We had 3 very special guests at the club this afternoon in Reese Brassington, Coach at Leeds United Academy, Craig Robinson, last years u12 All Ireland winner with Cork schoolboys league, and Micheal English, Lead Coach for Mayo schoolboy league. The 3 lads were fantastic doing Q&A’s with multiple teams about the culture, standards and requirements within the English academy system, and our players asked plenty of questions about the level of commitment required to win an All-Ireland championship. Reese was also kind enough to take our u12’s for a session, which all the lads really enjoyed, after all its not every day they get pointers from a Leeds United Academy Coach..Thanks a lot lads, it was a pleasure having you down and you’re more than welcome back anytime. Also,

RiverValley junior parkrun were delighted with the success of their first event last Sunday having moved the junior parkrun from Holywell to RiverValley. A combination of regulars and new recruits led to a great turnout that they hope to repeat now every Sunday morning at 9.30am. There is now the very well established and successful senior 5k parkrun every Saturday morning in RiverValley, followed by the 2k junior parkrun every Sunday morning for 4 to 14 year olds.New members are always welcome for this free event, and you can register for your free barcode at parkrun.ie/rivervalley-juniors/ to track your times and number of runs for reward wristbands.The Mayor of Fingal, Councillor Howard Mahony and Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Sport, Jack Chambers T.D. were there to help launch the event along with Councillor Darragh Butler, a regular volunteer, Councillor Brigid Manton, Councillor Joe Newman and Duncan Smith T.D. River Valley junior parkrun would also like to thank the Fingal County Council Parks and Operations Departments for their support. Sinead Davy, Sunday’s run Director stated “Our inaugural junior parkrun in Rivervalley Park was a massive success as the local community came out to support us. It was a festive atmosphere as Personal trainer Sean Carrigg led the children through the warmup and local band The Sidegaters kept everyone entertained at the finish line. A total of 88 juniors completed the 2k route and 40 of these were new recruits who had never taken part before. We were also delighted to welcome back all our regular juniors from Holywell junior parkrun. Thank you to all the volunteers and the parents who helped make our first junior parkrun such a success”. We would encourage everyone to sign up and print out their bar-codes so their times and number of runs can be recorded.

By Ken Duffy

The 2022 Fingal Horticultural Society Business Frontage Floral Trophy was jointly awarded to Swords Tidy Towns and Fingal County Council for their stunning floral displays on Main Street Swords. Accepting the award on behalf of Swords Tidy Towns were Teresa Cosgrave STT Sec and Noel Cosgrave , Rose Brennan and Mary Maxwell accompanied by fellow members Gerry Brennan, Matt Cullen and George Mongey. Accepting on behalf of Fingal County Council were the Mayor Cllr Howard Mahony and Cllr Darragh Butler. Sharing the Tim Clarke trophy with FCC has meant so much to our volunteers. To be recognised and complimented by your peers, is one of the biggest compliments that could have been paid to our hard-working team.Let us hope that this triumph can be repeated when the final results of the 2022 National Tidy Towns competition are published in early September. These past twelve months in particular, the volume of hard work put in by our group has been nothing short of phenomenal. Out in all weathers, and when the good weather arrived, out nearly every day, and as you can see, Swords has definitely reaped the benefit of all their hard work. As always we rely on grants and donations to carry on our work, every penny is ploughed back into maintaining the high standard of work we have set ourselves. You can contact us through our email address at swordstidytowns@gmail.com

An event has been organised for 23 September by the Swords Donation Centre for Ukraine to raise money for the people of that beleaguered country who are suffering under the Russian invasion. The organisers are delighted to invite you to a night of live entertainment until 2am and fine dining at Kettles Country House Hotel. They say they are working closely with charities in Ukraine to help them with much needed medical equipment such as sanitisation fluid, bandages and equipment for an underground maternity hospital. This fundraising event will give the organisers the opportunity to send over as much as they possibly can to help them where it is so desperately needed. On the night they will also have spot prizes including Hotel stays, family days out, cinema tickets and so much more. Tickets are available from Kettles Hotel or by contacting Natalie 0851305238 or Lorraine 0863485473. Ticket price €50pp

Another great week of fun in our summer camps. It was great to see such hurling and camogie skills on display. Thanks to all our coaches, helpers and Naoise & Donagh for organising. Don’t forget kids and adults of all ages are always very welcome to join our club and play a part in our exciting future.

Congratulations to Chloe Duggan who won Student of the Month for June. She was presented with the Student of the Month Trophy by her instructor Dermot O Keeffe Sensei, 6th Dan JKS recently. Chloe attends classes regularly and puts huge effort into her training in kihon, kata and kumite. Well done, Chloe! JKS Swords recently hosted the JKS Ireland Inter-club competition in Applewood Community Centre. Clubs from all over Ireland attended and it was a great day for everyone. JKS Swords had a squad of 18 members who competed, and they rose to the challenge on the day as the host club and topped the medal table taking home 7 gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze medals. Congratulations to all the competitors. The next JKS Inter-club takes place in October and will be hosted by JKS Tallaght.42 members of the club presented for grading examination recently. After training for an hour, the members had to perform a selection of kihon, kata and kumite requirements to attain their next coloured belt. All the students were understandably nervous but didn’t let this stop them from completing what was required to progress in their grades.Training continues over the sumcer in Applewood Community Centre as the club prepares for the next karate season which comcences in September. Classes are on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We take new members (Children, Young People & Adults) all through the year. Contact Dermot on 087-98073885 for details on how to join. Contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club

Festival in a Van came to Fingal on Wednesday July 20th for two special performances to welcome our new Ukrainian friends to the county. . This was certainly the case in Fingal when Irish and Ukrainian musicians performed together to provide wonderful entertainment to an enthusiastic audience which included Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony and over 100 Ukrainian residents.The day began in the morning at the Emmaus Retreat centre in Swords which included a stunning performance from Ukrainian pianist Oleh Udod, as well as Yeva Halstian and ballad group Across the Keys, with Joe Brennan, John Brennan, Colum King and Jim Aughney. Oleh and Yeva are Ukrainian guests at the Emmaus Retreat Centre at Balheary and have performed previously at Emmaus and at the Flavours of Fingal event two weeks ago, accompanied by other residents.The afternoon performance at Deerpark Hotel in Howth saw the audience getting involved with some impromptu dancing and had the opportunity to sample Ukrainian food. Speaking at the event, Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony welcomed the Ukrainian guests to Fingal saying “I am delighted to attend today’s special event both in Swords and Howth and I thoroughly enjoyed the music from both the Ukrainian and Irish musicians. I would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to you all and to let you know that Fingal is here to support you during your stay in Ireland.” For more information on Festival in a van go to festivalinavan.com

The months of June and July was a very busy period for the Swords Tidy Towns volunteers. The judging for the National Tidy Towns competition took place during this time, and as we are not informed when the judging team arrive in Swords it was all hand on deck. Teams went out every day to make sure that the Main St and surrounds were always looking their best. This involved litter picking, graffiti removal, replacing damaged and stolen plants, weeding and much needed watering during the hot periods without rain. Our team of volunteers deserve a big round of applause and a well earned holiday for their trojan efforts, well done one and all. The Swords Tidy Towns Best Presented Business Frontage/Window Display Competition Awards also took place.The following businesses achieved awards for their creativity to create fantastic window displays in relation to the competition.Gold Merit Cert and Overall Award of the STT Perpetual Cup to the Arch Bar (on behalf of the Lawlor family) Proprietor Des Lawlor with the STT Perpetual cup for overall award. Silver Merit Cert awarded to St Vincent’s and presented to Hong Maguire Manager and Rebecca…..Bronze Merit Cert awarded to The Card and Party Store Tom Hanley Proprietor and Manager Tracey. Many congratulations to all the winners and to all the businesses concerned for taking part in the competition. All the certificates will be issued shortly when they are printed, courtesy of the Fingal Horticultural Society.

This week’s instalment comes from the Irish Daily Independent dated 20th July 1894. Fins travelled to Rush to play local team Emerald Isles.At this time a goal was equivalent to 5 points hence the line “…winners by 2 goals and 10 points (equal to 4 goals)…” It is interesting how the rules evolve through time. At this time Gaelic football was played 17-a-side and the goals were similar to soccer goals. There were also two outer posts. A point was awarded if the ball went over the goal or within the external posts. Similar to Australian Football today.

Congratulations to Mark Girvin who was presented with his Nidan Diploma 2nd Dan Black Belt recently. Mark is a founding member of Swords Karate Club and has trained regularly since he joined back in 2001. For his Nidan examination Mark had to demonstrate a range of Kumite techniques as well as performing several Kata. He had several Kumite fights against opponents where he put his nidan techniques to good use. He was presented with his Diploma by Dermot O Keeffe Sensei 6th Dan JKS, Chief Instructor of JKS Karate in Ireland. We surprised Sensei Ali at the Spring Seminar with a birthday cake and a rendition of Happy Birthday to celebrate her 21st Birthday which was on the same day. She was shocked but delighted at the surprise and promised not to eat all her cake herself! Sensei Ali teaches our Tigers classes. We welcomed Makita Sensei 6th Dan JKS from Japan for day 1 of our Spring Seminar. Over 70 people from all over Ireland took part as Makita Sensei led the students through several rounds of Japanese style training. He demonstrated dynamic contraction and expansion in techniques followed by teaching of Kashu Kata. The seminar was held in Applewood Community Centre. We hosted Jesper Sensei, 7th Dan JKS on day 2 of our Spring Seminar. He spent his time teaching the intricacies of Kaishu Ippon Kumite with a partner and all the students enjoyed his teaching immensely. Class reports: Tigers and Juniors are preparing for the upcoming JKS Inter-Club Competition as well as for grading examinations. The Competition is being hosted by JKS Swords and gives students an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned in class in a supportive competition environment. Seniors continue to work on developing real world skills from karate techniques. We take new members (Children, Young People & Adults) all through the year. Contact Dermot on 087-98073885 for details on how to join.Contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club