The weather is getting warmer and the Taekwondo training is heating up too.

At Junsa we recently took part in all Dublin tournament held in Baldoyle and run by our national governing body Taekwondo Ireland. We are also looking forward to the 2nd Lusk Festival and preparations are under way for some of our students to take part in international competitions abroad.Contact Master Stuart on 087 7775202 or follow us on Facebook @ Junsa Taekwondo for more details on training times and class locations.

As the days get longer training in daylight is always more pleasant than in darkness. The races and events are coming thick and fast as summer approaches. The graded meetings are a great way for our athletes to test themselves and experience the thrill of competition. Well done to all who have taken part so far. Congratulations to all our juvenile members who have participated in League 1 & 2 of the Dublin Juvenile Outdoor Leagues. There is one league left in June and we would encourage parents to bring their children along. It’s a great day.

Basketball has finally come to Lusk with the establishment of the Lusk Ravens Basketball Club. Playing out of Lusk National School they currently have two men’s teams, a ladies team and two Academy classes for 5th and 6th class students.

The Lusk Ravens ladies team had the honour of playing the Ravens first ever game against a very experienced Division 3 team - Glasnevin Basketball. In what was a tight game the Ravens lost by only two points in a score of 48-50. Sharon O’Toole made history by scoring the Ravens first ever point and going on to play a storming game of Basketball. Coaches Brian Clerkin and Gavin O’Neill were delighted with the teams performance as was Director of Coaching Bob Hartigan.

The men’s second team recently got off the mark when they proudly welcomed a Killester Special Olympics team in a friendly. Coaches Ty Henry, Jeff Errington and Matteo Deidda were delighted to get a tough game under their belts and much needed game time for the players.

Not to be outdone the boys Academy teams travelled to take on St Kevin’s Knights.

Although in its early stages of formation the club has made huge strides in a short space of time and will aim to enter some teams for next season leagues. They have a website luskravens.com and a YouTube channel. The Club are looking for sponsorship from local business, interested parties should contact the club to receive a sponsorship pack. They would also like to hear from any coaches or ex-players in the community who like to come on board and help get this wonderful new club off the ground. ‘Go Ravens Go’

In March of this year Lusk Ladies Shed launched in the newly renovated Lusk Community Cultural Centre. The goal of Lusk Ladies Shed is to reduce the sense of isolation and increase connections with others in the local community. This non profit initiative was spear-headed by Frances Byrne as she had a wish to have a safe place for women to come find support and to develop a sense of involvement and belonging in the community. The group welcomes all women regardless of age, background or interests and there is always tea, coffee, chats and some fun for everyone. The groups are run on a Tuesday morning between 10am and 12 noon and a Wednesday evening between 7pm and 9pm in Lusk Community Cultural Centre. For more information you can find Lusk Ladies Shed and Lusk Community Cultural Centre on Facebook. Lusk Community Cultural Centre is at Church Road, Lusk, Co Dublin K45CP40.

by Dr Tom McCloughlin, DCU Water Institute

Ask one of the “blow-ins” if there are any rivers in Lusk, and their first answer would probably be no unless they were familiar with Chapelfarm or the north end of the ring road. But all settlements need a water supply! In Chapelfarm you have a short stream that rises on the hill out a little on Quickpenny Road. It winds its way under the housing estate and meanders through the farmland between Chapelfarm and the Carriage House. After that it goes under the main road under a strong bridge and then drops down to Rogerstown Estuary near the Birdwatch Ireland hide joining the Ballyboughal River proper. Unfortunately, this stream does pick up a fair amount of domestic run-off in Lusk and a lot of chemicals end up in the water so we need to be careful that our drains don’t empty into that stream making it stink and killing the life in it.

The other stream which originates way up in Palmerstown and twists its way downhill in two channels - one heading through the Commons while the other comes alongside the ring road after being re-channelled in the early 2000s. The Commons branch passes through Horestown and Rathartan through to Whitestown Mill near Rush. The lower branch pass alongside the ringroad, below Kingstown, then drops down to Effelstown through to Whitestown Mill joining the other channel and the mill-races out to the estuary at the bottom of Spout Lane.

You might be excused for thinking nothing lives in those streams but you’d be wrong since there are a lot of stickleback fish, freshwater shrimp, water slaters, bloodworms, and small shellfish though little of the high-quality pollution sensitive creatures that would indicate a clean stream. You can only see these by actually getting in the stream, though I wouldn’t recommend it unless in full PPE as the stream has a very soft bottom and you sink quite a bit in places, there’s been quite a bit of dumping too, which this writer has at times taken to extracting with thanks to Fingal CoCo for collecting the piles of junk and rubbish I’ve left for them. Pressures on the stream from pump-ing water out of the stream to spread on farmland, disturbance to the channel and again domestic run-off all conspire to kill what is there but the one we can all work on is to stop drains going di-rectly into the stream.Everything has a consequence, they say, and these streams affect Rog-erstown Estuary, the Irish Sea and all that they bring us.

The countdown is on! Saturday the 24th of June will see Lusk Action Group’s second Lusk Summer Festival in Orlynn Park Green and we cannot wait! This year will be bigger and better, with a fantastic music line-up with Eva Campbell, Revolution Remains, Fish in the Sky, Chris Cole, our own DJ Joe and the Redeemed Christian Church and more.

We have a great selection of food vans, with a few new additions, so bring your appetite for pulled pork, falafels, chicken wings, burgers, pizza, ice-cream, fresh doughnuts, crepes, coffee and more! Our kid’s entertainment will keep your children of all ages well entertained, with some new additions for little ones and for bigger kids. There will be face-painting, balloon making and candy floss galore! Grasshoppers International Festival will be there for your little ones earlier in the day and booking is essential so, keep an eye online. And in case your kids haven’t enough to do with all that, there will be a treasure hunt ready from the Information Desk!

Our market is sure to have something to entice you, with great local crafts and small businesses. We are delighted to be able to support them. The vintage cars, tractors and trucks will be back again, and we will have Junsa Tae Kwando and Lusk Judo Khan with their marital arts display. There will be yoga classes for kids and adults. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for details.

For children with special needs who may need some downtime from it all, we will have our Inclusion Lusk quiet area. There will be prizes galore, so keep an eye out online and on the day for raffle details. We advise everyone to have cash, however there will be contactless payment available. Please note that there is no parking. We encourage everyone to walk to this very central location, however there will be spaces available for disabled users near the tennis courts. None of this is possible without the support of Fingal County Council, Progressive Credit Union, and our local business donators. We would like to thank them sincerely for helping us to make this great day happen. We look forward to seeing you all there! All in Lusk Action Group and the Summer Festival Committee.

The Committee have been hard at work cleaning up the flower beds and planting wildflower seeds and generally tidying up the village. Thank you to the pupils of Lusk National School who took part in the annual art competition and the teachers for their support. The flower tubs around the village will be shortly replanted for this year. Our Tidy Towns plaque on the Skerries Road has been replaced and our heritage stone on the Rathmore Road re-lettered, thanks to Fingal County Council for this. Please keep Lusk tidy. ‘Lusk Tidy Towns committee.’

The Lusk Men’s walk and talk group meet at the Hub car park at 7:00pm every Monday for their weekly walk. This is open to all men and it’s an opportunity just get out of the house, have a nice walk, clear the head and have a chat if you wish. You can do it as a once off or every week, no joining necessary, just turn up. This group is organised by Ciaran Russell, so if you want to introduce yourself to him and before long you will find you have made new friends. So why not let any friends or neighbours know about it as new members are always welcome

Thank you to everyone who came out to support Lusk’s Community Tree Planting Day last Saturday. Three varieties of bare root whips and Holly shrub saplings were planted along the boundary fencing between the Hub and Lusk Community School. Students from Lusk Community College also helped to plant some bare root whips last Friday too.Thank you to Fingal County Council for supplying over 300 bare root whips and for helping to pre-dig so many holes in the ground, it made the job so much easier! In addition to the hedge planting at the HUB, Fingal County Council also planted: Six mature trees along Minister’s Road, Six mature trees along Dun Emer Drive, Bare root whips at the end of Minister’s Park, and Bare root whips along the railings between Orlynn Park and Remount Estate.The Spring Community Tree Planting Event was a first for Lusk and Fingal County Council hope to facilitate another one in the autumn. Thanks to the sub committee from Lusk Vision 2030, Fingal County Council and Councillor Robert O’Donoghue for co-ordinating the day.

Following our recent AGM we are delighted to congratulate Rose Anna Darby who was elected as
our new President. We wish her the very best in her new role. We also want to say thank you to our outgoing President Teresa Killoran for her hard work over the past three-years and for keeping us going despite the challenges of Covid On another note a very successful fundraiser was held in aid of The Irish Cancer Society on Daffodil day with the Guild raising a massive €5,807, thanks to everyone who supported us. We’re always happy to welcome new members so if you are looking to make new friends and learn new skills why not drop in to our monthly meeting which takes place the first Tuesday of the month. Caroline O’Malley PRO