The Millbank Theatre and Rush Pantomime Group are busy preparing the theatre once again this Christmas for another fun filled Panto for all the family!

Barry Kavanagh directs the production again this year with a dream team in place of Eimear Sheridan as Choreographer and Colin Sloan as Musical Director. Script by Ritchie Smith.

Rehearsals kicked off nice and early in September, (oh yes they did!!!!) with a very talented youth troop from the area who are now ready to wow audiences with a nice variety of singing, acting and dancing to entertain throughout the festive season. Please note, The oldies on stage are very talented too!!

Hilariously Funny, Colourful and Filled with Christmas Cheer, Rush audiences will be brought on a journey from The Millbank Theatre to the Kingdom Of Scandinavia.

Frozen Solid runs from December 5th -29th at the Millbank Theatre. Book online at www.millbanktheatre.ie

With Last year’s Jack and The Beanstalk proving a sell out success it is advisable to get booking as soon as possible!

Leonard Cohen would have celebrated his 90th birthday in September this year. The event was marked by a “Leonard Cohen Birthday Bash” as part of the “Meet Me At The Altar” 2024 music season at Rush Library. Curated by Pat Burke, these performances have been running since July 2022 and have become a fixture in the local calendar with shows on Saturday afternoons from July to December.

Pat conceived this latest idea having seen various Cohen tributes in Dublin and felt that there was ample local talent to stage a similar performance Leonard’s birthday was actually September 21st, but this coincided with the launch of local man Eoghan Fyne’s art exhibition at the library altar space. So, the event was a belated birthday celebration. Eoghan was there himself (a long-standing Cohen fan) and kindly offered to mount a Leonard Cohen framed poster on his (much spattered!) easel as a backdrop to the performance.

Pat kicked off the event himself, performing “Dance me to the end of love”, the opening song for many Leonard Cohen concerts in the later years. This was followed by Ed Byrne who travelled from Kildare just to perform, and he delivered “Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye” and “Who by fire” on his trademark jazz guitar. Louise Emerson gave us an unaccompanied sung version of a Cohen poem titled “Song to make me still”. Then it was back to the songs and Ciarán Saunders sang a lovely stripped-back version of the classic “Hallelujah”.

The O’Donovan clan were there in force; Ritch performed “First we take Manhattan” and brothers Robbie and James gave us “Take this waltz”. In between, we had a tender version of “If it be your will” by Seán De Burca and Laura Bissett. On then to Adrian Leonard, who gave us a brace of songs; “Famous blue raincoat” and “Bird on a wire”. Finally, Tess Doherty ably backed by dad Brian on 12-string guitar, sang a Boygenius cover called “Leonard Cohen”, a quirky and delightful song that only goes to prove Leonard’s enduring popularity and influence on contemporary music. The show came to a rousing end with “So long Marianne” with everyone back on stage and the audience joining in for the chorus.

Meet Me At The Altar is delighted to announce that Chien Buggle will be performing solo in the library on Saturday 30th November, at 3pm. Chien is a member of the Dublin Guitar Quartet, a group formed in 2001 and which specialises in the performance of contemporary classical music, particularly music associated with minimalist composers.

There were almost 70 competitors taking part at Malahide Yacht Club’s Annual Dinghy Regatta on Sunday 13th October.

The competitors were warmly welcomed by Commodore Margaret Fay and hot drinks and scones were provided to keep all warm in the autumn chill whilst they waited for the off. The forecast for Sunday had predicted little to no wind in the early morning but to build to a reasonable breeze between 12am and 1pm.

Just before 2pm the first race of the main fleet got underway in about 8 knots of breeze, followed by a second just before 3pm. The Optimist Regatta fleet remarkably managed to get four races completed.
The big showing of talented Optimist sailors from Sutton Dinghy Club was rewarded by bringing home five of the six prizes in the main and regatta Optimist fleets. They were however denied first place in the main fleet by local sailor, Charlie Noone. Siun Barry from Sutton scooped wins in all four races in the regatta fleet – undoubted another sailor to watch for the future.

In the Toppers, Amy Shelly from the National was equally dominant, winning both races. Malahide members Paidi A’Coistlealbha and Alex Butcher did very well with second and fifth places. While a seasoned Optimist sailor, it was only Alex’s second day and first competition in a Topper.

Howth’s Harry Dunne narrowly edged out Malahide’s Sasha Bezpalyi and Glenda Gallagher, who had each won a race, to take first place in the ILCA 6 Class. Sasha finished second and Glenda third. Malahide’s Siun Ni Choistealbha took to an ILCA 6 for the first time at the event and narrowly missed out on third place having matched Glenda in points.

In the ILCA 7 Class Malahide’s Tim Noone equalled his son Charlie’s success in Optimists by also taking first place. Malahide’s James Anglim and Andrejs Samoilovs came second and third respectively.
The event also facilitated the Kona Nationals. Royal St. George’s Robbie Walker took home the silverware for a second year while Malahide’s Cormac O’Brien and Joe Galeckas were second and third respectively.
Story courtesy of Afloat.ie & Malahide Yacht Club

Malahide Locals are reminded to save the date for the opening day of this year’s Christmas Market that takes place on Saturday 30th November from 10.30am - 2.30pm at St Andrew’s Parish Centre, Church Road, Malahide.

This year’s stalls will include Cakes&Deli, Toys, Bric-A-Brac, Santas Grotto, various gift stalls and book stalls.

Don’t’ forget to take in some refreshment at the Market Café and enjoy the entertainment provided by the Christmas Choir!

Malahide Lions Club’s major art exhibition and sale in the Tennis Club on 18th & 19th October saw a celebration of Malahide’s most celebrated artist, Nathaniel Hone.

Nathaniel Hone the Younger was born on October 26, 1831 and died 107 years ago on October 14, 1917. He was a prolific Irish painter who began his career as a railway engineer but gave this up to study art in Paris.

Most of his later paintings are landscapes, very often enlivened with animals and occasionally with figures. In France he was influenced by the painter Gustav Courbet. His closest painting tips were, however, from another French impressionist, Camille Corot. Hone became a close friend of one of Corot’s followers at the Barbizon School of landscape painting. At Barbizon he learned to appreciate colour, texture and tone in the landscape and apply it in strong and confident brushworks to the painting of Irish subjects on his return.

On the coast road to Portmarnock, close by the entrance to Seapark estate, stands Muldowney House, which was once the Hone’s home. In 1872, he married Magdalen Jameson of the Jameson distilling family. After a short sojourn in Seafield House at Kilcrea on the northern shore of Malahide estuary, they moved to Muldowney House. They lived here until 1895 when they moved to St. Doulagh’s Park following the death of his Aunt Dorothea at her home there. Thereafter, Hone’s brother-in-law, the Rev. William Reid, resided in Muldowney House until his death in 1912.

Hone became a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1880 and accepted an R.H.A. professorship in 1894. While at Muldowney House, he spent his time painting, sketching, sailing, yacht racing and golfing. The changing light and seascapes of Malahide attracted him. He had a studio and gallery at Muldowney and painted one of his best-known works, ‘Malahide Sands’ from his window, which still overlooks the beach. When Nathaniel died in 1917, his wife bequeathed the greatest part of his collection to the National Gallery of Ireland.

Hone, his brother-in-law Reid and Richard Wogan, 5th Baron Talbot founded Malahide Golf Club on the foreshore and land around the house in 1892.

Junsa Taekwondo recently took part in the prestigious Korean Ambassadors Cup held in Baldoyle Dublin. This tournament is run by our national governing body, Taekwondo Ireland in conjunction with the Korean embassy here in Ireland. It was a fantastic event which catered for both disciplines of Taekwondo and included countries such as the UK, Denmark, Albania and all of Ireland.

Junsa’s players, Darragh (Gold), Ethan (Bronze) and Conor took part and showed excellent results. Conor’s matches along with other fighters had to be postponed to another weekend due to technical difficulties, so hopefully one more medal to come.

Congratulations to all who completed one of the Autumn marathons in the last few weeks. The club were well represented in Berlin, Chicago and Dublin. The recent Rathfarnham 5k was the culmination of a very focused block of training and produced some fantastic results on the day. Well done to our athletics and club coaches. Fit & Fab is our new sociable, no pressure running group for teenagers. Bring a friend and try it out. Our Christmas party is on Friday 13th December. Have you purchased your ticket yet? All club members and family are welcome.

October 16th was International Restart a Heart Day, Lusk Community First Responders got out and about raising awareness on what to do if you witness a person collapsing with a sudden cardiac arrest. The Lusk CFR team met the community at their stand at Skinny Batch Bakery and Supervalu, to talk about how anyone can save a life and explain the key steps to save a life: Check, Call, Compress and Shock.

In other news, Round Towers GAA installed a brand-new AED outside their clubhouse. They also registered it with the National Ambulance Service so that it an be used by the community in the event of an emergency. Call 999/112 and give the Eircode that is visible on the AED cabinet and the call taken will given you the access code. Thank you, Round Towers Lusk. That brings Lusk to 4 public access AEDs available 24/7.

We look forward to working with the community to increase the number of public access AEDs in Lusk and the surrounding areas. If you are a member of a club or organisation that already has an AED, please get in touch with us to find out how to register it with the National Ambulance Service. The best AED is the nearest AED, every second counts.

If you would like to learn more about Lusk CFR, please check out our website www.LuskCFR.ie or find us on Facebook and Instagram. We look forward to welcoming new volunteers.

Lusk ICA ran their annual fundraising coffee morning and Raffel organized by Antoinette Doran in aid of the hospice. Our thanks to all the people who baked their wonderful cakes, also our thanks to Senator Lorraine Clifford Lee and Joe O’Brien TD for their support. The final total was €2,355, which is very good as it was such a bad morning.

The ICA all Ireland P&P competition took place in Seapoint, Co. Louth the weather was dry but with a very strong wind. The result was 1st Roscommon 2nd Meath 3rd Clare. Dublin was not successful, but Mary Shorthall & Teresa Kilmurray enjoyed the day and were looked after very well.

A Big Thanks also to all who baked and volunteered at the recent fundraiser in Lusk United Soccer FC it was a great success.

Fantastic “Rambling House” night of nostalgic singing and stories in Murray’s Pub organized by Anne Smithers Lusk ICA with musicians on guitars by Don Duggan, Paul Redmond and Mick Mullin and Catherine Hagan. Don’t miss the next Rambling House session to be held again on Tuesday, 12th November.

The ladies travelled with the Lusk senior citizens for a great day out to Birr Castle and Clonmacnoise with dinner in the lovely Grenville Arms Hotel Mullingar.

Ten of our ladies attended a sewing session with the Project Fashions in Swords using our lovely new sewing machines which were kindly sponsored by Fingal Co Co. They are busy making crafts in preparation for Lusk ICA Christmas Market on Sunday, 1st December in the Scout Den.

The Lusk guild meeting is on the first Thursday every month in the Scouts Den (after the beavers) at 8:15 PM and we would be delighted for new members to come along.

Foróige are looking for volunteers to help run our volunteer led Foróige clubs in Rush, Lusk and Skerries. We engage young people from the ages of 10 to 18, enabling them to make friends, have fun, become independent and positively involved in their communities. Our youth clubs meet on a weekday evening for 1-2 hours. If interested, please contact our club development worker: Cillian Purser - cillian.purser@foroige.ie or 086-0123078.