Corina Johnston, Local Labour Area Representative is calling on Fingal County Council to initiate an Active Travel Plan for the Donabate and Portrane peninsula. Johnston said; “As an avid walker and cyclist I very much support the concept of the Fingal Coastal Way linking our towns and coastlines. However I am totally opposed to the proposed emerging route in Donabate from Newbridge Park via Turvey Green, Turvey Drive, Beverton and Ballisk for the following reasons: (1)This proposal is at variance with one of the main objectives of the scheme that is to encourage and enhance the Local Tourism Economy. (2) The route diverts the public especially walkers and tourists through housing estates and away from the Village Centre and the Commercial and Historic areas of the village. (3)The residents along the route are totally opposed to the proposed route as it will open up the Turvey estate, which has been a cul de sac since the estate was built over 30 years ago. At the time a proposal to provide an access into Beverton estate via Turvey Drive was successfully resisted by the residents.(4) The opening up of the estate would have major safety and security implications for all properties and especially for young children playing on the public open space and the elderly. I believe the most suitable route is the alternative route from Newbridge park via the Hearse Road/ the new cycle/pedestrian bridge over the Dublin Belfast line and via Smyth’s Pub which is an objective in the Donabate Local Area Plan. Johnston concluded; “I urge Fingal County Council to support my proposals for the alternative route in Donabate and to initiate an Active Travel Plan for the Donabate and Portrane peninsula to be initiated as a matter of urgency to integrate the Fingal Coastal Way, Coastal Walk and all the schemes and to ensure community engagement.
The St Pats oldest Academy group - the 2016 boys and girls - are really enjoying their #BallWall sessions. Once a month, they’re doing a session at the Ball Wall and in the Gym working on Functional Movement skills. So many people assume that the gym is only for our Adult members but it’s utilised by all our teams with their Mentors, S&C coaches and FM guides. If you’d like your 2016 child to join the fun, just PM the St Pats facebook page. Same goes for any aged juvenile from 2018 to 2005, PM the St Pats facebook page and we’ll put you in touch with the squad mentor.
2022 was a great year for LSA. We had our first inaugural road race last May. It was very successful and thanks to all the Donabate and Portrane Community for supporting us. We’ve had medals in Dublin Championships, Leinsters and Nationals across the club. 40 athletes took part in the 2022 Dublin City Marathon with huge support from our club members on the day. We had goals set, records broken and athletes who started running for the first time in April and completed a half marathon in November. We’re looking forward to another “Runderful” year in 2023 and if you would like to join us, contact our registrar on lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com.
Donabate Tidy Towns would like to thank Helen and Gerry Lynders from Lynders Mobile Home Park for their very generous donation of €250. The donation will be put to great use around the village for buying new plants for flower beds located around the village and new equipment for our volunteers when planting or carrying out a clean-up of their local area or taking part in the monthly clean-up of the village. Keep an eye on out Facebook page for details of our monthly clean-up or you can contact us through Facebook or send us an email at tidytownsdonabate@gmail.com. The U10s boys from St. Pat’s GAA helped John Lovatt from Donabate Tidy Towns with a clean-up of the beach down at the Burrow in Portrane. It was such a pleasure for John to work with the army of St. Pat’s U10s and bring an awareness of the environmental issues and pollution affecting our coastline. John explained that litter can be washed up onto the beach as well as being dropped there. The challenge was to bring the bags of collected litter back more than a kilometre to The Green in Portrane. This proved no problem to the boys who solved the problem with ingenuity, great teamwork and real determination. Comhghairdeagas and GRMA mór to the boys and their coaches, parents, siblings and John Lovatt who assisted in the task. If you would like to volunteer with your local Tidy Towns you can do so by contacting us via email or Facebook as given above. You could, for example, volunteer to look after and maintain your local area or estate as many of our volunteers do, please contact us and we will provide all of the required equipment. Alternatively, you could join us for our monthly clean-up or some of the projects we are currently working on in areas such as increasing biodiversity in the locality.
In 2022 despite the difficulties experienced with Covid early in the year the Parish Hall was busier than ever once restrictions were lifted in late Spring. The wide variety of daily activities took off, including Senior Citizens, Youth Club, Irish Dance, Pilates, Bridge & Cards. A number of new activities also started e.g. Egg Heads & Youth Drama Classes. The Cultural & Creative slots when the hall suspended daily activities enabled for e.g. the Donabate Portrane Dramatic Society to put on two excellent productions in April & November. There were also a number of exhibitions held over a few days in Photography by the Through the Lens group. This arrangement also facilitates children camps to take place. Some one day cultural, creative & craft events also took place in the Parish Hall. These included the launch of Lambay Cinema Club, The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival Art Exhibition and FCC Inclusion Day when the Parish Hall Committee & Leithinis CCÉ jointly hosted members of the Ukrainian community in a cultural event. One of the highlights of the year was the Christmas Craft Fair run by The Christmas Festival Group. Next year we hope to continue to serve all the growing & diverse needs of our community as best as we possibly can. Again we wish the entire community a very Happy & Healthy New Year. If you have any queries re the use of the Parish Hall, contact Bernie in the Parish Office on 8434574.
2022 was a very successful year for Leithinis Donabate Portrane CCÉ. The number of music students attending Monday evening classes in Donabate Portrane Educate Together continued to grow. Our expanded offering now includes Flute, Tin Whistle, Button Accordion, Concertina, Bodhrán, Banjo and Fiddle at beginner and improver level, for adults and children. Registrations for our Spring term are now open and places are still available. Our Friday Evening Slow Sessions hosted by Erin McGahan in Donabate Parish Hall grew in popularity throughout 2022 and offer our students the opportunity to play tunes together and build on what they have learned at class. Our students played at various events in the Parish Hall throughout the year including Fingal Inclusion Week in November and the relaunch of the Donabate Parish Hall in August attended by local community groups and representatives. Our Annual Fundraising Raffle in September, held in Donabate Town Centre, was a great success, raising funds and awareness of Leithinis CCÉ activities. The funds were used to purchase instruments which are then rented to students taking lessons at the Beginner level. The regular Traditional Music Open Sessions for experienced musicians resumed in 2022 and attracted a growing number of participants from all over the North County. These Trad Sessions are hosted by Denis Stack and take place at 7:30pm on the first Tuesday of every month and details are available on our Facebook page. We hope you enjoy these photos of our Christmas Slow Session at the Donabate Parish Hall on the 2nd December.
After a Covid-19 absence of two years, the Donabate Christmas
Lights Festival is back and what a success it was at the car-park of St. Patrick’s Church in the village on Saturday, December 3rd at 4.30pm. For the past 10 years or more, this much-loved local tradition has attracted huge crowds to the village to enjoy some seasonal festive refreshments and entertainment. This year was no different, with festive entertainment and refreshments for kids of all ages! And we had a real surprise in store to provide some seasonal entertainment. The organisers would like to thank Fingal County Council for sponsoring the event and for the beautiful Christmas tree and lights. Local electrician, Karl Harte, came back from retirement to oversee the installation of the festive lights around the village. Karl and his team have installed the festive lights around the village for more than 30 years, and we owe huge thanks to Karl for ensuring that the village looked festive and bright! We are very grateful to Tesco and SuperValu for their generous sponsorship of the event. SuperValu donate the delicious warm Mince Pies, washed down by Mulled Wine courtesy of Tesco. We are also grateful to Fr. Pat Reilly and all at St. Patrick’s Church for accommodating this event. Just across the road from the church, in St. Patrick’s Parish Hall, the festive. Donabate Christmas Craft Fair also made a welcome return. from 12-6pm, local crafters and artisans showcased their arts and crafts. Santa himself was in the Parish Hall, in person, from 2.30-5pm. The organisers would like to thank the team of Elves who give up their Saturday to make the day such a success. The day wouldn’t have happened without them. Later on in the evening, the businesses in the village showcased their goodies and offers with a Christmas Market in the Town Centre. All in all a wonderful day was had by all!!!
The Peninsula Pacers had a very good year in terms of walks after covid restrictions were lifted.They did some dedicated short walks mainly led by Carolyn e.g. The Royal Canal, Ardgillan Castle and around our own Cliff Walk. These walks are at a slow pace, approx 5/6kms, require reasonable fitness level, have some stops and can have some history/heritage. The longer walks are at a faster pace, approx 10/12kms, require fairly high fitness levels, have a short stop and focus is on walking although we do include some history/heritage when we can. We aim to go by public transport mainly train most of the time & walks are once a month usually the 2/3 Saturday of the month.Last year we went to eg: The entire Donabate Portrane Peninsula, Rush to Loughshinny, Rogerstown to Rush, Balbriggan to Laytown. This year we intend to do a few new walks eg part of the Boyne Valley Camino & Howth Tram Trail and repeat some old walks. In November 2022 - no prizes for guessing we did the Poolbeg Lighthouse from Sandymount! If you are interested in further information please contact Carolyn Smith 087 9284307 or Des Carthy 087 7846813
Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed wishes our members and the wider community a happy and peaceful New Year. Despite the disruptions caused by Covid restrictions at the start of 2022, the Men’s Shed had a full, active and interesting year. We added to our regular weekly activities of exercise classes on Mondays and tea and chat gatherings on Thursdays with croquet at Newbridge House on Tuesdays, negotiated on our behalf by Active Age for All with Fingal County Council – a big thank you to both. Those working on our plots at Turvey Allotments, rented from Fingal County Council, had a very productive year with a bumper crop even better than previous years. We also resumed our occasional outings with visits to the Casino Model Railway Museum in Malahide in February, a guided tour of Newbridge House in March, the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin in May, the Custom House Visitor Centre in June and the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire in July and most recently a pitch-and-putt outing to Deerpark in Howth in November. During 2022, we completed two long-standing projects delayed by Covid, both sponsored by grants from Fingal County Council. In February, we installed a storage shed beside the Scouts’ Den and in September we completed the awning at the rear of the Scouts’ Den. We rounded out the year with a Christmas dinner in Keeling’s, our first since 2019. A great night was had by all, great food, great music and songs but, most importantly, great company. If you wish to join us, please contact Jim on 086-3694316. We are always open to new members and new ideas on how we can expand our activities.
One of the most unusual names for a festival in Ireland has to be the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival, which takes place on the peninsula of Donabate and Portrane every September.
It takes is name from a sea cave on what is known as Lady’s Walk on the cliffs that link Donabate and Portrane. After pondering a number options based on the name of other caves on the Lady’s Walk, with such glorious names as the Priest’s Hole, local historian Peadar Bates put forward the name for the festival.And the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival goes from strength to strength. It started off in 2013 as a two-day event showcasing local artists and performers. Nine years later, it is now a 14-day event featuring national acts, performers and a short film festival. It also ties in with the Fingal County Council artists-in-residence scheme. The festival won ‘Fingal Community Group of the Year’ in 2015 and the Local Authorities’ Members’ Association awards in the arts and culture category in 2018.
As in most situations, Covid-19 disrupted the festival in 2020, but it roared back last year and in September this year.Preparations are already underway for the festival next September, and the next outing for the festival will be on March 5th 2023 when an event to celebrate International Women’s Day event is planned.