Get ready for an unforgettable weekend at the many ParkRun Ireland locations in Fingal County Council! Lace up your running shoes or take a leisurely stroll with our amazing Walk at Parkrun participants. No matter your pace, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Register now at //parkrun.ie and be part of the action-packed fitness event supported by Sport Ireland. Join our vibrant community and connect with like-minded individuals who share your passion for an active lifestyle. Get inspired, make new friends, and conquer personal milestones together. Don’t miss out on the excitement!

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.

Our juveniles returned to training in September and the club hosted the first juvenile cross -country league of the season at the hub. Meanwhile our adult section continues to thrive with members taking part in races across all distances. Best of luck to our marathon runners who are almost ready to start their taper before the Dublin City Marathon at the end of October. It’s been a hard slog with all the long training runs but it will all be worth it. A big welcome to our latest Fit4Life group.

The art of storytelling is still alive and well in Lusk. On Friday 8th September Lusk Heritage Group proved that in Murray’s Pub with their lineup of storytellers, poets and raconteurs. Jim Hawkins from Swords was MC for the night and kept everyone entertained along the way Topics varied from the seaweed wars in Skerries and surrounding areas in the first half of the 1900s, and poems by Jim Finnegan stretching back over the last 50 years of his life. Eilen Sweetman brought back memories of the Square in Lusk, of her family and friends. Vera Stone from Rush enthralled her audience with three old recitations that had everyone falling out of their seats with laughter. Jim Monks gave us all a humorous warning about how the internet, I-phones and laptops are in danger of replacing local north county accents with much poorer versions of language and shorthand truncated writing that he was not at all impressed with. But local poet Damien Donnelly showed us that not all is lost yet. He regaled us with three of his poems about travelling, coming home and making sense of this modern world of ours.

Aidan Arnold gave a fascinating talk about his upcoming book Barnewall de Berneval, 800 years an Irish Norman Family. The book, which he hopes to have available for sale by mid-October, had its origins in a 22-year friendship between local Lusk woman Pat Kelly, Secretary of the Lusk Heritage Group and Sir Reginald Barnewall, the head of the Barnewall family worldwide until his death in 2018. On the night, Pat Kelly remembered friends she met over the years with connections to the rich heritage of Fingal, while Sean O’Gorman gave a not so complimentary account of Lord Holmpatrick of Skerries. His court battles with the farmers of Rush were reenacted by Sean and Jim Monks. At the time John Thorne finished up repeatedly in court, pitted against Ian Hamilton (he of the Hamilton Monument in Skerries,) who demanded to be paid for every cart load of seaweed that the local farmers laboriously drew with horse and cart from Shennick Island for use as fertiliser to grow their crops. Just a sample of all the strange and wonderful stories told and yet to be told about our local history.

Primary Education has been provided for the children of Lusk since 1823, predating the establishment of formal national education of 1831. From a two-room bungalow, housing 120 children, to the vast campus we have today, accommodating nearly 1000 children, it is difficult to comprehend the changes that have occurred during this time. The original schoolhouse, and the 1874 building that stands on the same site and is now the parish centre, soon became too small for the population and so in 1955 a new school was opened on Chapel Road. This building grew with the village and was extended several times, ending its life as a 32-classroom vertical school. In 2018, Lusk National school formally split into a Junior and Senior school, each one consisting of 16 classrooms. The history of this school has been intertwined with our own national history. It has witnessed the Great Famine, two World Wars, the struggle for Irish Independence and the foundation of the Irish State. It saw electrification, sanitation, decimalisation and technological advances that those first students couldn’t have dreamt of. In recent times, our town and school have seen an explosion of population and have welcomed many families from all corners of the world to our village. We have also had to adapt quickly, embracing remote learning during the pandemic, which took the classroom out of the school buildings and into the houses of the village. This long and proud tradition of education has been a testament to the people of Lusk, the resilience and togetherness of the community and a determination to provide a wide-reaching service to our students. So why not join us on Saturday 7 October as we turn the pages of history and celebrate 200 years of Lusk National School at 2:00pm-5:00pm. We hope the day will be one filled with nostalgia, laughter and learning as we celebrate two centuries of education. We look forward to opening our school doors to the community, to share old stories and your experiences, and to present you with our modern classrooms and equipment. Please send any photos you have of our school to 200years@lusksns.ie We hope to see you there to honour our 200 years of education and the countless memories that have shaped our community.

Our Lusk ICA summer outing was organized by Marie A O Sullivan to the new Grange Heritage centre on 19 August followed by a lovely meal in the Bracken Court, Hotel. And a number of our members joined up with the senior citizens group for a day trip to Belfast. We visited the Ulster folk museum, Stormont, and a guided tour around the city. Followed by a lovely mean in the Carrickdale Hotel.
Our guild meetings are held in the Scouts Den at 3:30 pm on the first Tuesday of each month All are welcome. We have Chair Exercise on a Tuesday in the Community Centre at 11am and Light Exercise in the Hub at 11.30 also on a Tuesday.

Best of luck to all our teams in their Championship matches in the 2023 season. All support is welcome at our fixtures. Details on dates, venues and times of home fixtures can be viewed on our website at roundtowerslusk.ie Nursery, - LGFA, AMFC, GAA Boys and Girls – Club would like to invite new members to play GAA – Please Get in Touch! Great Fun to be had! Check our website for non-player/player membership of the Round Towers roundtowerslusk.ie Parents and Mentors – We need your help and support! Round Towers are progressing through our Club Development Programme with many different initiatives and wider projects to upgrade our facilities for all ages to enjoy the GAA game. We welcome you comments, ideas and or support that you can offer. Please get in touch through our online networks, club website and or Facebook. - Traditional Music Night - The Traditional Music on the last Tuesday of the months has been a huge success and would like to continue these nights for our retired members of the community to come along and catch up and enjoy a musical evening with friends and new members of the Round Towers Club. A Special thank you to all that organise events in our Adult Men’s Committee! Lotto – Our Weekly Lotto is in excess of €12,000. This is a crucial fundraiser for the club and you can play here: klubfunder.com/Clubs/Round_Towers_Lusk/lotto Draw in Club Thursday @9pm. //linktr.ee/roundtowerlusk . Seachtain na Gaeilge – Please do visit our GAA Round Towers Lusk club website on the below web address to explore many social events and the O’Neills shop. - Entertainment – The TAP Bar in GAA club in Lusk has got some fantastic events coming over the month and would be delighted to see you there and enjoy some Live music. Relax in comfort and enjoy sporting events on the big screen in the TAP on the Big Screen. TRAD Night – Last Tuesday every month great music night session in the TAP Bar - Stay posted on Facebook on upcoming events. Enjoy GAA matches and other sports event with light refreshment on large screen in TAP BAR. Outdoor seating area available. Please visit our website on linktr.ee/roundtowerlusk or call in and check our club bar for a refreshment also open for bookings including family events and parties!

Our work Programme for 2023 consisted of a new shrubbery bed at the Square area, and a cobble and locking surround at the Heritage Stone on the Rathmore Road - this has now been completed and our appreciation goes to Fingal County Council. With all the new development in Lusk it is difficult to keep Lusk spic and span. Over the years Lusk has won many awards and it has been to the great credit to the community involved. Keep Lusk Tidy and litter free, - Pat Kelly. Also, we have news of the Lusk Tidy Towns book. The Past and Present - Picture Book for the Lusk Tidy Towns Association which has now been completed, and a second edition will be put together over the next few months.

The community of Lusk awoke to a surprising development recently, as two communications
masts sprung up seemingly overnight at the Dublin Road and Skerries Road roundabouts. These unannounced installations raised eyebrows and concerns among the community who value our heritage town. Lusk Action Group have submitted appeals to An Bord Pleanála in challenge of both licence approvals. We believe that these masts have been inappropriately positioned in the context of our heritage town and have concerns regarding the potential health and environmental impacts that these structures may have. Masts such as these have sprung up in other areas of the country, using a piece of legislations which does not requires public consultation. Simultaneously, the town has been grappling with inconsistencies in bus services of the buses 33X, 33, and 33A. These services have been at the centre of complaints, with delays and instances of passengers, particularly young people, being left stranded by drivers. This has left many members, and particularly parents, frustrated and calling for improvements in the services. Public transportation is an essential lifeline for many Lusk residents, enabling them to access employment, education, and essential services in the neighbouring areas. Therefore, when the bus services experience disruptions, it directly impacts the daily lives of the people in this community. When it comes to changes that affect the town, there is rightly an expected level of consultation and transparency from the authorities. Lusk Action Group has lodged a submission to the National Transport Authority (NTA), based on feedback from the community, to seek effective and long-lasting solutions to these issues as our population increases. We are in consultation with our local elected representatives to advance these concerns with the NTA, Dublin Bus and Go Ahead. Lusk heritage is what makes it a truly unique and cherished place to call home. The sudden appearance of communication masts without consultation and the ongoing bus service issues have understandably rattled many community members. Lusk Action Group is working by advocating for the community interests and seeking answers to these pressing issues.

Cllr Rob O’Donoghue has welcomed progress regarding the timeline for the provision of amenities at the Lusk Sports Hub. Responding to his motion seeking the next steps in the provision of amenities at the Hub Fingal County Council informed the chamber that a planning application for development of Rathmore Park is in development by the Council. The proposed layout of sporting facilities in the Hub which has been developed with the stakeholders of the Lusk 2020 group which includes, Round Towers GAA, Lusk Athletics, Lusk Utd, The Lusk Community College, Rush and Lusk Educate Together and the Lusk Community Council is ongoing and will strongly feed into the final design that will seek planning permission. The next step in the process is one in which work is ongoing on the environmental assessment of the proposals for facilities at the Hub and the results of these assessments will then inform the timeline for the submission of the planning permission at the site. Speaking to his motion concerning a timeline for provision of facilities at the Hub, Cllr O’Donoghue stated, ‘with the transfer of the lands and playground in the north of the Hub during the summer, I can finally see the start of the endgame with bringing the Hub project to fruition. This will provide facilities including pitches and a running track that are desperately needed by the clubs in the town to develop their ever-growing memberships. It has been a long road to get to this point and the organisations in the Lusk 2020 group deserve credit for sticking to the process and engaging with each other and FCC to get the project to where we will be able to apply for planning permission for these much-needed amenities.’

In other Hub news, the Council are to carry out ground improvements in the open area at the North of the Hub and are in the process of procuring new goal posts which are projected to be erected by November.