Hard luck to our U16A team who lost to Drogheda in the league play off. A cruel way to decide the league to be honest after the girls topped the table with a 20 plus goal difference but rules are rules. The girls will be back for the new season to give there all again. Also congratulations to the Malahide Utd Under 14 boys tea who won the O’Neill Cup recently. Malahide Utd..2 v Mount Merrion..0 - Goals from Jack O’Keeffe and Finn Byrne secured Malahide United the Under 14 O’Neills Cup over a gallant Mount Merrion. In a close contest goals from Jack O’Keeffe and Finn Byrne secured Malahide United the Under 14 O’Neills Cup over a gallant Mount Merrion. This was a tight contest despite the scoreline and Malahide were worthy winners against a very strong opponent with Cian O’Connor accepting the trophy on behalf of the north coast club.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has announced that matches of the 17th Women’s Softball World Cup will be held in Ireland in July 2023, with Fingal set to co-host the prestigious event with locations in Italy and Spain. The competition, which will have 16 teams from around the world participating, will attract elite players competing for the trophy. This is only the second time the World Cup has been held in Europe, with the final to be played Italy. The event was first held in 1965 and has included world champions from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the USA. The current reigning team is the USA, who have won the title a staggering 11 times. Welcoming the announcement, Mayor of Fingal Seána Ó’ Rodaigh said: “This is a fantastic win for Ireland and is especially good news for the community in Dublin 15 who will be able to see the world’s best softballers competing right on their doorstep. St Catherine’s Park will be a superb venue for what is the premier tournament for women’s softball and help put Fingal in the spotlight as games are broadcast internationally.” AnnMarie Farrelly, Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, said: “Being selected to host a global spectacle like the Women’s Softball World Cup is a wonderful achievement. This is a massively popular sport that encourages participation across all age groups, cultures and communities, and I hope our hosting will help inspire the next generation of female athletes from across the county. We have been working closely with Fastpitch Ireland to show the WBSC that Fingal was the best location in Ireland to accommodate elite athletes with the right facilities to make the tournament a success, so this is a welcome outcome for that joint effort.”Melanie Cunningham, Director of Fastpitch Ireland said: “The awarding of the World Cup to Ireland is a testament to the standing of Team Ireland and the Irish Federation in the WBSC. A lot of hard work has been put into developing the bid with Fingal and we are very grateful for their support and vision to join us in the bid.”

Our recent Transition Year Graduation and an absolutely brilliant musical performance was a great way to end a fantastic year for the Transition Years at St Mary’s Secondary School, Baldoyle. Well done to the Transition Years on an amazing performance and which, under the guidance of Amy White Lambe, took less than 5 days to produce– just brilliant.There is also a newsletter produced for our Transition Year Graduation. Many thanks to Annie Jakob, our SNA, for a tremendous amount of work producing the newsletter. The last photo is from the Musical Performance – a journey down memory lane of the various musicals performed in St. Mary’s. A group of students find a box of old programmes which leads to discussion and a scene from the musical appears. Taking only 5 days to prepare, the Transition Years, with the help of Amy White Lambe, put on an absolutely brilliant performance.Congratulations to all the T Y students who made this such a special event. Many thanks are due to both Mr. Ryan and Ms Convey for all their work throughout this year. A lot of work went into organising the hoodies for everyone. Every week had something on from a trip to an activity to a presentation. They also had a fantastic trip to Achill and finished off the year with an orienteering session in Malahide Castle which was organised by Mr. Nash. Its back to full study in September with everyone ready to hit the ground running. Enjoy your summer!

by Malahide Historical Society

Up until the 1930s only a narrow track ran between Seabank and the Velvet Strand at Portmarnock. The dangerous nature of the road is illustrated by this 1904 newspaper report:

“A Kilkenny tourist was cycling back from the Irish Automobile Club races on Portmarnock Strand and within fifty yards of the Martello Tower (later known as Hick’s Tower) he lost control of his machine, and was thrown over the cliff, a distance of twenty foot, sustaining a broken arm and serious internal injuries. At the place where the accident occurred the cliff has been shored up by a concrete wall, the top of which is level with, and practically a part of, the roadway, so that anyone unacquainted with the locality would run serious risk”.In another later and more tragic incident a postman, John Hatch, died when early one foggy morning due to poor visibility his bike went over the edge. The track was of such concern to the local authority that it sought permission to close part of the road owing to its dangerous nature running alongside the sea cliffs. Permission was granted and the required prohibition sign was erected at both ends of the closed section. At that time it was unique in being the only public road in Ireland to be officially closed to motor traffic. In 1914 a Swords man was fined 5 shillings with 10 shillings costs for riding his motor-cycle along the prohibited road. When the sea wall at Robbs Walls suffered ‘sudden damage’ in November 1928, presumably storm damage, the Council agreed to spend £150 on a retaining wall, the contractor being Messrs. Bissett. The following year the Council accepted the tender of Patrick Bissett for the construction of a sea wall at Robbs Walls in Portland cement at a cost of £1-11-6 per cubic yard or £4-6-3 per lineal yard. Motor traffic was restricted to residents along the way and to emergency services including the clergy and local doctors. Dublin County Council agreed, in 1931, to spend £200 and employ fifteen men and four horses to widen the part of the road running from the baths behind the Grand Hotel to Muldowney. Some more widening was done the following year but the Council received a deputation on behalf of a number of carters using horse-drawn vehicles who had been dismissed from carting stones from Feltrim Quarry and had been substituted by motor haulage. In 1933, approval was received for the expenditure of £5,600 on the continuation of widening, new road construction, etc. on the Portmarnock-Malahide road, which became the road as we know it today.

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!

The Mini All Ireland Football tournament is a regular annual feature on the schedule of events at St Donabate. In June 2019 a hurling version of the tournament was introduced. Covid restrictions meant that the inaugural tournament was unable to run in the years after its first launch. Three years since the first event, and with massive development of hurling in the club including a developing camogie section, meant the revival of the Mini All Ireland Hurling and Camogie tournament for 2022 was sure to be a success. Almost 300 kids from Academy age group all the way up to Senior age (U14/U13) entered to compete for the coveted Cup winner’s trophy. With the football tournament launching separate boys and girls sections, the hurling event sought to do the same. With camogie in its infancy in the club, the U11 girls its inaugural team, it is a testament to the rapid development of the sport that well over 100 girls applied to compete in the camogie section across a number of age groups. Despite changeable weather conditions during the week of the tournament, which was held leading up to the June bank holiday weekend, the best of the weather held out to allow all the games to proceed with great support on the side lines as parents and supporters cheered on their temporary county allegiances. The quality of the games meant there were some really exciting group stage games and penalty shoot outs were required in many sections to determine placings for finals day. The sun shone bright on Friday’s finals evening as the competition came to a close. There was a great atmosphere around the grounds as both the cup and shield finals took place after which winners were crowned and goodie bags devoured by all.

Donabate quilters are a sewing group who meet on Tuesday evenings 7:45 -9:45 pm in the portacabin at Donabate Community Centre from September to end of May. When last March Olive, who is one of our members, mentioned that her daughter Dr. Caoimhe Costigan had worked with the National Neonatal Transport Team, and that they used small baby quilts to cover the incubators while transporting the babies. She also mentioned that the Neonatal Unit at Holles Street Hospital was very interested in using quilts on their incubators also. We discussed this at our class and quickly decided it was a very worthwhile project and that we would be delighted to make the quilts.

We liaised with Dr. Carmel Moore, Neonatologist at Holles Street Hospital, she explained what type of quilts were required, measurements, and types of fabric. She also explained the function of the quilts. The incubator covers are important because babies born early or unwell are sensitive to light, before 32 weeks the eyelids are very thin and their pupils cannot constrict, we try to control the level of lighting depending of a baby’s stage of development and sensitivity. This also helps to develop sleep rhythms that are important for growth and brain development. So knowing this important information and exactly what was required, we got busy designing, cutting, sewing and quilting. And 2 months later, we had 22 beautiful quilts of various designs and colours ready for the Neonatal unit. On the 8th of June, 3 of our members: Maura Porter, Liz Downey, and Linda Harford brought the quilts to Holles Street Hospital, where they were met by Dr. Carmel Moore. To demonstrate its function, she placed a quilt on to an empty incubator to show how the light would be reduced while still allowing access to the baby. The Donabate Quilters were very happy to be involved in such a worthwhile project; making quilts that were colourful, functional, and a practical aid to the Neonatal unit. Please note it is important to stress that the incubator is empty in the photos.

You may well be wondering what on earth a Christmas Tree is doing on a page of this magazine in July . Th e answer is fairly simple… re-cycling and community activity at its very best! Back in the autumn/winter of 2020 when we were deep in Covid times, Inclusion Week led to the suggestion of a knitted Christmas tree to be created and to be displayed in DPCC. Some Active Age for All women and some of their friends began the work on creating a hand-knitted and crocheted Christmas tree. All old scraps of wool were dug out of cupboards and bags and shared around and needles began to click.The result was a very different tree that brought people together just when they needed to see each other and to complete a creative project. Some members of Men’s shed helped with the frame and eventually DPCC had an alternative tree to celebrate this coming together project. The local ICA women offered to take the squares when the tree was unassembled and offered to take the project a step further and to make blankets from them and to give them to the Hospice. With lockdowns in 2021, this became a really challenging job. ICA were not able to meet as often as they wanted (they meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month in the portacabin at DPCC) but were able to pass the squares around members and they put together 5 blankets in all. These have been delivered to the Hospice and they are thrilled with them and have remarked on how warm and colourful they are for patients to use when they are able to sit out. To the women (and men) who made this happen, congratulations on your creativity.

Members of The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival continue to prepare for your Community Festival in September. Blanchardstown Library is sending their Sensory Collection over to Donabate Library during the festival. Fergus and his staff in Donabate library are preparing a sensory friendly event to take place during the Festival.Some more events to look forward to..James Bond Casino Royale themed night in Balcarrick Golf Club, the Launch of the Lambay Cinema Club, Mol an Óige, local band Santoria.More on these next month.Don’t forget our fundraising Festival Quiz in Keelings on Thursday 25th August at 8.30pm. The Festival Committee recently received one of the Fingal County Council Mayor’s Awards. The awards ceremony was held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, and many local voluntary groups were recognised and commended for their contribution to society in Fingal.

The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival has not taken place for the last 2 years due to Covid-19, but the festival is back, bigger and better than ever this year! Running from Thursday September 8th, to Sunday September 18th, the festival programme promises something to suit all tastes and age groups. From Craft Workshops for all ages to Ceili dancing, Gala concerts to Short films, and Bio-Diversity Walks to a Casino night, there will be something to satisfy all cultural tastes.All events in the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival are free of charge, but some events must be booked in advance through Eventbrite. Please keep an eye on the festival FaceBook page for details of booking, from about mid-August.

The festival will host a fund-raising Pub Quiz in Keelings Lounge, Donabate on Thursday August 25th. Tickets for the quiz are €10, available at the door on the night or in advance from Emer on 0863691871.Come along and join in with some of the events and let’s welcome the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival back to the peninsula!

Cllr Adrian Henchy has said he is, “ Immensely proud and it was a great honour to have been joined by the the Mayor of Fingal Cllr Seána Ó Rodaigh, Chief Executive of Fingal County Council Ann Marie Farrelly, my Council colleague Cllr. Paul Mulville along with the Operations Dept, An Taisce, Community representatives and the staff from the local Shoreline Hotel for the official launch of both the Blue Flag and Green coast award for Balcarrick beach Donabate recently.” The Councillor said, “ 2016 was the last time Donabate beach held the Blue Flag status so it has taken 6 years to regain this much respected and coveted beach award.Blue Flag criteria include standards for quality, safety, environmental education and information, the provision of services and general environmental management criteria. The Blue Flag is sought for beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators as an indication of their high environmental and quality standards.” Five beaches nationally were awarded both a blue flag and a green coast award for the 2022 season which were Balcarrick Beach, Donabate, Dublin; Ballinskelligs in Kerry; Salthill and Silverstrand in Galway City and Trá Inis Oírr in Galway. Cllr Henchy added, “ With that in mind it was a double celebration recently with Donabate beach being the only Dublin beach to obtain both the “ Blue Flag” and Green Coast award. Great credit has to go to everyone involved from our local community volunteers, Fingal County Council, Clean Coasts/An Taisce and indeed many more, too many to mention for regaining this very important recognition of both beach cleanliness and high levels of Water quality. Finally I wish to express my thanks also to the Operations Department of Fingal County Council who carried out some improvement works at the entrance to Balcarrick beach including footpath improvements to improve getting onto the beach especially for disability/mobility impaired users of the beach and also the installation of beach shower facilities near the entrance. These small improvements will hopefully in a small way improve all users experiences at Balcarrick beach, Donabate,” Cllr Henchy concluded.