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.

MALAHIDE United have opened up a considerable gap at the top of the UCFL Premier Division after they beat last season’s runner up VEC FC 3-1 in Terenure recently. A Jordan Briggs penalty and a solo effort from Stephen Cleary gave them a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break, while Karl Sheppard added their third late in the game.VEC bagged a consolation in added time but the day belonged to United who at this time of us going to press sit top of the pile on 30 points from 12 games, AGPFC, who lost to Atletico Malahide 1-0, are joint second with 18 points from 11 games, Harding IF FC, who won 5-1 at home to Rialto, who have 10 games played and Shelbourne AFC who have played 11.

Here we have a selectioHere we have a selection of images of the clearing work to create a meadow of wild flowers while also fencing off an area that will accommodate the native Irish Honey Bee hives that have arrived in recent days. This is in conjunction with the expertise of the Fingal Dublin North Beekeepers Association. This species is unique to Ireland and is is thought to have been brought to the Fingal area first by St Mologa. The area which has been cleared is to host a very large number of wild flowers to help the bees flourish as they are believed to be under threat of extinction at present and many other areas in this country are receiving hives to help preserve the species at present.

Recently the feast day of St. Bridget on 1st of February was marked but there is another female saint whose feast day occurred just two days later, on 3rd of February, for whom there is a Malahide connection.St. Werburgh was an early English royal abbess and was revered for ensuring healthy pregnancies. She was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia. Born in AD 650, she renounced the world on the death of her father, retreated to a convent in Ely, England and founded monastic houses over which she presided. On her death she was buried in Hanbury, Staffordshire, but her body was later moved to Chester to place it beyond the reach of marauding Danes and St. Werburgh over time became the patroness of Chester and guardian saint of Chester cathedral. Her memory lives on in the cathedral and in representations in stained glass. Chester had, from pre-Norse times, extensive trading connections with Ireland for corn, hides and fish. In 1176 a charter by King Henry II empowered the Chester City Burgesses to continue to trade with Ireland. Henry II had reserved Malahide for himself and granted Richard Talbot tenancy of Malahide provided he pledged to hold Malahide for the English Crown which the family did for 800 years until the last Lord Talbot, Milo died in 1973. Perhaps it was the traders from Chester who were responsible for the devotion to St. Werburgh in Dublin and the Malahide district or perhaps it was the early Normans.. we don’t know. A street and a church named after St. Werburgh are to be found in Dublin city near Christchurch cathedral but here near Malahide, her name is honoured by a holy well on the Gay Brook stream. Local tradition held that the natural spring well had a cure for sore eyes. A tale associated with St. Werburgh says that she brought five wild geese back to life that had been killed by a servant and as a result the emblem of a goose is associated with her and in the windows of Chester cathedral. In old Gaelic the word for goose is Gé, hence Goose Brook or Gay Brook. We have St. Werburgh’s miracle of the five geese to thank for the name. Our thanks to Malahide Historical Society.

John Moore, Deputy Principal

It has been a busy time in St Mary’s. Here are some updates: Theresa Morakinyo the Project Manager at the Baldoyle Family resource was delighted that we raised €1,200 for Baldoyle Meals on Wheels. The money was raised by carol singing in Donaghmede Shopping Centre and holding a Christmas Jumper Day and by the teachers carol singing to the students. Well done also to mini company ‘Christmas Corks’ whose Christmas decorations, made from corks, proved extremely popular. They have donated the vast majority of their profits to the Jack and Jill Foundation. A very impressive sum of €400. Well done Hannah and Brooke! We were also delighted to update our Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl with the Applegreen sponsored Awards Board. Congrats to Elizabeth and Julia, current Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl who now join a really impressive list of former Head Girls.

We are to delighted to announce that we have passed the €100,000 mark following the launch of our SylsFuture fundraising campaign in November! Thanks to the generosity of our first donors and participants in our fundraising events we are well on the way to our target of €750,000! We are on track with the development work and expect to break ground on Phase 2 of the development plan before the summer, starting with the extension of the All-Weather training area at Broomfield.
Please contribute today to help us towards our next milestone and secure the future development of the Broomfield campus.

We are very proud of Venture Scout Dan Clohessy who has won the Newcomer of the Year in the Outsider Awards 2022! Dan represents the true spirit of Scouting, with his enthusiasm and active participation. As role-model to his peers and motivator to his adult Scouters. Well done Dan!

2023 started with bang, with national development training, development competition and an international tournament. At Junsa we do our very best to develop our members of every age into what they want to get out of Taekwondo. Some want to become international fighters, some poomsae players, others into national and international referees. There’s something for everyone at Junsa Taekwondo. If you wish to become fit, build confidence, install discipline, or become an athlete we do it all at Junsa. No matter what our students want to achieve from Taekwondo we at Junsa are determined to fulfill there dreams. Contact Stuart on 087 7775202 for training and class details.

Lusk AC were there in huge numbers on the last Sunday in January at the Raheny 5 mile with 70 club members among the 3,800 taking part in the iconic road race. Two weeks later, a smaller group travelled to Co Meath for the Trim 10 mile. It was then on to Co Kildare for one of the toughest of challenges. The Donadea 50k is not for the faint hearted and is 10 laps of a 5k route in the forest. Congratulations to Annette Foy, Peter Doyle and Sinead Sharkey for whom the high training mileage paid off as they all came through with flying colours. There has been Indoor action on most weekends so far this year and it was brilliant to see our Men’s team reaching the final of the club league for the first time in the club’s history. A number of our athletes are trying out new events for the first time and have really enjoyed the experience. The Dublin Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 3 took place in the National Indoor Arena, Blanchardstown. This was day three of five scheduled days of competition. The first event kicked off at 10am with the 60m hurdles, preceded by 60m and field events. All our athletes from the youngest U9 to the U14 were fantastic; some competing for the first time. We had great support and assistance from the parents and coaches who helped make the day run smoothly. Over 1300 children took part in competition that day. Our Fit4Youth programme has been very popular and we welcome any new members. The Lusk 4 mile is the club’s main fundraiser of the year and takes place at 3pm on Sunday 5th March. It’s always a great event so if you’re not running come out to cheer the runners and walkers along. Juvenile races take place before the adult race.

The long evenings aren’t far away and all of teams have been training hard since the start of the year in anticipation of the return of football, hurling and camogie matches. 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

Club Planning Programme – Following on from our 2013-2018 and 2018-2023 strategies, we have formally entered into the GAA’s Club Planning Programme. This programme has aided over 1,000 clubs since its inception in 2008 to develop strategic plans. Our strategic plan will set out our hopes, ambitions and challenges on and off the pitch for the next five years.. Nursery – Come down and join us for fun, games, hurling, camogie and football at our nursery for 4- 7 year old boys and girls every Saturday from 11am to noon. Registration is from 10.45am. LGFA –Ladies Gaelic Football team including picture taken in an amazing event in Cahir in Co Tipperary. All new players are welcome to join the many juvenile and adult teams in our Ladies Gaelic Football Section - U8, U10, U12, U13, U14, U16, Minor, Adult Ladies (First Team and Second Team). Our Gaelic4Mothers & Others initiative sees women playing Ladies Gaelic Football in a fun, non- competitive and social environment. If you or someone you know is interested in playing this year, please call into the clubhouse any evening or drop us an email roundtowerslusk.office@gmail.com. Finally, congratulations to Sarah O’Neill and Bronagh Neary who represented the club at the Dublin Club Stars games in DCU on Sunday 11 February.Lotto – Our Weekly Lotto is edging towards €8,000. This is a crucial fundraiser for the club and if interested you can play our Lotto here on klubfunder.com/Clubs/Round_Towers_Lusk/lotto. The Lotto o draw takes place in the clubhouse at 9pm every Thursday. Many thanks for your continued support for our club - and good luck.
Seachtain na Gaeilge – To celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge Cloigtithe Lusca we will be hosting a Pop-up Gaeltacht each Saturday up to the final day which is the 17th March 2023. This is an excellent opportunity for Lusk to practice the cupla focal in the run-up to the big day! Please do visit our GAA Round Towers Lusk club website. 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. - 11th March – Totally 80’s Band – All the best 80’s music starts after 8.30pm - 18th March – Pat Gaffney – Great American Culture -25th March – The Macks – Trad Music- 1st April – Cliché – All of the best music songs. Please visit our club 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.