Join Balbriggan and District Historical Society on September 28th in the Bracken Court Hotel at 8pm for a talk by Jim Herlihy on the Irish police force An Garda Siochána who are celebrating 100 years this year.We were delighted to return to in person talks this year and meet up again with old friends of the Society. The Balbriggan & District Historical Society Committee are pictured at our March talk Irish National Foresters - St Molaga Branch, No.315 (Balbriggan) 1897-1942 “ by Jim Walsh We enjoyed an excellent presentation in April from Declan Brady on Frank Lawless, 1870-1922: Fingal’s Revolutionary Politician Our May talk was on the Building of Balbriggan Harbour by Rory McKenna and Rory shared his knowledge again along with Jim Walsh Brian Howley and Bernie Kelly at our Historical Walk as part of the Balbriggan Summerfest and again during Heritage Week as part of the Balbriggan Beach Activity Festival. Our August talk was on Genealogy and tracing your family history with Colm Timmons. Find out more about our Society at balbrigganhistory.com

Another great week of fun in our summer camps. It was great to see such hurling and camogie skills on display. Thanks to all our coaches, helpers and Naoise & Donagh for organising. Don’t forget kids and adults of all ages are always very welcome to join our club and play a part in our exciting future.

Congratulations to Chloe Duggan who won Student of the Month for June. She was presented with the Student of the Month Trophy by her instructor Dermot O Keeffe Sensei, 6th Dan JKS recently. Chloe attends classes regularly and puts huge effort into her training in kihon, kata and kumite. Well done, Chloe! JKS Swords recently hosted the JKS Ireland Inter-club competition in Applewood Community Centre. Clubs from all over Ireland attended and it was a great day for everyone. JKS Swords had a squad of 18 members who competed, and they rose to the challenge on the day as the host club and topped the medal table taking home 7 gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze medals. Congratulations to all the competitors. The next JKS Inter-club takes place in October and will be hosted by JKS Tallaght.42 members of the club presented for grading examination recently. After training for an hour, the members had to perform a selection of kihon, kata and kumite requirements to attain their next coloured belt. All the students were understandably nervous but didn’t let this stop them from completing what was required to progress in their grades.Training continues over the sumcer in Applewood Community Centre as the club prepares for the next karate season which comcences in September. Classes are on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We take new members (Children, Young People & Adults) all through the year. Contact Dermot on 087-98073885 for details on how to join. Contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club

Festival in a Van came to Fingal on Wednesday July 20th for two special performances to welcome our new Ukrainian friends to the county. . This was certainly the case in Fingal when Irish and Ukrainian musicians performed together to provide wonderful entertainment to an enthusiastic audience which included Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony and over 100 Ukrainian residents.The day began in the morning at the Emmaus Retreat centre in Swords which included a stunning performance from Ukrainian pianist Oleh Udod, as well as Yeva Halstian and ballad group Across the Keys, with Joe Brennan, John Brennan, Colum King and Jim Aughney. Oleh and Yeva are Ukrainian guests at the Emmaus Retreat Centre at Balheary and have performed previously at Emmaus and at the Flavours of Fingal event two weeks ago, accompanied by other residents.The afternoon performance at Deerpark Hotel in Howth saw the audience getting involved with some impromptu dancing and had the opportunity to sample Ukrainian food. Speaking at the event, Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony welcomed the Ukrainian guests to Fingal saying “I am delighted to attend today’s special event both in Swords and Howth and I thoroughly enjoyed the music from both the Ukrainian and Irish musicians. I would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to you all and to let you know that Fingal is here to support you during your stay in Ireland.” For more information on Festival in a van go to festivalinavan.com

The months of June and July was a very busy period for the Swords Tidy Towns volunteers. The judging for the National Tidy Towns competition took place during this time, and as we are not informed when the judging team arrive in Swords it was all hand on deck. Teams went out every day to make sure that the Main St and surrounds were always looking their best. This involved litter picking, graffiti removal, replacing damaged and stolen plants, weeding and much needed watering during the hot periods without rain. Our team of volunteers deserve a big round of applause and a well earned holiday for their trojan efforts, well done one and all. The Swords Tidy Towns Best Presented Business Frontage/Window Display Competition Awards also took place.The following businesses achieved awards for their creativity to create fantastic window displays in relation to the competition.Gold Merit Cert and Overall Award of the STT Perpetual Cup to the Arch Bar (on behalf of the Lawlor family) Proprietor Des Lawlor with the STT Perpetual cup for overall award. Silver Merit Cert awarded to St Vincent’s and presented to Hong Maguire Manager and Rebecca…..Bronze Merit Cert awarded to The Card and Party Store Tom Hanley Proprietor and Manager Tracey. Many congratulations to all the winners and to all the businesses concerned for taking part in the competition. All the certificates will be issued shortly when they are printed, courtesy of the Fingal Horticultural Society.

Congratulations go to the Senior Men Football squad as they are presented with the AFL2 league cup tonight at Broomfield. A last few words from Mens Senior Football captain Paidi White with special thanks to the ‘3 gents’ Dan St Ledger Derek Roche & Mick Byrne who have guided them to this year’s league win & back to the AFL1 within 6 months in the job! Also to all the families and support who have been there for the lads all season. On to the Champo lads!

A fantastic 2 week’s camps finished recently for the St Sylvesters July football Summer Camp sessions. Huge thanks go to Eamonn Leahy of Leahy O’Riordan Chartered Accountants for his year after year support of our camps. Each player gets a special 2022 camp tshirt to finish a fantastic week of fun!

Malahide Lions Club has started this project where old broken sewing machines will be refurbished and sent to East Africa where recipients can start a small business, do repairs and earn a living.There are hundreds of these old machines just lying around in local homes. So please donate the and give East Africans a chance for a new life!

Neala girls sea scouts had a great time sailing on the keelboats recently, having a swim break with the hot weather at the time at the end of last month. Well done to our NTA girls, Laura and Niamh for organising the trip and helming. Also a big thanks to Colum also for assisting in helming . The girls had a great day on the water..

Junsa Taekwondo has been busy this summer. We recently took part in the very first Lusk community summer festival, which was a great success. With a lot of planning and hard work in the run up to the festival our students showed of their skills with a great performance.On the day of the event we shared the mats with fellow martial artists from Lusk Judo run by Judo legend Master Jack Dennis. A huge honour for me personally. Junsa also took part in a Dublin inter club competition.