Big congratulations to 9th Port Malahide Wednesday Troop who took part in the Sea Scout Rowing Regatta hosted by 8ú Calafort Dun Laoghaire recently. Wednesdays took home the Dick Vekins Memorial Trophy after coming in 1st Place in the U17s Wood-Latimer race for the first time in 6 years! 1st Place U17 Wood-Latimer - 1st Place U15
2nd Place U13s - 2nd Place O18s Leaders
3rd Place U14s - 3rd Place U16s Pair Oar
This is a great achievement, congratulations to the crews and coxswains!

The award winning writer Cecil Allen is the grandson of the famous actor and writer Ir Allen. Cecil is the author of the hugely popular novels ‘The Actor’ and ‘Constructing Alice.’ He is a retired college lecturer from the Dublin Institute of Technology and holds a BA from Indiana University and an MFA from the University of Minnesota. He was a broadcaster with RTE for over twenty years and represented Ireland twice at International Toastmasters Competitions. He is the father of two sons and lives in Malahide with his wife Julie. Cecil writings centres on our common humanity and ability to function in times of stress. His writings explore our vulnerabilities and the often forgotten reserves of strength and intelligence we can marshal when required. One of the short stories from ‘The Avenue,’ Mr Dunnock’s Day was featured in a new anthology of short stories which was published in September 2022. About the book - The Avenue - The year is 1950, World War II is over, food rationing is nearly finished and the word teenager has just been invented. There are nineteen identical yellow-brick terraced houses on one side of the Avenue and twenty on the other yet each house is a world of its own and as different from the next as the people who live in them. The people of the Avenue include a woman who defies convention, a man who confronts a despotic clergyman, an inquisitive woman who never leaves her bed, a long-lost father, a woman with a disturbing secret and a man with an empty box of chocolates. Told with insight and humour these tales of growing up, religion, marriage, emigration, mental health, widowhood and old age reminds us of the small but important moments of everyday living. ‘The Avenue’ will be published and launched in the Malahide Library on the 5th October. Admission is free and open to all.

The iconic Great Hall at Malahide Castle has reopened following significant works to the historic building that have helped restore one of finest Medieval Banqueting Halls in the country.

Malahide Castle was home to the Talbot family for nearly 800 years and with a history dating back to 1185, it’s an important part of Irish aristocracy. Receiving over 100,000 visitors from home and abroad each year, the Great Hall is an integral part of the attraction for visitors heading to Malahide Castle and Gardens in Fingal. Dating back to 1475. The Great Hall was redesigned in the 1820s by the 2nd Baron Talbot of Malahide in the neo-gothic style. It remains largely how he left it to this day. Work on the Great Hall has been done under the direction of Grade 1 Conservation Architects, Blackwood Associates Architects. The improvements are seen as being integral to future proofing one of Ireland’s most important heritage sites for generations to come. Over €500,000 was invested by Fingal County Council in carrying out the restoration. The majority of works were carried out to the external fabric of the building, which included upgrading the roof and rainwater goods.

Internally restoration of the rafters and minstrel’s gallery, as well as conservation of the 19th century windows and fireplaces took place. Mechanical and electrical systems upgrades also took place, including lighting, rewiring, CCTV and the installation of a new heating system for a room originally built in the Middle Ages. Attending the reopening was Dublin Fingal TD and Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien who praised the massive effort involved in restoring such a heritage property. He said: “This castle has seen it all and has survived so many different phases of our history. Having such a superb restoration of this magnificent room is a really important undertaking, one that helps ensure that heritage is central to our lives and not something on the periphery – our history and our heritage is what we are and it is what we are about as a people.” The Castle itself is surrounded by some 260 acres of lush parkland and has held a prestigious Green Flag Award since the internationally recognised scheme began in Ireland in 2015. This week, Malahide Demesne and Talbot Botanical Gardens was also announced by An Taisce as the overall winner of the 2022 Green Flag Pollinator Award, as well being named as the winner of the Country Park/Demesne category. To book tickets to Malahide Castle and Gardens go to: malahidecastleandgardens.ie

Lusk Athletic Club athletes have taken part in lots of races recently such as the 21st World Mountain Running championships held in Ireland for the first time, The Portmarnock Beach 5K, The Ratoath AC and Dublin Half Marathons and the Dublin 5K road race championships.Two outstanding achievements by Lusk AC athletes were Stephen Brennan completing the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc and Ann Robinson winning a silver medal at the 21st World Masters Mountain running championships.Lusk Athletic Club also hosted the 1st round of the Dublin Juvenile cross-country league on Sunday 18th September. Thanks to all who organised this event and to the many club and community volunteers who helped us to put on what was a very successful series of races. Great running by all our juvenile athletes in their 1st race of the season.We also welcomed Irish Olympian, Mick Clohisey to the club where he put on a coaching session for our Dublin Marathon training group and passed on key marathon training insights. Lusk AC have approximately 50 athletes in training for the eagerly awaited return of the Dublin Marathon set to take place on Sunday 30th October. New members are always welcome at Lusk AC and our Al certified coaches will help you improve whether you are a runner or you prefer field events such as Discus, Hammer, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin. Training every Tuesday & Thursday from 6.55pm at the Hub on Rathmore Road.

05/09/22, Lusk, Co. Dublin – Lusk Junior Parkrun hosted its first Teddy Bear Picnic on 28th August to mark the end of summer. Despite the Irish weather, it was a huge success with 50 children taking part in the 2k course. For the picnic afterwards; Children brought blankets and their favourite cuddly toy and enjoyed a large spread of fresh fruit and delicious treats. We also had some music and bubbles which added to the atmosphere! The adults and siblings joined in the fun too! We wish to thank Country Crest for providing a very large fruit hamper and drinks, Fyffes for providing bananas for all the children and Keoghs for providing large boxes of crisps. Your donations were above and beyond our expectations and nothing went to waste. Our volunteer group also baked and donated additional drinks, fruits and treats. Thank you to everyone involved for making it such a huge success.Lusk Junior parkrun started on 22nd May and is going from strength to strength. We currently have 121 children registered of which 111 have completed at least 1 junior parkrun, and 15 children have already been presented with wristband (11/21/50 runs). There is always a lot of excitement on arrival to see what music we have selected for our warm up and who is next to receive their wristband! Lusk Junior Parkrun is a free event held every Sunday morning at 9.20am at Lusk Sports Hub, Rathmore Road. Run by local volunteers, it is open to all children from ages 4-14 years and can cater to children of all abilities, as we like to say, “it’s a run not a race; just do it at your own pace!” Anyone interested in joining us simply needs to register for free in advance at www.parkrun.ie/register then bring along the barcode you will receive by email. Parents are free to join their child in running, however, only children will be recorded. For more information, please contact Siobhan Connor (Event Director) by email or through Facebook page: Facebook:acebook.com/lusksportshubjuniorparkrun or our Email: lusksportshubjuniors@parkrun.com or the Website:.parkrun.ie/lusksportshub-juniors/

The first exhibition to be featured in the Lusk Community Cultural Centre will be a time-capsule of Lusk village in 1943. This exhibition explores the materials, craftsmanship and design details of vernacular houses surveyed in Lusk in 1943. It forms part of a wider collection of the Folklife Architectural Archive conserved by the National Museum of Ireland. This archive constitutes a very special time-capsule of the vernacular buildings in Lusk in the 1940’s. Lusk Community Council is particularly proud that this is the first exhibition to be hosted in the newly developed Lusk Community Cultural Centre, an iconic vernacular cottage that has been redeveloped and repurposed as a cultural centre for Lusk. Lusk Community Council wishes to acknowledge the support of Creative Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland in bringing this exhibition back to Lusk.

The new Fingal Development Plan has moved into its next phase of Councillors Motions seeking to alter the development of Lusk between 2023 – 2029. Once again Councillors from outside of the Rush and Lusk area are bringing forward motions that seek to alter the development of the area. Speaking at a community meeting Cllr O’Donoghue outlined the potential changes brought forward on the agenda for Development Plan. He stated, ‘I find our current planning system absurd. Councillors from outside of our area, with no planning expertise, can bring forward motions to change the face of our area, permanently, without reference to the community and in contradiction of the professional FCC planner’s advice, planners who have at previous rounds of the development plan have recommended the rejected such proposals.’He explained, ‘the red areas on the map, seek to change rural land (RU) for residential development (RA). These would add potentially 1,300 – 1,800 units to an area that already has ample land zoned for residential requirements. The blue area, which is 2.5 times the current size of Lusk, seeks to have the area scoped for future usage in contradiction to the Fingal Policy of not allowing the self-sustaining towns of Rush and Lusk coalesce together. The sustainable development of the area should be done through the forthcoming Local Area Plans which allows the community, Councillors and professional planners to craft a planner-led development of the area. This potential diktat by motion, without community input is unfair and unsustainable.’ O’Donoghue continued, ‘in the coming weeks (Sept 20th – Oct 14th) these motions will be debated by the Councillors in FCC, I would encourage members of the community to write to their 40 Councillors opposing these motions, whose numbers are referenced in the map. Contact details are publicly available at : https://www.fingal.ie/council/councillors’

The Lusk Mens walk and talk group meet at the Hub car park at 7:00pm every Monday for their weekly walk. This is open to all men and it’s an opportunity just get out of the house, have a nice walk, clear the head and have a chat if you wish. You can do it as a once off or every week, no joining necessary, just turn up. This group is organised by Ciaran Russell, so if you want to introduce yourself to him and before long you will find you have made new friends. So why not let any friends or neighbours know about it as new members are alaways welcome

The Lusk Guild resumed their monthly meetings in September after a well- deserved break over the
Summer. The day and time for future monthly meetings has changed. The monthly meeting will now take place on the first Tuesday of the month in Lusk Scout Den from 3.30pm until 5.30pm.

Joining our meeting on Tuesday 4 th October we will have a guest Speaker from Fingal County Council giving a talk on the Age Friendly Homes Program so be sure to put this date in your diary.

In addition to our monthly meetings we also have a range of activities for ladies who like to keep fit. Mon, Tue and Thurs – Tai Chi -Tuesday 11.00 - 12.00 – Chair Yoga - Tuesday 11.30 - 12.30 - Exercises in the Hub /when weather is bad we do exercises in the oldchurch. - Saturday 11am – meet Rush South Beach car park for sea swimming. This is just a small selection of our activities so join us for some fun as new members are always welcome. You can also contact us through our Facebook page. More good news our annual Christmas Market will take place on Sunday the 4th December in Lusk Scout Den. Santa will be joining us as he heard there are lots of very good boys and girls in Lusk so make sure to save the date!!