Lusk Heritage Group are delighted to make available a wonderful new collection of short stories entitled Tales of Gaels and Bales, written by Lusk’s very own Jim Monks, the treasurer and founder member of Lusk Heritage Group. These twenty three amazing short stories were years in the writing, some were recorded and preserved on audio by Jim Hawkins from Swords, while more of them were gathering dust on Jim Monk’s cluttered bookshelves at home. Aidan Arnold, Chairman of the Lusk Heritage Group and a good friend of Jim’s for the last fifty years, finally realised their potential as a treasure trove of local Fingallian folklore. He set about pulling the stories together into a single volume. He searched out and met a young Bulgarian girl called Yoana Topalska, living in Rush, working in Skerries and studying art, who produced 14 stunning illustrations for the book. Aidan, in cooperation with Lusk Heritage Group, has now published this beautiful little book which he feels deserves pride of place on every bookshelf in Ireland. The stories look back at much more than our history.You’ll meet the Dunne family from the Nevitt. In 1848, at the height of the Famine, Paddy and Sarah and John, Pat and Sally, went over the road, down the hill of the Nevitt, on their way to the North Wall of Dublin and a voyage to a foreign country. Jump forward 100 years to Paddy Farrell, a man totally at peace with himself, warm outside from the good log fire in the pub, warm inside from three bottles of ale, but World War 11 was about to change all that. Paddy’s only son Boot Farrell who deserves a book all to himself. Join Boot on his hilarious first visit to Skerries where everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong. You never know where you’ll find yourself or who you’ll meet between the pages of Jim’s Tales of Gaels and Bales. You could be in Lusk, Rush, Skerries, Ballyboghill, Balbriggan, London, Santiago or New York, but everywhere you’ll find yourself in the company of real people, genuine laughter and simple human kindness. Tales of Gaels and Bales is available now to buy in local outlets. It will make a perfect stocking filler and Christmas present for anyone interested in Lusk, in Fingal or just curled up on the sofa enjoying a good book and a laugh.

At the November Council meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue welcomed the implementation of the Safer Routes to Schools programme at the junction of R127 bypass and Raheny Lane.The Safe Routes to School Programme was developed in Partnership with the NTA and Green-School in 2020 as a response to the need to support schools to increase walking and cycling to school. The programme aims to improve safety at the school gate by providing ‘front of school’ treatments to alleviate vehicle congestion, improve walking and cycling access for students and increase the number of students who cycle to school by expanding the volume of cycling parking. The Lusk site is one of the first schools chosen for works in Fingal under the programme. As part of the Safer Routes to School Programme for Rush & Lusk Educate Together School, the Active Travel Unit in FCC included within the design the inclusion of an additional crossing point of the R127 to serve both the bus stop, the schools via the pedestrian bridge and the Sports Hub in Rathmore Park. Earlier this month, the contractor commenced works on the site, to install the necessary pipes to carry a power supply to the new signalised traffic lights, located close to the Lusk Sports Hub entrance. On 26th of November upgrade works were carried out at the junction to build it out, with existing kerb lines to reduce traffic turning speeds and provide a safer crossing point for vulnerable road users.Cllr O’Donoghue thanked the Council Management and school principles in RALET and LCC for their progressive thinking on the matter stating, ‘The new lights will provide a safe crossing point for parents and childing using the schools and Sports Hub facilities. The School Principles have really led the way in facilitating both a safer transit for local students to the schools and with the recently installed pedestrian gates between the Hub and the schools, there is better connectivity between these important community facilities.’

October has been a very busy time at the club, between new members starting, international tournaments in Riga and the Korean Ambassadors Cup in Baldoyle.

Juana recently took part in a high level tournament in Riga Latvia where Robbie took to the mats after 3 years and made it to the quarter finals in his first time in the senior division.

We also took part the following weekend at the Korean Ambassadors cup here in Dublin, where we took home a medal for every player we entered.Have a look at what Junsa was up in October and November.

Lusk Athletic Club is immensely proud of our 50 plus athletes who completed the Dublin Marathon on Sunday 30th October. All the training sessions and races over many months was rewarded with great performances on the big day. Special thanks are due to our dedicated marathon training group coaches, Dwain, Mark, Una, Kathy and Annette for all their hard work in setting weekly training schedules and helping their club mates to achieve their goals. Thank You to our club members who acted as volunteers on marathon day and gave great support to all the runners.As well as the Dublin Marathon, Lusk AC athletes have run in the Chicago Marathon, Fastlane 3/4 Marathon, The Dublin 5K Road race championships, the East of Ireland races in Lusk and we were delighted to host the first Dublin Juvenile cross country league races in Lusk on what was a gloriously sunny day, one to be remembered. We were also privileged to have Irish Olympic marathon runner, Mick Clohisey come to Lusk to put on a great training session and offer advice to our marathon runners.Thank you to all our dedicated coaches, assistants, committee and club members who continually work so hard to help improve our adult and juvenile athletes, our facilities and equipment and the new indoor arena for winter training. 2022 seems to have flown by and it is almost time for the Lusk AC Christmas party night which is taking place in the Man O War Pub on Saturday 3rd December. Please contact Emma Przymusinska for your ticket asap.New members are always welcome at Lusk Athletic Club and we cater for a wide variety of track and field events as well as road and cross country running. Training takes place every Tuesday and Thursday from 6.55pm at the Hub on Rathmore Road.

It may only be the start of our season but we have had a very busy few weeks here at Lusk United AFC. We had the privilege of hosting two events within two weeks which raised a total of over €21,000 for charity. First up was the opening of Collie Maher Park. Last February we sadly lost our dear friend Collie Maher. Collie was an amazing club volunteer who not only managed and coached our U17s boys but was involved in fixtures, facilities, fundraising and supporting other coaches with his advice and guidance. In honour of Collie we decided to rename our Station Road pitches - Collie Maher Park. A dedication ceremony, featuring the brilliant Black Raven Pipe Band, was attended by people from all across the community who were entertained with a ‘Legends Match’ as Lusk United took on Whitehall Celtic /St. Kevin’s.Plenty of familiar faces dusted off their boots and got stuck in!

Phenomenal work from all involved in making this day happen including organising a fundraising raffle which raised over €11,500 for St. Francis Hospice Dublin. Thanks to all those who contributed and to all the business who donated fabulous raffle prizes. Next up were our ladies… To launch Breast Cancer Awareness month our Kick Fit ladies organised a charity match against Malahide United at Rathmore Road. With 1 in 9 women affected by breast cancer in their lifetime it was a great opportunity to raise funds for this worthy cause. We had a wonderful, fun filled family day which included a cake sale and a raffle. There was a great atmosphere and buzz around the club on the day and our U8 girls team even had the chance to show case their skills to supporters at half time. An amazing total of €9,590 was raised – well done! We are so proud of our club, all its members and the whole Lusk community. The Images with this article are courtesy of Paul Maguire for which we are very grateful.

“During these dreary days of winter, the joy of receiving a Christmas Card is needed and looked forward to. The Lusk Tidy Towns Committee has been producing Christmas Cards and Calendars for over 28 years. We began by producing 6 postcards and these proved to be most successful. Then we produced our Christmas Cards and Calendar, all depicting scenes of Lusk. These cards are sent all over the world to friends and relations.This year’s card and calendar launch will be on Friday 25th Nov 2022 by Minister Darragh O’Brien in Murray’s Bottom Shop. All are Welcome. The thought and act of sending a Christmas Card is part of an exchange of esteem, long cherished by Irish people. To send a card with a sight and sense of Lusk makes anyone’s friend feel worthwhile ,thank you most sincerely to our sponsors and Contributors. - Pat Kelly”

On 10th October 2022, Lusk Community Council took charge of the new Cultural Centre on Church Road following 17 months of construction works by Pat Fitzgerald Construction. With the support of an extensive team of professional experts, craftsmen and the backing of Fingal Leader Partnership, Fingal County Council and the Founding Friends for the project, we have transformed a derelict site to an iconic vernacular building in the heart of Lusk. The project has not been without its challenges, initially the project was delayed due to the COVID lockdown which meant that we could not get on site till 4th May 2021. Once on site we still had to deal with the risk of Covid and a number of project workers succumbed to it. The combination of Covid, Brexit and the war in Ukraine delivered supply problems and cost inflation for a range of construction inputs. Thankfully Pat Fitzgerald worked through all these problems to deliver a project that will deliver new opportunities for our community, our town and for visitors to our town. On Saturday 22nd October the 1943 Vernacular Buildings of Lusk was opened to the public. While this exhibition will run into 2023, a different temporary Exhibition will run for Fingal Inclusion Week starting on 14th November.

by Aidan Arnold

The Lusk Heritage Group was founded by Pat Kelly and others thirty two years ago. The Group are unique in being the most prolific producers of local heritage videos in Ireland. Their Lusk Heritage Group website at luskheritage.com/ contains more than 130 videos on Lusk and Fingal. It also contains a substantial Audio Collection, capturing fascinating stories of people and places, local history and folklore, that otherwise would be forgotten. Their website is a veritable Aladdin’s Cave for future social historians to feast upon. It has achieved over 200,000 hits not only from local interest but from all over the world. Lusk Heritage Group can also be found on Facebook with a simple search for “Lusk Heritage Group.”Their selection of books about Lusk and Fingal include “Lusk through the Ages,” The Story of Lusk,” and “Thomas Ashe Community Group 100 Year Commemoration 1917-2017” a joint production with Lusk Round Towers GAA Club. Last year Lusk Heritage Group published two excellent books entitled “Forgotten Evidence on the Sack of Balbriggan” and “The Life and Times of John Rover McCann,” celebrating the rich history of Balbriggan and Rush. They have embarked on a major programme of work for the coming year. This includes a new book on the history of the Anglo Norman Barnewall family, owners of what was Turvey House, Bremore Castle in Balbriggan and also tenants of Baldungan Castle for some time. The Barnewall family owned vast tracts of property throughout Counties Dublin and Meath. Well known Lusk man Jim Monks, one of the Lusk Heritage Group founders, is at an advanced stage of publishing a book of short stories that are both entertaining and steeped in local characters, folklore and history. Aidan Arnold, another founder member of the group, has just completed a fascinating book for Milverton School, Skerries. Called “The Schools’ Collection, as written down for us by our Ancestors,” this is the first in a series of booklets about local folklore and history that was collected by the Irish Folklore Commission in the 1930s. Lusk Heritage Group have ambitious plans to extend this wealth of folklore information to the 5000 schools throughout Ireland that contributed to this major historic folklore collection. He has already almost completed his Lusk booklet which he intends to published soon.

Recently we witnessed a truly wonderful thing. In October our community came together to fight for what was right for Lusk. Lusk Action Group (LAG) is extremely grateful to everyone who got behind our campaign to fight against re-zoning motions being lobbied for by councillors from outside of Lusk. Our community has shown just how powerful it can be when we all work together to achieve a common goal. When we act together as one, we can’t be ignored. Many of the councillors who spoke in support of Lusk at the recent Development Plan meeting commended the people of Lusk for their efforts and reiterated their support for the Lusk Vision 2030 report. We can now return our focus to the implementation of the Lusk Vision 2030 goals which is a big priority for the town. LAG has taken responsibility for the delivery of the Multi Use Games Area which was one of the recommendations of the report. We look forward to working on the delivery of this project with Fingal County Council (FCC) as part of the implementation committee. The Christmas lights will go up on Saturday 26th November. This is our third year of having the lights and they have gotten bigger and better each year. Anyone who would like to help with the lighting up please get in touch with us.Following on from the great success of our inaugural Summer Festival earlier this year we are delighted to announce that our second Summer Festival will take place on Saturday 24th June 2023.LAG has recently completed a submission on road safety and maintenance in Lusk and has sent it to FCC. It is hoped that this document will serve as a valuable reference tool for FCC and that our roads and paths can be made safer for us all. As always, we are on the lookout for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us on luskactiongroup@gmail.com.

Lusk Athletic Club athletes have taken part in lots of races recently such as the 21st World Mountain Running championships held in Ireland for the first time, The Portmarnock Beach 5K, The Ratoath AC and Dublin Half Marathons and the Dublin 5K road race championships.Two outstanding achievements by Lusk AC athletes were Stephen Brennan completing the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc and Ann Robinson winning a silver medal at the 21st World Masters Mountain running championships.Lusk Athletic Club also hosted the 1st round of the Dublin Juvenile cross-country league on Sunday 18th September. Thanks to all who organised this event and to the many club and community volunteers who helped us to put on what was a very successful series of races. Great running by all our juvenile athletes in their 1st race of the season.We also welcomed Irish Olympian, Mick Clohisey to the club where he put on a coaching session for our Dublin Marathon training group and passed on key marathon training insights. Lusk AC have approximately 50 athletes in training for the eagerly awaited return of the Dublin Marathon set to take place on Sunday 30th October. New members are always welcome at Lusk AC and our Al certified coaches will help you improve whether you are a runner or you prefer field events such as Discus, Hammer, High Jump, Shot Putt, Javelin. Training every Tuesday & Thursday from 6.55pm at the Hub on Rathmore Road.