Lusk Tidy Towns Association wish to say thank you to Fingal County Council for power washing the Square area and for upgrading the flower bed on the Main Street and for erecting a sign for the Balrothery Union Graveyard. It is a comfort to see these improvements working to enhance our community. Thank you to the trainees and staff of EVE Plantmarket for their Annual Litter picking around Lusk. This is very much appreciated by all. Thank you for your support and remember please ‘KEEP LUSK TIDY.’

Our Drama group had great success when they performed A Charming Affair in the Wicklow Drama Festival with one of the cast receiving a Merit Award for her performance as the maid. The group also won Best Costume, the Adjudicator Award and Best ICA sketch. It was a wonderful achievement as it was their first time performing in public. A big thanks to our director Alma Farrell and Mary Hagan for their support and encouragement along the way.

The Lusk Heritage Group are planning what should be an interesting Story Telling evening for Thursday 16th March to celebrate St Patricks weekend. They have a number of people lined up to share stories, poems and reminiscences about the village and its surroundings. So remember the
date is Thursday 16th March, the place is Private Room in Murrays of Lusk and the time is 8.00 pm. You don’t have to be a third generation long standing resident of Lusk to enjoy the evening. Newcomers, visitors and total strangers are all welcome to come together and do what Irish people are famous for, - telling their stories and sharing an evening together. It sounds like the perfect way to start your St Patrick’s weekend celebrations. The heritage group recently came across these two beautiful old pictures of Lusk. They are from the Irish Capuchin Franciscan Archives. The picture with the old car (late 1930s registration) was taken in 1940, while the picture with the woman and two children was taken 15 years later in 1955. The children have been identified as Joe Hickey from Cork and the late David McDonald who lived in Kells. Both of them were brought up together in Lusk and had very happy memories of their childhood there. But can anyone identify the woman in the picture? Its 1955, with her apron and shopping bag, she looks like she was heading to or from Katie Hunts shop and coming from the Jack Browne side when the photo was taken.

It is lovely to welcome spring and we would like to say a huge thank you to Lusk Community Cleaning Group for their continued hard work to get our town looking well. They are always looking for new members and it is a great little community to get involved with, so get in touch with us and we’ll send you their direction! After long campaigning for it, we were delighted to finally see the installation of bollards and changes to the road and footpath at Rush and Lusk Educate Together and Lusk Community College, under the “Safe Routes to School” funding by Fingal County Council. We would like to thank our committee member Cllr Rob O’Donoghue for all his representation regarding this. The continued power cuts have plagued us all over the last year and a half. Over this time, we have engaged with all our public representatives on this matter, and we have received very unsatisfactory responses from ESB Networks. We have logged our official complaint, which is the first step we need to officially take. We would urge everyone to email esbnetworks.complaints@esb.ie and from there we will escalate this issue as far as we need to in order to have this issue fully and permanently resolved.We are planning our 2023 Lusk Summer Festival! After the huge success of last year’s event, we are really excited to get this up and running again. It is a massive undertaking and we have a great organising committee but we really need new members to help spread the workload. So please consider joining us. It’s hard work for a couple of months but great fun and so worthwhile! Put the date in your diary! Saturday 24th June. We will be having our Annual General Meeting on Monday 6th March in Lusk National School (stage). All are welcome to attend. We are looking for new members. We welcome people of all nationalities –our young people, older people, women and men. We are proud to have a diverse committee. So if you have vision and enthusiasm or if you have a particular skill set that may be useful (or even if you don’t!) please get in touch with us. We are proud of our achievements and the change that we have been a catalyst to over the last three years. It takes committed people to make that happen. But there is so much more to do. We wish you all a very happy St Patrick’s Day! Enjoy the Celebrations!

At the Area Operations Meeting Councillor Rob O’Donoghue warmly welcomed the inclusion of funding to be spent on roads, footpaths and parks infrastructure in the coming calendar year in the Lusk area. He commented, ‘I am delighted with that the works that have been included and will be pushing for other areas in the town that need attention to be considered for upgrade through future works programmes and other funding streams.’ Works listed under the 2023 Programme of Works include footpath upgrades at Orlynn Park, road resurfacing at Chapel Green, further drainage works on Hands Lane, a signalised pedestrian crossing at the Dublin Road Roundabout, the installation of additional footpaths through the Orlynn Park and Chapel Farm Green Spaces, access from Ministers Park to Hands Lane as well as tree planting/pollinator planting as per the biodiversity town plan. Last month also brought to conclusion the drafting of the Development Plan 2023 – 2029 which will come into effect in early March. Cllr O’Donoghue stated ‘following a large volume of work from Community Organisations in Lusk to prevent unchecked re-zonings of land at the last round of the Development Plan, Lusk will get to develop sustainably over the course of the forthcoming Development Plan. I look forward to pushing initiatives such as the Lusk 2030 Vision in the remainder of this Council term.’

St Pats were ‘CLUB OF THE TOURNAMENT’ and their U8 boys ‘TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT’ at Gormanstown indoor hurling and camogie 2023. 30 plus clubs across Dublin, Meath & Louth, and 160 teams and 1900 players all took part in the 2023 Gormanstown indoor hurling & camogie tournament over the winter break. We had a hugely successful 5 weeks with boys and girls team from U8s-U11s representing the green and black. Well done to all the boys and girls teams. Everyone was was incredible. All the players and coaches over the past 5 weeks contributed to St Pats winning the 2023 Club of the Tournament. Special mentions to our unbeaten U8 girls (4 wins & 1 draw).The U10 girls who had two teams in the tournament with 5 players from the U9 team also playing a year above. Our U10 Boys who went unbeaten (3 wins & 2 draws). And last but not least, our U8 Boys who won the TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT for 2023. Congratulations to all the teams who represented the club.

Donabate Parish Hall has a variety of classes & activities & events taking place during the week. The Montessori to the rear of the building runs every morning, classes range from Wellness to Weights, from Youth Drama for to Irish Dance by day and Cards to Clubs by night. During mid term break there were additional meet ups by the group Egg Heads for to help young people needing support and they were very successful. In late February a very special event was held in the Parish Hall the screening of “Angel” 1982 Stephen Rea’s very first film - more of the night & pics in the next edition of Community Local. This month March we have all things Irish with Irish Dance & Traditional Music celebrating our culture & traditions. The Donabate Portrane Drama Society will be putting on a production in late April early May - not to be missed always great! If you need further information or wish to make a booking at the Parish Hall please contact: Bernie on 01 8434574.

Yes some great walks have taken place in the last few months and a few more are planned - a big thanks to Des, Audrey & Carolyn. In January we did the Drogheda Train Station to Oldbridge House and back a fantastic rampart walk .In February we returned to Howth and did the Old Tramline and part of the summit & Cliff Walk. In March we intend doing the cliff walk from Rush to Loughshinny on Saturday 25th March. In April we hope to go on the Pidgeon House Walk from Sandymount out to the lighthouse on Saturday 22nd April. We try to go by public transport generally train and have a meal after the walks. All people on the walks take personal responsibility for themselves and must have a reasonable level of fitness and wear proper attire for the walks. The aim is to keep active-walking and have some craic on the way! Contact Des on 087 7846813 or Carolyn on 087 9284307

We are delighted to say that our classes are now in full swing as members work hard to eliminate the depredations of Christmas. We could possibly squeeze a couple of people into Yoga and Singing and Music, but we have had such a marvellous response from our membership this term that we have filled all classes. We are introducing a new class called Dancersize which we will initially run for six weeks, no partner needed. If you are interested in giving it a go see our contact info below.Just to remind you that you are eligible to join AAfA from age 55 and it is only €10.00 to join. We do give a warm welcome to new members, always delighted to see a new face. We also run free activities Croquet, Bowls, Boules outdoors, and Bowls, Pickleball and Table Tennis indoors. Our recent AGM was very well attended and we elected a new Committee and I wish them every success in their work on your behalf this year (See our pics). At the meeting we had a very interesting presentation from Danielle Monahan from Healthy Age Friendly Homes whose objective is to enable people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. We hope to organise a morning where Danielle will attend to give advice to people on an individual basis, privately. We will let you know the date later. As always we are looking for people to help on our Committee, so please get in touch if you would like to help. Or if you have any skills to offer. For information on all our classes and activities contact us by our Email - activeageforall@gmail.com Website -activegeforall.com or Text only 0868806808.

Located in the ALSAA Sports Complex, Swords Road, Co Dublin, Aer Lingus Bowls club have a long and proud history. Established in 1989 its founding members formed successful and formidable teams. They won many tournaments, leagues and cups over the years. At present we have teams representing Aer Lingus Bowls club in the L.B.L.I. Ladies league and the B.L.I. Men’s league. Post covid we are in the process of encouraging.new members to join us. Lawn bowls is a wonderful sport. It has physical as well as social benefits. We meet every Wednesday and Sunday at 11am throughout the year. It is a place to meet up with friends to laugh, chat and get some exercise. We certainly get our “steps in”!. In the words of one of our greatest writers “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing” (George Bernard Shaw). Aer Lingus Bowls club is an inclusive club. We welcome all abilities, ages, and genders. Are you interested in trying lawn bowls this Spring/Summer? Do you know someone who might be interested? Would your club, Men’s/Women’s shed, Active Age group, organisations for individuals with additional needs, or school be interested in trying Lawn Bowls? All equipment will be provided for taster sessions. Please contact Des Walsh on 087 0678903/ Sandra McCarthy 0863114540 for further information or send a message on Facebook messenger Aer Lingus Bowls Club. We look forward to welcoming you. You will be assured of a warm welcome.