EggHeadz CLG is delivering programmes and support services across Fingal and Dublin. Here is some of what we’re doing…

School Engagement: -Secondary School: Our ‘Shape Your Life Through Sport’ programme continues across Fingal and Dublin. Pictured recently at Donabate Portrane Community College as part of Mental Health Month and at St. Finian’s Community College Swords as part of Careers Week.

In-school Primary: programmes have continued to grow and now includes Dublin South Central as well as Fingal and Dublin City. Pictured are children learning basic Physical Literacy skills. After-school Primary: Yoga & Art programmes are enjoyed by primary school children 5-7 and 9-12yrs. Pictured are children learning Strength, Agility, Relaxation and Winter Crafts at Donabate Portrane Educate Together. EggHeadz drop-in evening and weekend classes take place in Donabate Parish Hall and Donabate Portrane Community Centre. See eggheadz.ie for timetable and join us!

Community Engagement: EggHeadz and Cycle Against Suicide took part and supported an evening of live music in St. Patrick’s Church, Donabate in November. The night was in memory of Conor Culleton, the theme of the music focused on mental health and was performed by the extremely talented Sean Collins, with local special guests Andrew O’Sullivan and Eve Doorley. EggHeadz volunteers have completed the Peer Buddy training programme with Cycle Against Suicide.

EggHeadz Inclusion Programmes: EggHeadz support services take place in five different centres for Direct Provision in the Fingal area. Our engagement with the migrant community has been vital for integration and inclusion of young people in local sports clubs. For a second year running we collected and delivered Christmas presents to children and families living in Direct Provision. Thank you to everyone who donated.

EggHeadz Youth Counselling Service - A FREE of charge and confidential service for young people (aged 12-25) by appointment. It takes place on Mondays in Donabate Portrane Community Centre by appointment between 9.30am and 3.30pm. Contact Mairead on 086-329 6812 or by email eggheadzcounselling@gmail.com to book an appointment. For more follow us on social media or visit our website.

Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development and Charities, Joe O’Brien TD, recently announced €6 million in capital funding under the “Department of Rural and Community Development Local Enhancement Programme 2024”. The Minister said there will be €220,842.98 of this funding allocated to provide capital supports essential for the many small community groups and organisations across Fingal. There will be a particular focus on small capital works/improvements, and the purchase of equipment for community use. The funding may be used, but is not limited to; improved access for persons with a disability; enhancing community participation for disadvantaged and marginalised groups, and improving energy efficiency of community facilities to reduce ongoing costs. The scheme is designed to ensure local priorities are identified and met, so as to improve and enhance community facilities for all. Announcing the funding today, Minister O’Brien said: “The funding will provide really practical support to smaller community groups in Fingal that are active at a grassroots level to help them to ensure they have the facilities and equipment they need to support their communities”. “These grants will help thousands of community organisations, clubs, men’s and women’s sheds, youth centres and parish halls, to improve their facilities and continue to facilitate the provision of their valuable services to the people in their areas. I am particularly happy to have reserved funding for Women’s Sheds, groups and networks. Many of these groups are providing essential services on a day-to-day basis to those most in need. I hope this funding will help to support the provision of safe warm spaces for those groups to continue to meet and support their communities in both rural and urban areas right across the country”.

Ardgillan College has been very busy in 2023 and it was thoroughly enjoyable. We were thrilled for the class of 2023 on their fantastic Leaving Cert. Results and wish them well in their future endeavours. Conor Murphy was bestowed with the JP McManus Award from The University of Limerick for excelling in his LC having achieved 625 points. Our first years enjoyed a team bonding day in Ardgillan castle. Our lunch time clubs got underway including the brand-new Dungeons and Dragons club. Our sports teams have been busy playing matches in soccer, Gaelic, Hurling, Basketball, Golf, Hockey and Rugby. Our athletes took part in the Cross County Championships. Our Senior French students had a fabulous trip to Paris and took in all the major sights including The Mona Lisa, The Eifel Tower and Mickey Mouse at Disneyland. Senior students enjoyed Flynn Park in Courtlough, the Ploughing Championships and saw Hamlet performed on stage in Dundrum. Our TY’s had fun on trips to Jumpzone, the Ty Expo, the Casino at Marino, the Fingal Xplore Skills Expo and learnt how to drive in Finglas. Our Green Schools Group carried out a litter pick on Balbriggan beach, the Hamilton Road and Curran Park areas. Our 3rd years enjoyed a well-being retreat and our 5th years went on a historical walking tour of Dublin. 6th years frequented the Higher Options Conference and Worldskills event. Our Active Flag group organised a table tennis takeover and we also celebrated MFL week and Coding week. A group of students cheered on the boys in Green against Greece in the Aviva. We also celebrated the opening of our new school library. It was fantastic to welcome our founding Principal Mr. O’Leary back to open the beautiful facility named after him. We are looking forward to the future of inspiring a love of reading amongst students. We wish a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all our students, parents, teachers and friends in 2024.

Representatives from eight cities across the EU visited Balbriggan this week for the first transnational meeting of the URBACT EcoCore project.

EcoCore is one of 30 approved networks under the URBACT IV programme which is co-funded by the European Union. URBACT’s mission is to enable cities to work together and develop integrated solutions to common urban challenges by networking, learning from each other’s experiences and identifying good practices. Fingal County Council is proud to be the first local authority in Ireland to lead an URBACT network which includes partners from Dubrovnik (Croatia), Ormož (Slovenia), Alba Iulia (Romania), Ķekava (Latvia), Santo Tirso (Portugal), Pärnu (Estonia), Villena (Spain) and Tuusula (Finland).

The EcoCore Project is focusing on accelerating the green transition in the partner cities which are all located along strategic transport corridors, as Balbriggan is located on the road from Dublin to Belfast. It aims to build the capacity of small cities in addressing climate change by promoting sustainable economic development, the green transition and helping local stakeholders, particularly businesses, in transitioning to low-carbon energy sources and promoting sustainable mobility options. Network activities will create significant momentum for a green energy transition in each of the partner cities with a special focus on the industrial areas of the cities.

Welcoming delegates to Balbriggan, Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Adrian Henchy, noted: “There is a lot we can learn from collaborating with the cities and towns represented here today and it provides a great opportunity for Balbriggan and all involved. Balbriggan is a town that we are immensely proud of and we’re significantly investing in it, the EcoCore project is part of that journey.” Delegates participated in workshops on the digital innovation hosted by Smart Balbriggan with a demonstration from Manna Drones, a panel on women entrepreneurs with Fingal LEO, active travel projects in Fingal and sustainable mobility options with the Council’s Active Travel Section, how the Council is collaborating with partners through the Fingal Skills Strategy to develop the future talent pipeline and a seminar on regional collaboration with Amanda Smyth from the Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor Partnership (DBEC).

As we start another year with Balbriggan & District Historical Society, we look back at our autumn talks in 2023. In October we concentrated on World War I with professional short talks from Loreto Secondary School students focusing on individual stories of young men who served in the war. The Loreto SS Local History Students were the well deserving winners of the Western Front Association Malcolm Doolin Award for their World War 1 Projects and on November 11 they had the huge honour of laying a wreath at the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph Whitehall. London. Eithne MacDermott gave a really informative and thought-provoking talk on the political and social context of the War in Ireland and Europe. She spoke of the Home Rule campaign and Women’s and Labour movement leading up to the war and young men who joined a war they thought would be over in months. Instead, WW1 lasted years with millions of casualties and had a profound effect for generations to follow.

In September Cora Mc Donagh spoke on ‘Balbriggan Stockings, Old Masters and the Bells of Howth: North County Dublin contributions to the nineteenth century Art & Industry Exhibitions.’ Cora explored Balbriggan’s involvement with the exhibitions that took place in the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century and the contributions from the stocking manufacturers especially those at the 1853 Great Industrial Exhibition held in Dublin where Smyth & Co, Glennys, Appleyard and others had stands and over one million people visited this exhibition. Later exhibitions saw other industries at the exhibitions including The Balbriggan Salt Works Co. and the Drogheda Linen Company, Balbriggan.

Cora explained how these loans were of benefit to the artists, the artisans and others during the nineteenth century. In August Frank Whearity presented The Rise and Fall of John Spicer’s model bakery & shop Balbriggan (1904-1999): Frank told us about the bakery branch opened by John Spicer (a Navan based miller and baker, b.1853-d.1922) in April, 1904, at Drogheda Street Balbriggan. In August for Heritage Week we also led an historical walk as part of the Beach Festival and we joined the Fingal Heritage Network for their Heritage Night when Bernie Kelly spoke about Sinéad De Valera.

Asian Financial Services, as part of Symmetry Financial Management group, has been announced as the winner of the Mortgage Broker Expert Award at the Broker Ireland Expert Broker Awards 2023 which took place in The Round Room at the Mansion and were hosted by RTÉ’s Jacqui Hurley. Asian Financial Services is headed by Balbriggan -based broker Kanwar Singh who is originally from India and who provides specialist financial advice to Ireland’s Asian community. The Broker Ireland Expert Broker Awards shine a light on excellence by recognising Insurance, Financial, and Mortgage Brokers who offer the highest level of professionalism, innovation, performance, and service to their clients.

Accepting the Mortgage Broker Expert Award, Kanwar Singh, Head of Asian Financial Services said, “I am delighted that Asian Financial Services, as part of Symmetry Financial Management group, has been recognised through this prestigious award. It is my honour to serve the Asian community in Ireland and to provide dedicated financial advice tailored to the needs of individuals and families. Many of my clients are highly skilled employees in the health and IT sectors with visa stamps that require specialist consideration when purchasing a property. I am delighted that, through Asian Financial, we can provide that service.”

With the close of 2023, brings the close of another busy year for the Balbriggan/North County Dublin branch of Guide Dogs and we want to thank everyone again who supported us and volunteered throughout the year. Here’s to another year of fundraising and fun still yet to come! We are delighted with the success of our merchandise stand in SuperValu, Balbriggan on the 10th and 11th November which raised a fantastic total of €1,830.20 over the two days and on the 24th and 25th November, which saw the arrival of Santas Grotto at Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan which raised another brilliant total of €1,694 over two days. It’s safe to say the Christmas season well and truly kicked off with the arrival of Santa. On Sunday 10th December our branch continued the run up to Christmas by attending Bremore Castle Food and Craft Village Christmas Market with our Christmas cards, calendars and car raffle tickets. With the start of the new year, while things are a bit quiet, it is also is a time for many people to make new year’s resolutions and our branch is looking for three or four volunteers specifically, to empty our counter boxes. In 2023 we increased our counter box team in Balbriggan and Dublin city. We badly need help in Skerries, Rush and Lusk and also in rural North County Dublin so why not make a resolution to join our counter box team? You can also still support our Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs by tap to donating €3 at one of our machines at Specsavers in Millfield Shopping Centre, Specsavers in Ashbourne, Skinny Batch Café in Lusk, Pet Stop in Airside and Specsavers in GPO Arcade Dublin. You can also keep an eye on our social media pages for any upcoming events and if you would like to get involved or are interested in volunteering with us, please feel free to contact us: Balbriggan/North County Dublin branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, you can phone or text us on 085 7663107, email us at GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or find us on Facebook at Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.

The book “Becoming Your Best Possible Self” by Gerard Morgan has recently been published. Gerard is living in Malahide and would like to inform locals of this book and provide an opportunity to fundraise for a very worthy cause. The book was initially written as a legacy for his two sons and provides a timely transformative personal growth strategy for all readers. The book is now available in the following places; (1.) Hodges Figgis /Waterstones, Dawson Street, Dublin (near Trinity College) (2.) Manor Books, Malahide Village, Co Dublin, (3.) Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, (4.) The book is included with the adult education course “Becoming Your Best Possible Self” in Malahide Community School based on the book in the new year. (It is a 7-week course) Information is on this link malahidecsadulted.ie/best-possible-self/.
Please note all profits from the sale of the book will go to the charity Samaritans Ireland.

Hygiene Hub, the charity giving hygiene and personal care products to those who need them, and is calling on the public to Spread Kindness this Christmas as part of their Christmas Campaign by donating toiletry gift sets as well as essential hygiene products this festive season. The #SpreadKindness Campaign aims to provide at least 5,000 toiletry gift sets as well as donations of essential hygiene items to individuals and families in need this Christmas. To take part in the #SpreadKindness campaign, supporters can either donate the cost of a gift set through the #SpreadKindness fundraiser or host a hygiene drive with colleagues, friends or family and donate new, or unopened essential and luxury toiletries. Hygiene Hub will collect, pack and distribute the donations to local charities in time for Christmas.

The purpose of Hygiene Hub is to alleviate the pressure of hygiene poverty felt by many individuals and families across the country, when financial struggles mean that food, rent and bills are prioritised over hygiene products.

There are three ways that supporters can help Hygiene Hub this Christmas including donations to one of the drop-off points listed on the website, monetary donations via the iDonate page, or by agreeing to host a hygiene drive at school, college, or work.

Hygiene Hub Ireland will be collecting donations for their #SpreadKindness from 1st November 2023 until 4th December 2023. Donations will then be sorted and distributed to charity partners in time for Christmas. The first Hygiene Hub in Ireland was set up in Dublin in 2019. It has now grown into a national charity with 7 hubs so far, having donated over 50,000kg of essential hygiene products to over 45 Community Partners. Its volunteers and supporters are passionate about tackling hygiene poverty. Since 2019, over 28,100kg has been donated by the Dublin Hub. 26 Drop Off Points, Supporting 26 Community Partners Locally you can donate at McCabes Pharmacy G24, Pavillions Shopping Centre, Malahide Rd, Swords Demesne, Swords, Co. Dublin. +353 1 840 6555

By Ken Duffy

Halloween recently paid us a visit and Swords Tidy Towns was not shy or found lacking in taking part in the celebrations. Normally we would hold our annual fund-raising Halloween Bucket Collection, but this year we decided to join in on the festivities. We met up at the main entrance to the park for 7.15pm, dressing up for the evening was optional. As per usual the fireworks were a massive success, it was the best year so far we thought. A massive big thank you to the Events Team of Fingal County Council headed up by the irrepressible Mr Paul Barnes, they all put in a trojan shift to pull it off. We then adjourned to the 44 Hotel afterwards for a couple of hours, the craic was mighty as you would imagine on the night that was in it. Great craic was had with the alcoholic skeleton who was sitting at the bar. We even managed to fit in a mini quiz, and each person got to ask a question which we all endeavoured to answer, it was a taster for our Quiz Night fundraiser in the New Year. Swords Tidy Towns are always looking for new members especially people with admin and IT experience. You can contact us at swordstidytowns@gmail.com or contact our Chairperson Ken Duffy on 0866008313.

We would like to take this opportunity now the season of good cheer is on the horizon to wish the people of Swords, our 4000 Facebook followers, our local business supporters, family and friends, a very Happy Christmas and New Year.