Malahide struck gold at the Tidy Towns competition recently, picking up a €900 prize and a gold medal with a score of 335. Two more towns finished over the 300 mark this year in Fingal, with Balbriggan racing past that milestone with a score of 303 points while Swords’ Silver Medal performance netted them even more, finishing on a score from the judges of some 329 points and edging closer to Malahide. However the big prize has went to Malahide and all the hard work of their volunteers throughout the year has been recognised nationally once again!

Say hello to Scouting Irelands newly crowned Venture Master Mariner, Kate ‘Champion’ Campion!
Kate is our 4th ever member to receive this accolade and our first ever female!Congratulations Kate! We are equally proud of both Niamh Lynch & Emma Taylor who were awarded 2nd & 3rd Venture Master Mariner awards.Néala are on fire at the moment!And not to forget Evan Banable from Wednesday Troop who came in close 2nd in the Rover Master Mariner category! What am impressive group of young competitors who displayed some impressive seamanship as they were examined on boat handling skills, navigation and collision regulations.Ventures 1st – Kate (9th Port Malahide), Ventures 2nd – Niamh (9th Port Malahide), Ventures 3rd – Emma (9th Port Malahide), Rovers 1st – Daragh (7th Port Howth), Rovers 2nd – Evan (9th Port Malahide) and Rovers 3rd – Holly (7th Port Howth). Thanks to our hosts1st Port of Dublin Sea Scouts – Ringsend, and to Dublin Port Company for supporting skills assessment with use of their pilot boat also to Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club for facilitating us and all our examiners and friends of the Irish Institute of Master Mariners

This Christmas why not send a special ‘Greetings from Malahide’ card to all your friends at home and abroad. In doing so you will be helping us to fund needy projects in our area. The Christmas Cards, with six beautiful views of Malahide, have been professionally printed and are ready to go. The cards are of the finest quality and fantastic value at a pack of six for €5. You won’t get better value this year! If you’d like to get your order in early, contact us:-lionschristmascards@gmail.com, WhatsApp or text 0858172660. We will deliver locally FREE - cash or card, pay on delivery. We would also like to mention our Christmas Appeal. It takes place on two weekends. On 4/5th Dec it’s at the Diamond in Malahide. We’ll be cycling and walking to raise funds for the food appeal. Also we’ll be outside local supermarkets on the 17/18th December. These funds are raised to help struggling families and local charities. Donations can also be given through malahidelions.com

Now that we have our new premises and can train in our pods indoors we have begun to concentrate on our sparring skills and preparing for our Christmas grading. Due to all the restrictions this year we were unable to have our summer graduation so hopefully we can have one this coming December. Junsa would like to wish all their members and friends a very Happy Christmas and a safe new year.We are always looking for new members young and old to take part in our wonderful Martial Art and sport. Merry Christmas everyone.

The club were delighted to reach the milestone of over 700 members recently. Thanks to all the coaches, volunteers and members for the continued support you give to make our club what it is. We are really proud to be practising all athletic disciplines; within a fully inclusive club. A bike stand has been constructed at The Hub so we encourage all members to cycle, walk or run to training where possible. Tickets for the Lusk AC Christmas Raffle are now on sale with details on our facebook page. We have some fantastic prizes and all proceeds will help to raise funds for the club for the year ahead. We are excited to announce that the date for the Lusk 4 mile will be Sunday 6th March. Registration is now open through our website Luskathleticclub.ie. Editors Note: We at Locals magazines wish to thank on our own and on your behalf Sean Greensit as PRO with Lusk AC for the wonderful work done by him as he retires from that post and we wish him all the best for the future . We also wish his successor Matt Wade well in the post and look forward to working with him.

As 2021 comes to a close Lusk Community Council is looking to January 2022 for the establish-ment of a new Implementation Team for the Lusk Vision 2030 Plan. The first Face2Face briefings on the plan took place on the 7th and 14th November for our public representatives, community organisation representatives and the general public. It was very heartening to hear nothing but pos-itive messages of support from our Councillors and T.D.s as well as from the wider community, for Lusk Vision 2030. (See Lusk Vision 2030 on Facebook) This Plan has the potential to help shape the many suggestions that were put forward by the community. Uniquely for Lusk, it is the first Town Centre First plan in Ireland, a policy being promoted in the Programme for Govern-ment. Lusk Community Council is looking for very broad engagement across the community of Lusk so that we can turn the many recommended initiatives in Lusk Vision 2030 Plan into reality. We can all make positive contributions to the town and your help is needed.

Lusk Tidy Town Committee have been busy planting up flower tubs, watering and generally keeping Lusk Tidy despite all the building development.Thank you for your support. “Keep Lusk Tidy. Lusk Tidy Towns Committee have been producing Christmas Cards, Calendars and St Patricks Day cards of our village of Lusk for over 30 years.This year is no different and cards are selling locally at €1 each. These cards have been very popular with our friends and relatives near and far, a lovely reminder of home to many who have left our shores.Thank You to the 2nd year students of Lusk Community College and the students from Loreto School Balbriggan and to everyone who has been involved in litter picking over the years. Thank you all, not forgetting our sponsors and supporters. Please support our cards and have a Happy Healthy Christmas and New Year. Lusk Tidy Towns.

Welgro Produce located in Rush Co Dublin has been selected as the winner of the third Irish Newbie new entrant competition. Welgro established by Shane Halpin, Sean Weldon and Gary Weldon is one of only two commercial cucumber growers in Ireland. Shane Halpin is a local Lusk guy with a farming background, Sean Weldons mother is from Lusk and he attended Lusk National school, Gary Weldon is a Rush local.Shane who has a background in horticulture and mechanics, Sean with an accounting and processing background and Gary who has an agricultural degree share the management responsibilities. The company employing up to 15 people at peak times in the areas of grading/picking, packing and distribution. As with many new entrants across the EU access to land was a major hurdle for these three friends to become established in a strong horticultural area. Leasing the disused glasshouses was the most viable option to get established while maintaining sustainable set-up costs.Welgro has developed relationships with a number of well-known retailers which is instrumental in ensuring a route to market for the cucumbers produced. Speaking following the announcement Shane Halpin said: “We at Welgro are very proud to have won the Newbie award. We as a team have worked very hard over the last year and it is great to get the recognition of Teagasc.” Gordon Peppard Teagasc noted; “it is very exciting to see three young enthusiastic new entrants to agriculture, recognise a gap in the market, devise a business plan and seek out the necessary facilities to make their plan a reality.” The Newbie Network is an EU Horizon 2020 funded project with 10 European partners. Newbie offers a unique platform by bringing together new entrants, successors, advisors, researchers, important regional and national actors and relevant stakeholders in national networks, with the aim of enabling new entrants to successfully establish a sustainable farm business in Europe.

The Christmas lights are up again, thanks to our hard-working LAG team, your generous donations and, most importantly, our three dedicated local electrical contractors, Eamonn from Eamonn Walsh Building and Electrical, Gary from SAGAR Electrical and Mark from TMA Electrical. All of their time was given for free for the benefit of the community and we are, yet again, very grateful. Preparations for our Biodiversity garden continue after meeting some unexpected delays. October and November saw a flurry of Fingal County Council activity around the town, delivering the programme of works. The majority of these were due to our engagement with FCC, and Cllr Robert O’Donoghue’s representations on our behalf. Particularly welcome were the road improvements on Treen Hill, the renovation of the bandstand and the new fencing around the tennis courts in Orlynn Park. We have requested resurfacing of this for inclusion in the next programme of works. We have asked the community for feedback regarding improvements that need to be made around the town. You can get in touch with us at any time at luskactiongroup@gmail.com or 0863017842. Foroige Youth Club will be soon up and running again on Friday evenings! They cannot run this really important service without the help of committed and enthusiastic volunteers. So please consider helping. The more volunteers, the better the service. The better the service, the more users of it, leading to the delivery of badly needed facilities for our youth. Get involved! Contact us at the above email address and we can put you in touch with the organisers. Finally, we would like to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas from All in Lusk Action Group.

At the November Area meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue tabled a motion regarding the future plans for provision of parking at the Lusk Sports Hub where recently has had issues with parking for patrons of the Hub. Cllr O’Donoghue was advise that discussions had recently taken place between the Chair of the Lusk 2020 group with the two school principals with view to allowing use of their car parking facilities in the evenings.At the meeting the two school Principals have agreed the location of a pedestrian gate and to replace the existing boundary fencing between the Lusk Hub and the schools with procurement of the new gates and fencing being undertaken with the aim of having the infrastructure in place before the end of quarter one of 2022. Cllr O’Donoghue welcomed the report and thanked the 2020 Group stakeholders, the Operations Department of Fingal County Council and the two Principals of the local schools for their quick and decisive actions in formulating a solution to the issue. He stated ‘as the Sports Hub develops, we need to ensure that access for users of the Hub is adequately catered for given the rise in obesity rates and the ever increasing number of volunteers and club members who use the facility on a weekly basis.’