The Club has been busy the last few weeks. Along with regular training four members of the club participated in the ONAKAI National Kata Championships. Boasting competitors from all over Ireland, our club members did fantastic taking home three medals and title of National Kata Champion. Sophia Guildea, Amelia Miller, and Lilia Beaumont had a clean sweep in the Cadet Female Brown & Black Belt category with Lilia taking Bronze, Amelia taking Silver and Sophia taking the Gold and National Kata Champion title for the category. The girls train hard, and it is great to see these results coming through at National level. Also competing on the day was Harrison Beaumont who unfortunately got knocked out just before the medal rounds in his category Boys Under 12 Brown & Black Belt.
We were privileged to host Yamaguchi Sensei 7th Dan JKS for a two-day seminar recently. Yamaguchi Sensei is one of the top Instructors in the JKS and he did not disappoint over the two days. On the Friday evening members of JKS Swords along with JKS members from around the country gathered to train in the Fingal Liam Rodgers Community Centre with this dynamic Instructor. Taking the attendees through kihon, kumite and kata, Yamaguchi Sensei inspired everyone with his fantastic karate and superb instruction.
On Saturday morning in Applewood Community Centre Yamaguchi Sensei delivered a stunning 3-hour seminar for the participants. He covered Heian Katas and Bassai Dai for junior members and then the kata Suishu for the senior grades. Over 70 JKS Ireland members were in attendance on the Saturday and JKS Swords was proud to host the event in their home club.
Next on the calendar is a 1-day visit from Watanabe Sensei, JKS Honbu Dojo Instructor. A seasoned competitor and very capable instructor, it promises to be an excellent Seminar.
Our Club is always looking for new members (Children, Young People & Adults). Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club. You can also contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club
The 16th Annual Valley walk took place on Saturday 12th October in River Valley, Swords to raise funds for Cancer research. The walk has grown from 30 walkers in the first year to 140 yesterday!
People come from far and wide every year meeting at Peacocks pub car park in River Valley for registration and refreshments provided by Fyffes and the local Daybreak shop. Very quickly the scene became a sea of yellow with the walkers’ Irish Cancer Society t-shirts as they started the 5km walk around the lovely park and woods.
Following more refreshments consisting of Keoghs crisp, Supervalu bars, sweets etc on the Brackenstown road, along with the catch ups and chats, the walkers made their way back by the “Jacko” and finish back upstairs in Peacock’s where they enjoyed much needed coffee and beautiful scones, all donated by Peacock’s.
The walk organiser, Margaret Harris explained, “My A team of ladies continued to sell raffle tickets, and at one stage the queue stretched across the room. We had 43 raffle prizes donated by local businesses in River Valley, Boroimhe and Swords and some walkers donated lovely prizes also. Katie from Irish Cancer Society Research spoke about the latest developments in Cancer research. We finished off with a few words from myself and a hotly anticipated mega raffle. The Microphone etc was kindly set up by Chris Power. This event is very much a community event with our local councillors supporting it every year. Hopefully we can get to do it all again next year.
By Mike Power
Hallowe’en really means ‘the eve of the hallowed (‘holy) Saints Day (November 1st). The ancient Celts in Swords also had a holiday ‘Samhain’ at this time of year celebrating the end of harvest and the beginning of Winter. This feast-day was then adopted by the early Christian church here, becoming the traditional time for lots of spooky fun as we know it today.
For much of it’s long life, Swords served a largely agricultural hinterland and many of the local traditions associated with this time of year such as ceasing to pick blackberries (angry spirits); putting out food for roaming spirits; wearing straw hats and lighting bonfires, are all connected with farming.
I can’t do any better in describing Sword’s ancient spooky ‘atmospherics’ of Hallowe’en, than quoting a piece from my forthcoming book ‘Swords: History and Heritage Community Guide’. This imagined historical scene happens up at Killeek to the west of Swords, beside the river Ward there. Killeek is a place with an ancient pagan heritage.
A line of torches led from the river to the sacred ash grove. It was Samhain for the tribe, their world poised between light and dark.. The soft light from a full moon glistened on the beads of frost on the ancient ash tree. A rhythmical, hypnotic chant came from the lines of people waiting to enter the sacred grove. Nearby a clutch of half wild dogs snarled over a wild boar’s head. From the river the Ollamh (Teacher) of the tribe brought a , cup full of water made from holly wood, holding it high in front of him, his pupils walking respectfully behind. The clothes he wore were dyed purple from berry dyes and his cloak draped him from head to toe. On his head he wore a wreath made from oak branches, the magic tree, the antlers from a buck doe on his head. When he entered the grove, a profound hush came on the people nearby. Entering the grove, the Ollamh sprinkled the water on the roots of the ash, a charm to ensure a good harvest in the coming year, and to placate Carnonos, the antler god. The chanting now began again, ringing around the valley’s flanks, louder and more fiercely. Triumphal fires were lit. In the people Hope was born again.
Christmas Jumper Swap
Following on from the huge success of last year’s Christmas Jumper Swap it will return this year on Saturday 23rd November in Rush Community Centre. The premise is the same as last year, bring a preloved jumper to the event to drop off for someone else to enjoy, and pick a new one to wear for this year’s Christmas season. Details are on the flyer.
Circular Economy in Action
Thank you to everybody who came along to our three big events mid-October in Rush Community Centre. We had a seed and plant swap, a clothes repair cafe and a small household item recycling event where we filled three large wheelie bins. Thanks to Anna McGuire for excellent guidance in the clothes repair cafe and Mary Ryan for her tips at the Seed and Plant swap. Anna is planning another repair café on Saturday 23rd November, details on the flyer.
Bird Watching Rogerstown
Thank you to everybody who turned up to our Bird Watching event at Rogerstown in October. The conditions were perfect, and we certainly saw a huge variety of birds on the mud of the Estuary under the excellent guidance of Linda Mellon from the Fingal branch of BirdWatch Ireland. Keep an eye on the Rush
The future of Knockdrommin House remains uncertain after it was revealed at the Rush&Lusk October Area Committee meeting that the property has now been withdrawn from the market.
During the meeting, the Council stated that they had submitted an offer to the Vendors in January this year but it was not accepted, and it had been understood that the sale had been agreed with another bidder, however the Council was then informed the sale is now not proceeding and that the property has been withdrawn from the market.
Cllr Rob O’Donoghue tabled a question in regard to the potential acquisition by the Council of the circa 30 acres of land at the Knockdromin House site on the Rush to Lusk Road at the October Area Committee Meeting in FCC.
“I am well aware that there has been attempts to change the zoning on the Knockdrommin site in the last two development plans, twice it has been rejected by planners and councillors, given its relative isolation it was not considered to be sound or sustainable planning. If I need to, come the next plan, I intend to lead the charge, again, on maintaining the current zoning on the site.
“Only the Council have the necessary resources and expertise to really develop the site in the communities interest. I would implore the management to have another look at the site should it come to market again, particularly as the alternative bidder decided not to go through with the purchase. Acquiring the lands would go some way to softening the loss of Kenure House to the town of Rush nearly 50 years ago,” he added.
Every year the Christmas Lights Committee, which is a sub-committee of Rush Community Council, work extremely hard to raise the funds necessary to pay for putting up and taking down the wonderful display of Christmas lights on main street and also organise the switching on of the Christmas lights event which this year will take place in Echlin Court on 30th November.
The Christmas Lights Committee have launched a GoFundMe page which can be accessed using the QR Code.Chairperson of the Christmas Light Committee Pat Sweetman explained, “We’ve already had some very generous donations from the community but we really need the people and businesses of Rush to dig deep and to help us to meet the target to fund the Christmas lights for this year. We know that things are more expensive all around, but it would be great if everyone could support the efforts to light up Rush at Christmas.”
It takes seconds to donate to the GoFundMe page using the QR code and there will be a street collection and raffles before the big day itself.
Rush Christmas Lights Committee are organising a spectacular event on 30th November for the switching on of the lights as their Chairperson explained, “We have groups of local musicians performing, there will be mince pies and Christmas treats and who knows maybe even a visit from the big man himself.”
The Millbank Theatre are delighted to announce another talented music act coming to our stage. The award winning “The Breath” come to the Millbank Theatre Sunday November 10th.
The Breath is Manchester-based guitarist Stuart McCallum and singer/flautist Ríoghnach Connolly. They met on the city’s gig circuit in the late noughties. An unlikely pairing though it was, he an acclaimed guitar whiz, ex long-time member of The Cinematic Orchestra and a softly spoken Manchester urbanite, she a folk singer with a larger-than-life personality and a powerful voice to match.
The Breath have released three albums on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label.
‘Only Stories (Let the Cards Fall Revisited)’ reimagining previous work (alongside two new songs) took the music back to its acoustic roots. This new direction would see Ríoghnach Connolly receive an RTÉ Folk Award nomination for Best Folk Singer and win Folk Singer Of The Year at the 2019 BBC R2 Folk Awards for which the duo were also nominated as Best Duo/Group.
In readiness for the spooky season, St Catherine’s National School Parents’ Association held a Halloween Costume Swap on Saturday 5th October in conjunction with Rush Tidy Towns. It was a very busy morning as many visitors to the St Catherine’s school hall brought and swapped their costumes and were entertained by games provided by Let’s Play Rush. It was great to see the circular economy in action as over 80 costumes were swapped on the day.
The next similar initiative will be the Christmas Jumper Swap in Rush Community Centre on Saturday 23rd November.
Rush Community Council will hold it’s 2024 AGM in the Community Centre at 8pm on Wednesday the 20th of November. All are welcome to attend. The AGM will hear presentations from the Community Council and it’s sub-committees Rush Tidy Towns, Rush Heritage and Tourism, the Community Development Group and the Christmas Lights Committee on the great work that they have done throughout the year.
Rush Community Council Chairperson, Brian Doherty said that the Community Council are particularly keen for people to attend who wish to volunteer to assist with the Community Council and its subgroups.
“The lifeblood of any community is its volunteers and in Rush we are truly blessed with a strong culture and history of local people donating significant time and energy to give back to the town. Whether it be the Rush Tidy Towns army, the Let’s Play Rush events, the great work that Rush 38th Scouts do, or the annual harbour festival a lot what you see around Rush in any given year is fuelled almost entirely by volunteer energy. But we need more of it, we need new volunteers for all of our local groups and for the Community Council itself in order to achieve even more in the coming years. We are particularly interested in meeting those people who are new to Rush and may wish to get involved,” he said.
If you are interested in volunteering, please come to the Community Council AGM and find out more about how to get involved.
The Rush Multipurpose Youth Facility (RMYF) held a very successful open day on the 3 of Oct at the newly refurbished Facility (Martins Shop) Millbank Rush.
The Open day was put together by the board of the RMYF and was held to promote the activities of the facility to the local community. The refurbishment of RMYF has transformed the building into vibrant welcoming space that will benefit of the youth in the surrounding area. Many of multipurpose rooms suitable for, music, drama, dancing, after school services, youth support, yoga, Mindfulness and many other activities.
We are keen to here from people and groups that would like to utilise that space, we meet everyone with an open mind and are there to help our users grow and develop their programmes. We had a very successful open event there was huge interest in the new facility, and we had many enquires.
More importantly it was great fun on the night, with refreshments, music and networking with people from the area. The Facility in already very busy with new users and enquiries. RMYF (Martins Shop) will be a great asset for the youth in our community. Its refurbishment represents a significant investment in local development and will offer high-quality spaces for various activities. The facility will offer enhanced resources and opportunities for youth and community groups alike. RMYF is proud of this vital initiative and looks forward to seeing the facility flourish as a cornerstone of community life in Rush.
We are looking for people to help with the running of the building and would love to here from anybody who would like to give of there time to support this community project. Please contact RMYF at: info@rmyf.ie or go to our website at www.rmyf.ie
