Some people from BUGS based in Blanchardstown; whom many of us play with on a Wednesday night led by Tania Cahill & some Donabate folk led by Phil O Brien had a little session at the re launch in the Parish Hall. It was great fun and enjoyed by all. The group aim to play about one a month and the next session is Friday 20th May. If you play a bit already and are interested drop in at 7 30pm.

Leithinis Donabate Portrane CCE were delighted to be invited to play some tunes at the relaunch of the Parish Hall. Other acts included Ukele United and Donabate Dramatic Society. The Hall is looking fantastic and is a great community facility that is used by many local groups. A great evening was had by all.Our lessons resumed on Monday 25th April following the Easter Break.Our recent slow sessions led by Erin have been very successful in allowing members to participate in playing tunes in a friendly and fun environment , however we are always improving and to cater for the varying abilities we have refined the times of these sessions: 7.45pm to 8.30pm Junior Members - 8.30pm to 9.15pm slow tempo to suit all adult members - 9.15pm to 9.45pm faster tempo to suit adult members.The next 3 sessions will be held in the Parish Hall on : Friday 13th May and Friday 27th May. There will be a €5 cost per family to cover costs. We hope to see many of our members at these musical sessions.

There has been a card playing group in Donabate for as long as anyone can remember, for at least the last forty years. Every Monday night the group gather at 7.30 pm in the parish hall to play whist. Every player pays €7, and the amount collected is paid out in winnings after hall rental expenses are deducted. We did have eighteen months down time during the pandemic lockdown, but we are delighted to be back again and fully operational. We are of course always looking for new members, and you can be sure of a warm welcome to our group. If you play cards at all you will quickly get the hang of Whist as whist is the cornerstone of so many card games.

Corina Johnston, Labour Party Local Representative has welcomed the recent announcement of funding by the National Transport Authority which will facilitate an extension of the existing cycle path on the Donabate Distributor Road to Portrane. She said; “I am very pleased to have been informed that €1,225,000 has recently been allocated to Fingal County Council by the National Transport Authority(NTA) as part of its Active Travel Investment Grants 2022.” Corina continued; “ In response to representations from Duncan Smith TD and I the NTA confirmed that this project includes the development and implementation of cycle protection measures at various locations along the relevant stretch of road. These measures will include the installation of uncontrolled crossing points, junction build outs and the construction of kerb protected cycle lanes.”Johnston added;” Fingal County Council in response to a question submitted to a recent council meeting on my behalf by my colleague Cllr Robert O’Donoghue confirmed that this project proposes to link the existing cycle path from the West along the newly constructed Distributor Road to the junction of Portrane Avenue in Portrane. The funding allocated for this scheme is for the development of design options, preliminary & detailed design and implementation of protected cycling infrastructure on the ground. The Council’s Active Travel Unit is currently procuring a consultant to work on this among other projects in the programme of works for 2022. Once the options report is available, this will progress to detailed design and implementation by year end.“ Johnston concluded;”I am very pleased that this project has been prioritised and funding awarded by the NTA and look forward to its implementation. When completed this will enhance cycle links between Donabate and Portrane and ultimately provide a direct cycle link to Malahide and Newbridge Demesne via the Broadmeadow Way Greenway which is projected to be delivered in 2025. “

Classes for Active Age for All are in full swing with very few empty spaces. People are so delighted to be back to real-time classes once more. It has been most gratifying for the Committee to see how everyone is enjoying being together again and to see the return of some structure to the social lives of our members.Our latest project is to offer free English classes to our fellow Europeans from Ukraine who are in Donabate, in many cases, join their families. We are doing this in conjunction with the Community Centre. We are also offering free membership in Active Age for All and its classes, until the summer, for all of our recent Ukranian refugees. If you know anyone who would like to avail of these offers please contact the Donabate/Portrane Community Centre or email us at activeageforall@gmail.com or see our website activeageforall.com Or text only to 086 880 6808

Lambay Sports Athletic (LSA) continues to grow. As a local athletics club we consistently strive towards helping our members to accomplish personal achievements and club acclamations. As a club we welcome all levels of adult and juveniles to join us and offer support to our members who choose to compete in organized events country wide. Some of our award-winning competitors since our last update have competed in NIA Live, our chairperson has won medals for Ireland at the European Masters Indoor Championship in Portugal, all levels of members participated in the Lusk AC 4-mile race in Lusk village, and most recently club members traveled to Bohermeen in Co. Meath to compete in the Bohermeen AC Half Marathon. Our Juvenile Section caters for children and teenagers from age 6 to 18. Our Thursday training sessions continue to grow with almost 70 children training at 6pm and another 50 training at 7pm at the Astro hockey pitch. The younger children’s ‘Little Athletics’ group introduces a fun-based approach to Running, Jumping and Throwing. Our 7pm group, for children born in 2011 and older, focuses on learning to train and compete in all athletics events. Our athletes from U10 and up will have an opportunity to try outdoor competition in a full-size athletics facility in the Dublin Track and Field Leagues in April and May. In addition, we have a plan to run our three-day Summer Camp 2022. LSA are currently in the process of organizing our very own race which will take place on the scenic peninsula of Donabate and Portrane on 22nd May 2022. This will also include children’s events. The club of LSA look forward to working with the local community and inviting their friends from other clubs from across the country to compete. Keep up to date on all the events by following LSA via our social media pages! Facebook www.facebook.com/lambaysportsacademy Instagram www.instagram.com/lsadonabateportrane/ Twitter twitter.com/LSARunning For additional information on the above please visit our website lambaysportsathletics.ie/ or pop us an email lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com

Good news for local film enthusiasts, Donabate-Portrane is going to the movies with it’s very own cinema club.Lambay Cinema Club is non-profit and run entirely by volunteers. Our mission is to give local audiences the chance to see a range of world cinema not usually available on commercial cinema screens.We are a new venture on the Peninsula partnering with The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival. The brain child of Larry Carolan and Breda Maguire, we hope to bring the best of International Cinema to Donabate and Portrane.Tell your friends and bring one or two along to our monthly screenings – we won’t exist without your support.We will soon announce details of our scheduled screenings for the coming months so follow us on our Instagram and Facebook pages @lambaycinemaclub. Lambay Cinema Club is supported by Access Cinema, a resource organisation for regional cultural cinema, The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival and Fingal Co. Co.

Donabate Parish Hall - hosted a number of excellent classes every day but one of the highlights of the week has to be Flower Friends, if ever you wanted to be uplifted by making beautiful creations this is the place to be! No previous experience or expertise needed! They meet as a group on Wednesday mornings at 10 00am in the Parish Hall, Green Room. Two special events took place in the Parish Hall recently which shows its versatility, adaptability & suitability especially in providing for cultural activities on the Peninsula. The Bleeding Pig Cultural Group put on a great film & the Through the Lens Photography Group a fantastic exhibition. We look forward to the Donabate Dramatic Society performing a play in April. Further enquiries from Bernie in the Parish Office email stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com or phone 01-8434574 .

On Monday 21st March the Boules launch took place on the new court provided by FCC just beside the Croquet Lawn at Newbridge House. It was a great afternoon; even the weather came good! As you can see from the photographs a great crowd turned up, about 25 people coming mainly from AAfA & Men’s Shed, with some FCC staff & a few other people! Country Crest Farm Shop managed by Maurice Brady, who was a great support to all with home deliveries during the pandemic, sponsored all of the equipment for the community. This included all the sets of boules, rings, tapes, rakes & brush etc. He came on the day and joined in with the craic! With some prizes of Easter chocolate bars for all who played till the end!Again, we thank FCC in particular Paul Smyth CEO of the Operations Dept which includes Parks, for putting in the Boules Court and we do hope in the not too distant future another will happen, when it is possible! His staff especially Lourda Darcy, Therese Casey, & Aileen O’Connor all deserve special mention for the vision along with the community to have a court. Huge thanks to Colm Connell from the Operations Dept who is in charge of maintenance in the Parks and Ivan Smyth Farm Manager for Newbridge Farm, who not alone came along on the day to launch the Boules, but joined in and played a game or two! Without our local councillors and representative supporting this venture it would never have happened - so in particular to Adrian Henchy, Paul Mulville, Rob O Donoghue and Corina Johnson a big thanks.We again must thank Tom & Eileen Donnellan for the Coaching Course in early February, otherwise there would be rows over the rules! and also for their guidance in selecting equipment. Just for the record Carolyn Smith made and put in the score boards and Jim O’Donohoe sorted out all the boules sets - a bit of role reversal or anyone can do anything! To AAfA, Men’s Shed, Senior Citizens, LSA and many others who supported or helped or spread the word a big thank you! So we hope more people will learn the game which is fairly easy but don’t be fooled like Croquet fairly competitive and join in in the fun! Further information contact Breda Dockrell 086 8693243 or Carolyn Smith 087 9284307.

The Royal Canal in Dublin is one of the hidden gems of our city, It is a lovely peaceful canalside walk/ cycle way secreted amidst the hustle and bustle of our town. Recently the Peninsula Pacers walked from Newcommen Bridge on North Strand to Ashtown, a distance of about 5.5 miles. The weather was kind to us and we enjoyed the many sights along the way. The Effin Bridge to the east of Newcommen Bridge is a piece of engineering ingenuity, an iron railway bridge which can be raised to allow boats underneath to access the canal.Under the looming of Croke Park as we passed by we were heartened to see so many canal cleaning volunteers out working hard to maintain the condition of the canal. Testament to their work is in the variety and health of the wildlife we spotted along the way.We stopped to say hello to Brendan Behan at Binns Bridge where we took the opportunity for a group photo with him.After Cross Guns Bridge in Phibsboro the surroundings become more industrial though a lot of the old buildings have been converted into apartments bringing fresh life to the area. After an enjoyable ramble of 2.5 hours we reached Ashtown where we made a beeline to the Halfway House for some very welcome refreshments.

On Saturday 5th March at 11am - the long walk group met at the Hand Park at Rush Harbour, for our return walk from Rush to Loughshinny and back. This beautiful walk went all along hugging the coast; which is a return walk of about 11kms. This is not suitable for children or people with reduced mobility or not reasonably fit! It was a glorious day with great views of Lambay Island & Rockabill Lighthouse. About half way along we came to the Drumanagh Martello Tower, the largest promontory fort in Ireland. There was significant contact between Drumanagh and the Roman world in the 1st & 3rd centuries AD - a Roman coin was reputedly found there and some pottery. We headed down into Loughshinny Harbour still very quaint where there was an FCC artist in residence in the old boathouse. We headed back taking in the views from the other direction now looking at the uniqueness of the town of Rush & the Towers at Portrane. The highlight of the day had to be the really great food at 2pm waiting on us in the “Harbour Bar” Rush, those who are the fish chowder said it was the best ever! The next long walk will be on Saturday 9th April 10 00am - maybe Rush to Rogerstown tides permitting!