‘It was a wonderful way to spend an hour,’ was a comment from an attendee at Cecil Allen’s book launch for ‘The Avenue.’ Speaking to a full house in the Malahide Library, Cecil like a seanchaí of old, quietly but with great skill, told three touching stories from his new book ‘The Avenue.’ The first story, Mrs Green’s Money’ explored a beautiful relationship between an older bed-ridden woman and a young boy. It illustrated how a young boy came to learn that money was secondary to friendship. The second story was darker and explored the lengths one family had to go to maintain their family against the clergy, society and public option. The third story was a light-hearted tale titled ‘Archie and the Box of Chocolates.’ It was a fun story of one man’s obsession with chocolate and how it got him into a lot of trouble. ‘The Avenue’ can be purchased in Manor Books, Malahide or as an e-book and paperback from Amazon.com ‘That was the first book launch I ever attended and it was wonderful. I really enjoyed it,’ was another comment from an attendee.”

The Portmarnock-Malahide Branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind were delighted with the support shown for their recent Par 3 golf fundraiser in Malahide. The event, which took place at the Sports and Leisure Hub in Malahide Castle & Gardens in September, raised a total of €3,477.73 through golf entries, raffle tickets, and donations made on the day. The Portmarnock-Malahide branch looks forward to hosting the Par 3 fundraiser again in 2023.“It was fantastic to see the level of support shown for this event in its second year,” said IGDB Portmarnock-Malahide Branch Chair, Pat Harney. “The generosity of the local community is hugely encouraging and sincerely appreciated both by us as a local branch, and the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind organisation nationally.”“We are so grateful to everyone who supported the event, whether by taking part in the golf themselves, buying a ticket for the raffle, or making a donation at our stand on the day,” added event organiser and local IGDB branch member, Frank Kelly. “We would also like to express our thanks to the Sports and Leisure Hub for hosting us for the second year running, and to all of the local businesses who donated raffle prizes.”Over 85% of the income of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind is received through voluntary donations and fundraising across the country. New volunteers are always welcome, and if you are interested in learning more about how you can support the organisation, visit guidedogs.ie/ways-to-help or reach out to your local branch. The Portmarnock-Malahide branch will hold its AGM on Wednesday, 9th November at 7.30pm in the Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Club, and all are welcome to attend. The branch is also active on Facebook (Irish Guide Dogs Portmarnock-Malahide Branch) and Twitter (@GuideDogsPM).

A Malahide artist who has reimagined still-life from dark, cluttered and old fashioned to bright, vibrant and eye-catching will showcase at Ireland’s top art fair, Art Source, at the RDS. Over 15,000 people are expected to attend the year’s biggest and most exciting art show from November 11-13, featuring 160 of the best contemporary Irish and international artists and galleries. The move by Malahide based Susan Cairns, a former watercolourist, to still life and oils, was a major turning point in her journey as a painter.“Taking old, broken, unwanted and often forgotten everyday objects, my ambition through painting is to capture character and beauty, transforming the usual into something unique and wonderful,” said Susan, who has exhibited across Ireland and the UK. With many years spent drawing and watercolour painting, her current work in oil has evolved and developed into a style that is very identifiable, clear and detailed.“I studied Interior Design in college, but the bit I loved most was the drawing aspect of the course.“I knew at that stage my heart lay in fine art, so I took art lessons just as a hobby like many people do. From there, I just could not see myself doing anything else.“I took art lessons in my 20s. My teacher, Mairead Doyle, was fantastic. She allowed me develop and explore, allowing my style of painting to emerge. The idea of it being dark, cluttered and old fashioned was replaced with it being bright, vibrant and eye-catching. An exhibition of works by Damien Hirst, the English artist who recently burned hundreds of his artworks, will be the centrepiece of Art Source. The fair will also play host to a unique sculpture garden featuring over 40 top Irish and international artists, including works by renowned sculptors such as Patrick O’Reilly, Salvador Dali, Giacinto Bosco, Ian Pollock, Eamonn Ceannt, Bob Quinn, Anthony Scott and Sandra Bell. Irish art lovers also have the unique chance to get their hands on 100 pieces of original artwork for €100 each on a first-come, first-served basis on the opening morning of the show - Friday, November 11.The show will also feature Source Your Own Art, a free children’s pop-up art workshop where youngsters are invited to express themselves creatively in response to the art they see at the fair.

By John Moore, Deputy Principal.

Just an update on the recent but very successful Open Night, the first held since September 2019 due to Covid. The Open Night is an opportunity for potential incoming students and their parents to visit St. Mary’s, view the school and meet the teachers and students. Many had queued out on the road from 6.30 pm for entrance at 7 pm. Consequently, it was a packed night and we were delighted to meet many former students, many of whom were now returning as parents. This is always fantastic but it certainly makes a teacher feel a bit older.All our Subjects Departments were represented by both our Teachers and assisted by students who welcomed the girls from Fifth and Sixth Class with practicals and demonstrations. The Senior Prefects and senior students acted as hosts and brought parents on a tour of the school. The students’ confidence, commitment and dedication to the school highlighted their unique relationship with their teachers and their school. On the night and over the following few days, we received a huge number of comments and emails congratulating the girls on how confident, knowledgeable and friendly they were. Many also noted how happy the girls were in St. Mary’s. All our girls assisting were absolutely fantastic and we were so proud of them. The maturity shown was just amazing.Apologies to those parents and their daughters who were unable to fit into a packed Study Hall to hear the very well-received Principal’s address and later question and answer session. We were delighted to meet so many parents and their daughters. The last of the parents and daughters left around 9.30 pm to round off a highly successful Open Night.

Big congratulations to 9th Port Malahide Wednesday Troop who took part in the Sea Scout Rowing Regatta hosted by 8ú Calafort Dun Laoghaire recently. Wednesdays took home the Dick Vekins Memorial Trophy after coming in 1st Place in the U17s Wood-Latimer race for the first time in 6 years! 1st Place U17 Wood-Latimer - 1st Place U15
2nd Place U13s - 2nd Place O18s Leaders
3rd Place U14s - 3rd Place U16s Pair Oar
This is a great achievement, congratulations to the crews and coxswains!

The award winning writer Cecil Allen is the grandson of the famous actor and writer Ir Allen. Cecil is the author of the hugely popular novels ‘The Actor’ and ‘Constructing Alice.’ He is a retired college lecturer from the Dublin Institute of Technology and holds a BA from Indiana University and an MFA from the University of Minnesota. He was a broadcaster with RTE for over twenty years and represented Ireland twice at International Toastmasters Competitions. He is the father of two sons and lives in Malahide with his wife Julie. Cecil writings centres on our common humanity and ability to function in times of stress. His writings explore our vulnerabilities and the often forgotten reserves of strength and intelligence we can marshal when required. One of the short stories from ‘The Avenue,’ Mr Dunnock’s Day was featured in a new anthology of short stories which was published in September 2022. About the book - The Avenue - The year is 1950, World War II is over, food rationing is nearly finished and the word teenager has just been invented. There are nineteen identical yellow-brick terraced houses on one side of the Avenue and twenty on the other yet each house is a world of its own and as different from the next as the people who live in them. The people of the Avenue include a woman who defies convention, a man who confronts a despotic clergyman, an inquisitive woman who never leaves her bed, a long-lost father, a woman with a disturbing secret and a man with an empty box of chocolates. Told with insight and humour these tales of growing up, religion, marriage, emigration, mental health, widowhood and old age reminds us of the small but important moments of everyday living. ‘The Avenue’ will be published and launched in the Malahide Library on the 5th October. Admission is free and open to all.

The iconic Great Hall at Malahide Castle has reopened following significant works to the historic building that have helped restore one of finest Medieval Banqueting Halls in the country.

Malahide Castle was home to the Talbot family for nearly 800 years and with a history dating back to 1185, it’s an important part of Irish aristocracy. Receiving over 100,000 visitors from home and abroad each year, the Great Hall is an integral part of the attraction for visitors heading to Malahide Castle and Gardens in Fingal. Dating back to 1475. The Great Hall was redesigned in the 1820s by the 2nd Baron Talbot of Malahide in the neo-gothic style. It remains largely how he left it to this day. Work on the Great Hall has been done under the direction of Grade 1 Conservation Architects, Blackwood Associates Architects. The improvements are seen as being integral to future proofing one of Ireland’s most important heritage sites for generations to come. Over €500,000 was invested by Fingal County Council in carrying out the restoration. The majority of works were carried out to the external fabric of the building, which included upgrading the roof and rainwater goods.

Internally restoration of the rafters and minstrel’s gallery, as well as conservation of the 19th century windows and fireplaces took place. Mechanical and electrical systems upgrades also took place, including lighting, rewiring, CCTV and the installation of a new heating system for a room originally built in the Middle Ages. Attending the reopening was Dublin Fingal TD and Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien who praised the massive effort involved in restoring such a heritage property. He said: “This castle has seen it all and has survived so many different phases of our history. Having such a superb restoration of this magnificent room is a really important undertaking, one that helps ensure that heritage is central to our lives and not something on the periphery – our history and our heritage is what we are and it is what we are about as a people.” The Castle itself is surrounded by some 260 acres of lush parkland and has held a prestigious Green Flag Award since the internationally recognised scheme began in Ireland in 2015. This week, Malahide Demesne and Talbot Botanical Gardens was also announced by An Taisce as the overall winner of the 2022 Green Flag Pollinator Award, as well being named as the winner of the Country Park/Demesne category. To book tickets to Malahide Castle and Gardens go to: malahidecastleandgardens.ie

Many times over the last 20 years our sub editing team have spotted typos and other small grammatical errors among the thousands of pages and millions of words we have published in the 5 Local magazines across Fingal. During those times we have laughed at most, queried others between us and even spotted errors at the last minute prior to sending it to the printers. However there is an old saying, ‘The man that never made a mistake never made anything’ and boy did we make a big one last month when a heading said Malahide United had won the AFL ..eh duh ..wrong code of football and wrong pics (The pics were of Syls GFC) so I suppose the only thing we got right was it was two Malahide clubs. So our sincere apologies to Malahide United and to Syls however we were pleasantly surprised with the hundreds of messages we got pointing out our mistake and we promise to do our best to ensure that doesn’t happen again. So here is to another 20 years before the next one and thanks to our readers for pointing it!

The award winning writer Cecil Allen is the grandson of the famous actor and writer IrAllen. Cecil is the author of the hugely popular novels ‘The Actor’ and ‘Constructing Alice.’ He is a retired college lecturer from the Dublin Institute of Technology and holds a BA from Indiana University and an MFA from the University of Minnesota. He was a broadcaster with RTE for over twenty years and represented Ireland twice at International Toastmasters Competitions.He is the father of two sons and lives in Malahide with his wife Julie. Cecil writings centres on our common humanity and ability to function in times of stress. His writings explore our vulnerabilities and the often forgotten reserves of strength and intelligence we can marshal when required. One of the short stories from ‘The Avenue,’ Mr Dunnock’s Day was featured in a new anthology of short stories which was published in September 2022. About the book - The Avenue - The year is 1950, World War II is over, food rationing is nearly finished and the word teenager has just been invented. There are nineteen identical yellow-brick terraced houses on one side of the Avenue and twenty on the other yet each house is a world of its own and as different from the next as the people who live in them. The people of the Avenue include a woman who defies convention, a man who confronts a despotic clergyman, an inquisitive woman who never leaves her bed, a long-lost father, a woman with a disturbing secret and a man with an empty box of chocolates. Told with insight and humour these tales of growing up, religion, marriage, emigration, mental health, widowhood and old age reminds us of the small but important moments of everyday living.‘The Avenue’ will be published and launched in the Malahide Library on the 5th October. Admission is free and open to all.

The Portmarnock-Malahide branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind will be holding a Par 3 fundraiser in Malahide on 17th September. This is the second year that the fundraiser will take place at Malahide Castle Sports & Leisure Club. “Following the great success of last year’s event, we are really looking forward to holding the Par 3 fundraiser again,” said Pat Harney, Chair of the Portmarnock-Malahide branch. “Everyone who took part had a great day out in 2021 and all are welcome again this year, whether you’re an experienced golfer or interested in trying out something new to support a good cause!” “We’re delighted to be working with Malahide Castle Sports & Leisure Club again this year,” said event organiser and local IGDB member Frank Kelly. “It’s easy to register to take part - teams of 3 or 4 can sign up online and choose their time slot, and further details on how to register will be available soon.” The cost to register, which includes a round of Par 3 golf and two raffle tickets, will be €20 per person. There will be some fantastic prizes available on the day including a prize for the winning team, and a selection of raffle prizes donated by local businesses. Volunteers from the Portmarnock-Malahide branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind will have a stand outside the Sports & Leisure Club on 17th September with merchandise and raffle tickets available to buy. You will also have an opportunity to meet some of our wonderful Guide Dogs, Puppies in Training, and Ambassador Dogs on the day! New volunteers are always welcome to get involved with Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. If you are interested in learning more, visit guidedogs.ie/ways-to-help/volunteer or you can find the Portmarnock-Malahide branch on Facebook at facebook.com/IrishGuideDogsPortmarnockMalahide and Twitter at @GuideDogsPM. The branch will share a link to register for the Par 3 fundraiser on their social media pages soon.