’s Our Balbriggan Placemaking Fund for the publication ‘Dear Balbriggan.’ The anthology was launched at the Our Balbriggan Hub at Georges Square on Thursday, December 15, and is set to further boost Balbriggan’s growing reputation as a centre for the arts. The launch was attended by many of the artists and creatives featured in the anthology which will be available free to those in attendance. ‘Dear Balbriggan’ is a 144-page love letter to the creative heart of Balbriggan, featuring creative and feature writing, as well as poetry, art and illustration, photography, recipes and crafts. Matthew, who is deeply passionate about his home place and anxious to promote it in the best possible light, works with Thérapie Clinic, one of Europe’s leading medical aesthetic clinics, and has been commissioned for projects by Fingal County Council and the Mansion House. He has seen his work showcased several times in national print and digital publications, as well as at the Fingal Poetry Festival and in Mental Health Ireland’s Thrive campaign. He is currently working on his first book, ‘Porter Loves Cleo.’ Matthew, a past-pupil of Ardgillan College and former student at the National College of Art and Design, set out to create an anthology in the style of one of the world’s great magazines. “I wanted to produce something in the style of the New Yorker magazine with essays, fiction, illustrations, and poetry,” said Matthew. “And I know I am very lucky to do the work I do. So if I can do the right thing for my home place, why would I not do it? “I felt it could be a vehicle to connect with creative people in the area and highlight the artistic side of Balbriggan. “There is a lot of creative talent here, it is important to shine a spotlight on it and ‘Dear Balbriggan’ allowed me connect further with it.”

A very special Christmas Exhibition & Gift Fair event was held in Ardgillan Castle at the beginning of December. Our pictures courtesy of the wonderful Balbriggan based photographer Thaina Whelan depict the ladies in black of the marvellous Balbriggan Gospel Choir and the superb handiwork of the craftswoman and gift stall owner Anne Howard. Thank you very much Thaina and to view more of her photographs go to her website photosbythaina.com.

A fascinating community art project which beautifully captures Balbriggan through the eyes of its people was launched in the town on December 16.Visual artist and art educator Alison O’Grady collected memories and stories from people connected to Balbriggan and created one large illustration across 60 canvases which locals could then paint. “My concept was to collect memories and stories from people connected to Balbriggan and create one large illustration across 60 canvases called Ár mBaile, which locals could then paint,” said Alison. The result is a stunning labour of love through which locals reflect their pride of place. It is set to further boost Balbriggan’s growing reputation as a centre for the arts. The project has been funded by Fingal County Council’s Our Balbriggan Placemaking Fund, established to make the town an even better place to live, work, visit and do business. Alison, who created a mural in the town in 2021, set out to create a visual art form which captured the spirit of the north Dublin seaside town. She said, “ The final illustration is a montage of places and landmarks in Balbriggan, some buildings and structures are long since gone. Our Balbriggan (the town’s rejuvenation programme led by Fingal County Council) provided me with a vacant space at 2-4 Dublin Street in the town. I created a pop-up art studio and utilised the space to sketch out the composition and set to work on drawing the illustration across 60 canvases. Then I opened the space to the public last summer so they could come along, choose a canvas, and paint it in their own personal way. Each day, people turned up to paint. It was wonderful; grandparents, parents, children, families and their friends dropped by the studio to check out the project and participate. The stories and memories kept flowing throughout the two weeks the pop-up art studio was open. It was fantastic to see so many people across the generations involved in creating an artistic representation of their town.” Alison was previously commissioned to create an illustration to accompany the words of local Olympic athlete Andrew Coscoran that “Balbriggan is class” which were painted on the Our Balbriggan Hub at Georges Square.

Happy New Year from everyone at Balbriggan Meals on Wheels. Towards the end of 2022 we held a number of events and would like to thank everyone who helped out. We held a very successful Open Evening as part of Fingal Inclusion Week in late November. A very enjoyable evening was had by all. We held a very successful Fundraising Raffle and thank you to our prize sponsors, volunteer ticket sellers and those who bought the tickets .Our Christmas Fair was back up and running as normal and was a great day. Thank you to all who supported our Food Drive in Tesco allowing us to prepare hampers for distribution to our clients. Balbriggan Meals on Wheels is looking forward to continuing to provide meals for those in need in our community throughout 2023. To contact us please do so at Balbriggan Meals on Wheels, 14 Hampton Street, Balbriggan. Or alternatively contact us by phone at Tel : 01 8416743. or Email: mealsonwheelsbalbriggan@gmail.com.

2022 was a great year where we finally got back to normality, which also meant fundraising with the general public. It was great to meet people, hear their stories and all the ways the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind changes lives. We had multiple events throughout the year and we want to thank everyone who supported our Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide dogs and all the volunteers who helped out, thanks to them our branch managed to raise a fantastic €32,453.32 as of the middle of November 2022! At our weekend of fundraising in Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan on the 11th and 12th November, we managed to raise €1,556.74! We also had a very busy and successful few weeks of fundraising in the lead up to Christmas and we are so grateful to everyone who donated and helped out. We are excited for all the events coming up this year! In 2022 we said goodbye to some and welcomed others. Puppy in training Adel went off to Cork and is now an assistance dog and getting on fantastically with her family in County Kildare. Volunteer Adele Halpin welcomed puppy in training Voldee who is showing great signs of confidence and volunteer Anne Mulligan welcomed lovely Cosmo, a puppy in training, just before Christmas and we look forward to sharing more updates on her as the year progresses, along with volunteer Jade McCormack who was matched with Guide Dog, Winter and Andy Green of our Balbriggan/North County Dublin branch who was matched with his Guide Dog, Ollie. Finally, we just want to say thank you again for the continued support from you all and we hope you had a lovely Christmas and wish you a wonderful New Year!

If you would like to volunteer for our Balbriggan\North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs, you can contact us via phone: 085 7663107, email: GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or on Facebook: Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.

Congratulations to our youngsters on winning the Fingal 6-a-side u14 indoor cricket competition yesterday with three wins from three, held in Gormanston Park. Thanks to Brían O’Rouke and all at Fingal County Council Sports Office for organising a great event.

Congratulations to Alma Atagamen, Shannon Campbell and Makia Carey who represented AB on the Leinster North East team versus Leinster Metro recently. It was a very tightly contested game with both teams taking the lead at various points in the game. Well done to Makia Carey on her NE debut, she was solid in the scrum and carried well in the loose. Balbriggan player Alma Atagamen proved to be unstoppable in the 2nd row with a hat-trick of tries. Shannon Campbell who, we are very proud to say, was team Captain on the day, converted one of the tries. The final score ended at 29 v 29. Skye Healy also of AB was unable to play today due to illness but we look forward to seeing her at the next match. Well done to all the players and coaches for providing a very enjoyable and competitive match. We would also like to remind you to join us for our Christmas party night ..Happy Christmas Everyone!!

The Senior Ladies team are Leinster Champion for the first time ever for the club. Our pictures show the jubilant team immediately after winning and later some of the senior ladies brought the Leinster trophy to visit our Club President Dinny O’Leary. The players, management and Committee of the club wish to say a big thank you to all of the supporters who travelled once again, we really appreciate it as always.

Balbriggan Roadrunners are a local running club set up almost six years ago with the aim of helping people interested in running and walking at whatever level, meet similar people and provide motivation and support within the community.The intention of the Balbriggan Roadrunners is to get people together for the health, social and motivational benefits of running with a group. There are no membership fees – the club is non-profit, self-funded and is run totally on a voluntary basis. We are an inclusive club and our members are representative of the diversity of Balbriggan and we have runners from all parts of this community and as well as surrounding communities. We are registered as a club with the Fingal Sports Council.We meet 3 or 4 times a week and have about 250 members who turn up regularly to our scheduled runs as well as over 1300 people following us on Facebook. Runners range from beginners to very experienced, running various distances from 5km, 10km and upwards, a few have even run several marathons. In 2016 we launched our “Couch to Roadrunners” group which focuses on getting people out running from the very beginning and support them right up to whatever distance and level of runner then want to become. This group is mentored by other group members who have all started as beginners and want to “pay it forward” and help others beginners achieve their goals. One of the most adventurous is the Sliabh Liag Challenge in Donegal next May see the poster for details We also have a sister club called Balbriggan and District Athletics (Senior) which is registered with Athletics Ireland and takes the opportunity to enter national championships and progress runners interested in entering competitive events..

We at Balbriggan Historical Society had a wonderful evening recently as Grainne Maguire shared memories of 75 years of Balbriggan Dramatic Society. It was fantastic to have members from the first production in 1947 joining us on the night and Grainne presented Eoghan O’Callaghan and Dermot Reynolds with framed programmes from the historic event. She slso had an exhibition of old photographs. We were also delighted to welcome 3 students from Loreto Secondary school Noshien Aktar, Deborah Emeh and Rebecca Lawrence to share presentations on The Grand Palace Thailand and Balbriggan Harbour and Lighthouse.