Join us in Malahide Castle and Gardens on the 6th of May for this year’s Darkness into Light Malahide 5k. Get involved with your friends or family, take some photos, raise awareness and come together. Why we walk…well why not join us for the most important sunrise of the year?…Every community in Ireland has been impacted by the devastating affects of suicide. Each year the walk provides an opportunity to bring Hope to people who are suffering from self-harm or in suicidal crisis. Darkness into Light is the flagship fundraiser to provide FREE counselling and support services to those who need it. Your support will help save lives and ensure no one faces their darkest moments alone. €24 will help our caring therapists answer two more calls to our helpline. €45 will fund a crisis counselling session between scheduled sessions. €100 will fund the first session of a dedicated therapy session.€252 will help our caring therapists answer twenty-one more calls to our helpline. To date, our community has raised over €900,000 in support of those in crisis suffering from self-harm and suicide, in 2023 help us Make It A Million! Thank you so much for your support. Learn more or donate at pieta.ie/

This month we acknowledge the marvellous achievements of present and former Malahide Sea who have been recognised for their excellent Seamanship. Firstly we say a huge congratulations to our Boatmaster Colum McCaffrey on winning the Irish Sailing Volunteer Scouts of the Year Award for 2022. Well done Colum and thanks for all your hard work with the Sea Scouts. Secondly we congratulate our own Cadet Oran O’Hirile who recently won the Capt. Cian Timmons Memorial Award in the Rover Scouts Category as part of the Sea Scouting - Ireland Annual Master Mariner Competition. Cadet O’Hirile joined the Naval Service as Cadet in September 2021 and is still an active member of Malahide Sea Scouts as he progresses through his The Irish Naval Cadetship. Congratulatin and best wishes to you Oran in your future career at Sea. For those who may be interested The Naval Competition is open – so why not visit it and apply now before the applications close : for more information go to military.ie/en/careers/current-competitions/

The Parents Association of Malahide Community School are holding their annual Plant Sale on the first weekend in May. The times are as follows: • Friday 5th - 3pm to 6pm - • Saturday 6th - 10am to 5.30pm & • Sunday 7th - 11am to 3pm. It will take place in the school canteen and there will be lots of colourful flowers, window boxes, hanging baskets and more for sale. Everyone is welcome so please come along and support this fundraising event. All profits will be spent by the Parents Association to improve the school facilities and support the students in various ways. We hope to see you there.

The students at Junsa Taekwondo have been busy preparing for many aspects of our martial art and sport. The summer grading, national development sparring competitions, poomsae training sessions, national and international competitions, referee seminars and the Lusk summer festival all have to be prepared for, and everyone is striving to be the best they can be. That’s why at Junsa we say there is something for everyone in Taekwondo. Our big story this month is one for great celebration. Jack Weldon Murphy has gone from refereeing at local tournaments to international competitions in the UK and Europe. That is outstanding Jack!

There has been a wide range of activity in recent weeks for Lusk AC athletes. Peter Doyle completed the Rome Marathon, Colin Browne and Colm Donoghue represented Ireland at the World Masters in Poland. Our 40-Day 6am challenge came to an end with Jackie Moore completing all of them. Liam Halpin registered his 300th parkrun while Aidan Langley volunteered at his 200th parkrun. There were also large numbers from the club competing at the National Championships for both the 10 mile Battle of Clontarf race in St Anne’s Park and the Great Ireland 10k in Phoenix Park. Congratulations also to all juvenile athletes who competed at the recent Nationals. We encourage all our young athletes to take part in the upcoming Dublin Juvenile Outdoor Leagues.

Best of luck to all our teams as they set out on their 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 every Saturday for all children aged 4 to 7 years. 11.00am to 12.00pm. We have had great attendances and as always, new players are always welcome!

LGFA - April - Well done to members of the Under13 girls’ team visited St Sylvester’s GAA club took part in the Skills4Girls Camp with Dublin Senior footballer Niamh McEvoy as Head Coach.

April – The Round Towers u10s has a trip to Croke park and won all 4 games beating St Brigid’sfrom Co Carlow, Truagh from Co Monaghan, Dromand from Co Longford and Bray Emmets from Co Wicklow. We are all very proud of the players and thanks to the ladies’ section in the club for all their support. Also in April, Round Towers Robyn Kendellen U14s played for Dublin Championship squad. Congratulations to Robyn and to all coaching staff involved. Well done to Round Towers Lucy Hayes U13 girls who was nominated by the U10 girls to come and referee in Croke Park and Interviewed post-game! All new players are welcome to join across all divisions! In April our Round Towers Hurling had some fantastic achievements that deserve a special mention and a big well done to the players and coaches involved. Big well done to Round Towers Dylan Mulligan (U15 boys) who played for the Dublin U15 hurlers beating Waterford. Big Well done to Darragh Kilduff from Round Towers U 16’s makes appearances for Dublin Minor Hurling! Great to see the Towers gear proudly worn in Seboka National School, Lesotho, Africa. Pat Codd and Aidan McKenna are down there volunteering with Action Ireland Trust. Many thanks also to Morgan Doran for his donation of Jerseys from Rush National School. Our Round Towers Adult Mens football is proudly sponsored by local solicitors, Liam Fitzgerald, thank you for their continued support. All home games have a new Barista Bandstand coffee and refreshments offerings. Please do visit our GAA Round Towers Lusk club website on the following web address linktr.ee/roundtowerlusk to explore our many social events and the O’Neills shop.

The publication of the AsIAm “Same Chance” report 2023 presented a stark picture of life for many autistic people in Ireland. The report, based on a survey of over 1600 autistic people and family, tells a story of resilience, talent, and pride. It also tells a story of 97 societal barriers to participation in community activities, accessing public services and making friends to name but a few. 90% of those surveyed believe the Irish public do not understand Autism. 91% believe that being autistic is a barrier to making friends. 86% believe that they do not have the same chance in Irish society AsIAm.IE Ireland’s National Autism Charity Same Chance Report 2023).Lusk Autism Friendly Towns is working with local businesses, clubs, and voluntary groups towards becoming an AsIAm Autism-Friendly Town. We were delighted in April to welcome on board this journey towards becoming an Autism-Friendly Town, Rush and Lusk Educate Together Parents Guardians and Teachers Association (PGTA), Skinny Batch Bakery, and Butterflies Creche who have committed to becoming Autism Champions for Lusk. RaLET PGTA have outlined to all parents and guardians of children in the school some of the measures that they will be introducing including participating in autism training, developing social stories for events, and creating sensory activities specific to their events. Staff at Butterflies Creche have already undergone autism training and have created a wonderful social story for children who will be joining them for the first time. Our most recent participant, Skinny Batch Bakery, has been in touch with us to find outwhat they can do to become an autism-friendly café. They are also working directly with AsIAm to spread awareness of autism and to help raise funds for the charity. Finally we would like to say a big thank you to Rush and Lusk Educate Together staff for inviting us to present information about Autism to their senior pupils as part of a wide variety of activities that were organised at the school to mark World Autism Day in April. All of these fantastic initiatives will help towards ensuring that Autistic children will grow up having the same chance as their peers. If you would like to become an Autism Champion for Lusk please get in touch with us at inclusionlusk@gmail.com and we would be delighted to get you started on your journey.

Lusk Tidy Towns Association recently met with officials from Fingal County Council to discuss the Tidy Towns works programme for 2023. As the weather improves we encourage everybody to do those little jobs that need doing such as painting, weeding etc and ask everybody to keep litter at bay. Together we can all do our bit to keep Lusk tidy and a place to be proud of. Thanking you for your continued support.

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.

Welcome to Fingal Libraries Bealtaine Festival 2023, Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age. The festival programme will run for the whole month of May with events across all our branches. We are launching this wonderful festival in Rush Library on Tuesday, 2nd May at 11:30am with a performance from the Forget Me Nots choir, an inclusive community choir for older people. Everyone is welcome to the launch which promises to be an enjoyable and uplifting musical experience. This year’s programme features everything from an empowering talk on life after menopause with author Barbara Scully to an inspiring talk with adventurer Eugene O’Leary. We also have bridge and art classes, talks from Fingal Birdwatch, concerts from the musical ensemble the Mobile Music Machine and much, much more.

Portrait & Landscape Art Workshop with artist Will Nathans
This two-part art workshop will focus on portrait and landscape paintings. Will Nathans is an American born artist who lives in Dublin. He trained in New York City at SVA and studied illustration and cartooning. Participants are requested to bring their own art materials to the class. They will be informed what they need when booking their place at Rush library. Rush Library Wednesday, 24th May Wednesday, 31st May 2:00pm – 4:30pm

Bealtaine Concert with music ensemble Mobile Music Machine
Join the renowned Mobile Music Machine for a special family themed concert celebrating Bealtine in Fingal. Each concert will feature some of Ireland’s most acclaimed musicians, performing songs from the musicals, popular and classical eras. Musicians include soprano Sandra Oman, cellist Gerald Peregrine, trumpeter Niall O’Sullivan and pianist Vincent Lynch. An hour of entertainment for all. Rush Library Friday, 26th May 2:30pm – 3:30pm To reserve a place, please contact Rush library who are hosting the event.

Demonstration of Tovertafel tables, also known as magic tables, consist of a series of interactive games projected onto a table. The images from the games respond to the user’s hand and arm movements allowing users to play with light. Originally designed for people with dementia, these tables provide fun interactive games for people of all ages. Rush Library Tuesday, 2nd May 12:30pm – 1:30pm No booking required. All welcome!