Good news for local film enthusiasts, Donabate-Portrane is going to the movies with it’s very own cinema club.Lambay Cinema Club is non-profit and run entirely by volunteers. Our mission is to give local audiences the chance to see a range of world cinema not usually available on commercial cinema screens.We are a new venture on the Peninsula partnering with The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival. The brain child of Larry Carolan and Breda Maguire, we hope to bring the best of International Cinema to Donabate and Portrane.Tell your friends and bring one or two along to our monthly screenings – we won’t exist without your support.We will soon announce details of our scheduled screenings for the coming months so follow us on our Instagram and Facebook pages @lambaycinemaclub. Lambay Cinema Club is supported by Access Cinema, a resource organisation for regional cultural cinema, The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival and Fingal Co. Co.

Donabate Parish Hall - hosted a number of excellent classes every day but one of the highlights of the week has to be Flower Friends, if ever you wanted to be uplifted by making beautiful creations this is the place to be! No previous experience or expertise needed! They meet as a group on Wednesday mornings at 10 00am in the Parish Hall, Green Room. Two special events took place in the Parish Hall recently which shows its versatility, adaptability & suitability especially in providing for cultural activities on the Peninsula. The Bleeding Pig Cultural Group put on a great film & the Through the Lens Photography Group a fantastic exhibition. We look forward to the Donabate Dramatic Society performing a play in April. Further enquiries from Bernie in the Parish Office email stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com or phone 01-8434574 .

On Monday 21st March the Boules launch took place on the new court provided by FCC just beside the Croquet Lawn at Newbridge House. It was a great afternoon; even the weather came good! As you can see from the photographs a great crowd turned up, about 25 people coming mainly from AAfA & Men’s Shed, with some FCC staff & a few other people! Country Crest Farm Shop managed by Maurice Brady, who was a great support to all with home deliveries during the pandemic, sponsored all of the equipment for the community. This included all the sets of boules, rings, tapes, rakes & brush etc. He came on the day and joined in with the craic! With some prizes of Easter chocolate bars for all who played till the end!Again, we thank FCC in particular Paul Smyth CEO of the Operations Dept which includes Parks, for putting in the Boules Court and we do hope in the not too distant future another will happen, when it is possible! His staff especially Lourda Darcy, Therese Casey, & Aileen O’Connor all deserve special mention for the vision along with the community to have a court. Huge thanks to Colm Connell from the Operations Dept who is in charge of maintenance in the Parks and Ivan Smyth Farm Manager for Newbridge Farm, who not alone came along on the day to launch the Boules, but joined in and played a game or two! Without our local councillors and representative supporting this venture it would never have happened - so in particular to Adrian Henchy, Paul Mulville, Rob O Donoghue and Corina Johnson a big thanks.We again must thank Tom & Eileen Donnellan for the Coaching Course in early February, otherwise there would be rows over the rules! and also for their guidance in selecting equipment. Just for the record Carolyn Smith made and put in the score boards and Jim O’Donohoe sorted out all the boules sets - a bit of role reversal or anyone can do anything! To AAfA, Men’s Shed, Senior Citizens, LSA and many others who supported or helped or spread the word a big thank you! So we hope more people will learn the game which is fairly easy but don’t be fooled like Croquet fairly competitive and join in in the fun! Further information contact Breda Dockrell 086 8693243 or Carolyn Smith 087 9284307.

The Royal Canal in Dublin is one of the hidden gems of our city, It is a lovely peaceful canalside walk/ cycle way secreted amidst the hustle and bustle of our town. Recently the Peninsula Pacers walked from Newcommen Bridge on North Strand to Ashtown, a distance of about 5.5 miles. The weather was kind to us and we enjoyed the many sights along the way. The Effin Bridge to the east of Newcommen Bridge is a piece of engineering ingenuity, an iron railway bridge which can be raised to allow boats underneath to access the canal.Under the looming of Croke Park as we passed by we were heartened to see so many canal cleaning volunteers out working hard to maintain the condition of the canal. Testament to their work is in the variety and health of the wildlife we spotted along the way.We stopped to say hello to Brendan Behan at Binns Bridge where we took the opportunity for a group photo with him.After Cross Guns Bridge in Phibsboro the surroundings become more industrial though a lot of the old buildings have been converted into apartments bringing fresh life to the area. After an enjoyable ramble of 2.5 hours we reached Ashtown where we made a beeline to the Halfway House for some very welcome refreshments.

On Saturday 5th March at 11am - the long walk group met at the Hand Park at Rush Harbour, for our return walk from Rush to Loughshinny and back. This beautiful walk went all along hugging the coast; which is a return walk of about 11kms. This is not suitable for children or people with reduced mobility or not reasonably fit! It was a glorious day with great views of Lambay Island & Rockabill Lighthouse. About half way along we came to the Drumanagh Martello Tower, the largest promontory fort in Ireland. There was significant contact between Drumanagh and the Roman world in the 1st & 3rd centuries AD - a Roman coin was reputedly found there and some pottery. We headed down into Loughshinny Harbour still very quaint where there was an FCC artist in residence in the old boathouse. We headed back taking in the views from the other direction now looking at the uniqueness of the town of Rush & the Towers at Portrane. The highlight of the day had to be the really great food at 2pm waiting on us in the “Harbour Bar” Rush, those who are the fish chowder said it was the best ever! The next long walk will be on Saturday 9th April 10 00am - maybe Rush to Rogerstown tides permitting!

The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival celebrated International Women’s Day on Sunday 6th. March. The event was held on Zoom but we are looking forward to having a “live” celebration next year. Burrow resident Nancy Dempsey opened the celebration. Nancy, at age 96, has contributed to International Women’s Day over the years.

We were delighted to welcome Dr. Annie Curtis, immunologist and Senior Lecturer in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She has worked with Professor Luke O’Neill in his laboratory in Trinity College. Dr. Curtis answered the many questions put to her by the attendees. Catherine Connolly is a Master Clinical Aromatherapist. Catherine demonstrated how to make a cooling menopause spray and cream. Mary Farrell was in conversation with author Rosemary Hennigan, a former resident of Donabate. Her debut novel “The Truth Will Out” was launched on 17th March. Rosemary is a former solicitor, and has worked in the NGO sector on issues of asylum, direct provision and homelessness. These talks were interspersed with music, song and poetry.Margaret Godwin played “Mná na hÉireann” on the flute. Denise O’Toole sang “Bread and Roses”.Marian Neary read two poems “The Secondhand Book” and “Thin Air”. The inimitable Rose from Fingal gave her humourous view on coping with aspects of modern living. Debbie Breslin read “Let Her Breathe” a poem by Becky Hemsley. Thanks to Fingal Co. Co. for their support for this event. We are delighted to say that the Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival is working to bring you Festival 2022 in September.The committee is meeting to put the programme together with the usual mixture of concerts, walks, talks, workshops, music, tours, exhibitions and our 3 day Short Film Festival…something for all. Because of nearly 3 years of COVID restrictions we were unable to fundraise so our coffers are fairly low. We will be holding a number of fundraisers and we ask that you support them. This is your community festival. We are always looking for committee members and if you feel like joining us as we prepare for bigger and better this year, please contact eilish mcdermott on eilishmcdermott64@gmail.com

Through the Lens Photographic Group were delighted to take part in the peninsulas’ Cultural Activity Week on the weekend 25 th /27 th February with a Photo Expo in Donabates’ newly refurbished Parish Hall.The Expo included over 30 framed photos, which made good use of the new picture rails; a selection of black and white photos of Donabate and Portrane past and present; and a variety of examples of photo techniques and ideas to enhance picture taking. We were very pleased with the publics’ response to the Expo and hope that people came away with a few hints that may prove useful, and indeed some enthusiasm to get out and use that camera. Many thanks to Fingal Co Co for funding the refurbishment of the Parish Hall. It has been very well done and is much appreciated in the area. Through the Lens club is open for membership for over 18yo. We meet in Donabate Golf Club every fortnight. For further information please feel free to contact Joe 0872569943, or Carolyn 0879284307

In addition to our weekly Monday morning exercise classes, our Tuesday morning croquet and boules at Newbridge House, our Thursday morning get-togethers in the Donabate Sea Scouts’ den and the regular tending to our plots at Turvey Allotments, Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed has resumed our occasional outings to places of interest. Over the past few weeks, we visited two local attractions, the Casino Model Railway Museum in Malahide, which houses the Cyril Fry model railway collection, and Newbridge House, where we had a very informative guided tour. We hope to have other outings soon to more distant locations. If you, or someone you know, is interested in joining us, please call our PRO, Jim, on 086-3694316.

Corina Johnston, Labour Party Area Representative is calling on Fingal County Council to commence a public consultation process on its recently acquired Donabate Progressive Credit Union site. Johnston said; “Duncan Smith TD, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue and I wish to compliment the CEO of Fingal County Council and her staff for acquiring the Iconic Ballisk House Credit Union Building and site from Progressive Credit Union for the benefit of the people of the Donabate Peninsula. The announcement in April 2021 that the Donabate Office of the Progessive Credit Union was to close came as a major shock to the members as they were unaware that such an option was under consideration by the Board. “ Johnston added; “As a result of numerous representations I set up an on line campaign to retain the Office in Donabate. Our well supported on line petition was presented to the Board of Directors of the Progessive Credit Union who were not prepared to overturn their decision and the office closed on 1st July last year. At national level Duncan Smith TD recommended that the site be acquired by the State for the provision of a Garda Station at a meeting with the assistant commissioner and senior Gardai and wrote to the Minister for Justice who responded “ l am informed that the current Garda Building and Refurbishment Programme does not include the development of a new Garda station in Donabate, Co. Dublin. Johnston concluded; “Fingal County Council have confirmed no decision has been made on the future use of the site. I carried out a recent online survey and can confirm that 95% of the respondents would welcome a full consultation process with the people of the peninsula on it’s future use. I am now calling on Fingal County Council to initiate such a process as soon as possible.”

Cllr Adrian Henchy has welcomed what he termed as good news regarding Ballisk House Donabate. He said,” I am very pleased to receive confirmation this morning from the Director of Economic Enterprise, Tourisim and Cultural Department of Fingal County Council, that they have completed the purchase of Ballisk House Donabate (formely Donabate Credit Union) While the closure of the Progressive Credit Union was a major blow to our local community this is a positive outcome in that the building and site which was delivered by our local community many years ago now rightfully returns to our local community. The coming weeks and months will see firmer plans put in place for the future potential use of the building for our local community.My thanks to Fingal County Council for the thier diligent work in getting this over the line and for the support of my peninsula colleague Cllr Paul Mulville who has also strongly supported this campaign at every opportunity we got within Fingal County Council.” Cllr Henchy said regarding the closure of Credit Union in Donabate,” I have just concluded a meeting with Fingal County Council Director of Economic/Enterprise/Tourism and Culture Emer O Gorman and her officials also attended by my colleague on the peninsula Cllr. Paul Mulville and other Fingal Councillors. Emer gave a background to the sale of Council owned lands to the then Donabate Credit Union in 1995 to allow for the building of Ballisk House the home of Donabate & District Credit Union. This was a full sale of the land to the credit union and the council did not insert any conditions or buy back clauses on the sale of the land at that time. I took the opportunity to impress upon Emer and Fingal County Council the history of the iconic building, I am encouraged by the fact Fingal County Council are agreeable to reaching out to Progressive Credit Union with a view to keeping this building and site in retaining it for Community usage and I very much welcome the Councils agreement to fully explore this. I will also once again be writing to the Progressive Credit Union to request a meeting with the Chief Executive in order to impress upon him the critical need to keep this service operational for the peninsula of Donabate Portrane both now and into the future and to reverse the plans they have to close this vital service.”

Glebe North Football Club was founded in 1945 and play in the Leinster Senior League at our home ground in Balbriggan, North County Dublin, Ireland. At the moment the club are looking for boys and grls aged 4 – 7 who want to learn the skills of football and enjoy all the club has to offer.