Rush Tidy Towns were delighted to attend the 2024 Mayor’s Awards in May where all Tidy Towns groups in Fingal County Council were honoured. Congratulations to all the groups in attendance and thank you to Mayor Councillor Adrian Henchy for hosting such a great night. As part of the awards Fingal visited each town and made a video. To view the Rush Tidy Town video please go to the group’s Facebook page to view it.

St. Catherine - Congratulations to everybody involved in getting the St. Catherine’s Estate Community Garden up and running. This project epitomises perseverance and community spirit in working through a long process with Fingal County Council and with the support of our local Councillors to get it launched yesterday. We look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour in the coming months. Well done all!
Fairy Trail Upgrade - Thanks to our local magical fairy house builder Frank for the latest instalment of houses for our Fairy Trail in St. Catherines Woods. Your skills never fail to astound us. These will now be painted by the kids in our National schools.

Huge Congratulations to our 1st Year boys and girls Basketball teams who gave up their weekend away in Carlingford with the rest of their year to compete in the All-Ireland Basketball finals in Limerick at the beginning of May. They were a credit to their school, their parents and their club.

The Girls won silver medals, finishing 2nd after 6 really tough games. The Boys were beaten in the plate quarter final having picked up a few injuries late last week. Well done to all the players, parents and coaches!

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.