After two years of cultural drought on the Donabate/Portrane peninsula, the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival makes a welcome return in September.From Thursday 8th to Sunday 18th September, there will be a full timetable of cultural events, suited to all cultural tastes and all ages. From Céilí dancing to Basket Weaving, Art Exhibitions to Gala Concerts and Casino Nights to Nature Walks, the schedule promises something to entertain everybody.This year sees the return of some festival favourites, including Craft Workshops for Adults and Children, Mol an Óige showcasing some fun-sized talent, Gala Concert, Short Film Festival, Sing-a-Song or Sing-a-Long, Short Plays from the Donabate Dramatic Society, Tour of Newbridge House and Farm, Tours of the Martello Tower, and lots more.The programme this year also features some new attractions, including for one night only Casino Night, Family Local Knowledge Trivia Trek, A Pizza’Trad, Tai Chai on the Green, and much more. Keep an eye on the festival website, bleedingpig.ie for details about times and dates and venues. All events in the Bleeding Pig Festival are free of charge, and the organisers are very grateful to all our generous sponsors who make the festival possible.

Donabate Parish Hall has over the summer completed some further work on the hall - some internal & external painting was undertaken, the floor was given a top up sand & varnish; but the main work was the installation of special acoustic panels in the ceiling to improve the quality of sound in the hall; in layman’s terms reduce the echo and noise!

This will make the hall a very desirable place especially for Cultural & Creative Activities & Events. The cost of these works was funded by the Parish Hall Committee with grateful assistance from Fingal County Council Community Department. The electrical work to facilitate the installation was done by CP Electrical & Security and the installation of the boards by EK Property Maintenance this was very specialist work and completed to a very high standard by all of the local trades people! A special mention to EV Kidds over a 100years in business in Floor laying & Restoration and easy to see why - they promised to do this extra work for FREE after the hall had had some use and true to their word, came back this summer and did it to an excellent standard.The Parish Hall was back to full swing at the end of August but may still have some availability left for Weekly Activities and in the Cultural & Creative Slot in October & November - any queried to Bernie in the Parish Office in the mornings 01 - 8434574.

Our next walk coincides and links with the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival, so it is local - Saturday 10th Sept- starting at 12noon at The Parish Hall - walking to the Shoreline then on to Tower Bay short stop at Wayne’s Coffee Box - then down to Portrane and the Burrow walking along Rogerstown Estuary up Marsh Lane and back to the Brook for Pizza and Trad at 4pm! Bus or walk back to Donabate for the train ! Sound good - join us! Adults only & sorry no dogs - please wear the right attire especially footwear for the walk - we will do a good average pace ok. You can do the SHORT walk by waiting at the Brook and enjoying some refreshments while the LONG walk adds a loop of the Burrow as a few extra kms! Contact Carolyn 087 9284307 or Breda 086 8693243 for information or if interested!

After a short break last month from our regular activities, Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed is back at full swing again.We have our weekly exercise classes on Monday mornings; on Tuesdays it’s croquet at Newbridge House and from 10:30pm to 12:30pm on Thursdays we have a get-together for coffee, tea and a chat at the Scouts’ Den on the Portrane Road. At other times, some members tend our plots at Turvey Allotments, and from time to time we have outings to places of interest. We are always open to new members. So, if you’d like to join us, please come along to the Scouts’ Den any Thursday morning, or call Jim on 086-3694316. You’ll be made feel very welcome.

The Peninsula Pedallers is a local cycling group that meets every Sunday at 09:30 at the Donabate and Portrane Community Centre. We are a community cycling group, not a sports cycling club, which means we want our cycles to be sociable occasions and we welcome cyclists of varied ages, genders, confidence and abilities. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Mark at 087 9607662 or Mary at 087 2340764.

The Donabate-Portrane Heritage Audit was launched recently at local landmark, Stella’s Castle, Portrane by Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony. Cllr Mahony and Heritage Office Christine Baker spoke of the importance of Heritage and congratulated Sinéad Begly for such an beautiful publication as well as thanking the many locals who contributed to it. Light refreshments were served and free copies of the audit were presented to those gathered on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Fingal Heritage Office commissioned Sinéad Begley & Associates to conduct a heritage audit of the Donabate-Portrane Peninsula to identify heritage sites and features, and to provide recommendations on the best way to highlight and interpret these. It is intended that this report will provide a framework and promote a strategic and consistent approach to the development of heritage resources and interpretative materials for residents and visitors to the area. The value the local community places on heritage is evident in the action of local groups and individuals involved in recording, communicating, protecting and celebrating the unique character of Donabate and Portrane.

What wonderful weather we have just enjoyed, but now we must get down to the serious business of deciding what to do for the Autumn and Winter ahead! Active Age is here with great ideas and a brilliant Programme of classes to help you decide! For those new to the Peninsula Active Age for All (AAfA) was launched on the Donabate Portrane peninsula in 2015. It is a community organisation that provides social and recreational activities for those over 55 aimed at promoting health and wellbeing with an emphasis on enjoyment. New members are warmly welcomed. We run an extensive programme of classes from Sit and Get Fit, to Pilates and Yoga and Tai Chi and Stronger for Longer. With something for every level of fitness. We also provide language classes, Singing & Music and Drama. As part of our community work we offer some free activities - Croquet, Indoor Bowls, and Boules. Registration for all classes - paid and free - will start on the 5th of September and will continue on the 6th and 7th in Donabate/Portrane Community Centre. Details of dates, and times of classes and our programme is available on our website activeageforall.com. If you need any information about AAfA or our activities please email activeageforall@gmail.com Or Text only to 0868806808.

Wednesday September 14th

‘The Battle for Dublin, 1922’–Liz Gillis.

Wednesday September 28th

‘Sarah Cecilia Harrison, Dublin’s First Female Councillor’–Thomas Burke.
Both lectures will take place at 6 p.m. in the Conference Room of Dublin City Library & Archive, 144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Admission is free and all are welcome.

“The sea, that blue end of the world”…- Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Now in its third year, the Fingal Poetry Festival weekend will run from the 15-18th September following its launch at the Illumination of Floraville on Thursday, September 1st. The Festival celebrates the light that poetry brings to our lives and the sea, which is precious to all and in peril.The full programme is available on our website www.fingalpoetryfestival.comExpect to find poetry in unexpected places — on shop windows, pavements — and, colourfully illuminated and projected at Floraville, our lovely little park right in the heart of town beside the Library. The Festival weekend will have something for everyone — from an aerial dance spectacle to poetry walks through the High Woods of Ardgillan Castle and Red Island, lunchtime poetry readings, glittering evenings filled with live music and an especially commissioned film poem by Pat Boran. We hope to welcome the next generation of poets through exhibitions of local pupils’ poems in Fingal Libraries, a visit by Laureate na nÓg Áine Ní Ghlinn, a Family Poetry Fest, and other fun family-friendly events. If you would prefer to participate online, come along to our virtual ‘Night Sky’ or ‘An Dán ar Ardán’ poetry workshops! In a unique event on Saturday, the Deaf Poets’ Society will share their work, voiced by an interpreter — have a look at our website programme for a full list of ISL interpreted events. As ever, the Irish language is a pillar of the Festival. We would love to see you at our bilingual poetry readings, Comhrá & Craic, the Clinic Leaghair (Book Clinic),or the Seomra Open Mic on Sunday. Reaching out into the wider Fingal community, we will have three workshops in Fingal schools.Enda Coyle-Greene, Artistic Director, said “At our previous ‘live’ events, I’ve loved the reactions of our audiences, especially perhaps those people who mightn’t normally have considered poetry to be ‘their thing‘ (or could just be nursing a hangover from school and exams!) Our programme this year features a broad range of poets from Ireland and elsewhere, including Leontia Flynn, Michael O’Loughlin, Aifric Mac Aodha, Kate Miller, Dermot Bolger, and many more, so there should be a reading to suit everyone.”Fingal Poetry Festival is supported by the Arts Council Ireland, Foras na Gaeilge, Fingal CountyCouncil, Fingal Libraries, Leabhair Pháistí Éireann, Laureate na nÓg, Poetry Ireland, and RTÉ Supporting the Arts. Our international poetry competitions, The Fingal Poetry Prize and An Fiach Dubh – the Irish language prize, are sponsored by DHL International Forwrding and Progressive Credit Union, respectively. If you would like to volunteer at the Festival, send us an email at fingalpoetryfestival@gmail.com!

We are delighted to announce Roberto Bonello as the new Director of Underage Coaching for Glebe North FC. Roberto will be responsible for all aspects of coaching education for both underage Players and Coaches alike. Roberto has a wealth of coaching knowledge and experience that will only benefit our club going forward. Congratulations and best wishes Roberto.