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.

Donabate Parish Hall has a number of weekly activities taking place at present from Irish Dancing to Cards.In February/ March from Friday February 18th - Sunday 13th March, it will again do a “Cultural Slot” of about 3 weeks - where all weekly activities will be suspended - and hopefully Plays, Films, Exhibitions and Culture Camps etc can take place during this period. If you or your group are interested in doing something during this period please apply to Bernie in the Parish Office before Tuesday 7th December with all your details. This will all be subject to Covid guidelines and regulations that apply at the time. We wish everyone in our Community a Happy Christmas and hope that you stay safe and well so that we all can return to normal activities and living as soon as possible. Thank you again for your support over the last year and a half in these difficult times and during our refurbishment. Again have a good Christmas and take care of yourself and each other. Bernie can be contacted at stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com or any queries to 01 8434574

As things are beginning to get back to something resembling normal and community hubs are able to start opening again the Through the Lens camera club mounted an exhibition in the Donabate/Portrane Community Centre.The group had not been able to get together for meetings since the pandemic struck but have been staying in touch by email and WhatsApp. However the restrictions did not stop the cameras clicking and members have been out and about practising and honing their skills.The idea of an exhibition was suggested as a way of getting together as a group and kick-starting our activities again. We are very grateful to the community centre for allowing the exhibition; and to Alain Rochecouste for organising all the practicalities without which it would have never have got off the ground.The Through the Lens Photographic Group is open to anyone over 18, from beginners to more expert, who would like to join a group of like-minded people who enjoy photography. For more information call 085 2682266, or email info@throughthelens.ie

Cllr Adrian Henchy has welcomed the budget adopted by Fingal County Council recently. In order to keep pace with continued growth across the county, Fingal County Council has adopted a spending plan of around €300m for 2022 which will help deliver improved services and see supports remain in place to help reenergise economic development in a post-Covid environment. Cllr Henchy said, “The budget is an increase of around €13m from the previous year and means the equivalent of €1012 per head of population will be spent in a number of key areas such as roads, parks, housing and the environment. While it comes against a backdrop of ever-increasing demands for the wide array of services that the council delivers, there have been no rises made to commercial rates or Local Property Tax. I very much welcome the significant increases in the budget to help deliver a range of operational services across local communities, including road maintenance, traffic management, increased street cleaning, improvement works at parks and open spaces, as well as for projects as part of the Council’s efforts to encourage active travel. Some €1.2m has also been set aside to assist the recovery and development of the tourism sector in Fingal.This is a very positive and well-balanced budget which will play an important role in Fingal’s ongoing economic recovery as we hopefully emerge from Covid. It confirms that we are committed to undertaking the necessary steps to help progress the best possible outcomes for our citizens and that we can continue to encourage business development opportunities. The budget includes allocations to the following key areas:(A) €89.1m - Housing & Building, (B) €32.7m - Road Transport & Safety, (C) €19.4m - Water Services (D) €24.9m – for Development Management, (E) €49.4m - Environmental Services, (E) €52.3m - Recreation & Amenity, (F) €1.5m - Agriculture, Education, Health & Welfare, (G) €30.4m - Miscellaneous Services. While there was a reduced number of events held in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions, funding allocated for 2022 will allow Fingal to host several key events which had been postponed or cancelled throughout the pandemic and means it will be able to further develop its culture and arts programme. That will see the highly popular Flavours of Fingal return in July 2022 .

Sunday the 7th of November was a fantastic example of how far our club has come and what we as a club are all about. We ran no less than 5 Winter Training sessions with well over a 125 players of all ages taking part , 5 and a half hours of training , Coaching and fun in 2 different venues and supervised by our experienced team of Qualified coaches. The day began in Castlelands Community centre at 10am with our 2 Ultimate Softball Sessions , the boys at 10am and the Girls at 11am under the supervision of Tess , Lara , Connor and Druhan. Then at 5pm in North County our Minor , Junior and Colt Hardball squads had their weekly session run by coaches , Adrian , Gary , Dylan and Lara. At 6:30pm we had our first ever Women’s Social Cricket session and there was a brilliant turnout and plenty of fun and craic was had , and now a Xmas Party is already planned ! At 7:30pm it was the turn of our new Women’s Team who dusted off the kit bags and got stuck into it , an excellent turn out and lots of positives from what was an excellent session. We provide cricket for Boys , Girls , Women and Men of all ages , ability and experience , Top class coaching and a club that makes everyone welcome. If you or your child would like to join our club, Get in touch via WhatsApp or balbriggancricketclub.com/contact/