As we crystal ball gaze over coming months, we must also start planning for what we know. St. Patrick’s Festival will provide an opportunity for the community to celebrate our National Holi-day and while we don’t yet know what that will look like, we are starting to plan for the day, in the hope that Lusk will be able to have its traditional parade. Come what may, the Community Coun-cil will look to brighten up the town with banners and bunting. We will have the Round Tower il-luminated again for the festival and all going well, we will have a real life parade on the streets of Lusk.We are encouraging every household to play their part by flying flags and bunting across the town for St. Patrick’s Festival. If everyone makes an little effort, it will lift the spirits of the town and in the light of the last two Covid years, this will be much needed. Lusk Community Clean-Up, organized by Willie McGee, is one such example of a bunch of volunteers making a big difference with the appearance of the town. Willie particularly wants to give a shout out to Lusk Community College students for taking part in the Clean-Up.The Fingal Development Plan Review is ongoing with motions being proposed by Councillors in recent weeks. The Draft Fingal Development Plan will be on public display for a period of 10 weeks from February 2022 to May 2022. This will be your opportunity to comment on the plan and to review what is being proposed. In the context of the Development Plan Review we have delayed the first meeting of the Lusk Vision 2030 Imple-mentation Group to February. 2022 is looking good so far. Let’s hope it continues.

At the January Area meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue tabled a motion regarding improved walking a cycling infrastructure to service within the town boundary of Lusk and also facilitate connectivity to the Rush & Lusk Train Station in line with the concept of a 15-minute city or town centre first approach.In response the Council stated that plans have been identified on their programme of works under the Lusk Station Road East West Route and their Lusk Village Scheme, works that are currently planned to commence with feasibility and development in the first quarter of 2023. Cllr O’Donoghue stated that the identified works are much needed in the town with peak hour traffic between Lusk and the train station growing apace. He continued that ‘the town centre first approach would facilitate better mobility links for the people of Lusk within the town and the cycle link to the train station would provide much needed access to the train station that can offer cyclists and pedestrians an alternative route to the train station which would circumvent the usage of the busy main Lusk to Rush road. I look forward to these plans being brought to fruition in the future.’

Congratulations to Lusk farmer Shane Halpin who won “Other Enterprises” category (Horticulture) at the FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards 2021 in association with Macra na Feirme in partnership with the IFA. The competition was first launched in 1999 and and has been successful in raising the profile of young farmers within their community by recognising their achievements and contribution to farming.. Shane graduated from Technological University Dublin with a degree in Horticulture. He always had an interest in farming from a very young age, he gained this interest from his grandad and his uncles at their farm in Lusk, he spent all his school holidays working with them. Shane also spent some time working on farms in New Zealand and the USA to gain further experience.Shane started Welgro Produce which is located in Rush, Co. Dublin along with Sean and Gary Weldon in 2020.Welgro is one of only two commerical cucumber growers in Ireland. The company employs up to 15 people at peak times in the areas of grading/picking/packing and distribution. Their company recently won “The Irish Newbie new entrant competition” in association with Teagasc. They were also featured on RTE’s “Ear To The Ground” program recently. Shane is also a member of The North County Dublin Macra na Feirme. Shane made it into the final five of the Young Farmer of the Year Award 2021 by winning his category. The awards were announced on December 17th at an event which was streamed live on Macra Na Feirme’s Facebook page and zoom. After receiving the award Shane said he was extremely proud of his achievement for his company and for the horticulture industry.

Fingal County Council has announced that Robert Burns has taken up the role of Director for Housing and Community Development from 24 January. Robert joins the council’s executive team at a time when Fingal has committed over €390 million to deliver a significant housing programme under the Government’s Housing for All initiative. He is taking over the role from Liam Burke who has been the Acting Director of Fingal’s Housing and Community Development team following the departure of Margaret Geraghty last May to the Housing Delivery Co-ordination Office at the Local Government Management Agency. Welcoming the appointment, Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly said: “We are delighted to be able to bring someone of Robert’s calibre to Fingal. Having his extensive experience and expertise on board will be invaluable to help drive the county to reach its ambitions around housing provision as well as developing the many community assets that benefit everyone who lives, works or visits here. On starting his new role, Mr Burns said: “This is an exciting time to be at the helm of one of the key departments within Fingal and I’m looking forward to playing a leading role in helping to build upon the excellent work already underway.“I will be particularly keen to work with local communities and stakeholder groups to help ensure there is not only good quality housing built across the county, but that we can also deliver a strong regeneration and development programme which can transform and improve neighbourhoods for residents and visitors alike.” Currently Fingal manages and maintains a stock of around 6,000 homes and is working on the development of landbanks at Church Fields in Dublin 15, Ballymastone in Donabate and Hayestown in Rush. A graduate of Queens University Belfast, Robert has extensive experience as an engineering consultant and also worked at Irish Rail where he specialised in the project management of infrastructure projects. Robert has a keen interest in the fields of housing, sustainable development, transportation, community development, town and village renewal and climate action.

Peninsula Pacers have planned a few walks for the Springtime so hope the weather will be kind to us all! So get out your walking shoes & let’s get going!

Skerries: On Thurs 17th Feb we hope to go on a medium walk in Skerries. We can go on the train, walk down to the town via the mill if open, go on a beach walk around by Red Island and coffee! Returning by train to Donabate. All weather permitting.

Boyne: On Thurs 10th March we hope to do some of the Boyne Rampart Canal Walk. It is a flat walk with some lovely attractions on the way and a view of the Boyne for the entire length. They will require cars but we can hopefully pool by then! All weather permitting.The April walk to be decided but will probably be before the Easter Holidays and maybe the Bray to Greystones Coastal Walk - if it is reopened. If you are interested in joining please contact us we would be delighted to hear from you. Further information & queries to Carolyn Smith 087 9284307 and also on email: carolyns@live.ie

In the 2021 Town and Village Streetscape Enhancement scheme, an initiative funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) & administered by FCC Development Section, the Parish Hall Committee were part funded for outdoor works at the Parish Hall & Church. The tree lined boundary facing the graveyard and backing on to the railway has been pruned back, the trees trimmed and the undergrowth cleared out. New pots and miniature trees have been put in front of the hall. In the Springtime the railings, gates and doors of the church will be restored and painted as part of this programme. Some works have already started by clearing at the railings in preparation for painting as the weather improves. As regards what is happening inside the Parish Hall - there has been some curtailment of daily activities and classes and very few events taking place, but hopefully with covid restrictions easing there will be more activities and events taking off. It is not still clear whether it will be possible to run the Cultural 3 Week Activity Block for in Spring during February/ March and it may have to be moved to a later time in the summer; all will depend on public health restrictions. It is envisaged that the situation will improve as regards public health and as there are only certain times still available to rent in the Parish Hall and a rapidly expanding population it might be a good idea to contact Bernie at stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com or any queries to 01 8434574 to see if there is availability to suit your needs. We wish you all a good Spring and welcome back all our regular users and new user to the Parish Hall.

Online registration for new members opened on the 17th January and places are filling up fast. Leithinis Donabate Portrane CCE offers lessons in Banjo, Bodhran, Button Accordion, Concertina, Fiddle, Guitar, Mandolin and Tin Whistle for beginners and advanced students. Annual family membership €20 and 12 lessons €110. Lessons are held on Monday evenings. If you are interested in learning a traditional Irish instrument with highly experienced teachers please email us at leithinis@comhaltas.net. further information regarding our classes, teachers and activities can be found on our website at www.leithinis.com

Although we’ve had to curtail our activities due to public health restrictions, Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed has not been hibernating over the winter. Our plots at Turvey Allotments have been made ready for the coming growing season. Raised beds have been installed in our greenhouse with new imported topsoil; paving slabs have been laid and a water storage tank installed. All of this was made possible with a grant under the Community Enhancement Programme 2021, a scheme funded by the Department of Rural & Community Development and administered by Fingal County Council’s Local Community Development Committee. We have also installed a storage shed beside our portacabin at the Donabate Sea Scout’s den. The self-assembly kit and other required materials were purchased with a grant under the COVID-19 Emergency Funding (Round 2) operated by Fingal County Council’s Local Community Development Committee. We hope that, with easing Covid-19 restriction we will soon be able to resume all of our activities. If you are interested in joining us, please contact our PRO, Jim, on 086-3694316.

One of the exciting things about becoming an established club is seeing our traditions take shape, and some of these are based around Christmas.This year was our second time to take part in the “Polar Plunge” challenge for Special Olympics Ireland; we receive fantastic support from our National body and we welcomed the opportunity to get “Freezin’ for a Reason” and raise some funds. Our volunteers, families and the local swimming community came together on Ladies Beach on a bitterly cold December morning with buckets of good humour and enthusiasm (not to mention flasks of hot chocolate and hot water bottles for after)!! Thank you to everyone who helped support – the event was such a success we were asked to do it all again for Ireland AM with Deric Hartigan.You may have seen us! Meanwhile one of our newest volunteers, LSA member and local fitness instructor Suzanne Dunne, took on the phenomonal challenge of running a marathon a month for 5 months; November to March. Suzanne selected our club to benefit from this amazing achievement. Suzanne has already completed her marathons for November and December. We are all incredibly awed and grateful; it is one thing to take part in an “official” marathon with huge support on the route, and quite another to take on 5 marathons in the local area with just a handful of supporters. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for news of Suzanne’s next marathon and if you see her out and about give her a beep or a wave!

History was made on 9th January, when three of LSA Masters athletes took part in our first ever Masters Cross Country in St Anne’s Park, Raheny. The atmosphere was electric with all the local Dublin Clubs being represented. We are very proud of our LSA athletes Patrick Phillips, Steven Rice, Damien Hand, and Donal Iremonger for flying the LSA flag at this event. Pat Hooper would be delighted that we had a team out for a Masters XC race. He was a great supporter and friend to our club and it’s fitting that it’s the introduction of the Pat Hooper Perpetual trophy at this event. Congratulations to Raheny Shamrocks on winning the inaugural Pat Hooper Cup and to the for hosting such a well-run event. For more information visit our website lambaysportsathletics.ie and for membership enquires please contact our Registrar on lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com.Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook- Search LSA