A very successful AGM was held on April 23rd with Residents from 16 estates representing over 1500 households in Malahide attending. We also heard from some of our Local Area Councillors.
Thank you to The Grand Hotel for facilitating us with a room.

Topics covered included: Forum’s work on behalf of the Community since the last AGM in April 2023; Addressing the demographic challenges including stepdown accommodation and need for services for a town of Malahide’s size; Local Area Plan for Malahide; Addressing the deterioration of the look and feel of the village/ town; Establish a clear hierarchy of priorities that puts local needs first and those of visitors second; Protecting Bridgefield; Local Bus service; Dart+ North Turnback at Malahide Station; Meeting support for better route for North Irish Sea Array (NISA) cabling through Malahide Area; Introduction of Community policing areas; Spread the word about Malahide Community Forum

For more information please go to https://malahidecommunityforum.ie

Portmarnock Community School had its annual Sports awards Ceremony on Thursday 9th May. Our guest speaker was Mark Coyle who is the current captain of Shelbourne Football Club. He spoke to our students of the importance of resilience and taking ownership of your sporting successes and failures.

The sports awards ceremony is an annual event and it is to recognise the positive impact that sports can have on a young person’s life, which we all value and wish to acknowledge here in PCS. The awards ceremony is a celebration for all our students who participate in sports throughout the year - not just the athletes receiving awards.

Malahide Chamber of Commerce has just recently launched a new Malahide Brochure and Map’s delivered today. The new brochures are aimed at helping to promote Malahide as a retail and visitor location.

The new brochure has also been launched as a resource for locals and visitors alike. “The new Brochures will be distributed to Visitor centers, accommodation providers and to Shops. Thank you to all the Businesses who directly supported the project,” the Chamber stated.

The members of Junsa Taekwondo continue in their Martial Arts activities going into the summer on a high after a very eventful springtime.

While the students continue to attend their training in their quest for Martial Arts perfection, some of the group members were also busy in action over the past number of weeks.

Club members entered the recent TI development Poomsae tournament and there were some very proud moments for the club when Ellen heavily impressed the judges and narrowly missed out on a medal in her very first Poomsae tournament. The club and head coach Stuart Russell were trilled when Ellen got the opportunity to train with the Irish National Poomsae Squad at the event!

Junsa Taekwondo are focused on offering a safe and family-oriented Martial Arts experience for students of all ages, young & old.

Junsa Taekwondo train on a regular basis in Lusk Scout Halll – for more information please email: stuartpatrickrussell@gmail.com.

It’s been an exciting time in the last month or so with our athletes completing marathons and half marathons in Boston, London, Connemara, Limerick and Belfast. It’s not all about the longer distances though and the club encourages participation in everything from sprints to hurdles as well as hill and mountain running. We have great coaches who are helping our athletes to hone their skills at a range of track and field events. Well done to all who have competed so far this year and good luck to everyone for the remainder of the season. Registration for our Summer Camp in August is now open.

The countdown is on for the third Lusk Summer Festival which takes place on Saturday the 22nd June! The organisers have a fantastic day lined up for the whole community, with great kid’s entertainment, music and entertainment all day long, vintage vehicle display, a huge selection of food to choose from, and an amazing market, bound to entice everyone.

“Immense gratitude to our sponsors Progressive Credit Union and to Fingal County Council for their continued support and sponsorship. Without their help, we simply would not be able to hold this great event,” the organisers stated while adding, “We would also like to thank our business donators and contributors, especially OLIVER, who so generously provide all our signs and posters. We look forward to seeing you all there!”

Meanwhile, the Lusk Action Group, comprised of representatives from key community groups including local public representatives, met with developers McGarrell Reilly last month for a presentation of revised plans for Lusk Village Quarter.

“Clarity was brought to some community issues and concerns. The original plans, including the area which encompasses Lusk Motor Factors cannot proceed as the business owners have chosen not to at present. Due to this, new plans had to be drawn up, with a smaller green space/plaza area and revised construction plans for restaurant/bar, creche and shops,” reads a statement from the group.

“These plans are now complete and planning permission will be lodged with Fingal County Council soon. It is anticipated that planning permission will not be granted until later in the year and that the building process will be 2 years. This unfortunately means that it will not be all complete for another 3 years. This appears to now be unavoidable,” they added.

McGarrell Reilly pointed to the projects that they have completed in Lusk, and the support that they have offered to local community groups, including the delivery of Soccer Club and playing facilities, construction of the ring road, improved design and connection of sewage system, sourcing school sites, building playgrounds and the delivery of functioning retail in the new Lusk Quarter development.

The members of Lusk ICA had a wonderful trip to Brussels on 17th April and were treated to a tour of the European Parliament while they were there. The ladies met up with members from Balbriggan ICA who also went on the trip, which was kindly organized by Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

The ladies were looked after very well by Darragh Gallagher and Wilfred King on their visit and Darragh brought them to the European Parliament where they were given a talk on all the MEPs and how the Parliament operates.

They also got the opportunity to try out the interactive floor map that takes visitors on a virtual tour around Europe, highlighting more than 100 stories on the diversity of the continent. The ladies also visited the very impressive parliamentary chamber building where we posed for photos.

Following some time for shopping and the many delicious Chocolate shops they relaxed and had dinner in the lively Irish bar Kitty O’Shea’s.

It was a brilliant experience enjoyed by all.

Bowling night in ALSAA
1st Roseanna Darby 2nd Deirdre Wilson 3rd Teresa Kilmurray who happily accepted their lovely prices. It was a Great night enjoyed by everyone organized by Deirdre.

Lusk ICA members had a great day out to see the wonderful Farmleigh House in the Phoenix park thanks to Eoghan Dockerell, and Maria Baird who helped to organize this outing.

There was also a remembrance for the families of Maura O’Neill and Kathleen Brown who recently passed away and were very active former members of Lusk ICA.

To celebrate 35 years in existence Lusk Heritage Group are organising a Social Evening in Lusk Round Towers GAA Hall on 10th May at 8.00 pm. They are planning an evening of talks, memories and fun to mark 35 years of recording the heritage of Lusk, through books, videos, their website containing more than 100 videos and 80 audio recordings, and their Facebook page which is constantly updating stories about Lusk and Fingal. All their book publications will be available on the night, including their latest book Lusk School, The Schools Collection Everyone is welcome to hear their stories and share your own memories.

It’s been a busy time in LSA. Many of our adult members represented us at the Great Limerick Run, the Belfast Marathon, and the Drogheda 10k. In Track and Field our athletes have had a great start to their season in Schools Athletics and Dublin Leagues. Meanwhile we have also had athletes compete in Irish Mountain Running events.

Our Juvenile athletes had excellent performances at the North Leinster Schools Championships with a great haul of medal for our Juveniles who went on to compete at the Leinster Schools Athletics Championships. Our athletes secured top 6 places, winning valuable team points for their schools (Donabate Community College and Loreto Secondary School Balbriggan).

The Dublin Athletics League series is well underway. Our Under 16 athletes competed in the Juvenile League and our older teenagers and adults took part in the Dublin Graded Meets. We were particularly proud of the success of our Competition group athletes who train with coach Gerry Ronan.

Although Donabate isn’t known for hills, one of our athletes has had great success at Irish Mountain Running events. Under 19 Sinead Farrell has been selected to represent Ireland at the European Athletics Off-Road running event in Annecy, France following qualification at the Seefin Trials in Co. Limerick. Sinead also won the recent IMRA Leinster League Race at Argillan Demesne, Skerries, whilst Under 12 athlete Kate Jones was 3rd in a shorter race at the same event.

We are looking forward to welcoming 150 young athletes to our 2024 Summer Camp in July. Our sincere thanks to St Pats GAA for offering us the use of their grounds for our camp. Thanks also to our volunteer coaches who give us their time to provide three days of fun-filled activity and athletics.

We always welcome new members and volunteers. If you would like to get involved please contact us - details below:

Adult memberships queries: Lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com. Little Athletics and Juvenile athletes (7-18) : lsajuvenilereg@gmail.com

Keep up to date on all the events by following LSA on our social media pages!

Preparations are well under way for the annual Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival in September. This year the festival starts on Thursday September 12th, and over the following 10 days the peninsula will be buzzing with a full timetable of activities to satisfy all cultural appetites.

The Bleeding Pig Cultural festival has been running for more than 10 years now, and is getting bigger and better every year, and this year promises to be no different.

The fun starts on Thursday 12th September with some ceol agus craic in the Brook Pub in Portrane, led by renowned Piper Eamonn Galldubh agus a chairde, and featuring members of Ceomhaltas Leithinis.

The organisers are very grateful to Mick and Bríd Moynihan at the Brook for hosting the launch. The 2024 festival will feature all the usual favourites including:

Workshops for Adults and Children; Gala Concert; Mol an Oige; Art and Photograph Exhibition; Short Film Festival; Walks and Talks; Any Voice open mic; Short plays from the Dramatic Society;

Sing-a-Long; PizzaTrad with complimentary pizza from DoughBox; September Miscellany; and plenty more.

This year there will be some new and exciting events including a car-based Family Scavenger Hunt, Expoloration Dome Planetarium experience, and more.

In an effort to highlight some local history, this year the festival will feature a forum, interviewing and chatting with some local residents who grew up on the peninsula, sharing their memories of Donabate and Portrane in times gone by.

After the festival, on Sunday 29th September, the Dublin Orchestral Players will visit the Parish Hall to perform a narrated production of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. This much-loved orchestral work is an age-old crowd-pleaser and promises entertainment for music-lovers of all ages.

Keep an eye on the festival Social Media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and Website for more details about all of the events.

The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival is always seeking new recruits to help with the arrangements and the events. If you would like to join the committee, or help out at any festival event, please contact Eilish McDermott on 087-7911833.