Junsa Taekwondo recently took part in our first international tournaments since the pandemic , while at home we have been training hard for our upcoming local competition. We have also been training up our more senior members to be corner judges and referees. It’s been busy! Junsa Taekwondo trains in Lusk scout den. For more information on class times contact Master Stuart Russell on 087 7775202 or follow us on Facebook @ Junsa Taekwondo.

During March and April Lusk Athletic Club athletes took part in a wide range of Indoor and outdoor events with remarkable success. Our Juvenile, Senior and Master’s athletes competed brilliantly in Track and Field events taking home a large haul of medals from the Dublin, Leinster and National championships at the National Indoor Arena and at the highly impressive TUS arena in Athlone. At Parkrun and on the roads many of our athletes continued to set new PBs and major credit is due to the athletes for their dedication in training and to their coaches in Lusk AC who give so freely of their time to help improve all our athletes. In March we had 33 members complete the Bohermeen Half Marathon and close to 100 members took part in the Lusk St Patricks Day Parade. On the 2nd April our latest Fit 4 Life group graduated by running 5k at the Donabate Parkrun some running a 5k for the first time after only two months of training. Well done to all and we hope that this is the start of your running journey. Apart from all the success on the running front, club vice chairperson Aidan McKenna, Kate, Cara and Pat travelled to Lesotho on the 1st April. Aidan and Lusk AC want to thank everyone who took part in events to raise funds for Lusk for Lesotho.

Here we have a few St. Patrick’s Day photos of some of our Juvenile members, who took part in the Lusk St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Our Adult Hurlers and 2011 Boys teams are looking for new recruits, so we have included 2 photos for them. Our U16 Footballers & U14 Footballers and the Lusk players from the U15 Ros Lusca team finally got to receive their medals from last season. The players enjoyed their Awards Night on Friday 8th April in the clubhouse with all their coaches. The medals were presented by our Senior Footballer, Adam Caul. Well Done to all the players and their coaches and we wish them all the best for the season ahead.

Lusk Tidy Towns Association have expressed their thanks to Fingal County Council regarding the tidy towns work programme for 2022, ie for cutting back shrubbery on our Black Raven bed area on the Dublin Road, for agreeing to re-letter our Market Square Sculpture, and also to replace the old flower bed on the green area. The committee are running a school competition on “Be Kind to the Planet”. A clean-up of the Balrothery union graveyard has taken place. This is a yearly project run by Lusk Tidy Towns and Mass is held every November for the deceased that are buried there. As always thank you to everybody who helps ensure Lusk is kept looking well as we head towards the summer. Remember Keep Lusk Tidy and bin that Litter.”

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

There is a lot of community attention recently on the development of Lusk. Recent years have seen vast amounts of residential development around the area. While residential development is positive in so far as it provides housing, brings us new friends, and grows the community, it must be matched or preceded by the necessary infrastructural, social, recreational and commercial development that is required in order to have a balanced development of the town.Fingal County Council currently have their Development Plan open for consultation. If you have anything to say about how your town develops in the future then please submit an observation on fingal.ie/development-plan. You could submit an observation on anything including (but not limited to) litter, bins, traffic lights, speed signage/traffic calming measures on approaches to the town, proper road and footpath maintenance, blake’s cross junction improvement, lighting, housing, sports facilities, youth clubs, library, planning condition enforcement, no further residential development being permitted until the rest of the required development catches up, schools, council engagement with the community, etc. Lusk is our town. It’s up to us as a community to let the decision makers at local and national levels know what we want for our town. It is only through active engagement with the community that positive change can be delivered.Remember that the Summer Festival is coming up in June. LAG is looking for sponsorship from any local businesses and support from members of the community to help out on the day. As always, we are on the look out for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us and we will get back to you on luskactiongroup@gmail.com.

At the April Council meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue welcomed the progression of plans for upgrading the cycling infrastructure in the Lusk area. As part of the Sustainable Transport Grants Lusk received €550k for cycling infrastructure from between Blakes Cross to Ministers Road. The design process for which is advancing to provide protected cycle paths for cyclists. Discussions are now ongoing with the Operations Dept. in relation to reducing the speed limit for the section between Kilhedge Lane and Ministers Road junction. The Active Travel Dept and Operations are collaborating to investigate if cycle paths can also be introduced on the section north of Ministers Road junction to Murtaghs Pub. Cllr O’Donoghue stated that ‘the identified works are much needed in order to improve the safety for road users in the Ministers Road area and the new ramps to be installed on Ministers Road will make commuting safer for all residents using the roads.’ In other Council news, Cllr O’Donoghue welcomed the recently installed pedestrian access gate within the Lusk Recreational Hub which will provide access to the adjacent schools. O’Donoghue continued “This installation should help in reducing the parking along the Lusk Bypass during busy school times as parents will able to use the carpark at the recreational hub and allow children to walk safely within the Hub to school. The connecting paths in the Hub will also be upgraded this year to facilitate safer travel to the schools for students in the town.”

It’s great to be back to classes and socialising after our Easter break. Our classes will run till the end of May. Active Age members are now involved in the Failte Isteach Programme with DPCC and Fingal County Council. We put out a call to our members for those who wished to be involved in this programme for teaching conversational English and were surprised at the response – 20 members of Active Age are now involved. We are being trained by those who have worked before with this programme. We will be working primarily with those who have newly arrived in Donabate from Ukraine, but conversational English will be available to people from anywhere who are new to our area. At the first group meeting of Failte Isteach many teachers emerged and people who had worked abroad and taught English. The encouragement from those who had previously worked on this programme was most reassuring and it became clear that you don’t need to be a teacher particularly – that if you just want to contribute and communicate with people who have a real need to belong somewhere at this point in their lives. If you know of anyone who needs to feel more connected to their community by attending Failte Isteach classes, do let them know that they will be happening, and tell them to leave their name at the Community Centre. On the 10th of May we will hold a Coffee Morning for Sick Children with the Children’s Health Foundation and we hope that we will get the usual great support from our members and neighbours. We have started a new Acorn Tablet Try Out programme to digitally connect our older members. Having completed our first programme with many satisfied and new digitally connected customers. There are still some places available so please contact us. As always if you wish to join us or want any information about Active Age for All please email us at activeageforall@gmail.com / text us on 086 8806808 or take a look at our website www.activeageforall.com.

In late March the Parish Hall had an event to launch the newly refurbished Parish Hall. Due to covid concerns numbers were limited.Our Mayor of Fingal Seána Ó Rodaigh who arrived by train an active traveller! was the guest speaker. Fr Pat Reilly PP spoke on behalf of the Parish Hall Committee and the community. Both of them focused on the importance of community and places that cater for the depth & breadth of activities that take place in our area. The Parish Hall mainly caters for Cultural Activities, Recreational, Meetings & events.The Programme now runs with daily activities eg Senior Citizens, Flower Friends, Montessori, Bridge Club, Eggheadz Youth Yoga & Well-being, Leithinis Traditional Music, Irish Dancing, UkuleleUnited etc. Then on a few occasions during the year the daily activities are suspended for about three weeks to facilitate Drama, Exhibitions and special events to take place. eg Through the Lens Photography Exhibition, The Film Club marked International Women’s Day for the Bleeding Pig and the Dramatic Society production in late April.Fr Pat thanked all that had a part to play in the refurbishment particularly FCC who grant aided the works and our councillors who supported these grants being allocated in the chamber.The grants came from The Community Enhancement Scheme, The Community Facilities & Remedial Works Scheme, Covid 19 Emergency Funding, Community Activities Funding Scheme and the Village Renewal Scheme.A number of public representatives came on the night and a big thanks is extended to them Duncan Smith TD ( who uses the hall) Cllr Adrian Henchy, Cllr Paul Mulville, Cllr Rob O Donoghue, Cllr Joe OBrien & Corina Johnston. He particularly thanked the Parish Hall Committee, Bernie Guillespie from the Parish Office, Breda Dockrell & Jim O Donohoe for their efforts in bringing this project to fruition. He outlined all the people who keep the place going on a day to day basis with such incredible voluntary work. He spoke of all the tradesmen & suppliers who had gone beyond the call of duty in work done on the Parish Hall.On the night some Leithinis CCÉ played a few tunes & UkuleleUnited played and sang a few songs - all which was very much enjoyed! Contact Bernie in the Parish Office anytime with re activities & bookings.

Special Olympics is an all-Ireland sports organisation for people with an intellectual disability. Donabate Portrane Special Olympics Club (DPSOC) is one of 293 Special Olympics clubs across Ireland. The club has over 80 athletes and is run by over 40 volunteers, who give of their time freely to support the athletes and help them develop their sporting skills. If you would like to volunteer your time on a weekly basis, the club is always on the lookout for new volunteers. The club is specifically for younger athletes, aged 4 – 12. Training sessions take place every Saturday at 11:30, 12:30 and 13:30 in the Donabate Portrane Educate Together National School. Sessions are volunteer led and no previous sport or coaching experience is necessary. All you need is a willingness to get involved and have fun. New members are always welcome. For further information please email dpsoclub@gmail.com If you have a child who would like to become an athlete in the club we have a waiting list for new members. Email us to get your child added to the list. Lastly we would like to congratulate Special Olympics volunteer Suzanne Dunne who completed her 5th marathon on Saturday the 19th of March in aid of the club. Suzanne raised €1,900 for DPSOC by completing 5 marathons over a 5 month period!