It may only be the start of our season but we have had a very busy few weeks here at Lusk United AFC. We had the privilege of hosting two events within two weeks which raised a total of over €21,000 for charity. First up was the opening of Collie Maher Park. Last February we sadly lost our dear friend Collie Maher. Collie was an amazing club volunteer who not only managed and coached our U17s boys but was involved in fixtures, facilities, fundraising and supporting other coaches with his advice and guidance. In honour of Collie we decided to rename our Station Road pitches - Collie Maher Park. A dedication ceremony, featuring the brilliant Black Raven Pipe Band, was attended by people from all across the community who were entertained with a ‘Legends Match’ as Lusk United took on Whitehall Celtic /St. Kevin’s.Plenty of familiar faces dusted off their boots and got stuck in!

Phenomenal work from all involved in making this day happen including organising a fundraising raffle which raised over €11,500 for St. Francis Hospice Dublin. Thanks to all those who contributed and to all the business who donated fabulous raffle prizes. Next up were our ladies… To launch Breast Cancer Awareness month our Kick Fit ladies organised a charity match against Malahide United at Rathmore Road. With 1 in 9 women affected by breast cancer in their lifetime it was a great opportunity to raise funds for this worthy cause. We had a wonderful, fun filled family day which included a cake sale and a raffle. There was a great atmosphere and buzz around the club on the day and our U8 girls team even had the chance to show case their skills to supporters at half time. An amazing total of €9,590 was raised – well done! We are so proud of our club, all its members and the whole Lusk community. The Images with this article are courtesy of Paul Maguire for which we are very grateful.

“During these dreary days of winter, the joy of receiving a Christmas Card is needed and looked forward to. The Lusk Tidy Towns Committee has been producing Christmas Cards and Calendars for over 28 years. We began by producing 6 postcards and these proved to be most successful. Then we produced our Christmas Cards and Calendar, all depicting scenes of Lusk. These cards are sent all over the world to friends and relations.This year’s card and calendar launch will be on Friday 25th Nov 2022 by Minister Darragh O’Brien in Murray’s Bottom Shop. All are Welcome. The thought and act of sending a Christmas Card is part of an exchange of esteem, long cherished by Irish people. To send a card with a sight and sense of Lusk makes anyone’s friend feel worthwhile ,thank you most sincerely to our sponsors and Contributors. - Pat Kelly”

On 10th October 2022, Lusk Community Council took charge of the new Cultural Centre on Church Road following 17 months of construction works by Pat Fitzgerald Construction. With the support of an extensive team of professional experts, craftsmen and the backing of Fingal Leader Partnership, Fingal County Council and the Founding Friends for the project, we have transformed a derelict site to an iconic vernacular building in the heart of Lusk. The project has not been without its challenges, initially the project was delayed due to the COVID lockdown which meant that we could not get on site till 4th May 2021. Once on site we still had to deal with the risk of Covid and a number of project workers succumbed to it. The combination of Covid, Brexit and the war in Ukraine delivered supply problems and cost inflation for a range of construction inputs. Thankfully Pat Fitzgerald worked through all these problems to deliver a project that will deliver new opportunities for our community, our town and for visitors to our town. On Saturday 22nd October the 1943 Vernacular Buildings of Lusk was opened to the public. While this exhibition will run into 2023, a different temporary Exhibition will run for Fingal Inclusion Week starting on 14th November.

by Aidan Arnold

The Lusk Heritage Group was founded by Pat Kelly and others thirty two years ago. The Group are unique in being the most prolific producers of local heritage videos in Ireland. Their Lusk Heritage Group website at luskheritage.com/ contains more than 130 videos on Lusk and Fingal. It also contains a substantial Audio Collection, capturing fascinating stories of people and places, local history and folklore, that otherwise would be forgotten. Their website is a veritable Aladdin’s Cave for future social historians to feast upon. It has achieved over 200,000 hits not only from local interest but from all over the world. Lusk Heritage Group can also be found on Facebook with a simple search for “Lusk Heritage Group.”Their selection of books about Lusk and Fingal include “Lusk through the Ages,” The Story of Lusk,” and “Thomas Ashe Community Group 100 Year Commemoration 1917-2017” a joint production with Lusk Round Towers GAA Club. Last year Lusk Heritage Group published two excellent books entitled “Forgotten Evidence on the Sack of Balbriggan” and “The Life and Times of John Rover McCann,” celebrating the rich history of Balbriggan and Rush. They have embarked on a major programme of work for the coming year. This includes a new book on the history of the Anglo Norman Barnewall family, owners of what was Turvey House, Bremore Castle in Balbriggan and also tenants of Baldungan Castle for some time. The Barnewall family owned vast tracts of property throughout Counties Dublin and Meath. Well known Lusk man Jim Monks, one of the Lusk Heritage Group founders, is at an advanced stage of publishing a book of short stories that are both entertaining and steeped in local characters, folklore and history. Aidan Arnold, another founder member of the group, has just completed a fascinating book for Milverton School, Skerries. Called “The Schools’ Collection, as written down for us by our Ancestors,” this is the first in a series of booklets about local folklore and history that was collected by the Irish Folklore Commission in the 1930s. Lusk Heritage Group have ambitious plans to extend this wealth of folklore information to the 5000 schools throughout Ireland that contributed to this major historic folklore collection. He has already almost completed his Lusk booklet which he intends to published soon.

Recently we witnessed a truly wonderful thing. In October our community came together to fight for what was right for Lusk. Lusk Action Group (LAG) is extremely grateful to everyone who got behind our campaign to fight against re-zoning motions being lobbied for by councillors from outside of Lusk. Our community has shown just how powerful it can be when we all work together to achieve a common goal. When we act together as one, we can’t be ignored. Many of the councillors who spoke in support of Lusk at the recent Development Plan meeting commended the people of Lusk for their efforts and reiterated their support for the Lusk Vision 2030 report. We can now return our focus to the implementation of the Lusk Vision 2030 goals which is a big priority for the town. LAG has taken responsibility for the delivery of the Multi Use Games Area which was one of the recommendations of the report. We look forward to working on the delivery of this project with Fingal County Council (FCC) as part of the implementation committee. The Christmas lights will go up on Saturday 26th November. This is our third year of having the lights and they have gotten bigger and better each year. Anyone who would like to help with the lighting up please get in touch with us.Following on from the great success of our inaugural Summer Festival earlier this year we are delighted to announce that our second Summer Festival will take place on Saturday 24th June 2023.LAG has recently completed a submission on road safety and maintenance in Lusk and has sent it to FCC. It is hoped that this document will serve as a valuable reference tool for FCC and that our roads and paths can be made safer for us all. As always, we are on the lookout for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us on luskactiongroup@gmail.com.

Over 100 years old, Portrane Hockey Club has been at the heart of many generations in the village. With over 350 adult and junior members, the club has joined together the community, encouraging new members to try a new sport in a fun, relaxed environment. The club now has 7 senior teams, 3 men’s and 4 ladies with a range of junior Leinster league teams from age 5 through to U16’s. Portrane HC caters for all hockey levels from the serious player to the social player. With the club on the Donabate pitch six days a week, there is something for everyone! Last season was a very successful season for the senior teams with league wins for many and cup finals being won after a hard-fought season. Both the men’s and ladies first teams play at division one and Challenge A respectively. This success transferred into our junior teams with many boys and girls walking away with well-earned Leinster titles at the end of the season. Portrane Hockey Club is a club for all with competitive teams and a great social atmosphere both on and off the pitch. The supporters come together in their purple colours for home matches at the Donabate pitch with great camaraderie from push back to final whistle. The club wouldn’t be where it is today without it’s hard-working committee and coaching staff. Last season saw the new additions of coaches Ross Hetem and Anthony Glutz, both from South Africa. They can also be seen playing for the men’s first team each week in their bid to win division one. If you would like to give hockey a go and join Portrane Hockey Club, please contact Anita Patterson secretaryportranehc@gmail.com or message Portrane Hockey Club on Facebook or Instagram

Marathon fever was in the air in LSA in October as the mileage and training intensified. The theme of the 2022 Dublin City marathon was the Power of Support and this was well and truly evident amongst members of LSA. Over thirty of our adult members ran the Dublin City Marathon last month, supported in their journey to that point by many more. See our Social Media pages for the latest information.Our club provided a supported pathway to the marathon: training sessions, company and hydration for long runs, and Zoom talks with advice on everything needed to get from the start line through the 26 miles.The Dublin race series builds up to the Marathon. Back in August, the Frank Duffy 10 mile race was also the Dublin Athletics 10 mile Championships. Huge congratulations to our coaches Eimear Caulfield and Shane O’Farrell who placed 2nd and Steven Rice who placed 3rd in their age categories in the Dublin Championships.Then in September the Dublin City Half Marathon took place in the Phoenix Park. The notoriously tough and hilly course tested our group. Huge congratulations to Willie Cahill who had a fantastic run and placed second in his age category. As Marathon Day approached LSA was well represented in Lusk at the East of Ireland and Longwood 3/4 Marathons. Meanwhile, we are excited to see our Little Athletics and Juvenile section growing and some of our younger members have had their first taste of competition in Cross Country. Congratulations to Mark Kelly on a Dublin Medal with an excellent 4th place finish in the recent Dublin Championships. Well done all, and thank you to our volunteer coaches for their support. For memberships queries or to get involved please contact lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com - Keep up to date on all the events by following LSA via our social media pages! Facebook facebook.com/lambaysportsacademy or indeed
instagram.com/lsadonabateportrane twitter.com/LSARunning For additional information on the above please visit our website lambaysportsathletics.ie/

One Friday In October a group of people from UkuleleUnited came together in the Parish Hall to have a music session and try out the new acoustic panels, they were very impressed with the quality of the sound since their installation. It is a really great location now for a music event and all involved had an enjoyable few hours of playing!

On Saturday 15th October a group of 16 from the Peninsula Pacers did a walk from Portmarnock to Malahide, this was a coastal walk of 10km, which started from the train station at Portmarnock leading to the Royal Dublin Golf Course end of the Portmarnock beach, where one walks the beach towards Malahide as far as the Martello Tower. We then took the coastal path beside the road for the last few kms into Malahide Village, finally a delicious lunch was had at Duffy’s. and tired but happy after a good walk in good weather bar the last ten minutes of rain people took the train home to Donabate. Further information please contact Carolyn Smith 087 9284307 or Des Carthy 087 7846813

After an absence of two years due to Covid-19, we are delighted to announce that the Donabate Christmas Lights Festival makes a welcome return on Saturday, December 3rd at 4.30pm, in the car-park of St. Patrick’s Church in the village. For the past 10 years or more, this not-for-profit, free local tradition has attracted huge crowds to the village to enjoy some seasonal festive refreshments and entertainment. This year is shaping up to be no different, with festive refreshments for kids of all ages! We have a surprise in store to provide the seasonal entertainment, more details to follow closer to the time. We will take up a charity collection at the event. In recent years we have collected almost €1000 for worthy causes. The organisers would like to thank Fingal County Council for sponsoring the event. Every year FCC source and install the Christmas tree and it has always been a beautiful tree. We look forward to enjoying another lovely tree this year. Many thanks also to CP Electrical who install the festive lights around the village.We are very grateful to local businesses, Tesco and SuperValu for their generous sponsorship of the event. SuperValu have always given us the delicious warm Mince Pies, washed down by Mulled Wine courtesy of Tesco. We are also grateful to Fr. Pat Reilly and all at St. Patrick’s Church for accommodating the event. Just across the road from the church, in St. Patrick’s Parish Hall, the festive Christmas Craft Fair also makes a welcome return. From 12-6pm, local crafters and artisans will showcase their arts and crafts. Drop in and browse the market and maybe even pick up a quirky Christmas gift or two! And boys and girls, unlike recent years when Santa visited Donabate online via Zoom, Santa himself will be in the Parish Hall from 2-5pm to meet you all. No appointment necessary for this.This event could not happen without the team of volunteer Elves. Many thanks to the team who give up their Saturday to help make the event such a success.So, come along to the village on Saturday 3rd December and join in the festivities. Let’s kick-start the Donabate festive season in style!