By Ken Duffy

Swords Tidy Towns hard-working volunteers were out on the Well Road pruning and chopping the overhanging branches and hedging, they also trimmed back the ground vegetation. The area was very overgrown and the low hanging branches and hedging were a hindrance to pedestrians using the footpath. This urgent work needed to be completed before March 1st as this date is the national deadline for this type of work to be completed pre nesting season. Swords Tidy Towns once again took part in the Swords St Patrick’s Day Parade, the theme for the parade this year, was “Going Green”. Once again we held our fund-raising Bucket Collection at the end of the parade and we thank you for your generosity. All donations are ploughed back into the town of Swords to the benefit of its community. We had a sell-out night at our Table Quiz in Peacock’s Bar Rivervalley on Thurs Feb 9th. A big thank you to the management and staff for setting out the room so well and for taking such great care of us on the night. The craic was mighty, our Quiz Master and STT volunteer Noel Cosgrave gave an outstanding performance, and not forgetting our hard working Quiz Night committee, Georgy Hughes, Teresa Cosgrave, Isobel McClean, Billy McClean and Ken Duffy. There were raffle prizes galore thanks to the generosity of local businesses and individuals for which we are very grateful. We would also like to thank all those who came out on the night to support us, we hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did. The total for our fund-raising quiz was 2,015 euro, a fantastic result. Once again, a big thank you to everyone for your support, all monies raised will benefit our future projects for Swords. The Table Quiz winners on the night were - 1st place (who were very appropriately named) “And In First Place”, the 2ndplace competitors were “The Last Of Us”, and in 3rd place were “Go Leir” meaning – All. Many congratulations to the winners and hard luck to those who didn’t win, and thank you all for supporting us on the night.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Howard Mahony, has opened three public amenities in Swords which represent an investment of €6million in the county capital. They were the first phase of Swords Regional Park in Oldtown, Swords Archaeological Park in Miller’s Glen and Ward River Recreational Hub in Rivervalley. The Mayor was accompanied by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, and the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, at the first two openings and they were then joined by Minister for State at the Department of Transport, Jack Chambers TD, and the Chief Executive of Dublin Airport, Vincent Harrison, at the opening of the Ward River Recreational Hub which was funded by the Council and the Dublin Airport Authority. Speaking afterwards the Mayor said: “The parks and outdoor sports and play facilities we opened today clearly demonstrate Fingal’s continuing commitment to the provision of high-quality open space amenities.” The 20 acre park at Oldtown represents phase one of the Swords Regional Park which will eventually develop into a major new park extending to more than 250 acres along the banks of the Broadmeadow River between Miller’s Glen and Lissenhall and linking to the Estuary stop on the proposed MetroLink. The nine acre Rathbeal Archaeological Park in Miller’s Glen brings to 40% the amount of public open space in Fingal that is located in designated heritage landscapes. Evidence of human activity in the park goes back as far as the early Neolithic period, almost 4,000 years BC. The Ward River Regional Park Recreational Hub is part of the 200 acre Ward River Regional Park and features newly developed grass pitches as well as a Third Generation all-weather sports pitch with innovative LED floodlighting. The new car parking provided as part of the Hub will also benefit general park users and provides a foretaste of the improvements to the park which will be included in the Ward River Regional Park Development Masterplan which will be the subject of public consultation and a planning application later this year. The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, said: “The opening of these three amenities, in different parts of the town, represents a six million euro investment and shows Fingal County Council’s commitment to ensuring Swords grows sustainably and develops into a well-designed county capital.

Aer Lingus Bowls club is an inclusive club. We welcome all abilities, ages, and genders. Are you interested in trying lawn bowls this Spring/Summer? Do you know someone who might be interested? Would your club, Men’s/Women’s shed, Active Age group, organisations for individuals with additional needs, or school be interested in trying Lawn Bowls? All equipment will be provided for taster sessions. Please contact Des Walsh on 087 0678903/ Sandra McCarthy 0863114540 for further information or send a message on Facebook messenger Aer Lingus Bowls Club. We look forward to welcoming you. You will be assured of a warm welcome.

We hosted JKS Ireland Open Squad training recently. Everyone from red belt upwards was invited to attend. We covered kata fundamentals and worked with different JKS Ireland instructors to improve our techniques.We also covered kumite drills. These are important for competitions. We also hosted Brown & Black Belt training recently. Everyone who is hoping to take a Black belt grade attended and went through the grading examination syllabus and katas required for the exam.We welcome new members all the time.Our classes are as follows: Tigers (5yrs – 7yrs) Thursday 4pm & Saturday 10am. Juniors Tuesday 6pm and Thursday 5pm. Seniors Tuesday 7pm and Thursday 7pm. The first class to try out is free. Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club.Contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: jks_swords_karate_club

Our U8s camogie had a wonderful surprise on the last day in Gormanstown recently ….For their comraderie, team spirit, super smiles and great skills our little super stars were awarded the title ‘GORMANSTON U8 TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT.’ Their coaches and parents were absolutely so proud of them all. They will have a special little opportunity for medals, certs and photos with the plague very soon. Well done all involved and a special thank you to Siobhán McCann of the Fins Minor Camogie Team for coming along to encourage and support the girls.

Also the club is seeking young singers, dancers, musicians, actors or quiz buffs to represent us in some sections of the Dublin Scór na nÓg (Under 17s) competition which takes place on 26th March. Further info from Liam- 086 3814422

St Colmcilles GFC Nursery, “Cilles Cubs” are all back on the pitch, training every Saturday morning at 10.30Am in our grounds at Holybanks. Our nursery caters for all ages, 4years up to U12 years. If you are interested in introducing your children to Gaelic Games through a fun and games why not pop down on Saturday morning. All our mentors are fully trained and Garda vetted. We offer a great opportunity for children to become part of a local sports club, making new friends and to enjoy a great sport. We are also currently looking for new mentors to join our coaching team. Any training required will be provided along with garda vetting. For more info on training / coaching you can contact Cora 0833741305 or Aaron on 0863888944

Fine Gael’s new Local Area Representative for Swords, Luke Corkery, has called on Fingal County Council to prioritise the development of the Dublin Airport ‘Pathfinder’ project, which is set to link Swords to Dublin Airport as part of an improved Active Travel network for the town. Luke Corkery said, “The Dublin Airport Pathfinder project is hugely welcome and long overdue; one of 35 nationwide initiatives announced at the end of 2022 by the Department of Transport that are set to be delivered by local authorities. We in Swords need a cycle link to the Airport. This project will be transformative. The Airport is one of our biggest employers here in Swords and the vast majority of those employees commute to work on a daily basis. Many of them live less than 5km away from the Airport and could easily cycle there rather than depend on bus services or cars, but currently the infrastructure is simply not there. It’s quite dangerous to even attempt to cycle near the Airport. A cycle link to Swords will facilitate vastly improved connectivity, and this will be further complimented by the completion of the Airport and Swords routes under the Bus Connects scheme, as well as the eventual completion of Metro Link. The Pathfinder project will save Swords commuters time and money, with no need to wait for a bus or spend a fare. In addition to the obvious health benefits, this is a green initiative that offers an alternative to those who have no option but to drive.There is a huge opportunity here to provide a new option to Airport commuters, and we can’t afford to prolong this project. Now that €200,000 has been allocated to this specific project as part of the NTA’s Active Travel Allocations for 2023, I am calling on Fingal County Council to urgently identify a suitable route and finally develop an Active Travel link between Swords and the Airport. We need joined-up planning here. There is also a need to identify suitable parking spaces, free of charge, at the Airport. They need to be available in bulk, to cater for the expected demand”, he concluded.

As we leave February and migrate to March you can feel and see Spring is definitely in the air. Its that time of year when nature bursts back into life to pleasure our senses. Birds greet us with their wonderful dawn chorus, the evenings get longer, and Swords Tidy Towns spring into action. Projects that have been hibernating in their winter sleep are awoken as our volunteers crack on with our action plan. Swords Tidy Towns will once again participate in the St Patrick Day Parade this year as we have done for many years pre the Pandemic. As is our tradition we will be having a Pub Bucket Collection after the parade, your donations on the day are needed and are very much appreciated. All monies collected on the day will be pumped back into Swords to keep her looking beautiful. Your help, helps us to fund the enormous amount of work put in by our group over the year. Our Quiz Night in Peacocks Rivervalley was very well attended by our supporters making it a great success. The craic was mighty, a wonderful time was had by all. Our Quiz Master and volunteer Noel Cosgrave played a stormer keeping proceedings light hearted with his usual good humour and banter. I would like to take this opportunity to thank local business and individuals for their generous donations which contributed greatly to the success of the evening. New volunteers are always welcome, you can just turn up on the day, we meet each Saturday at 10.30am in the Colourtrend car park opposite Penny’s, hope to see you there.

One Voice Singers - Swords, the new community singing group based in St Colmcille’s GAA started back recently . New members are welcome to come down and sing! The group welcomes adults of all nationalities, bringing people together with a special emphasis on community integration, diversity, and respect. It’s a great chance to meet new people and learn new songs, promising to be plenty of laughs, entertaining and above all fun. If you would like to sing your heart out, please register online at eventbrite.com/e/one-town-one-voice-singers-swords-tickets-486869137697 or come along to St. Colmcille’s GAA in Swords on each Tuesday at 7.30pm. For more information contact Jacinta at community@fingal.ie The One Voice Singers are supported by Fingal Community Development Office and the One Town One Voice initiative. More information at onetownonevoice.ie.

We have returned to our regular training session after the Christmas and New Year break.
Our first event of the year was to host JKS Ireland Brown & Black Belt training alongside
Open Squad training. 43 students from all over Ireland trained for 2 hours covering a wealth
of knowledge from Dermot Sensei.We are looking forward to several other competitions and seminars this year and the highlight will be when we host our World Chief Instructor, Kagawa Shihan 9 th Dan JKS, in May for a weekend seminar.Congratulations to Mehert Gebremichael and Faye Devine Riley who have won Student of the Month. Both Merhert and Faye train on a regular basis, participate well in class and arevery interested in learning more karate. Well done both!

We take new members (Children, Young People & Adults) throughout the year. Contact
Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join. Contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords
Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club