We had some interesting events recently in the Club. We hosted Japanese Instructor Daisuke Watanabe Sensei from the JKS Headquarters for a Kumite Seminar recently. We had a fantastic session training with him. He has a totally different level of kumite with unbelievable speed and power. His Kumite never fails to disappoint, and we were all inspired by his teaching and kumite expertise.

Students from the club travelled to Tallaght to participate in the SKIF Ireland Murakami Shield Open Championships. This was a National competition with karate clubs from all over Ireland in attendance.
We had some novices who were taking part in their first competition and although they did not win any medals, they gained valuable competition experience on the mats and made the club proud with their participation.

Our more experienced students did take home some medals on the day. Sandra Iliasz took a bronze medal in her kata event while Tom Horgan and Tommy Keegan took bronze medals in their kumite events. Harrison Beaumont did the double, taking bronze in both his kata and kumite categories while Sophia Guildea, hot on the heels of her recent ONAKAI National Kata Champion win, took silver in both her kata and kumite events. Amelia Miller and Lilia Beaumont just missed out on the medal rounds in very tough kata and kumite categories. All in all, however, the results were very good for the club at this event.
We focus now on preparing for our end of term Belt Grading examinations where hopefully all members will progress to a new coloured karate belt and level. After this we wind down for the Christmas break. We would like to thank all our students, families, friends and community for supporting us throughout the year and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous 2025.

Our Club is always looking for new members (Children, Young People & Adults). Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club. You can also contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club

Sword’s BC boxer, Shay O’ Dowd, recently competed at the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) World Youth Championships in Budva, Montenegro, returning home with a much-coveted bronze medal. The World Youth Championships pits the best 17/18-year-old talent from around the globe against each other and is attended by all the world’s top boxing federations.

O’Dowd a three – time Irish champion and seventeen years old, was drawn in the last sixteen of the championship against a tough Puerto Rican southpaw. O’Dowd started fast, stunning his opponent early, giving him two standing eight counts before the referee waved the fight off. Next O’Dowd faced an experienced Georgian slugger who was also a European medallist. The fight was an all-action affair and declared by the Irish online boxing media as fight of the tournament with both boxers sharing multiple standing eight counts and the Swords star sustaining a hand injury in the second round and falling behind on the score cards. O’Dowd came out swinging in the final round, stopping his opponent with a superb display of technical boxing and bravery to the delight of the Irish support and Irish boxing fraternity watching at home. Unfortunately, O’Dowd was declared unfit to box by the tournament doctors due to his hand injury so had to withdraw from the tournament and settle for a valued bronze medal.
Swords BC head coach David Byrne spoke about his boxer’s achievement “A world medal is massive for our club. Shay has blasted his way into Irish boxing history and proven himself as a world class athlete and I’m sure he will go all the way to the top in the sport”.

Next up for O’Dowd is the National Under 18 in January which is also a qualification for the European championships.

The foundation stone for the new Cultural Centre within the Swords Cultural Quarter was laid today by the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Brian McDonagh, and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien.

The multi-purpose Cultural Centre will contain a new County Library and a 165-seat theatre along with an art gallery, arts spaces, a maker space and a café. Significant upgrade works will be carried out on North Street to create an enhanced public realm creating a link between the Cultural Centre and Swords Castle.
Enabling works, which began on site in April 2023, concluded in July and the building contractor, Duggan Brothers (Contractors) Ltd, moved in last August. The Cultural Centre is scheduled to open in the first half of 2027. Duggan Brothers will also construct 36 new homes on Seatown Road as part of the overall development.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Brian McDonagh, said: “This is another important milestone in the journey towards providing a cultural centre, based in our county town, that will be for all the people of Fingal. It is one of the major pieces of community infrastructure within Fingal County Council’s Capital Programme and will help to cater for our growing population.”

The Council received a grant of €3m towards the new County Library from the Department of Rural and Community Development and will meet the balance of the costs of the Cultural Centre from its own resources.

The Swords Cultural Centre has been designed by award-winning architects O’Donnell and Tuomey. Their previous work includes the Central European University in Budapest, the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork and the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.

The Swords Cultural Quarter project is one of 16 contained in the Sustainable Swords Strategy which is a key part of Fingal County Council’s plan to ensure that, as Swords continues to expand, the town grows sustainably and provides a quality of life befitting the county’s capital.

For more information on the Swords Cultural Quarter project go to www.fingal.ie/swordsculturalquarter.

Twenty years ago, in 2004 Swords Tidy Towns was formed in response to the IBAL report of 2003 when Swords was designated a litter black spot, one of the dirtiest Towns in Ireland.

Our goal from the beginning was to make the town of Swords once again a town we could all be proud of. We believe our volunteers over the years have achieved that, Swords is looking fantastic, the many hours of hard work over the years is a testament to that. Of course, our goal would not have been obtainable without the ongoing support of Fingal County Council and local business for which we are grateful.

Finally, we have achieved our goal and just reward for our hard work, Swords Tidy Towns were awarded its first National Gold Medal after six National Silver Medals in a row in this year’s National Tidy Towns Competition. We were also highly commended in the Circular Economy section, a testament to all our hard-working volunteers whose dedication and resilience has led to this momentous day, take a bow everyone.

We celebrated our success in the Whiskey Room of the Old Schoolhouse where we were treated like royalty.

A celebratory cake was baked by our very talented volunteer Georgy Hughes who was sure we would win, many thanks Georgy. A massive thank you to Willie and the staff for taking such wonderful care of us as always and making it such a memorable occasion.

Thrive Swords hosted a Five Ways to Wellbeing community workshop to celebrate Mental Health Month this October. The event took place on Thursday 24th October in the Carnegie Court Hotel, Swords and was attended by members of the local community as well as representatives of local groups, services providers and local authority.

The Five Ways to Wellbeing is an evidence-based training offered by Mental Health Ireland to encourage everyone to take actions to maintain and improve personal and mental wellbeing by incorporating principles of Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Give into daily life. The workshop was delivered by members of Thrive Swords who shared their experiences and insights regarding each of the Five Ways segments.

Adam Konopka, Thrive Swords member said: “I thought the workshop worked really well because there was a true sense of it being for the community, by the community with members of the community giving presentations on the Five Ways to fellow members of the community.”

Speaking at the event Caroline Brogan, Mental Health Ireland Development Officer and Lead for Thrive Ireland said: “I was delighted to lead the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ workshop today with the dedicated volunteers from Thrive Swords. This event highlighted the importance of the simple actions we can all take to support not only our own mental health and wellbeing but also that of our entire community.”
Thrive is a community-led movement to create happier and healthier communities by conducting projects and events aiming at improving mental health and wellbeing. Thrive Swords is an initiative of Mental Health Ireland and is supported by Fingal County Council. Membership in Thrive Swords is open to all individuals, organisations, groups and service providers from public and private sectors who are interested in mental health and wellbeing, and everyone is invited to join.

For further information please contact caroline@mentalhealthireland.ie or visit Thrive Ireland – Mental Health Ireland

The Club has been busy the last few weeks. Along with regular training four members of the club participated in the ONAKAI National Kata Championships. Boasting competitors from all over Ireland, our club members did fantastic taking home three medals and title of National Kata Champion. Sophia Guildea, Amelia Miller, and Lilia Beaumont had a clean sweep in the Cadet Female Brown & Black Belt category with Lilia taking Bronze, Amelia taking Silver and Sophia taking the Gold and National Kata Champion title for the category. The girls train hard, and it is great to see these results coming through at National level. Also competing on the day was Harrison Beaumont who unfortunately got knocked out just before the medal rounds in his category Boys Under 12 Brown & Black Belt.

We were privileged to host Yamaguchi Sensei 7th Dan JKS for a two-day seminar recently. Yamaguchi Sensei is one of the top Instructors in the JKS and he did not disappoint over the two days. On the Friday evening members of JKS Swords along with JKS members from around the country gathered to train in the Fingal Liam Rodgers Community Centre with this dynamic Instructor. Taking the attendees through kihon, kumite and kata, Yamaguchi Sensei inspired everyone with his fantastic karate and superb instruction.

On Saturday morning in Applewood Community Centre Yamaguchi Sensei delivered a stunning 3-hour seminar for the participants. He covered Heian Katas and Bassai Dai for junior members and then the kata Suishu for the senior grades. Over 70 JKS Ireland members were in attendance on the Saturday and JKS Swords was proud to host the event in their home club.

Next on the calendar is a 1-day visit from Watanabe Sensei, JKS Honbu Dojo Instructor. A seasoned competitor and very capable instructor, it promises to be an excellent Seminar.

Our Club is always looking for new members (Children, Young People & Adults). Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club. You can also contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club

The 16th Annual Valley walk took place on Saturday 12th October in River Valley, Swords to raise funds for Cancer research. The walk has grown from 30 walkers in the first year to 140 yesterday!

People come from far and wide every year meeting at Peacocks pub car park in River Valley for registration and refreshments provided by Fyffes and the local Daybreak shop. Very quickly the scene became a sea of yellow with the walkers’ Irish Cancer Society t-shirts as they started the 5km walk around the lovely park and woods.

Following more refreshments consisting of Keoghs crisp, Supervalu bars, sweets etc on the Brackenstown road, along with the catch ups and chats, the walkers made their way back by the “Jacko” and finish back upstairs in Peacock’s where they enjoyed much needed coffee and beautiful scones, all donated by Peacock’s.

The walk organiser, Margaret Harris explained, “My A team of ladies continued to sell raffle tickets, and at one stage the queue stretched across the room. We had 43 raffle prizes donated by local businesses in River Valley, Boroimhe and Swords and some walkers donated lovely prizes also. Katie from Irish Cancer Society Research spoke about the latest developments in Cancer research. We finished off with a few words from myself and a hotly anticipated mega raffle. The Microphone etc was kindly set up by Chris Power. This event is very much a community event with our local councillors supporting it every year. Hopefully we can get to do it all again next year.

By Mike Power

Hallowe’en really means ‘the eve of the hallowed (‘holy) Saints Day (November 1st). The ancient Celts in Swords also had a holiday ‘Samhain’ at this time of year celebrating the end of harvest and the beginning of Winter. This feast-day was then adopted by the early Christian church here, becoming the traditional time for lots of spooky fun as we know it today.

For much of it’s long life, Swords served a largely agricultural hinterland and many of the local traditions associated with this time of year such as ceasing to pick blackberries (angry spirits); putting out food for roaming spirits; wearing straw hats and lighting bonfires, are all connected with farming.

I can’t do any better in describing Sword’s ancient spooky ‘atmospherics’ of Hallowe’en, than quoting a piece from my forthcoming book ‘Swords: History and Heritage Community Guide’. This imagined historical scene happens up at Killeek to the west of Swords, beside the river Ward there. Killeek is a place with an ancient pagan heritage.

A line of torches led from the river to the sacred ash grove. It was Samhain for the tribe, their world poised between light and dark.. The soft light from a full moon glistened on the beads of frost on the ancient ash tree. A rhythmical, hypnotic chant came from the lines of people waiting to enter the sacred grove. Nearby a clutch of half wild dogs snarled over a wild boar’s head. From the river the Ollamh (Teacher) of the tribe brought a , cup full of water made from holly wood, holding it high in front of him, his pupils walking respectfully behind. The clothes he wore were dyed purple from berry dyes and his cloak draped him from head to toe. On his head he wore a wreath made from oak branches, the magic tree, the antlers from a buck doe on his head. When he entered the grove, a profound hush came on the people nearby. Entering the grove, the Ollamh sprinkled the water on the roots of the ash, a charm to ensure a good harvest in the coming year, and to placate Carnonos, the antler god. The chanting now began again, ringing around the valley’s flanks, louder and more fiercely. Triumphal fires were lit. In the people Hope was born again.

Autumn brings with it the return to school and routine after-school activities and Swords Karate Club has been busy as students returned to training after the summer holidays. All classes are working hard and refreshing their karate skills with the ai of improving enough in time for Grading examinations in December.

October promises to be a busy month with visits from two Japanese Instructors. At the beginning of the month, we will host Yamaguchi Sensei 8th Dan JKS for a two-day seminar, while later in the month we will have a visit from Watanabe Sensei for an evening seminar. Both Instructors come with a high pedigree of JKS karate, and both are Instructors in the JKS Honbu Dojo in Japan. We are looking forward to their sessions immensely and will have a short report of both in our next news.

We hosted JKS National Brown & Black Belt training recently and Dermot Sensei covered kihon, kumite and kata in the technical session. Focusing on creating dynamic power with the whole body, the visitors from other JKS Clubs from around Ireland as well as Swords members worked on techniques from the grading syllabus for brown and black belts. Everyone had a great morning training and catching up with each other since Japan.

Our Club is always looking for new members (Children, Young People & Adults). Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club. You can also contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club

The members of Swords Tidy Towns had a fantastic day at the National Tidy Towns Winners Awards in Abbeyleix recently. We picked up two awards the All Ireland Circular Economy Award and our 6th Silver Medal in a row. We must congratulate Abbeyleix Tidy Towns for organising what was a very enjoyable day out for everyone. A big hello to our shared table guests from Arklow Tidy Towns and Maynooth Tidy Towns.