The Bleeding Pig Film Festival returns to Donabate for its sixth year with an eclectic and inspiring selection of films to be screened over three evenings within the beautiful confines of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland in Donabate. From 11th - 13th September 2022, the film festival presents two nights of dazzling short films from both established and up and coming film-makers, culminating in a final night feature film screening to be announced soon. Included in the line up this year is the Oscar winning Irish short film An Irish Goodbye by Ross White and Tom Berkeley. The festival’s popular Q&A’s with filmmakers will be hosted by Sinéad Brassil presenter at LMFM and Luke Dunne, film writer and founder of Film in Dublin The Bleeding Pig is presented is association with the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival and supported by Fingal Co Co, Wiley Design, Film Equipment Hire Ireland and Supervalu Donabate. Remember - Venue - St Patrick’s Church of Ireland, The Square, Donabate, Co. Dublin K36 Y521. More information and to book your FREE ticket check out bleedingpigfilmfest.com

The Peninsula Pacers are doing their Annual Walk on Saturday 9th September from Donabate Parish Hall at 11 30am to the Burrow. This walk passes by Wayne’s Coffee Stand at The Tower and ends at The Brook Pub & Pizza Place! where the Bleeding Pig have a Traditional Irish Ceile in the afternoon which is always a great event the very best of craic. (After the walk one can take the public Bus back to Donabate!) A healthy day & an environmentally friendly day! In the October edition we hope to outline our walks for the year. In the autumn we hope to car pool and do some walks in Clogherhead & Carlingford to suit different abilities. We will have maybe some walks for the serious walkers also! We will be using the All Trails App where there are a number of walks we can do within our radius by train or car. A few years ago some people came together with FCC to look at Sli na Slainte (Healthy Walking Ways) routes on the Peninsula with some of them in & connecting into Newbridge Park - it is wonderful to see that Tracks and Trails are now developed, open and colour coded so you can easily follow a great way marked walk around the Park. It is a not expensive and is an easy exercise to take! so get going or stay going all year! You just need walking shoes/boots, a waterproof rain jacket and a small rucksack! Contact Carolyn Smith 087 9284307 or Des Carthy 087 7846813 for any further information.

The Excitement is building in Donabate and Portrane in anticipation of the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival 2023, coming soon to a venue near you! People often ask where did the festival get it’s unusual name. The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival takes it’s name from a rock formation deep inside a cave on the cliff walk between Donabate and Portrane. An arrangement of the erosion in the rock looks like the shape of a pig, and in certain tidal conditions, when the light is just right, the rock formation drips with iron-laden, red-coloured water, looking like the pig is actually bleeding! In 2013 when a name was being sought for the festival, this name was chosen because the feature is on the walk linking Donabate to Portane. The festival kicks off this year on Thursday September 7th with a Trad session in the Brook Pub in Portrane, starring renowned Uileann Piper Eamonn Galldubh agus a chairde, and featuring members of Comhaltas Leithinis. Everybody welcome for some craic agus ceol!

Over the following 10 days until Sunday September 17th there is a full timetable of events with
something of interest to all cultural tastes and audiences of all ages. Some highlights of the festival include:Craft Workshops for children and adults; Gala Concert in St. Patrick’s RC Church featuring the Young Dublin Symphonia and more; Mol an Óige, a showcase of some of the fun-sized talent on the peninsula! A festival favourite;Pizza Trad, or Céilí dancing and complimentary Pizza in the sun! Short Film Festival in St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland over 3 nights; Open Mic for Comedy, Music, the Spoken Word and more;Guided Tours of St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland, Martello Tower and Newbridge House; Art and Photography exhibition; September Miscellany featuring the Chinkwell Writers with musical interludes; Historic walk and talk in Portrane; Casino Night for some gambling fun and Rat-Pack entertainment; Wellness sessions in The Community Well; Sing-a-long sessions; Short plays from the Donabate/Portrane Dramatic Society; BioDiversity walk and talk at Turvey Island Hide; and lots more! Check out the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival brochure, website, Facebook and Instagram for full details of all the events. There will be a raffle running throughout the festival with some lovely prizes including artworks from some of our local artists, and lots more. Tickets will be on sale at all festival events. Some events require advance booking to secure a place. See the website for information about these. Most events in the 10-day festival are free of charge. However, a small cover charge will apply to a certain limited number events, to guarantee attendance. If you would like to get involved with the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival please contact Eilish McDermott on 0877911833, or any committee member. Come along to any of the the festival events from the 7th to 17th September across the peninsula and let’s embrace our local culture!

Becca Nolan has been a member of Donabate Portrane Special Olympics Club since it started in November 2018. She volunteers at four different sessions every week and the athletes love her. Becca has also competed for the club as an athlete in athletics and brought home gold and silver medals. Over the past year, Becca has been successful, and we as a club are immensely proud of her. As a club, we want to announce and celebrate each of her achievements.The first award that Becca won was in October 2022 when she was awarded Special Olympics Ireland’s Young Volunteer of the Year. More recently, in May 2023, Becca was presented with her Bronze Athlete Leadership Award by Special Olympics Eastern Region. To qualify for this award the athlete must complete various tasks and activities. They must volunteer on a committee, volunteer in their community, take up a new hobby, and give a speech in public or present to a group (something that Becca is fantastic at doing).

In June Becca was nominated and awarded a Fingal Community Champion Award by the Mayor of Fingal for all her time volunteering and coaching in Donabate Portrane Special Olympics Club. Her latest achievement was being selected as an International Basketball official for the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin. Becca was an excellent official and was a wonderful representative for our club, her basketball club (Swords Special Olympics basketball club) and Special Olympics Ireland. Donabate Portrane Special Olympics Club is enormously proud of Becca, and we look forward to seeing what is to come for this amazing woman.

Donabate Parish Hall welcomes back all its users - the various groups that do weekly activities Cards, Irish Dance, Senior Citizens to name just a few! and those that do block events like the Dramatic Society Production & the Photography Exhibition by Through the Lens to also just mention a few! It is hoped to run a few children’s camps again during the year starting with one at the October mid term break of a Cultural & Creative nature.There is limited availability now in the Parish Hall for booking activities & events but if you have a request we will do our very best to facilitate you or your group.Please contact the Parish Office on 01 8434574

The Leithinis CCÉ Autumn term of traditional Irish music classes begins in mid-September in Donabate Portrane Educate Together National School. Please check the leithinis Facebook page and website (leithinis.com/) for registration details. Leithinis CCÉ provides weekly lessons in Tin Whistle, Fiddle, Flute, Bodhán, Accordion, Banjo, Mandolin and Concertina.Leithinis were delighted to receive a Community Development grant. We would like to thank the Department of Rural and Community Development, Fingal County Council and the Local Community Development Committee. The monthly Traditional Music Session led by Denis, takes place in The Brooke Pub, Portrane at 7:30pm on the first Tuesday of every month with experienced musicians arriving from all over the North County to participate. All are welcome to come along and listen.

September is here and time to think of which classes you would like to take. We have a great
range of classes on offer. To tone up we have from Dance to Fitness, to Yoga and Sit and Get Fit
and Pilates. We also have Stronger for Longer which concentrates on strengthening and balance. Then for the mind we have French and Spanish and to exercise the vocal cords we have Singing and Music. Our free activities are Boules, Croquet and indoor Bowls and Table Tennis, and for the very fit we have Pickleball. You must register for all classes and activities.Registration for classes and all our activities will take place on the 4th & 5th of September from 11.00 a.m. to 14.00 p.m. We hope to have our website ready by then so that you can join online. If you need any information about AAfA please check our website activeageforall.com or you can of course email us at activeageforall@gmail.com It TEXT only to 086 880 6808.

In July, Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed had an entertaining and information visit to the Irish Military Museum and Park, near Collen, Co. Meath, where members got to see and hold guns and rifle, military uniforms and vehicle related to both World Wars, 1916 and other conflicts. We also took the opportunity of an impromptu visit to the nearby Broomfield Men’s Shed where we were treated to typical Men’s Shed hospitality over tea and sandwiches. Last month, we had a joint croquet day with Active Age for all. A full report and photos of this fun day will be available for next month’s issue. If you are interested in joining us, please call our PRO, Jim, on 086-3694316.

Glebe North Football Club are looking for new underage players for the new season 2023-24.
The club is open to expressions of interest from parents for their young people to join our teams. Boys & Girls from Under 8 (born 2016) to under 18 (born 2006). Please send us your expression of interest at forms.gle/Syj6ZZrNxGYUFwwr9.

A fourth wicket stand of 114 in 10 overs between Cameron Rowe and Greg Ford powered Balbriggan into the final of the All Ireland T20 Cup in an entertaining match of fluctuating fortunes at The Rectory recently. A rain delay meant the match was initially 16 overs per side, with a further shower cutting it a further two. Irish Under 19 international Scott Macbeth top-scored for the 2021 champions, hitting four sixes and 3 fours in his 46, while Ifty Hussain (39) and Adam McDaid (26) both cleared the ropes three times as Brigade made 130 for 8. Farooq Nasr (3-20) was inches from claiming a final over hat-trick, while Eoin Birch (2-21) bowled with plenty of fire. The Leinster champions faced a DLS adjusted target of 133 in 14, and that looked a long way off as Farooq Nasr, Conor Fletcher and Chris de Freitas all fell in the first three overs to leave them on 16 for 3. It could have been worse with Cameron Rowe dropped first ball off Ryan Macbeth (2-23). Rowe and skipper Greg Ford rebuilt and although the required rate was creeping up, you felt they were biding their time on a ground renowned for its true bouncy wicket and small boundaries. Still, there must have been a few nerves as they reached 57 for 3 after 8 overs, needing a further 76 from the last six overs. Rowe and Ford stepped on the gas as the next four overs went for 24, 13, 14 and 17 - a total of 68 in just 24 balls. Ford went for 43 (1 four, 4 sixes), stumped off Scott Macbeth (2-5), while Matt Pollard fell first ball, but by that stage only four were needed from the last over. It was fitting that it fell to Rowe to score the winning runs - his fifth four to go with seven sixes in his unbeaten 73. Balbriggan will have to wait to see who they play in the final at Malahide on August 27th after the CIYMS v Cork County game was abandoned.