Portmarnock Community School had its annual Sports awards Ceremony on Thursday 14th May. The guest speaker was Ciara Peelo who is an Olympian, sports commentator and coach. She spoke to our students of the importance of trying out different sports as a young athlete, sticking to it to build resilience and believing in yourself.

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.

Amid sunshine and showers Malahide Lions Club had a fantastic 13th Malahide Classic & Vintage Motor Show on Sunday 17th May at Grand Hotel Malahide with good crowds, and a simply glorious collection of cars.

Car makes displayed included Audi: Austin: BMW: Caterham: Chevrolet: Daimler: Fiat: Ford: Jaguar: Jeep: Jensen: Lotus: Mazda: Mercedes: MG: Morris: Nissa: NSU: Porsche: Renault: Riley: Rolls Royce: Rover: Saab: Sunbeam: Toyota: Triumph: TVR and Volkswagen.

Admission was €10 with entire proceeds going to charities including Barnardo’s childrens’ charity and Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless. Children under 16 were free and families were catered for with ice cream and a games tent.

The hotel’s state-of-the-art lecture theatre had motoring nostalgia videos running all day and drew big interest, especially when the showers came.

Awards were made for the best kept and most attractive cars, and the judges had a difficult time deciding on worthy contenders for the Carole Nash Insurance trophies.

After much debate and deliberation, the ‘Car of The Show’ was declared to be the immaculate Renault 5 GT Turbo, restoration of which was completed by the family of late Stephen Malone in his memory. Many congratulations to Gillian, Ted and Emma.
‘Runner-Up Car of the Show’ was the beautiful 1973 Ford Mercury Cougar of Robert Campbell all the way from Belfast.

The drivers themselves get to vote too, for ‘My Dream Car’ and the winner was the magnificent 1986 Chevrolet Camaro of Kacper Duzewski.

Well done to all the car owners who joined us yesterday. The quality and variety on show was exceptional.

Our thanks go to judges Geraldine Herbert, motoring editor with Sunday Independent, to rally and classic car veteran Rory Dooley and Amanda O’Reilly of our sponsors Carole Nash Insurance Ireland and whose sponsorship helps ensure a safe and quality event.
As always we are indebted to the fantastic team at Grand Hotel Malahide who provide us with excellent all-weather facilities (which were especially welcome during the showers), great catering and service with a smile

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the drivers and Vespa scooters owners, the bikers, the owners of the huge American fire engine and the hundreds and hundreds of spectators who enjoyed the day and helped raise significant amounts for Barnardos childrens’ charity and Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless as well as Lions charities.

Malahide Lions Club

We Irish love our cows as evidenced in our language. The Irish word for road is bo-thar (cow-way), coin is bo-nn (replacing the cow as currency) and even inflation is bo-ilsciú (a lot of cows!) Many cultures revere cattle, it shows how mixed up our histories are. How ‘global’ humans have always been.

These days though, our cows are killing us, but we’re having difficulty adjusting. Our brains are chronologically challenged. Some of us have met a great grandparent and others might meet a great grandchild but beyond that is hard for us to imagine. It may be our grandchild’s grandchild that will suffer most from our choices today?

They will struggle for food, water and somewhere to live as the whole world competes for the last few habitable areas. The world’s forests will have died due to rising temperatures and the oceans will be too acidic for life (we crossed that Global boundary last November!).

The longer we delay in addressing climate change, the longer the world will suffer before the planet starts to come back but we’re looking at hundreds or maybe thousands of years.

Our illogical cow-love is not serving us. The politicians who stand ‘behind’ the Meat and Dairy industry, making it the exception to every attempt to reduce carbon, methane and nitrogen, are not doing the farmers, Ireland or the world any favours. They need to stand ‘in front’ of the farmers and be the leaders that the role of TD requires.

It’s not easy being a politician and, as we know throughout history, good leaders are rarely thanked, which is why, as the people, we must support them. Let politicians know that we stand with them in decisions to reduce our emissions.

No one likes to hear that the party is over and it’s time to tidy up, but the world is in a mess and we don’t have any other bóthán to go to!

Tidy Towns Malahide supports Sustainable Development Goal No. 13 Climate Action

Malahide Lions Club were delighted to present a cheque for €1500 to Skerries Youth Support Services (SYSS). The project was set up 10 years ago in response to a tragic suicide in the area. SYSS provide free counselling to young people between the ages of 12 to 25 as part of an early intervention initiative to young people who may be experiencing challenges to their positive mental health. Although the group is based in Skerries their services are open to all at-risk young people in the general Fingal area including Malahide.

SYSS provide 1-6 free counselling sessions to at-risk young people and will refer them to other services if the counselling offered has not sufficiently addressed their issues. About 185-190 young people are helped every year. Currently there is a waiting period of approximately 7 weeks to access counselling so the demand for the service is huge.

The group also produce a booklet called Myself, My Life which includes information about mental health and issues such as bullying, gambling and drugs and alcohol abuse. The booklet includes useful advice and useful contact information, and it is also distributed to local schools.

SYSS is run by volunteers and does not receive any state funding; it raises the funds it needs for its service and booklet publication. Malahide Lions Club were very happy to be able to provide funding to assist in paying for counselling hours.

Dancers from all over Dublin helped launched The Golden Dance Awards Ireland at The Grand Hotel, Malahide, spotlighting the next generation of Ireland’s most talented dancers. The launch featured 20 exceptional performers, selected from hundreds of entries, representing a wide range of schools and dance styles, celebrating not just excellence, but dedication, commitment, and the artistry that drives the dance community.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy attended the press launch and shared his excitement at being part of the Awards, praising the platform for recognising the hard work and talent of dancers across Ireland and the UK.

The main awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 5th, 2026, at The Grand Hotel, Malahide, hosted by Ireland’s dynamic media personality James Patrice. The judging panel will include Dancing with the Stars judge and radio presenter Brian Redmond, professional dancer from Dancing with the Stars Kylee Vincent, acclaimed Irish choreographer Sean Taaffe of Taaffe Training, and Inna Mazurenko of Team Ireland Dance World Cup. They will evaluate entries in June and crown winners across a range of categories, including Dancer of the Year, Dance Teacher, Choreographer, and Dance School of the Year.
Founded by co-founders Catherine and Danielle, the Awards are dedicated to uplifting the dance community, offering scholarships, bespoke trophies, and prizes, while celebrating all dance styles. Headline sponsors include Dance World as official retail partner and Class for Kids.

Entries for 2026 open Friday, April 3rd, giving dancers, teachers, choreographers, and dance schools and businesses nationwide the chance to be recognised at this prestigious event.
For more information and to enter, visit www.goldendanceawards.ie.

Members from the Fingal Volunteer Centre were honoured to attend the cheque presentation from the wonderful volunteers at Malahide Lions Club to the Skerries Youth Support Services team. Through their incredible fundraising efforts, Malahide Lions Club generously donated €1,500 to support this important work.

Skerries Youth Support Service is a volunteer-led organisation providing free counselling for young people aged 12–24, offering vital support to those who need it most.

“Our Volunteer Centre is all about connecting the community, and moments like this remind us why it matters. When we first met with the Lions Club, we shared the fantastic work that Michael and Dave are doing in the community. That conversation led to an introduction to SYSS — and ultimately to this generous support. This is community connection in action: volunteers supporting volunteers to make a real difference for young people in our area. Thank you to Malahide Lions Club for your generosity and commitment to helping local youth thrive,” the group stated.

Malahide Lions Club was delighted to support the Malahide GAA St. Sylvester’s U-8 girls’ teams recently by sponsoring the purchase of medals which were presented to each of the girls. Over 70 under 8s had been playing in the Gormanstown Indoor Camogie Tournament since the beginning of January with the Finals on Sunday 8th February.

The tournament is run every January to enable the girls to continue playing camogie at a time of the year when the weather is too cold or the outdoor pitches are not in good condition to facilitate games. The medals which each girl received were presented by Malahide Lions President Rose Minton in St. Sylvester’s GAA clubhouse in Malahide.

The U-8 girls and their families had a special treat in store when two All Ireland senior champions paid a visit to the clubhouse to congratulate the girls. Both Kate Sullivan and Clodagh Fox, who are members of St. Sylvester’s GAA Club, were on the Dublin team that won last year’s All Ireland Senior Ladies Football Championship. They brought along the Brendan Martin Cup which was presented to the Dublin team as All Ireland Champions.

McCann FitzGerald LLP donate €1,000 to The Anchor Club, a parent led club for children with additional needs based out of Seabury Parish Hall, Malahide, Co. Dublin.

The annual Senior Citizens’ Christmas party hosted by Malahide Lions Club took place on Saturday 29th November in the Grand Hotel. Over 120 local senior citizens attended the event. Santa greeted each guest with a small gift as they arrived and the guests then sat down to a delicious three course lunch. After the lunch musical entertainment was provided by Derek Keyes and he had the crowd up singing and dancing. The afternoon finished with a monster raffle.

Club President Rose Minton welcomed all the guests and thanked the Grand Hotel and the hotel staff. She also thanked the Lions and their friends for all their hard work in making the event such a success.
Malahide Lions Club is grateful for all those who sponsored tables and donated raffle prizes. We would also like to thank Londis & Supervalu - Malahide, Tony Byrne Menswear, Aine McCabe, Malahide Castle & Gardens, Minister Darragh O’Brien T.D, Cllr. Jimmy Guerin, Ann Graves T.D. and Linda Weldon. The Club is also grateful to the Grand Hotel for its generous support for this event; no effort was spared from the wonderfully festive presentation of the venue to the quality of the fare. It all added up to a very enjoyable Christmas celebration for our senior citizens.

Whilst walking around Swords recently a passerby asked, “Do you have the time?”. Once a common question but something seldom heard since we evolved to grow that appendage known as the smart phone. The random encounter with the time seeker got me thinking about how much daily life has changed since we Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964) cast a youthful shadow upon the earth. Not everyone had a watch and those who did had to wind them on a regular basis. The local phone box was our digital hub. To use the facility, the speed of an Olympian runner and the cunning of a wise old fox were mandatory in order to reach its door before a certain neighbour. Should she cross the finish line before you, a battle of the irresistible force and immovable object ensued, as she attempted to break the world record for the longest phone call in history. We didn’t get a landline till the early nineties. Years earlier when my father was in hospital, I rang to enquire how he was doing. Instead of the stock reply “As well as can be expected”, a helpful nurse put him on to me. As he had never heard my voice on the phone before, it took all my diplomatic skills to convince him I wasn’t an imposter.

Today shopping is a leisure activity. Back then it was a necessary chore to replenish the basics. Before self-service, we queued at a high counter and timidly asked the shopkeeper (some could be grumpy and hadn’t the customer is always right) for what we wanted. Food hygiene was not in their vocabulary, as cooked and uncooked meats were cut on the same slicer. School lunches are in the news at the moment. Our mothers sent us forth with jam or soggy tomato sandwiches accompanied by a Tupperware beaker of milk to wash them down. We didn’t carry designer water bottles (that other modern day appendage) and survived drinking water of dubious quality water from the roadside pump. We learned to write with a nib pen and ink, and became highly skilled in the art of ducking - a crucial skill to avoid the incoming blackboard duster on a collision course for our heads.

Perhaps the real answer to the passerby is -A very different time!