By Ken Duffy

In the month of July Swords Tidy Towns took advantage of the many events organised in the Castle by the fabulous Events Team of Fingal County Council headed up by Paul Barnes. All the hard work and preparation put in by our volunteers for this year’s National Tidy Towns Competition was deserving of celebration, and boy did we celebrate.

We didn’t allow the bad weather to put a stop to our planned July 15th Bar B Q at our poly tunnel 5pm to late. We held a Pizza Party inside the tunnel instead, 70’s 80’s and 90’s music was blaring and sing along galore, bring your own fancied tipple. It was a great night, when the darkness crept in, it was time to leave as we didn’t have lighting in the tunnel.Our next trip out was July 27th to the Vintage Picnic Festival in the Castle 2pm until 6pm. What a fantastic event that was, three bands in all, food vouchers and a goodie bag. We were first treated to a very talented Ukulele band whose enthusiasm got the crowd going. Then we were entertained by Niamh Kavanagh our Eurovision winner and local lass, she came on with her wonderful classical accompanists, boy can that girl work a crowd. Finally, to finish off a wonderful day, the Swing Cats came on, now this band really got our feet moving, jiving, tango and the rest. We stopped off at the 44 for a couple on the way home just to finish off a perfect day.

The final get together was on July 28th 7pm to10.30pm to see Nathan Carter in the Castle, what a night. There was about twenty Tidy Towners there, we managed to get a couple of tables with a high view next to the beer tent, it was done with military strategic planning, the early bird and all that. It was a brilliant night, everyone was in great spirits dancing away, Nathan, he did not disappoint, nor did his support act. If you are interested in joining Swords Tidy Towns we can be contacted at swordstidytowns@gmail.com or call Ken on 0866008313

by Jon Kavanagh

On a sunny Saturday in the late 1960’s, my father returns home from work at lunchtime. As a farm labourer he works a five-and-a-half-day week and today is the day I have been looking forward to all week. Rejecting any attempt to display table manners. he hurriedly downs his spuds, bacon and cabbage before announcing “We’re going to the Big Smoke!”. I am precariously perched on the cross bar of his three speed Hercules bicycle as we wobble out of Oldtown. The bike remains stubbornly stuck in one gear. causing my father to pepper our journey with a generous helping of expletives, as we embark on stage one of our expedition. We take a less travelled route down the Wrens’s Nest Lane to Rolerstown. Here, we place said bike in dry dock at a friend’s house and climb aboard the open back 41B double decker. I’m enjoying stage two of our journey as the navy and cream Leyland splutters and belches its way along the Ashbourne Road, contributing generously to the destruction of the ozone whilst producing more decibels than a Rolling Stones concert. Deafened by the roar of the engine and perfumed by diesel fumes we reach our destination, the town of Swords or as my father calls it “Swurds”. The Main Street (one of the widest in Ireland) forms part of the Dublin Belfast Road. Traffic is bumper to bumper. Parking is a free for all, as Morris Minors, Minis,Volkswagen Beetles, Ford Anglias and the odd Mercedes double and even sometimes triple park. Swords Castle lies unloved as pigs rummage on its grounds. Local shops include Taylor’s Hardware and Drapery where the owners and staff are on first name terms with the customers, a cake shop run by Maggie Kenny where we buy iced buns for our tea and Mrs Heavey’s newsagents. She is ahead of her time and has a sit-down area where I enjoy a packet of Tayto and a bottle of red lemonade as my father chats and buys an Irish Sweepstake ticket. Paddy Weston, a former ship’s radio operator, has a television repair and rental shop where we pay the monthly charge for a black and white set with rabbit’s ears. No trip to Swords is complete without a visit to Clarke’s Stores – an Aladdin’s Cave of toys, comics, ice cream and sweets. The day passes all too quickly and soon, clutching the Beano, a toy machine gun, and a bag of liquorice allsorts I once again climb aboard the 41B and embrace the journey home for tea and Maggie Kenny’s buns. A perfect day still remembered all these years later.

Swords Women’s Shed has been set up for women of all ages to re-connect with the community. It is a safe place where women can interact with each other and participate in various learning projects. We will offer arts and crafts, flower arranging, crochet and needle skills, and most importantly companionship. This is a new project which gives women a sense of empowerment personal growth, also improving mental health and well being through social interaction. A place to share knowledge and of course a cup of tea. Meetings are held in Colmcilles GAA club on Thursday evenings, and attendance is strictly by registration due to limited space. Registration is posted each Monday evening 7pm sharp, for the following week.

Champions of All Ireland! Wow!!!!! Congratulations to Syl’s Kate, Sinéad and Dannielle, with Mick and the Dublin_Ladies Gaelic Football squad on a their recent All-Ireland win! Congratulations also to Sinéad Aherne who now holds the Ladies Gaelic Football record with 6 All-Ireland titles. The Dublin Double is complete in 2023 so well done once again and enjoy the party ladies!

Congratulations to our u9 Boys who won the Claremont Cup in Navan recently Beating a really strong st Kevin’s side in the final. Congratulations also to their coaches, their team management, mentors and their parents, Surely this is a sign of even greater things to come.

Meanwhile the club hosted the Coastal Cup competition in recent weeks and all the competing teams had a fantastic day of football today in Gannon Park, well done to Shelbourne who beat a very good Shamrock Eovers team in the final.

There are still supplies of ‘My Little Library Book Bags’ available in Malahide Library. To help children to navigate starting school, libraries have put together a bag of books just for them that can be collected at any library. If you would like to have one, just ask at the Lending Desk. Further details about the contents of the bags are given below. Each My Little Library Book Bag contains: (1) Three books on starting school, making friends and being comfortable to be yourself (2) A story card on going to the library (3) A postcard the child can write or draw on and send to their new teacher, or bring to give to the teacher on their first day at school (4) Their very own library card and special ‘My Little Library’ cardholder. Malahide Library can’t wait to welcome all the 4 and 5 year old children in to collect their book bags and begin their library membership journey. We hope that once they visit the library to pick up their book bag, our new library members and their families will come back regularly to keep their bag filled up with borrowed books and to take part in story times, classes and all the other events we have to offer at the library.

Malahide Sea Scouter Edward O’Donnell will be running a beginners Hillwalking Skills Course over several evenings commencing on 19th September 2023. The evening course venue is Malahide Community School , The Grange , Malahide on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30pm and it includes two evening/weekend walks and it lasts over 10 weeks. Enrolment opened recently and booking soon is advised to secure a place. Edward has extensive experience over many years climbing some of the Worlds highest peaks. Bookings by malahidecsadulted.ie/hill-walking-beginners/ . Ed has been a member of Scouting Ireland for 41 years and in 1986 – he did, what is known as part of the Anglo-Irish agreement Explorer Belt (Training for a year) carried food, tent, cooking equipment etc with emergency equipment and with one change of clothing and two pairs of socks for over 2 weeks. He continued with the Mountaineering and has been on loads of expeditions including celebrity climbs to base camp Everest. The Last expedition he was on, was in Nepal Langtang valley, and Mount Baden Powell to celebrate 100 years of scouting. He is a REC First aid instructor and teaches emergency Care to Mountaineers and Hillwalkers and anyone who works and plays in the outdoors. He is with Mountaineering Ireland, and holds M1 , M2, and MS Assessment. In Scouts he holds Level 9 in the hill skill training, and he is on the training team for training scout leadership in the hills. Over the years Ed has hiked in places including : Iceland, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Everest base Camp, Nepal, Island Peak, Nepal, Kala Patthar, Nepal, Alps, Saas Grund, Switzerland, Langtang Valley, Nepal, Micheal Muircheartaigh with the Sam Cup in Kerry, 16 May 2014. With Alan Kerins from the GAA, Tatra Mountains, Poland. Monte Perdido, Spain. Mount Toubkal, Morocco, Africa. Howth Head, Ireland and All over Ireland , Wales, and Scotland.

What a night Tidy Towns Malahide had recently at the annual Quiz/Fundraiser! Well done to Brian Dooley and team for scooping the top prize – The Malahide Tidy Towns Quiz Champions for 2023! The turnout on the night was absolutely magnificent. The Committee wish to thank so much all their volunteers for their hard work, to Alan Johns and his team including Malahide Sea Scouts, to the amazing Malahide Businesses for their spectacular prizes and to the magnificent public support of all of you who turned up on the night. Tidy Towns Malahide thanks you all! Remember Tidy Towns Malahide meet every Saturday at 10.30am at the front entrance to the Malahide Train Station. Newcomers are always welcome!

On Saturday 15th July Malahide Lions Club was delighted to welcome many friends, beneficiaries and sponsors to celebrate 50 years of service to the community. We are very grateful to Fingal County Council for supporting and fully funding the celebrations and to Malahide Castle & Gardens for providing the venue. The event was a great big thank you to the community and supporters who have helped Malahide Lions raise so much funds for so many charities over the past 50 years. Representatives included local schools, businesses, and sporting clubs. The MC was Joe Duffy and we enjoyed entertainment from Al Foran and the Mary Grimes School of Irish Dancing. We enjoyed addresses from the Mayor of Fingal, Adrian Henchy, the US Ambassador Claire D. Cronin, Minister Darragh O’Brien and vice District Governor of Lions James O’Loughlin. We are indebted to the generosity of our sponsors and the people of Malahide!

While our short break is finished, in the background Junsa has been planning our upcoming training sessions and competition calendar for the new season. We are also in preparation for taking on new students of all ages. At Junsa we have specific classes for different age groups of all abilities, from the 5 - to 50 year olds who want something new for fitness, discipline ,to become a black belt or to compete at local or international level Junsa Taekwondo can cater for everyone . If you are interested in an Olympic sport or marital art please contact Stuart on 087 7775202 or on Facebook Junsa Taekwondo.