Junsa Taekwondo recently attended a Taekwondo event and training session run by Taekwondo Ireland to congratulate and send on his way to Paris, Jack Woolley - our two time Olympian.

This time Jack had the opportunity to meet the young and upcoming taekwondo talent in Ireland as the last time he attended the games it was during Covid. It was a fantastic day and very inspiring for the students and coaches alike, as Jack displayed some of his kicking skills his coach Robert Taaffe explained how they got to such a level in Taekwondo.

Meanwhile on the Poomsae front Junsa’s Ellen attended the national Poomsae squad training with the intention of competing in October’s Korean ambassador cup here in Dublin.

We are looking forward to welcoming all juveniles back to training on Tuesday 3rd September after the summer break. New members are welcome and our latest Fit4Life and Fit4Youth groups will commence on Tuesday 17th September. The autumn marathons are almost upon us so the long runs are getting longer for those who have signed up for one. Good luck to all our athletes who have races coming up and well done to all who have competed in the Race Series, Graded meetings or any other events over the summer. We held the Man O War Round 7k race in mid August. Thanks to all who took part and to everyone who helped to make it another successful event.

Lusk local Katie Seaver may be only 16, but the budding novelist has already stepped into the literary world after publishing her first ever book: The Melancholia of the Grotesque.

The book is a gothic horror short story collection centred around women killing people, eating people, and losing sense of reality. These stories are atmospheric, woefully written pieces on solitude, girlhood, existentialism, derealisation and misery. They detail the journeys of different women, all isolated and miserable in their own ways as they navigate the utter horrors that occur both in their bodies and in their minds.

Described on www.goodreads.com, as ‘The Melancholia of the Grotesque explores philosophical ideas about identity and women’s place in the world, while detailing gruesome scenes of body horror and excruciating feelings of solitude. This collection contains 20 short stories written by Irish author Katie Seaver, with influences such as Bram Stoker, Franz Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, Albert Camus, Julia Armfield, Sayaka Murata, Mieko Kawakami, Vladimir Nabokov, Simone de Beauvoir, Junji Ito, Clarice Lispector and Oscar Wilde.

“I feel my soul slipping away from the only vessel I possess that connects me to this world. I am living in a hell of my own making, forced to relive my own lonesome life forever.”

The Melancholia of the Grotesque is available for download on amazon.com and on goodreads.com.

Lusk Athletic Club has been chosen winners of the Dublin County award in this year’s Texaco Support for Sport initiative with the club receiving €5,000 to help fund 100m of tartan track to allow juvenile athletes to train in all-weather.

Lusk AC is a growing club with a wide and varied membership base of over 750 adult and youth athletes, participating in all athletic disciplines. From ‘Little Athletics’ sessions and ‘Fit4Life’ programmes, all the way to senior competitive events and ‘Masters’ programmes, the club prides itself on providing something for everyone.

Congratulating the winners on what he termed ‘the invaluable contribution that sports clubs make to the heart of community life in Ireland’, James Twohig, Director of Ireland Operations, Valero Energy (Ireland) Limited praised the unstinting work of club officials and volunteers, stating that “since its inception, in excess of €500,000 has been distributed to a variety of more than 100 sports clubs under the Texaco Support for Sport initiative”.

Overseeing the judging process was Texaco Support for Sport ambassador, former Irish rugby international and well-known broadcaster, Donncha O’Callaghan. Describing the North Dublin club as ‘a very worthy winner’, he went on to add: “For such a young club to have already established so many athletes, coaches and, most importantly, volunteers, is very impressive and shows just how important Lusk Athletic Club is to its community. Their energy and enthusiasm leap off the page and I’m looking forward to seeing future Irish Olympians emerge from Lusk Athletic Club.”

Entries for the 2025 Texaco Support for Sport initiative will open in the Autumn for all clubs, including those whose application may have been unsuccessful previously.

What a great day we had at the Fingal Vintage picnic in Swords Castle dancing to Gerry & De Plonkers and Ronan Collins and his band who played all our favorite songs.

It’s our summer break now but our members keep in touch and meet up every Monday for lunch and a chat in the Belfrey & Co Cafe and Shop.

We remember the family of Millie McGuinness a former member of Lusk ICA, who sadly passed away recently.

The Black Raven Pipe Band from Lusk travelled to Glasgow in Scotland to compete in the World Pipe Band Championship in mid-August.

The Raven’s competition season started in May of this year and competed and won the Leinster Championships, United Kingdom Championships, East of Ireland Championships, All Ireland Championships, Ulster Championships, Heart O’ Down Championships Newcastle Co. Down, leaving the band travelling to Glasgow full of confidence.

With an early start on the Saturday morning the Band were in the competition park at 8am to prepare for their heat at 10am. At 1pm it was announced that the band had qualified for the final which was around 3pm. The band played their best performance of the year and then the agonising wait for the results began. It is worthwhile to mention that in the qualifying round there are four adjudicators and all gave the band first place. Furthermore, in the final al four adjudicators gave the band fist place. That’s eight different adjudicators giving the band first place, such was the quality of their performance.

At approximately 7pm it was announced that Black Raven Pipe Band were World Champions overall as band and World Drumming Champions and so the celebrations began late into the night.

The band’s home coming parade took place on Monday 19th August through the streets of Lusk in front of hundreds of people and that gave them a tremendous reception. The band treated the crowd to selections of their music including their competition selection.

The band was founded in 1910 by the late Thomas Ashe and local man John Rooney and has been active ever since. They have competed in sixteen World Pipe Championships, and this is the first time they won the World Championships.

Black Raven welcome new members and in particular young people who wish to learn the art of piping and drumming and can be contacted at blackravepipeband@gmail.com

Lusk Summer Festival in June was a fantastic day for the whole community and Lusk Action Group would like to thank Fingal County Council, Progressive Credit Union, our amazing organising committee and all the people who helped to make it happen, once again.

Lusk was nominated by Fingal County Council for the Pride of Place awards, which will take place in the 3rd September, and we hope everyone will do their bit in helping to have Lusk looking its best. You can join the Tidy Towns and Lusk Community Cleaning Group in their efforts, or just clean up outside your own patch. Every little effort helps. It is quite an honour to be nominated and we will be using the day to showcase the best of Lusk and its wonderful community.

Enjoy the rest of the Summer! All in Lusk Action Group

As part of the Afro-Irish Festival and Africa Day celebrations, children from 6th class and 2nd class from St. Catherine’s NS performed in The Lark, Balbriggan. They performed some African drumming, African chanting and danced to Waka Waka This is Africa. The school band also performed Massive Attacks’s Teardrop!

On Friday 24th of May, St. Catherine’s NS hosted an extremely successful Multi-Cultural Day, organised by the school’s PA! This is only a sneak preview of some of the Country’s tables, the foods and the activities of the day!

A 3rd annual football friendly took place between St Caherines and St Brendan’s Loughshinny. The games were very competitive and played in the right spirit with St Brendan’s just about having the edge
Absolutely superb performance by the St Catherines boys and girls

A lot of friendships exist between children on opposing teams made for a great banter filled occasion. Roll on next year!

Earlier this summer Lusk was chosen as the town to represent Fingal in the Pride of Place Awards. The Pride of Place is an all-island competition that recognises improvements made by local communities to create civic pride in their area. The competition focus is about people coming together to shape, change and enjoy all that is good about their town.

Lusk will be competing against 25 other towns from other Local Authority Areas in the category of towns between 5,000 – 10,000 people in their population with the judging taking place on the 3rd of September this year. The committee set up comprises many of the community groups in the town including the Community Council, LAG, Men & Womens Shed and Tidy Towns/Cleanup Group.

Councillor Rob O’Donoghue commented on the ongoing work that, ‘I have attended the committee and it is working diligently to put Lusk’s best foot forward for when the judges arrive in September. The community groups have coalesced successfully and are planning a number of initiatives to put Lusk in the best light possible. Everyone involved are volunteers and they deserve a great deal of thanks for giving their time and energy to what I hope will be a winning entry.’

In other Council news, the period for observations on the application for the Lusk Sports Hub, to An Bord Pleanala ended in early July. The application will now be evaluated by the Bord in the coming months. O’Donoghue stated, ‘I made a submission myself endorsing the application and it my fervent hope that the application is swiftly granted by the Bord so we can start looking at the tendering and building phases of this game changing facility for Lusk.’

There has been plenty of action during the summer months with our club athletes taking part in numerous road races as well as track and field competitions. A few club members have also taken the opportunity to visit parkruns in other countries while away on holidays.

Training plans are available for all distances and many have commenced the long road towards the Dublin City Marathon in October. Our next race is the 7k Man O War round on Thursday 15th August at 7pm. Official return to training is on Tuesday 3rd September and new members are most welcome.