Donabate parkrun returned at the end of September after a long absence due to the pandemic and we celebrated our 6th anniversary in October. There have been regularly attendances of over 150 participants and it’s been fantastic to see everyone enjoying their 5km run, walk or jog as well as catching up with friends for a chat and coffee. We recently purchased a defibrillator which will be available if needed at parkrun each Saturday. This was possible thanks to the generosity of donations made by parkrunners. We are truly grateful for this. We usually need up to 20 volunteers each Saturday to cover all the roles needed for a successful and safe parkrun. Some would say that it’s even more fun volunteering than actually running a parkrun so please get in touch if you could help for an hour. Donabate parkrun is a free, timed 5k run, walk or jog that takes place at 9:30am every Saturday at Newbridge House. You can contact us by email if yo are interested at Donabate@parkrun.com or send us a message on Facebook.

It’s not often that we get to write about History Makers but that’s what the U13 boys squad from St Pats are! A massive Buladh Bós to them for winning their Juvenile Hurling League for the first tice in the Club’s almost hundred year history. They were the first Juvenile team in the Club ever to compete at this level and now only a few scant years later, they’re the first to take a Juvenile Title. Winning a League Title in any sport is a fantastic achievement but to win one in a recently introduced discipline with no older juvenile squads ahead to guide you is a feat unto itself.This squad might be the first to play both Hurling and Football but they’re not the only ones. They’re leading the charge in Pats Juvenile section where U13 down all play Gaelic Football along with Hurling/Camogie. What a fantastic position to be in as the Club approaches their century in 2024. Who could’ve imagined back in 1924 that they’d have 1,100 members and be playing Football, LGFA, Hurling & Camogie. If you or your children would like to join the fun, just email them at info@stpatsgaa.com

Recently, The Tower Singing Circle had an event by zoom as part of Fingal Inclusion Week. The theme of the night was Songs of Emigration. Performers sang a range of songs from Doonaree to N17 and people emigrated from the Southside to the Northside for the night! There was even one person from Canada - Seán Buckley from The Burrow who emigrated there many decades ago. The Tower Singing Circle wish to thank FIngal County Council for their support for the event especially Janette Scott Community Officer for our area, who joined them at the beginning to wish them well. The Tower Singing Circle meet on zoom on Monday nights, any song is welcome and the invitation is available by emailing a request to margaretgodwin59@gmail.com.

November was another action packed month for our Athletes. We were very excited and happy to welcome 15 new Young Athletes from our waiting list! Some of our new friends had been waiting over a year to join us, so it was lovely to finally meet them and their parents. We had lots of fun practising our running, jumping, balancing, throwing and catching! We did lots of smiling, laughing and giggling too – even though we really don’t need any practice with those.It’s not just our athletes who are busy. Our volunteers between them have invested hundreds of hours in training courses; from child safeguarding to sports specific coaching. One of our coaches, Louise, has just finished training to train other coaches. Louise is now a qualified tutor with Special Olympics Ireland who will deliver the Sport Ireland Coaching Children course to aspiring SO coaches. Well done Louise!

We had some visitors from UCD School of Health and Human Performance to observe how awesome we are; our club is helping with a physical activity study in conjunction with Special Olympics Ireland. One of the purposes of the study will be to develop coaching drills for SO Clubs. The results will also help to develop a video gaming application capable of supporting movement skills through a safe, educational and fun play experience.We had great fun helping Hayley and their wonderfl eam and we already can’t wait for their next visit.

News from the North Pole is that all of our athletes are on the good list again and you know who will have treats for them again this year! On behalf of all our club members we’d like to say thank you to all our supporters for another wonderful year.We wish you all a happy and peaceful festive season.

You may recognise the Christmas tree in the picture, it was the one that was knit or crocheted by many of the local ladies as an inclusion project for last year. And where is it now? It is in its original squares again BUT these are also being now transformed into knee blankets that will be presented to the Hospice. While it has been another very strange year for everyone, we have been able to join each other in our various classes! We celebrate that this has been possible. We also hope that this will continue into the new year and that we will be able to restart some of our missing classes too. We have certainly missed our music classes and not being able to perform our Christmas offering.In November we had a visit from five other Community Centres during Inclusion Week. The representatives joined us for some of our classes with a view to starting a programme like AAfA in their centres. We offered Sit and Get fit, Stronger for Longer and Meditation to them and finished off with lunch from Pea and Pod. And speaking of Pea and Pod, we are really pleased to have the café open and it is always a good finish to a class to go in and have a cuppa and a chat afterwards. Our AGM will be in January and it is your opportunity to get involved. Keep a lookout for the date for that and also for registering for our next session of classes. If you would like to take a more involved role in helping with the actual running of Active Age for All, we would love to hear from you and while you don’t need any particular skills, it would be great to see offers from you if you have administration, accounts or website experience. Just leave a message on the AAfA phone 086 8806808 and leave your name and phone number.If you are new to the area or new to retirement – you just need to be 55+ - you can call in to DPCC and collect an AAfA New Member form and fill it out and leave it for us, or email us at the address above and we email a form out to you. We can make contact and will do our best to include you in classes as soon as possible.

Leithinis Donabate Portrane CCE has had a busy few weeks.Our AGM was held on the 10th of November and a new Committee was elected.We took part in Fingal Inclusion week on the 19th November which allowed our members to showcase their talents. A great night was had by all.Fingal’s Creative Ireland Project 2021 invited applications for grant aid for cultural projects. Initiated by Leithinis CCE the Dublin County Board of Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann applied for and were successful in securing grant aid for a project to highlight the rich heritage of music, song and dance which Comhaltas actively encourages and promotes.To this end a young talented crew led by award winning film maker and champion all Ireland Fiddle Player Naoise Kettle filmed some of our members playing tunes and dancing in the newly refurbished Donabate Parish Hall. We are looking forward to seeing the finished video.We are happy to announce that the Traditional Music Sessions in Keelings started back on the 16th November. The session was led by Denis Stack. Leithinis wish to thank Denis and fellow musicians for a great evening’s entertainment. The sessions will be held on the third Tuesday every month, with the exception of the December session which will be held on the 7th. We hope to see you all there.From January, 2022 we will be offering Guitar lessons. If you are interested in joining Leithinis Donabate Portrane CCE please email us at leithinis@comhaltas.net. Details of our classes, teachers etc can be found on our webpage leithinis.com.We would like to wish our members a safe and happy Christmas and healthy New Year.

Corina Johnston, Labour Party Local Area Representative is calling on Fingal County Council to urgently install a temporary wheelchair accessible toilet at the Brook beach, Portrane. Johnston said;” Imagine for a moment you are out walking and realise you need to spend a penny. You come across a public toilet and avail of its facilities and then continue your walk in a contented frame of mind.”Johnston added; “ now imagine you are on the same journey but on this occasion you are a person in a wheelchair and urgently need to use the facilities of a public toilet. You arrive at the cubicle and realise that the door frame is not wide enough to allow access for your wheelchair .” Johnston continued; “This is the actual position that Jack Tanner, a young man from the Burrow, Portrane who has additional needs, found himself in recently, when out with his personal assistant for recreation. In the lashing rain, the wheelchair became jarred within the door frame of the public toilets and his assistant had to haul himself over Jack and his chair to assist him. An absolutely shattering experience for this young person which does not send out a positive message for inclusiveness and equality for all. “Johnston said ;”This incident need not have happened if my concerns had been taken on board. I contacted Fingal County Council in January last when they were installing the replacement toilets and expressed my objection to its location and the lack of wheelchair and baby changing facilities within the cubicles. In February I posted that surely it was possible to hire or rent a more appropriate wheelchair accessible toilet for the Summer. The response from Fingal was that they had already provided a temporary toilet and were in the process of identifying a site for a permanent replacement.” Johnston said; “We have recently been informed that Portrane is in the second tranche of replacement public toilets to be installed with a projected date for the completion of the installation of the permanent toilets now 2024. This is not good enough. “The Labour team of Duncan Smith TD, our councillors and I are now calling on Fingal County Council to install a temporary wheelchair accessible public toilet as a priority at the Brook beach Portrane, something similar to what was recently installed in Portmarnock and Sutton. We are also requesting that the CEO and the council’s Access Officer become personally involved in its provision. What happened to Jack Tanner should not be allowed happen again. “

About once a month on a Friday night a group of Ukulele players will meet from 7 30pm-9 30pm in the Parish Hall to play a few tunes and sing a few songs. If you play a bit already and live in the area contact Phil: 087 2228658

On the invitation of Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed, John Carrig of The Barn Owl Project recently made presentations to the Donabate Sea Scouts and to the Men’s Shed about these fascinating birds of prey. John explained that the barn owl is red-listed in the Bird of Conservation Concern in Ireland, as it is estimated that there are now only 650 breeding pairs in the country. The main reasons for their decline are poison, roadkill and loss of habitat due to development. The Barn Owl Project is working to conserve the remaining birds by giving talks to school and community groups, like ours, and by working with farmers and landowners on how to promote barn owls in their areas.The Men’s Shed is hoping to work with The Barn Owl Project by making owl boxes and, with John’s advice and landowners’ permission, finding suitable locations for them.As interesting as John’s talk was, the real star of the moment was the 22-week-old barn owl that John had brought along with him.

The sun shone brightly and the rain stayed away on Saturday 30th October for the Peninsula Pacers walk from Kilcock to Maynooth along the Grand Canal.At Kilcock harbour we puzzled over the sight of green nets on frames suspended over the water. Luckily a passing local was able to solve the mystery for us by explaining that they are goals which are lowered for kayak hockey which is played in the harbour…wow !Further on we were heartened to see a road sign about otters…glad to see they are now numerous enough to require this caution signage. After one and a half hours pleasant rambling in the sun we arrived in Maynooth where we found a good oasis for refuelling in The Roost pub. Refreshed and renewed we had time for a quick look around Maynooth College and Maynooth Castle before it was time to leave by train.We also went on a walks on both sides of Dublin Bay! The Peninsula Pacers went on a number of long & short walks..In October, the longer walk group went on a Northside walk of between 10 - 12km. They went to Howth Head and from the Summit walked around the wooded & open area on top and then down to the village; resting for a coffee before returning to the car park at the summit. From this position they had a great view back over to Killiney. In November, the longer walk group went on a Southside walk of between 10km-12km.Travelling by train from Donabate to Dún Laoghaire they then walked along the coast, with a great view back to Howth, then on to Dalkey where a great lunch was had! Afterwards, they walking on through Vico & Serranto roads on to Killiney Station where they hopped on a train home.The next walk will be on Thursday 9th December - for both groups - weather & Covid permitting. Contact Carolyn for further details.