The sun shone brightly and the rain stayed away on Saturday 30th October for the Peninsula Pacers walk from Kilcock to Maynooth along the Grand Canal.At Kilcock harbour we puzzled over the sight of green nets on frames suspended over the water. Luckily a passing local was able to solve the mystery for us by explaining that they are goals which are lowered for kayak hockey which is played in the harbour…wow !Further on we were heartened to see a road sign about otters…glad to see they are now numerous enough to require this caution signage. After one and a half hours pleasant rambling in the sun we arrived in Maynooth where we found a good oasis for refuelling in The Roost pub. Refreshed and renewed we had time for a quick look around Maynooth College and Maynooth Castle before it was time to leave by train.We also went on a walks on both sides of Dublin Bay! The Peninsula Pacers went on a number of long & short walks..In October, the longer walk group went on a Northside walk of between 10 - 12km. They went to Howth Head and from the Summit walked around the wooded & open area on top and then down to the village; resting for a coffee before returning to the car park at the summit. From this position they had a great view back over to Killiney. In November, the longer walk group went on a Southside walk of between 10km-12km.Travelling by train from Donabate to Dún Laoghaire they then walked along the coast, with a great view back to Howth, then on to Dalkey where a great lunch was had! Afterwards, they walking on through Vico & Serranto roads on to Killiney Station where they hopped on a train home.The next walk will be on Thursday 9th December - for both groups - weather & Covid permitting. Contact Carolyn for further details.
Donabate Parish Hall has a number of weekly activities taking place at present from Irish Dancing to Cards.In February/ March from Friday February 18th - Sunday 13th March, it will again do a “Cultural Slot” of about 3 weeks - where all weekly activities will be suspended - and hopefully Plays, Films, Exhibitions and Culture Camps etc can take place during this period. If you or your group are interested in doing something during this period please apply to Bernie in the Parish Office before Tuesday 7th December with all your details. This will all be subject to Covid guidelines and regulations that apply at the time. We wish everyone in our Community a Happy Christmas and hope that you stay safe and well so that we all can return to normal activities and living as soon as possible. Thank you again for your support over the last year and a half in these difficult times and during our refurbishment. Again have a good Christmas and take care of yourself and each other. Bernie can be contacted at stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com or any queries to 01 8434574
As things are beginning to get back to something resembling normal and community hubs are able to start opening again the Through the Lens camera club mounted an exhibition in the Donabate/Portrane Community Centre.The group had not been able to get together for meetings since the pandemic struck but have been staying in touch by email and WhatsApp. However the restrictions did not stop the cameras clicking and members have been out and about practising and honing their skills.The idea of an exhibition was suggested as a way of getting together as a group and kick-starting our activities again. We are very grateful to the community centre for allowing the exhibition; and to Alain Rochecouste for organising all the practicalities without which it would have never have got off the ground.The Through the Lens Photographic Group is open to anyone over 18, from beginners to more expert, who would like to join a group of like-minded people who enjoy photography. For more information call 085 2682266, or email info@throughthelens.ie
Cllr Adrian Henchy has welcomed the budget adopted by Fingal County Council recently. In order to keep pace with continued growth across the county, Fingal County Council has adopted a spending plan of around €300m for 2022 which will help deliver improved services and see supports remain in place to help reenergise economic development in a post-Covid environment. Cllr Henchy said, “The budget is an increase of around €13m from the previous year and means the equivalent of €1012 per head of population will be spent in a number of key areas such as roads, parks, housing and the environment. While it comes against a backdrop of ever-increasing demands for the wide array of services that the council delivers, there have been no rises made to commercial rates or Local Property Tax. I very much welcome the significant increases in the budget to help deliver a range of operational services across local communities, including road maintenance, traffic management, increased street cleaning, improvement works at parks and open spaces, as well as for projects as part of the Council’s efforts to encourage active travel. Some €1.2m has also been set aside to assist the recovery and development of the tourism sector in Fingal.This is a very positive and well-balanced budget which will play an important role in Fingal’s ongoing economic recovery as we hopefully emerge from Covid. It confirms that we are committed to undertaking the necessary steps to help progress the best possible outcomes for our citizens and that we can continue to encourage business development opportunities. The budget includes allocations to the following key areas:(A) €89.1m - Housing & Building, (B) €32.7m - Road Transport & Safety, (C) €19.4m - Water Services (D) €24.9m – for Development Management, (E) €49.4m - Environmental Services, (E) €52.3m - Recreation & Amenity, (F) €1.5m - Agriculture, Education, Health & Welfare, (G) €30.4m - Miscellaneous Services. While there was a reduced number of events held in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions, funding allocated for 2022 will allow Fingal to host several key events which had been postponed or cancelled throughout the pandemic and means it will be able to further develop its culture and arts programme. That will see the highly popular Flavours of Fingal return in July 2022 .
“Give me justice, treat me fair
And I’ll not be discontented
Nor I’ll not be laughed at anywhere
But highly represented”
(Song: Do Me Justice)
The Tower Singing Circle is taking part in Fingal Inclusion Week (Nov.15th – 20th).The Theme is “Emigration”There are many kinds of Emigration songs –funny, heartbreaking, ironic, maudlin and we hope to have a selection of these on the night.The above lyrics are from the Irish Emigration song “Do Me Justice” which is about an Irish emigrant’s experience in England and the portrayal of Irishmen as “ a knave or fool”. So join us on Monday 15th November at 9.00pm. Everyone is invited to join us on Zoom and sing or just listen. Zoom link will be on the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival website nearer the date. bleedingpig.ie
Donabate Quilters returned to their quilting meet ups In September.Everyone was delighted to be back and looking forward to working on their quilts. Some were looking for help with a particular pattern and others were already setting out to work on their Christmas projects.That is not to say that they were idle during the long restriction on classes. As you can see from the photographs below members were very busy…making baby quilts, quilts for friends that had helped, making memory pieces of a parent who had died, to give to their family and generally keeping busy.Donabate Quilters are delighted to take part in Fingal Co. Co.’s Inclusion Week and are holding an exhibition of their work in St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland on Saturday 20th November from 11.00am – 4.00pm. Everyone is invited and it is FREE.
During October we supported Positive Ageing Week where the theme was reconnecting. While we do not have all our classes up and running due to some continued restrictions, we have about two thirds back and it is a wonderful feeling to have some structure and social interaction again in our week. On the Wednesday of Positive Ageing week, we met up in the Community Centre and had lunch supplied by TRIANGLE who are due to open in the Centre in November. If the fare at the lunch was anything to go by, we will be very happy to see Triangle open. The sandwiches were delicious. We do miss the opportunity to have a coffee or snack after our classes. The Wednesday afternoon gathering around 3 p.m. at the Community Centre is about having a place where we can just connect. Perhaps your class has not retuned yet? Meet on the Wednesday for a chat. Feeling a bit isolated? Meet on the Wednesday for a chat. Just show up and say ‘hello’. If there is one thing we may have learned during the pandemic restrictions, it is to get out and take all the opportunities we can! If you are new to the area or new to retirement – you just need to be 55+ - you can call in to DPCC and collect an AAfA New Member form and fill it out and leave it for us, or email us at the address above and we email a form out to you. We can make contact and will do our best to include you in classes as soon as possible.
A Folly is defined as a costly ornamental building with no practical purpose. They can be found all over the country on the lands of the grand old estates, their function usually being decorative whimsy on the part of the owner but sometimes they served as a memorial of sorts. St Annes Park, once the property of the Guinness family, is reputed to have at least 10 follies in the grounds. On a sunny Thursday morning 7 stalwart searchers set off from Olives Room cafe to see how many we could find.The park is bisected by the small Nanikin river which feeds an artificial duck pond and is bordered by a very pleasant walk. In addition to the follies there is a walled garden with a clock tower, an arboretum, a rose garden and many sports grounds. All of these features are accessed by lovely walks around the park.Aside from the folly search we visited the Peace Tree just outside the park on the Clontarf Road. This, we all agreed, is a stunning piece of art depicting a plethora of wildlife, both land and marine, native to Ireland. After a 4km exploratory ramble we returned to Olives Room cafe for lunch and a tally of follies ( photographic evidence was required !) We were pleased to find that we had located 9 of them, including Annie Lee Tower Bridge, the Temple of Isis by the duck pond, a Roman observation tower and a Herculean Temple. All of the pacers who took part in the walk agreed that this matter requires further investigation !
Peninsula Pacers walk The Bull Island
Whilst one of our recent monthly walks one group did a short walk and history tour of St Anne’s Park, the other group did a 10km walk through the park and on to a loop of The Bull Island. It was a great day with fantastic views. There are benches along the beach to rest on and a fantastic outdoor cafe -Happy Out- with a toilet nearby for 30cent! where we had lunch. We intend venturing south side in November doing a flat coastal walk from Dunlaoighre to Dalkey.
By Sophia Latham and Laura Matthews, TY Journalism
Jabba Jabba Jambe is a high energy interactive drumming workshop for drum circles that is performed in schools, youth groups and adults. We were fortunate to welcome Godfred and David Day to DCC recently for a full day workshop for TY students.David Day is the founder of Jamba Jamba Jambe. He has studied African world drumming for over 20 years in Ireland and with teachers around Europe, the US, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana and West Africa. For over 10 years David has been providing drumming workshops and Drum circle events such as festivals and schools, corporate and community groups.Drumming circles allows groups to play traditional songs and it creates opportunities for people to experiment with different instruments. It was invented in the 12th century by the Mandinke tribe which is now in Mali in West Africa. It has been played by West Africans for generations and it is part of ritualistic life in countries in Africa. Each TY group got to experience both traditional African dance and drumming. The day started meeting Godfred and Dave. They explained the activities and we got started on the drumming. We learned about the stories of the jembe (the drums), we learned new rhythms and rhymes to use whilst we hit the drum. It was difficult to stay in time, but it was a lot of fun! We got to take part in some Traditional African dancing with Godfred. The dancing involved a series of simple repetitive movements, however the group couldn’t miss a step and had to keep time. If a step was missed it would look out of order and we would have to start from scratch! This was a lot of fun! Everyone enjoyed these activities and got to learn about different traditions in African culture.
By Lia Bracken, Hazel McGoey and Ava Pender, TY Journalism
Recently, Donabate CC welcomed back students who had recently completed Leaving Certificate 2021. Sixteen students were presented with an award for outstanding results, each of whom received in excess of 500 points. Despite the struggles associated with the pandemic during their senior academic years, students worked diligently and with determination to achieve their potential. In conversation with our award recipients, their advice for the upcoming Leaving Certificate Class was “To study from Day One.” While the areas of study students are now pursuing were varied across the Sciences, Arts, Music, Business, Accounting, Philosophy, Medical Science, Analytical Science and across different college campuses, everyone agreed that effort from day one drastically improves your chances of succeeding in what you are passionate about. Thomas Crean, Sam Dolan, and Sean Collins advised students to have a clear head and know what path you want to go down before beginning preparations for the exams. They said having a clear understanding of what you want to do helps focus on your studies and proves easier overall. Many students applied for the accredited grades while also sitting the exams last June. Although they noted that sometimes it was stressful, they believed that this was the best decision given the circumstances. Ciara Kavanagh, Cara Spagnoletti and Ali Kavanagh remarked on the importance of doing your homework consistently. The rise in points this year gave rise to some students reevaluating their next step. Some are taking gap years while others are discovering new paths and interests. Eoin Moran, Jack Pender and Matthew Crowe stated the importance of choosing a career that you are really interested in and being aware of not letting financial reward cloud your judgement. Eoin noted that there might not be lots of career options after his degree in philosophy, but he really loved doing it.Congratulations to the following students who received presentations marking their incredible Leaving Certificate results: Leah Brogan, Sean Collins, Thomas Crean, Matthew Crowe, Niamh Cullen, Sam Dolan, Alanna France, Ciara Kavanagh, Ali Kavanagh, Eoin Moran, Senan O’Riordan, Jack Pender, Oisín Power, Liam Shorthall, Cara Spagnoletti, and Jennifer Thompson.Most started orientation or classes last week and we wish them, and all of the Class of 2021, the very best of luck in their studies and future careers.
