Huge turnout at the official launch of Swords Memory Cafe. Forget me nots choir sang wonderfully for our guests and volunteers. Gorgeous renditions of old-time classics. A wonderful and emotional morning for all lucky enough to be there. Thanks so much to the lovely wildemeadowflowers for the beautiful bouquets and also to bainnebeo for the milk today. Once again Deirdre brought her beautiful baking. Thanks so much to the army of volunteers from Fingallians GAA club, Carechoice and our very own community who give of their time one morning a month for a wonderful community initiative.

One Voice Singers - Swords, the new community singing group based in St Colmcille’s GAA started back recently . New members are welcome to come down and sing! The group welcomes adults of all nationalities, bringing people together with a special emphasis on community integration, diversity, and respect. It’s a great chance to meet new people and learn new songs, promising to be plenty of laughs, entertaining and above all fun. If you would like to sing your heart out, please register online at eventbrite.com/e/one-town-one-voice-singers-swords-tickets-486869137697 or come along to St. Colmcille’s GAA in Swords on each Tuesday at 7.30pm. For more information contact Jacinta at community@fingal.ie The One Voice Singers are supported by Fingal Community Development Office and the One Town One Voice initiative. More information at onetownonevoice.ie.

Congratulations to the PJP II boys and girls who are double Fingal Schools league Champions recently at Parnell Park. Thanks to our GPO Padraig Panner Mc Carthy for the great photo! Well done to all the players, their teachers and their proud families! We also want to congratulate our u13 Camogie team St Sylvesters added another historic first last night when they represented Malahide Community Games in the first round of the Dublin Community Games competition v Shankhill. A first win in a first game for Syls and a first for Malahide Community Games! Congratulations too to their coaches on bringing the girls this far.

Another @ride_dingle in the books! Well done to all our members who tackled the 55 and 120km routes despite the 4 seasons in a day. It is amazing how this sportive always provides such a great atmosphere and the routes are still stunning regardless of the weather. Well done also and big congrats to our members Mags, Yolanda, Louise and Maura for completing the RNLI Lough Derg Charity Cycle 2023!

Great to hear that funding has been approved for Malahide Abbey churchyard beside Malahide Castle recently. We look forward to hearing more about what the work will entail. Local T.D. and Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Joe O’Brien said recently “ four heritage sites are to benefit from the Community Monuments Fund along with a new Fingal Historic Tombs Project. The four are St Columba’s Church, Swords, Balrothery Tower, St Mary’s Church and Graveyard, Clonmethan and Malahide Church and Graveyard. In total, 95 heritage projects across the Four heritage sites are to benefit from the Community Monuments Fund along with a new Fingal Historic Tombs Project. This comes in addition to another €4.5 million also to support heritage buildings announced earlier this month under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme. We are incredibly lucky in Fingal to have a very rich and beautiful stock of local heritage and it is important to ensure that we preserve and protect it. This funding, from my Green Party colleague, Malcolm Noonan, TD, for four key sites and an exciting Fingal Historic Tombs Project will help to safeguard our history. These sites and buildings are an important part of our culture and they need to be conserved so that our communities can continue to enjoy them long into the future. Through this investment, the Green Party continues to celebrate the value and diversity of our built heritage, while also protecting our history for future generations.”

The United Parishes of Malahide, Portmarnock and St Doulagh’s are delighted that the top floral artist and former Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist Christopher White is directing a spectacular flower festival to take place next month in St Andrew’s Parish Church in Malahide, which is celebrating its bicentenary. Taking place over the weekend of June 9-11, the Festival will be launched by RTE weather presenter Joanna Donnelly. Joanna, who spoke about her love of flowers and gardening in a recent edition of the RTE Guide, will perform the official opening at 2pm on Friday 9th June in a short ceremony at which the Choir of St Brigid’s Girls’ National School in Killester will sing. The Festival-which is entitled ‘The Good News in Flowers’ and recalls in more than 30 displays major events in the life of Christ, will remain open on Friday (until 8pm) and Saturday (10am-8pm), with refreshments available in the St Andrew’s Parish Centre until 5.30pm, and will open again after Morning Service on the Sunday at 12.30pm, with refreshments also available until 5.30pm. A Closing Service, on the Sunday at 6pm, to which all are welcome, will be sung by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, under the direction of Tom Little.
Christopher White is much in demand as a floral artist, and he is taking time out of a very busy schedule to co-ordinate this special event, which features work by flower arrangers from all over the country. A few days after the Malahide flower festival he will be in Gloucester Cathedral at the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies National Show where the UK’s premier designers showcase their work.
And, later in the summer, he will also be involved in the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, where he has previously won a gold medal. The Rector, Reverend Canon David Gillespie said the festival was the latest in a number of events to mark the bicentenary of St Andrew’s Church which is one of the oldest buildings in Malahide village.“This is a very significant year for us, and we wanted to do something special to mark it which would be enjoyable for everyone. If the number of enquiries we have received are anything to go by, we expect to be very busy but it will be great to welcome visitors to this lovely part of North County Dublin from all over the country.” Entry to the flower festival is €10 and includes a commemorative colour brochure detailing the 30 plus flower arrangements on display – all of which have been generously donated by parishioners of St Andrew’s in memory of loved ones. All proceeds from the Flower Festival are to go towards the cost of a new organ in the parish church.

Malahide Sea Scouts always supports positive mental health for our young people.We are very proud to have supported Darkness into Light Malahide and gave up a couple hours of our weekend sleep to support those in crisis and suffering from suicide or self-harm. Thousands of people across the country walked with us from Darkness Into Light and our Scouts and Scouters were with them supporting and encouraging along the route. Oh and a big thank you to our Scouts, Ventures and Scouters who were up in the very early hours supporting Darkness into Light Malahide as volunteer stewards.

We all know someone, we are all someone who has been left behind in one way or another. We’re all aware. Everyone who attended the Darkness into Light Walks all over Ireland and across the world did something about it. Whether you were there to honour someone’s memory, to help heal your own pain and feel comforted by the support around you or if you were simply there because you believe that we need more action for mental health - you did something about it. Thank you and well done to Malahide Sea Scouts.

Also recently the Sea Scouts celebrated their 104th Launch Day! Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Ventures, Scouters, Parents and friends all gathered at the Den to launch the 2023 Boating Season! It was a beautiful day with ideal winds and plenty of sunshine. A tradition for some of our youngest Beavers to ring the Albatross Bell in front of the gathered crowd to formally open the season followed by the blessing of the boats wishing well and safe passage to all afloat.This then gave the signal to launch the fleet where over 150 young people got out for a taster of sailing, rowing, power boating and paddling. On the shore, the Cubs hosted a BBQ and bake sale with all donations towards our friends at the RNLI – nearly €900 was raised! Fair winds and following seas to everyone this year.

By Mr. John Moore - Deputy Principal

We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr. Darragh O’ Brien TD, to St. Mary’s on Friday 5 May 2023. The Minister was accompanied by Mr. Sean Haughey, TD and Mr. Cathal Haughey, local Fianna Fail election candidate. The Minister was welcomed by the Principal, Dr. Edel Greene, Deputy Principal, Mr. John Moore, our Head Girls and incoming Sixth Year Senior Prefects.

The Minister toured the school to see five construction projects that are at snagging stage. The Minister first visited the Admin Area comprising new entrance area, new office, meeting room, new Principal’s office and ancillary rooms. The area has been designed to take full advantage of natural light. Next up was a visit to the very impressive new toilets which the students think very highly of. The Minister was very impressed with the new Home Economics kitchen which the students spoke highly of. Mr. O’ Brien then visited upstairs projects. Room 13 has been enlarged and it is hoped to have it developed into an audio visual room. Adjoining Room 13 are the new upstairs toilets which are also specified to a very high level. Dr. Greene acknowledged the support of the Minister for Education, Ms. Norma Foley and her Department in the provision of these significant improvements to the school.

Following the tours, Minister O’Brien discussed current developments in St. Marys. The Sports Day was currently taking place in the Coast Park, Baldoyle and the Transition Years were working on a performance of Matilda Jr, the musical, that was to take place later in May. Dr. Greene also updated the Minister on the next projects due to take place shortly in St Mary’s. A new lift is at construction tender stage while the appointed roof consultants are working with the Department regarding the roof. There are also a number of smaller projects in application stage. More serious future developments were also discussed in relation to St. Mary’s continued service as a school for our local community.

The recently established Malahide Boules group is keen to publicise the new Boules playing surfaces (known as Pistes) at Malahide Castle grounds and the organised playing sessions held there each Tuesday @11:00am and Saturday @ 3:00pm. The playing pistes are located next to the Playground area at Malahide Castle grounds and there is plenty of free parking nearby. We welcome anyone to join us, as there are no specific skills necessary to play the game, but rather just a willingness to try it out. If you would like to buy a set of basic boules (set of 3) these can be purchased for example at the Decathlon store, next to IKEA in Ballymun, or online through (www.decathlon.ie ). If interested, you can, and please do contact us through our website : //sites.google.com/view/malahide-boules/home or by email malahideboules@gmail.com,