By Liam Ó Culbáird

On Sun 2nd October. A fantastic day was had by all at the Dublin County Final of Scór Sinsir 2022 (the GAA’s talent competition) that was hosted by Fingallians GAA and Fear an Tí Liam Ó Culbáird.With strong representation from northside and southside, Dublin now has a very strong team as they enter into Leinster. A special thanks to all the clubs that participated and those that helped promote the competition within their clubs. Thanks to our moltóirí Ann and Cóilín and our cabhróirí Sinéad and Donna but most of all thanks to the participants.The winners were as follows in these different categories: Tráth na gCeisteanna: Ranelagh Gaels, Rince Foirne: Cuala, Amhránaíocht Aonair: Cuala, Aithriseoireacht / Scéalaíocht: Fingallians, Bailéad-Ghrúpa: Cuala Ceol Uirlise: Cuala. It was great to see three local Swords GAA clubs represented; Fingallians, St. Finian’s and Colm Cille’s. Pictured are all the Swords competitors.

The Portmarnock-Malahide Branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind were delighted with the support shown for their recent Par 3 golf fundraiser in Malahide. The event, which took place at the Sports and Leisure Hub in Malahide Castle & Gardens in September, raised a total of €3,477.73 through golf entries, raffle tickets, and donations made on the day. The Portmarnock-Malahide branch looks forward to hosting the Par 3 fundraiser again in 2023.“It was fantastic to see the level of support shown for this event in its second year,” said IGDB Portmarnock-Malahide Branch Chair, Pat Harney. “The generosity of the local community is hugely encouraging and sincerely appreciated both by us as a local branch, and the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind organisation nationally.”“We are so grateful to everyone who supported the event, whether by taking part in the golf themselves, buying a ticket for the raffle, or making a donation at our stand on the day,” added event organiser and local IGDB branch member, Frank Kelly. “We would also like to express our thanks to the Sports and Leisure Hub for hosting us for the second year running, and to all of the local businesses who donated raffle prizes.”Over 85% of the income of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind is received through voluntary donations and fundraising across the country. New volunteers are always welcome, and if you are interested in learning more about how you can support the organisation, visit guidedogs.ie/ways-to-help or reach out to your local branch. The Portmarnock-Malahide branch will hold its AGM on Wednesday, 9th November at 7.30pm in the Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Club, and all are welcome to attend. The branch is also active on Facebook (Irish Guide Dogs Portmarnock-Malahide Branch) and Twitter (@GuideDogsPM).

A Malahide artist who has reimagined still-life from dark, cluttered and old fashioned to bright, vibrant and eye-catching will showcase at Ireland’s top art fair, Art Source, at the RDS. Over 15,000 people are expected to attend the year’s biggest and most exciting art show from November 11-13, featuring 160 of the best contemporary Irish and international artists and galleries. The move by Malahide based Susan Cairns, a former watercolourist, to still life and oils, was a major turning point in her journey as a painter.“Taking old, broken, unwanted and often forgotten everyday objects, my ambition through painting is to capture character and beauty, transforming the usual into something unique and wonderful,” said Susan, who has exhibited across Ireland and the UK. With many years spent drawing and watercolour painting, her current work in oil has evolved and developed into a style that is very identifiable, clear and detailed.“I studied Interior Design in college, but the bit I loved most was the drawing aspect of the course.“I knew at that stage my heart lay in fine art, so I took art lessons just as a hobby like many people do. From there, I just could not see myself doing anything else.“I took art lessons in my 20s. My teacher, Mairead Doyle, was fantastic. She allowed me develop and explore, allowing my style of painting to emerge. The idea of it being dark, cluttered and old fashioned was replaced with it being bright, vibrant and eye-catching. An exhibition of works by Damien Hirst, the English artist who recently burned hundreds of his artworks, will be the centrepiece of Art Source. The fair will also play host to a unique sculpture garden featuring over 40 top Irish and international artists, including works by renowned sculptors such as Patrick O’Reilly, Salvador Dali, Giacinto Bosco, Ian Pollock, Eamonn Ceannt, Bob Quinn, Anthony Scott and Sandra Bell. Irish art lovers also have the unique chance to get their hands on 100 pieces of original artwork for €100 each on a first-come, first-served basis on the opening morning of the show - Friday, November 11.The show will also feature Source Your Own Art, a free children’s pop-up art workshop where youngsters are invited to express themselves creatively in response to the art they see at the fair.

By John Moore, Deputy Principal.

Just an update on the recent but very successful Open Night, the first held since September 2019 due to Covid. The Open Night is an opportunity for potential incoming students and their parents to visit St. Mary’s, view the school and meet the teachers and students. Many had queued out on the road from 6.30 pm for entrance at 7 pm. Consequently, it was a packed night and we were delighted to meet many former students, many of whom were now returning as parents. This is always fantastic but it certainly makes a teacher feel a bit older.All our Subjects Departments were represented by both our Teachers and assisted by students who welcomed the girls from Fifth and Sixth Class with practicals and demonstrations. The Senior Prefects and senior students acted as hosts and brought parents on a tour of the school. The students’ confidence, commitment and dedication to the school highlighted their unique relationship with their teachers and their school. On the night and over the following few days, we received a huge number of comments and emails congratulating the girls on how confident, knowledgeable and friendly they were. Many also noted how happy the girls were in St. Mary’s. All our girls assisting were absolutely fantastic and we were so proud of them. The maturity shown was just amazing.Apologies to those parents and their daughters who were unable to fit into a packed Study Hall to hear the very well-received Principal’s address and later question and answer session. We were delighted to meet so many parents and their daughters. The last of the parents and daughters left around 9.30 pm to round off a highly successful Open Night.

October has been a very busy time at the club, between new members starting, international tournaments in Riga and the Korean Ambassadors Cup in Baldoyle.

Juana recently took part in a high level tournament in Riga Latvia where Robbie took to the mats after 3 years and made it to the quarter finals in his first time in the senior division.

We also took part the following weekend at the Korean Ambassadors cup here in Dublin, where we took home a medal for every player we entered.Have a look at what Junsa was up in October and November.

Lusk Athletic Club is immensely proud of our 50 plus athletes who completed the Dublin Marathon on Sunday 30th October. All the training sessions and races over many months was rewarded with great performances on the big day. Special thanks are due to our dedicated marathon training group coaches, Dwain, Mark, Una, Kathy and Annette for all their hard work in setting weekly training schedules and helping their club mates to achieve their goals. Thank You to our club members who acted as volunteers on marathon day and gave great support to all the runners.As well as the Dublin Marathon, Lusk AC athletes have run in the Chicago Marathon, Fastlane 3/4 Marathon, The Dublin 5K Road race championships, the East of Ireland races in Lusk and we were delighted to host the first Dublin Juvenile cross country league races in Lusk on what was a gloriously sunny day, one to be remembered. We were also privileged to have Irish Olympic marathon runner, Mick Clohisey come to Lusk to put on a great training session and offer advice to our marathon runners.Thank you to all our dedicated coaches, assistants, committee and club members who continually work so hard to help improve our adult and juvenile athletes, our facilities and equipment and the new indoor arena for winter training. 2022 seems to have flown by and it is almost time for the Lusk AC Christmas party night which is taking place in the Man O War Pub on Saturday 3rd December. Please contact Emma Przymusinska for your ticket asap.New members are always welcome at Lusk Athletic Club and we cater for a wide variety of track and field events as well as road and cross country running. Training takes place every Tuesday and Thursday from 6.55pm at the Hub on Rathmore Road.

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.