By John Moore Deputy Principal.

We were delighted to be the first school to be featured on RTE’s Operation Transformation which aired on Wednesday. Ms. Rachel Flynn and her Transition Year Home Economics students featured and cooked a healthy and delicious Tofu Pad Thai dish. The girls spoke really well and did a fantastic job cooking the dish. Our new Home Economics kitchen, recently opened by celebrity chef, Donal Skehan, looked great as did the new St. Mary’s aprons. Everyone did St. Mary’s proud! Attached are behind-the-scenes photos of the filming process which took place in December. Also, we would like to remind you that our Transition Year students are continuing to run Free Log On Learn classes for Senior Citizens on Tuesdays from 11 am to 12.10 pm. Senior Citizens are welcome to drop in for a tea/coffee and then brush up or learn new IT skills whether on your phone, computer or tablet. Absolute beginners welcome. Learn about emails, social media, buying online, booking flights, WhatsApp etc.For further details, contact Joey Ryan at 01 832 5591 or email him at j.ryan@stmarysbaldoyle.org

Malahide is a coastal town situated on the east of Fingal County. It is a busy town that is a sought-after residential location due to its beach location, Malahide Marina, Malahide Castle Demesne and views overlooking Broadmeadow Estuary. Natural biodiversity features in Malahide include the Gaybrook Stream which is bordered by woodland habitat, Caves Marsh wetland and Dublin Bay. Man made biodiversity features include Malahide Demesne which has important woodland and semi natural grassland habitats. Embryonic sand dunes are forming along Malahide beach and Robswall Park supports hedgerows and meadows. Internationally protected Light bellied Brent Geese (Branta bernicla hrota) feed on grasslands in Robswalls Park each year. The Tidy Towns group in Malahide is very active and involved in biodiversity initiatives locally. It has already implemented many useful biodiversity actions and identified a number of locations that should to be conserved and interpreted. The primary aim of Tidy Towns Malahide is of course to enhance the appearance of Malahide making the town a more attractive place to live work and do business in. Currently the Tidy Towns volunteers meet every Saturday morning at 10.30am in the car park at Malahide Train Station.

Based on the cult classic John Water’s film of the same name, Cry-Baby the Musical is a rebellious teen comedy musical that, as book writer Mark O’Donnell said, is “edgier than Grease, funnier than West Side Story” and full of rockabilly tunes that keep the audience dancing in their seats. The delinquent Drapes and the squeaky-clean Squares can’t see eye to eye on anything. But when Drapes leader Cry-Baby and Square member Allison meet at the Anti-Polio Picnic, their star-crossed love story begins to blossom. Allison longs to shake off her Square identity and join Cry-Baby’s rock n’ roll lifestyle. With rock rhythms and dancing delinquents, Cry-Baby the Musical brings the 1950’s to life with a rockabilly good time. This fantastic musical will be on stage at Malahide Community School from the 13th until the 17th of February. Tickets are on sale now so don’t miss it.

Get ready for an unforgettable weekend at the many ParkRun Ireland locations in Fingal County Council! Lace up your running shoes or take a leisurely stroll with our amazing Walk at Parkrun participants. No matter your pace, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Register now at //parkrun.ie and be part of the action-packed fitness event supported by Sport Ireland. Join our vibrant community and connect with like-minded individuals who share your passion for an active lifestyle. Get inspired, make new friends, and conquer personal milestones together. Don’t miss out on the excitement!

Our volunteer Scouters make an incredible and incalculable commitment to youth development and the outdoor activity programme, supporting our young people to learn lifelong skills, make new friends, overcome challenge and positively contribute to the community. Once a year Malahide Sea Scouts get an opportunity to recognise their contribution with; Meritorious awards - for outstanding commitment to Scouting.

Service Awards – recognising their commitment and many years of service to Scouting.
Malahide Sea Scouts is lucky to have so many passionate and talented volunteers with decades of scouting experience to best serve the programme and safe activities in the outdoors. Recently, the Group Leader was delighted to present some notable service awards to some exceptional Malahide Sea Scout stalwarts, a few f whom are pictured here, those were - 25 years of service - Alan Johns, Pat Moyne & Ivan Barrett. - 40 years of service - Stephen Taylor - 50 years of service - Kevin Rowan - The Group Leader also took the opportunity to present the ‘Bosuns Whistle’ to some of the new Section Leaders. A nautical symbolism as they prepare to ‘pass commands to the crew’ and deliver an exciting Sea Scouting youth development programme. Thank you to all the volunteers.

An upcoming soccer training camp is being held in the home of Malahide United, Gannon Park for two days on January 4th and 5th 2024.This camp is for boys and girls aged 8-14. The Camp will run 10am-1pm daily and all coaches are FAI accredited and have Garda vetting, If you wish to book a place for your child contact 086 247 7076 , The cost per child is €55.

St Sylvester’s GAA are and were delighted to continue to support GAA games in our local schools with a visit to one local school on December. The club and Executive really appreciate the partnership and were delighted to supply new hurleys, helmets and footballs to St Oliver Plunkett’s School for its football and camogie games! The presentation was held in early December at the school.

At the end of each boating year, the Scouts and Ventures host a ‘Laying Up Supper’, sharing stories of the adventures they got up to, remarking over the safe and successful year, saying thanks to those who have supported and enjoying some good grub with the leaders!

Well done to the Scouts and Ventures for preparing presentations and being part of the nearly 3,000 bums we had on the water in 2023! Heres to calm seas and fair winds in 2024!

Malahide Lions Club were delighted to host a Christmas party for over 100 of our Seniors Citizens in the Grand Hotel Malahide at the weekend. What a fabulous day was had by all. Many thanks to the following: Grand Hotel Malahide for top class service and food. Musician Peter Finnigan who had our guests singing and dancing all afternoon. Mary Grimes Irish Dancers for outstanding performances. Shiel family Londis Yellow Walls Road for donation of the wine. To all local businesses, family and friends who donated raffle prizes. A special thanks to the main sponsors of our guests tables whose support and generosity ensured a successful event: Mc Cabes Pharmacy Yellow Walls Road - Cathrina Murphy Fingal Community Development Office - Irish College of English - Deirdre Rochford- Supervalu Malahide - David Kennedy - Councillor Jimmy Guerin - Mischief Malahide - Trish Murtagh- Malahide Credit Union .Of course, the event would not have been possible without the sterling work carried out by Mrs .Jo Morris, who has been serving the community in many ways for “more years the we care to remember! Community spirit at its best.

We’re finding a lot of people are deciding not to replace their cars these days and are going to experiment with Go Cars, public transport and cycling. It can suit some people and it saves a great deal of money. See below - message from Minister O’Brien, for some good news on Cycle routes, I believe the Malahide Active Travel can be congratulated for the idea.

Dear Resident,
I hope that this finds you well. Cllr Eoghan O’Brien and I have been actively engaging with Malahide Portmarnock Educate Together Secondary school, Gaelscoil an Duinnínigh and local residents for over year now to secure safer pedestrian and cycle access to our local schools. You will have seen recently significant improvements to the entrance to the schools from the Feltrim Road which is very welcome and I’d like to commend Fingal for their work on this and in particular the students who worked with us to secure these improvements.

Recently Eoghan and I have received the very significant news that planning permission has been granted for a new path from Waterside to the schools. We have both met with the Minister for Education Norma Foley about this and I’m pleased to tell you that they will commence work on this really important link in the near future.

This path from Waterside will greatly improve safety for students and residents from the Swords Road area, linking them not only to the schools but onwards to the shops and commercial centre in Kinsealy.
Kind Regards,
Darragh