Every year Bloomsday which celebrates - James Joyce - is held on the 16th June - this year that falls on a Monday - so the Pacers are doing a little walk around Dublin to view some of the Buildings & Places associated with the man himself!

We will take a look at his statue, then his school Belvedere College ….continue past some other places of interest then … stop by Davy Byrnes & what is now Kennedy’s. Fancy hat required for all weathers! Contact Carolyn 087 9284307 for further information or Des 087 7846813.

Donabate Portrane Dramatic Society is delighted to announce the upcoming performances of two short plays “Towpath” by Robert Iles and “Dead Man’s Bells” by Máebh de Brún from the 15th to the 17th of May 2025 (with two performances on the Saturday) in Donabate Parish Hall.

“Towpath” by Robert Iles is directed by Paul Keogh. This is a poignant one-act comedy about four women of mixed ages. Sitting by a canal with a fishing rod and a hip flask, a lone woman finds herself at the centre of a growing group of strangers, each with a tale to share and a problem to solve.

The cast of “Towpath”, in order of appearance, is Jill Murray as Anne, Marissa Magner as Chris, Joanne Moody as Pamela, and Emily McClenehan as Jenny.

“Dead Man’s Bells” by Máebh de Brún is directed by Aengus Gordon. This dark comedy is a gothic, rural tale of inheritance, rivalry, and misdeeds, unreliably told by three sisters. Written by Máebh de Brún, award winning Irish playwright, the play is laced with black humour and quick wit.

The cast of “Dead Man’s Bells”, is Christina Fahy as the Eldest Sister, Karen Parker as the Middle Sister, and Orlaith O’Halloran as the Youngest Sister.

Performances will be on in Donabate Parish Hall on the following dates and times: Thursday 15th May at 20:00, Friday 16th May at 20:00, Saturday 17th May matinée at 15:00 and Saturday 17th May at 20:00.
Tickets cost €12 per person and can be purchased online on TicketSource.eu or at the door.

Donabate Dramatic Society is also extending an invitation to all people in the community become a patron of the society and support the local arts. The annual fee for patronage is €60 per person and it includes two tickets for their biannual productions along with light refreshments.

If you want to become a member or a patron of DPDS do not hesitate to contact donabateportrane.drama@gmail.com.

And don’t forget to follow Donabate Portrane Dramatic Society on Facebook and Instagram!

In May & June the Parish Hall will be busy with many daily activities still taking place and some special events also. These take place around the daily activities or when they are suspended to facilitate one-off events!

May
As part of their great events, the Bleeding Pig Festival will be holding an Art Exhibition on Sunday 25th May 9am - 6pm, in the Parish Hall.

Donabate & Portrane Dramatic Society will be putting on one of their great plays from Thursday 15th to Sunday 18th May in the Parish Hall, (with rehearsals starting from Saturday 10th).

June

‘Music Fest’
This grew out of a request by FCC, namely Rafe Costigan, to the Parish Hall to have a special event ‘Festival in a Van’ take place in their grounds. (Other options were fully explored but not possible this year).

‘Music Makers’ were already booked to hold a Summer Session and ‘Peninsula Voices’ had sought to hold a charity event in the Parish Hall. Also as ‘Leithinis CCÉ’ regularly hold sessions in the Parish Hall, it made sense to combine them all together along with a few friends!

These will be small, focused events & adults, if attending with children, must keep an eye on them. So, save the days!

Friday 27th June - Evening
Peninsula Voices & Friends - under Áine & Tony, their musical directors - will organise a Charity Concert in aid of UNICEF, a most worthy cause.

Saturday 28th June - Afternoon
‘Music Makers’ will hold a special event for O/15 to play & perform under their leaders, Noel & Sean. ‘Leithinis CCÉ’ will then play a few Irish Traditional tunes. ‘Festival in a Van’ will finally take to their outdoor moving stage, with their own performers from outside the Parish & with some local guests joining them! It should be a great two days of music for a good cause & another chance to display some local talent. There can never be enough opportunities, especially for young people, to participate in Cultural events - eg music, singing, dance, drama, photography, art….!

School is over … so start the holidays with a bit of fun for all! Put the dates in your calendar now, on the phone & or at home.

More details with regards to attending & ticketing will be in the June edition.

July
Camps
1st Drama House Summer Camp from Monday 7th July - Friday 11th July & 2nd Drama House

Summer Camp: Monday 14th July - Friday 18th July

At present there are 2 Camps booked in for over the summer.

If you want to enquire about running a camp or workshops over the summer, please do so ASAP.
If you have any queries with regard to any of the information above please contact Parish Office in the mornings 01-8434574

As included in the last month’s issue, the Parish Office will be in touch with current users in early May re their requests from Sept 2025 - Aug 2026 which must be received back by mid June so that all can be worked on & put in place before end of June.

We wish you a lovely May, as our Summer begins!

We have now finished our Active Age for All Spring term activities and classes so ‘school’s out for summer’! Having said that some of the tutors will be running extra classes for a few weeks, I’m sure all their attendees will really appreciate that. I would like to thank all our tutors very much for the dedication and enthusiasm they bring to their classes, you are a brilliant bunch.

The AAfA Camera Club have been taking advantage of the good weather to get out and about. We explored the sights of Malahide; did a wildlife photo trip to the Dodder river in Rathfarnham where Mr Fox very kindly came out to pose for us, and enjoyed a morning in Howth harbour which included some street photography.

As the summer break is quite long we will endeavour to organise some trips and tours during it. We will also arrange one morning a week to meet up in the community centre cafe ( which by the way we are all delighted to have open again, it was badly missed) to keep in touch with all our AAfA friends.

Keep an eye open for our information day which will be on a Friday towards the end of August, in the meantime have a lovely summer and we look forward to seeing many of you in the Cuppa Cabana cafe.

The Health Service Executive has confirmed that plans are progressing on a new Primary Care Centre for Donabate with a preferred operator and site now selected.

Reacting to the HSE response, Cllr Corina Johnston said;” I refer to my ongoing representations along with other public representatives for the provision of a much needed Primary Care Centre in Donabate especially given the growing population. I am very pleased to have received the below response from the HSE to my recent representations on this matter.”

“The proposed Primary Care Centre will include accommodation for the following: Local GP Practice, Disability Day Services, Community Mental Health services, Primary Care Team services including: Nursing, Speech and Language Therapy -Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Psychology and Dietician Services.”
The HSE stated that there are a number of steps that must be taken before the facility can begin construction.

“Approval to proceed is currently being sought and if approved, the preferred operator will be notified which would allow for progression through the design and planning stages in 2025. The delivery of Primary Care Centres are subject to a number of external factors which are outside of our control such as statutory approvals, for example grant of planning permission, therefore the HSE are not in a position to provide the timeframe for when works could commence on this Primary Care Centre at this early stage of the project,” the HSE stated in response to Cllr Johnston’s query.

“I hope approval for this project to proceed is granted as soon as possible. I will continue to pursue this important matter and will keep you informed of developments,” she concluded.

LSA members have taken to the roads in the last month with lots of our members taking part in the Lusk 4 mile Road Race and the Bohermeen Half Marathon at the start of March.

In Lusk, James Keegan was the first LSA member home in 23:42 for the 4 miles. Grace Brady was the first female in 31:30.

In County Meath the following weekend, Shane O’Farrell led the twenty seven LSA athletes home, covering the thirteen miles in 1 hour 20:18. Sinéad Kiernan was the first LSA female finisher in 1 hour 39:16.

Meanwhile, the Indoor Track and Field season continues. Our Little Athletics group had a busy day of competition at the Dublin Spraoi Games in Abbotstown. A small group of LSA Under 20 and Masters athletes competed in the Leinster Championships in Abbotstown, The following week our Masters were back in action at the National Masters Championships in Athlone.

Masters athletes Dara Carr (W55) and Enda Gavigan (M60) took double Championships titles in the 60m and 200m at both Leinster and National Championships. Xavier Hubert (M45) claimed the Leinster High Jump title, and a second place finish in that event in Athlone

Our female relay teams claimed Gold and Bronze in the Leinster Championships and went on to mark International Women’s Day with a Bronze. We also had a Mixed Masters Relay Team who claimed Bronze in Athlone.

The Cross Country season concluded with Sinéad Farrell and Reuben Capocci qualifying for the All-Ireland Championships. Huge congratulations to Sinéad who helped her team to victory in the Senior Girls event.
We are very grateful to all the coaches and parents who volunteer their time to help all the members of our club. We always welcome new members.

Keep up to date on all the events by following LSA on our website and social media pages!
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lambaysportsacademy
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lsadonabateportrane/
Twitter https://twitter.com/LSARunning
https://lambaysportsathletics.ie/
Adult memberships queries:
lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com
Little Athletics and Juvenile athletes (7-18):
lsajuvenilereg@gmail.com

9 DL 14 Sproai Games with David Gillick WEB

Last month there was a great do in the Parish Hall there was singing & dancing thanks to Gerry & the Plonkers Band, and eating delicious sambos made by Cates Cafe & drinking tea & coffee served by the Tea Team! All thanks to the Parish Hall Committee.

It is just great craic to have 6 times a year in the dark months of October, November, December, January, February & March an event like this for adults only on the Peninsula. Witness people meeting for the first time in one photo and all the folk just getting up dancing in another pure craic!

We were delighted to see Louis from Active Age for All committee & Rafe from FCC our hard working Community Officer there, see the two lads chatting at the door!

Sandra, Manager from the Community Centre also came to support - her ‘Memory Cafe‘ which is just fantastic continues on the third Wednesday of the month in one of the Studios from 11-1pm there is anything from poetry so witty … to flower arranging so creative … to singing so uplifting! & delicious refreshments generally homemade don’t miss it!

Other news Music Makers (see other article) Drama Society Play in mid-May always a must & Camps in the Summer starting with Drama in early July for youth.

If you want to request a booking in the hall for daily activities & or events please call the Parish Office on 01 8434574 - the Parish Office takes all requests, wishes & wants in in mid May and in early June works on the Programme of Activities - daily or events - to produce by the end of June a Programme for the year to try to meet the needs of our ever growing community.

A very Happy Easter to all in our community.

If you are a man who enjoys the company of other men, why not join us at Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed? We have a variety of weekly activities, including exercise classes, croquet in Newbridge, music jam sessions and Thursday morning get-togethers from 10am to noon for tea/coffee and a chat at the Sea Scouts’ Den on Portrane Road.

We also have two plots at Turvey Allotments, which need continuous attention at this time of year. We have onions, tomatoes, garlic, cauliflower and broccoli planted, but opted out of potatoes this year, after last year’s disaster with potato blight. Perhaps with the improving weather, we can plan for coffee/tea get-togethers on the decking at one of our plots for members who don’t regularly visit the allotments.
Gerry & The Plonkers, our music group, who as their name suggests don’t take themselves too seriously, have gone from strength to strength, with frequent concerts for community groups. Recently they played at the International Women’s Day Sing-along in Parslickstown House and in Donabate Parish Hall. On both occasions, they were joined by a special guest, Edel Dempsey, on flute and whistles and received enthusiastic responses from the audiences.

In addition to these regular activities, the Men’s Shed also from time to time organise outings to places of interest. As reported last month, a group of members enjoyed a guided tour of Kilmainham Gaol Museum, which is steeped in the history of Ireland from the late 18th century to the early 20th. They saw the cells where Robert Emmet, Charles Stewart Parnell and Countess Markievicz were imprisoned and the Stonebreakers’ Yard where 14 of the 1916 Rising leaders were executed. The Men’s Shed’s next planned outing is to EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum.

We are always open to new members. So, if you or someone you know is interested in joining us, call our PRO, Jim, on 086-3694316.

8 DL 01 Gerry The Plonkers at Parslickstown House WEB

Last month the Peninsula Pacers did the Balbriggan to Laytown trail walking by the coast - a long walk but enjoyable with scrumptious food in the - Cottage Inn - Italian Restaurant. One can take a circular bus from Laytown to Bettystown every 15 minutes - a great service if one is on a day out!

Our next walk will be our annual city tour - this year for James Joyce & Bloomsday - details in the May edition of the magazine.

Contact Carolyn or Des for further details.

Leithinis Comhaltas played a session in SuperValu Mall on Sunday March 8th. We were delighted to have a large group of musicians, both young and old play with us on the day.

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is the largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music in Ireland. Leithinis, meaning peninsula, is the name given to our local Donabate Portrane Comhaltas Branch. We run lessons for adults and children on Monday evenings in the Donabate Portrane Educate Together School on Beaverstown Road. We also host a Stay and Play Slow Session from 7.30-8.30 on Mondays at the school. Twice a month we host a slow session in the Parish Hall, Donabate. It’s a very supportive and sociable way for adults or children to learn a new instrument, meet new people and learn a new skill.

A wonderful group of Leithinis musicians visited St. Patrick’s Boys School and Scoil Phádraig Cailiní on March 10th as part of the schools’ Seachtain na Gaeilge celebrations. The children showed great musical abilities in singing and playing themselves and learned about Irish traditional instruments such as banjo, fiddle, bodhrán, tin whistle, and button accordion. A big thank you to the teaching staff of both schools for facilitating our visit and to our members for promoting annd representing our branch so well. It’s wonderful to have a collaborative musical relationship within the community. We’ve been in contact with all the schools in Donabate and we look forward to future collaborations.