Balbriggan Meals on Wheels has been providing meals to the most vulnerable members of our community since 1975 and was awarded the Community Heros of the Year Award at the 2023 Balbriggan Town Awards.
Do you have a few hours to spare in your week? Would you like to join our team of Volunteers?
We are currently seeking the following Volunteers to join our team: Volunteer Drivers; Volunteer Driver Assistants and Volunteer Kitchen Assistants
If you can help, contact Balbriggan Meals on Wheels:
Tel: 01 8416743 or email: mealsonwheelsbalbriggan@gmail.com
Don’t have time to volunteer but still want to help? Donate to Balbriggan Meals on Wheels: www.idonate.ie/cause/BalbrigganMealsonWheels
Do you want to support our Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs while also getting rid of some unwanted old coins/notes or used stamps? If you have any used postage stamps or coins/notes that are no longer in circulation, could you arrange to drop the used stamps into Skerries Library and the coins into counter boxes and large dogs for our Branch. We can then turn them into Euros and lodge to our Guide Dog account. Previously, coins from all over the world have been dropped to us as have old postage stamps. A U.K. stamp and coin collector buys all this off us and all the money goes to our Branch.
Another way you can support us is by using one or our many ‘Tap to Donate’ machines! You can visit and make a donation at any of the following locations: Specsavers located in Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan, Specsavers located in Ashbourne and also Specsavers located in GPO Arcade, Dublin.
You may also have seen our Branch’s new Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind accessibility door stickers campaign, with one sticker located in McMeels Pharmacy in Skerries and another in Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan, a big thank you to Peter Carey the General Manager in Millfield Shopping Centre. Tom O’Neill with his guide dog Qeb is looking forward to visiting many more places and venues to take and share photos to encourage others to take the access sticker which might also encourage people who see it to become volunteers with the branch. Irish equality legislation gives Guide Dog and Assistance Dog owners the right to access businesses and services without discrimination. This includes access to: all forms of public transport, including bus, train, tram, taxi, plane or ferry; all forms of hospitality accommodation, including hotels, Airbnbs, hostels or holiday rental properties; all establishments that provide food, including cafes, restaurants, pubs, delis and supermarkets.
You can show your support for Guide Dog and Assistance Dog owners by displaying our PAW for Access Rights window sticker. Email Access@GuideDogs.ie to get your free sticker.
If you would like to volunteer with us, you can contact us Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Irish Guide Dogs by phone/text 085 7663107, you can email us at GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or find us on Facebook at Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.
St Mary’s Baton Twirlers were thrilled when 12 members of the local Balbriggan club qualified along with Clareville Baton Twirlers and Twilight Baton Twirlers to make up the 40 strong Team Ireland who competed at 2024 EFBT European Championship in Czech Republic in early July.
Team Ireland placed 3rd in the Nations Cup and took home numerous awards. St. Mary’s athletes took home three gold, two silver and two Bronze medals as well as three 4th, four 6th sand two 7th places.
The club is now taking names for 3 new teams: Girls and boys born in 2017; Girls and boys born in 2015 and Girls and boys born in 2013.
Classes which return in September. Please contact 086-3270636 by text or WhatsApp for further details.
The Aisha AED Initiative and Balbriggan Community Council had officially announced the new 24/7 accessible AEDs in Balbriggan Garda Station. The event took place on 29th June at 1pm with some light refreshments on the day.
This is just the first AED to be rolled out under the Aisha AED Initiative.
This AED and cabinet was funded by Fingal Count Council in collaboration with Balbriggan Garda. The Aisha AED Initiative is a sub-committee of Balbriggan Community Council and the young people involved were successful in receiving European funding for the initiative.
Further free AED and CPR training will be rolled out in the coming months.
Thrive Balbriggan has officially launched the new Balbriggan Great Places & Spaces Wellbeing Map at the Balbriggan Summerfest on June 1st Bremore Castle.
The Balbriggan Great Places & Spaces Wellbeing Map is intergenerational project which identifies places and spaces that promote good mental health and well-being in Balbriggan. The Map was produced based on survey responses collected from local Transition Year students and community of Balbriggan who indicated in which locations they feel relaxed, happy, energised or calm.
The project was coordinated by Thrive Balbriggan. The Map was created by local artist Lauren Fernandes and designed by local graphic designer Áine O’Beirne who is also Thrive Balbriggan Vice Chairperson. The project was inspired by Wexford Great Places and Spaces Wellbeing Map which was administrated and coordinated by Wexford Mental Health Association.
Speaking at the event, the Project Lead, Séamus Quigley said: “This map is a representation of Balbriggan and what it has to offer to its community in relation to places and spaces. We want this map to further raise awareness of our own mental health and wellbeing and how through interaction; whether that be with other people or their local environment, we can enjoy a more positive experience.”
“We want the people of Balbriggan to create a stronger sense of relatability with regard to the positive impact local places and spaces have on them and to also further explore and identify locations or trails unknown to them beforehand. Our aim for Balbriggan Great Places&Spaces is for it to continue to grow through continual engagement within the community and ensure it becomes even more accessible through means of a digital and interactive platform. We want to sincerely thank the community of Balbriggan for their contributions in creating this map and for the continued support for Thrive Balbriggan”.
Thrive is a community-led movement to create a happy and healthy place to live by conducting projects and events aiming at improving mental health and wellbeing. Thrive was introduced to Ireland in 2021 by Mental Health Ireland and currently operates in two locations in County Fingal in Balbriggan and Swords.
Thrive Balbriggan is an initiative of Mental Health Ireland and is supported by Fingal County Council. For further information please contact thrivebalbriggan@mentalhealthireland.ie or visit Thrive Ireland – Mental Health Ireland.
We had a very busy and enjoyable time over the last month with our Pop-up Museum, Historical Walk and tours of Bremore Castle as well as our May talk by Aidan Arnold. Thank you to everyone who visited our exhibition in the Pop-Up Museum space on the corner of Bridge Street and Dublin Street over the two weekends. We were delighted to display a small sample of the significant number of our historical Artefacts and photographs and videos which are of huge local and national interest. The exhibition featured The People, Places and Textile Industry of Balbriggan and topics featured included the Linen & textile industry including Smyco, Harry Reynolds, The Sack of Balbriggan, Bremore Castle, and some of our extensive 1893 local Balbriggan photo collection. Many thanks for the wonderful support from all of you in the Balbriggan community, Fingal Heritage Officer Christine Baker, elected representatives and visitors from other Heritage Groups - we loved the chats. We would like to especially thank those who donated items for our collection and helped us with identifying some of the people in our photos. Remember if you have something of interest or photos to share please contact any of the Committee or send email to balbrigganhistsoc@gmail.com.
We led our usual Historical walk during Summerfest also and were delighted with the huge crowd who joined us and our tours of Bremore Castle were hugely popular also.
We are taking a little break now for the summer but will be back in August, in the meantime we hope you can get out and enjoy the rich heritage we have all around us in Balbriggan during the summer.
May was a fantastic start to summer for the Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs who fundraised for Guide Dog Day for two days in Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan and a wonderful sum of €1,689.90 was raised.
Tom O’Neill and his guide dog Qeb also joined a sponsored walk with Buíon Peadar agus Pòh Brigins (St Peter & St Paul’s Brigins) Juniors of Girl Guides where €270 was raised. We were lucky enough to also get a donation from two fantastic young children, Alannah (aged 11) and Erin (aged 8) who saved €450 over a year with the help of their family and gave it to Tom for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, we want to say a big thank you to Alannah and Erin and also to everyone who supported us over Guide Dog Day and the people that continue to do so.
The Branch also attended the sunny Balbriggan Summerfest during the bank holiday weekend in June where Tom O’Neill and his Guide Dog Qeb were set up to meet our lovely supporters and €536.52 was raised, a big thank you to our volunteers and all who came along to support us. On the day there were raffle tickets for €5 to win a holiday and these can still be purchased by contacting us on the below contact details. You could be jetting off on a holiday worth €5,000, but remember you have to be in it to win it! All money that is raised by the Branch, goes to headquarters in Cork and allows them to train assistance Guide Dogs to help blind people and a children with Autism. At the start of the year there were five Guide Dog partnerships and five Assistance Dog partnerships that graduated and as of March 2024 there are 110 pups being puppy raised.
If you are involved in an event in the area through summer and would allow our branch to put a stand in we would be very grateful for another chance to raise some additional funds! If so, please contact us via the following: Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, Phone/text: 085 7663107, Email: guidedogsbalbriggan@gmail.com or find us on Facebook: Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.
This year’s International Men’s Health Week was marked by Fingal County Council with a number of different activities taking place around the county with various sports clubs including a ‘come and try’ Aikido event hosted in Balbriggan by Takemusu Aikido Society.
International Men’s Health Week took place from Monday 10th until Sunday 16th June. It was a reason to remind the public that regular physical activity helps to improve overall health and prevent heart diseases, strokes, diabetes and even cancer.
Aikido is the art of unbalancing the aggressor making him so weak that even people beyond their prime can do it without applying excessive power. But it is only possible when a person maintains his own physical and mental balance.
Therefore aikido focuses on self-balance, awareness and body coordination enabling one to execute techniques without relying on physical strength. This idea seems attractive to older people as about 70% of aikido practitioners worldwide are over 40-years-old. Balbriggan’s men became no exception.
Speaking about the discipline and of its benefits, Raman sensei of Takemusu Aikido Society explained, “Middle-aged people who haven’t exercised for years may be sceptical about it and won’t dare to try. Well, football or rugby is not an option for them, but can they do something else during several decades of active life ahead? An unexpected answer could be traditional martial arts, such as aikido.”
“Many never considered the discipline because martial arts are associated with aggressive fighting, only suitable for young strong men. However, aikido focusing on self-development and self-improvement differs from this stereotype,” he added.
The free come-and-try aikido session saw a few local men in their 40s from Balbriggan and Naul even brave and curious enough to show up at the dojo. The class focused on exploring the core elements of the aikido curriculum and its potential health benefits.
Raman sensei, who spent a decade learning aikido in Japan, began the class with warming-up and core strength exercises, which are essential for maintaining healthy muscles and joints, as well as for developing body balance, stability and coordination. Then he explained safe falling techniques that can prevent injuries caused by slips, trips and falls accidents, which are among the main causes of musculoskeletal injuries in Ireland.
After that, participants delved into Aikido techniques. They tried to replicate basic forms and apply their newly acquired safe-falling skills. After each basic technique, Raman sensei demonstrated how the basic form can evolve into more advanced forms and practical applications.
At the end of the class, all attendees were tired but extremely excited. They enjoyed every second on the mats and hopefully, found their lifelong passion!
The members of Balbriggan ICA had a wonderful trip to Brussels on 17th April and were treated to a tour of the European Parliament while they were there. The ladies met up with members from Lusk ICA who also went on the trip, which was kindly organized by Lorraine Clifford-Lee.
The ladies were looked after very well by Darragh Gallagher and Wilfred King on their visit and Darragh brought them to the European Parliament where they were given a talk on all the MEPs and how the Parliament operates.
They also got the opportunity to try out the interactive floor map that takes visitors on a virtual tour around Europe, highlighting more than 100 stories on the diversity of the continent. The ladies also visited the very impressive parliamentary chamber building where we posed for photos.
Following some time for shopping and the many delicious Chocolate shops they relaxed and had dinner in the lively Irish bar Kitty O’Shea’s.
St. Mary’s Baton Twirlers have had a productive and impactful first quarter of the year with 12 athletes qualifying at the ABTI National Trials to be part of a 46-strong Irish Squad that will compete in the EFBT European Championships in Czech Republic in July.
The club also hosted a Thrive Connect Cafe facilitated by Aoife from Thrive Balbriggan in the Bracken Court Hotel. “It was lovely for different generations from the club to get together and discuss the importance of girls and women to be involved and stay in sports. There were also discussions on issues around the fast pace of changes in technology for the older generation. Thanks to Fingal Community Development Office for supporting this event for International Women’s Day,” a spokesperson for the club said.
Additionally, coaches from the club were present at the launch of Fingal County Council’s guide to becoming an anti-racism organisation and they took some time to chat with Deputy Mayor of Fingal Councillor Grainne Maguire.
The club stated its commitment to not only excel in their sport but also engage in meaningful discussions and community initiatives reflects the values of teamwork, leadership, and social awareness within the organisation.
