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.

To celebrate Climate Action Week, Seatown Road Green Team held a Swap Shop Day at Seatown Road Day Service.

This was a partnership project between Seatown Road Green Team and Circular Fashion Ireland and funded by Fingal County Council. Prosper Meath Day Service, Ashbourne, were so kind and gave a lending hand in Seatown Road Swap Shop.

Carrie Ann Moran from Circular Fashion Ireland held a workshop and spoke about the importance of initiatives like swap shops and circular fashion.

Seatown Road Green Team would like to thank and acknowledge Swords Tidy Towns, Swords Woman Shed, Fingal County Council, Best Wear Drogheda, Ashbourne Green Team, Fingal Community College, Circular Fashion Ireland and Carrie Ann Moran for their support and donations

On Sunday 21st July, 6 members of JKS Swords along with their Sensei, Dermot OKeeffe 7th Dan JKS, departed Dublin to participate as part of the JKS Ireland Squad in the 6th JKS Karate-do International Cup 2024 & The 6th JKS Karate-do International Para Cup 2024 in Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium (Tokyo, Japan). 40 countries were in attendance with over 1000 competitors taking part.

Following a grueling 18 hours of travel (and fighting the jet lag), JKS Swords members took to the tatami on Tuesday 23rd to take part in the 2 hour International Seminar under Kagawa Shihan, Kanayama Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei. Wednesday 24th saw the Squad members and supporters familiarize themselves with the competition venue as the Irish Coaches, Judges and Referees took part in important information meetings. Thursday 25th & Friday 26th saw the International Cup in full swing with Individual events on the Thursday and Team and Family events on the Friday.

While there were no medals for the younger members of the Squad on this occasion, they all performed with distinction, giving their all in Kata and Kumite and showing high levels of sportsmanship and respect towards their fellow competitors. The young Squad members were exemplary representing their Club, Organization and Country during these Championships and everyone is very proud of them. The future is bright for this young Squad. JKS Swords would like to thank everyone who supported them in this journey.

Approximately 700 people attended Vintage Picnic hosted by Age Friendly Fingal on Thursday 25th July 2024 in Swords Castle. This lively festival offered an afternoon of creativity, music, dance, and exercise for over 55s and was testament to the enthusiastic and motivated older people of Fingal.

Those in attendance participated in a wide range of workshops, including graffiti art, mandala creation, vintage clothing demonstrations, and tie-dyeing. For those inclined towards physical activities, professional instructors led sessions in Yoga, Zumba, and Tai Chi, allowing participants to try out new activities, or simply relax and enjoy the festive atmosphere.

Light garden games were provided by the Fingal Sports Department, and for those needing a bit of relaxation, chair massages were available. For aspiring musicians, workshops in African Drumming, Ukelele and Bodhrán were provided by tutors from the IIMS, Balbriggan.

The crowd were entertained with live musical performances from local groups; Gerry and the Plonkers from Donabate and the Blanchardstown Ukulele Group (BUGS), showcasing the talents of Fingal’s older residents. The headline acts, the Blue Bells, and the Ronan Collins Showband, created a festive atmosphere that reverberated throughout the grounds and brought the crowd to their feet.

Vintage Picnic 2024, which was attended by Fingal County Council’s Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly, the Mayor of Fingal Cllr Brian McDonagh and Minister Darragh O’Brien as well as our local Councillors, brought together older people from across Fingal in an environment that fostered connections and new learning experiences. Most importantly Vintage Picnic highlighted the need to provide new opportunities for older people, to continue to learn, develop and grow, and to have fun!

Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. Brian Mc Donagh said, “I was delighted to attend this great event in Swords Castle which is being enjoyed by our Fingal residents of the over 55’s generation. Their enthusiasm and willingness to have a go at all the many activities is fantastic to see. As well as their ongoing invaluable contributions to society they are an inspiration to us all showing that life is meant to be celebrated, whatever our age.”

The young at heart volunteers of Swords Tidy Towns once again didn’t hold back this summer. It was concert after concert. I have to say Swords Women’s Shed gave us a good run for our money in the energy department. The wonderful Events team led by Paul Barnes at Fingal County Council spoiled us all for choice. They are to be applauded for their professionalism and for the wealth of talent they brought to Swords this Summer, Nathan Carter, Sister Sledge, Essentially Cher, The Blue Bells and others, not forgetting Vintage Picnic.

It was a very busy year for our hard-working Tidy Towns team and these concert opportunities to let our hair down were not going to be passed up, it was full on party time. For now, cowgirl and cowboy hats and boots have been stored away in anticipation of next year’s star attractions.

Words Meals on Wheels had a significant shortfall of meals the first week of August due to one of the group’s suppliers being on holiday for the week, and they were trying to source alternatives to cover one of our runs. The local branch contacted The Carnegie Court Hotel with a view to buying a number of meals daily to cover our shortfall. The management group very quickly made a decision to supply all of the requirements completely free of cost!

“Thank you all in the hotel and particularly Tracey Dunne for doing this for us, it is really appreciated. Great to see local business’s supporting local causes. Swords Meals on Wheels supplies just under 100 meals daily free of charge in the greater Swords area,” reads a statement from the local branch.

By Ken Duffy

Our long time Swords Tidy Towns member Matt Cullen who is one of the founder members of our group twenty years ago along with myself recently celebrated Fifty Years of volunteering. He has volunteered with many different organisations over those years. There are two groups I know that hold a special place in Matt’s heart, Swords Tidy Towns which he helped to found and (ILFA) the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association to which Matt has given much of his time since he was diagnosed with the decease himself a number of years ago.

What we all admire most about our friend Matt besides his commitment to his community is that he has never allowed his illness to get in the way of his voluntary work. His constant smile and upbeat attitude have served as an inspiration to all the group over many years, even through the ups and downs he has suffered over the years since being diagnosed.

Matt was the winner of the 2015 All Ireland Volunteer of The Year Award, Swords Tidy Towns nominated him in recognition of all his hard work over many years and for his ability to always turn negative situations into a positive ones.

To celebrate Matt’s Fifty-Year milestone and recognise his contribution to the group, we organised a party in his honour in the Whiskey Room at the Old Schoolhouse where a wonderful time was had by all in attendance.

Swords based band Sweep Head have recently released their self-titled album and since the 5th of July, the album has become available to download online.

Their Debut EP has three new songs and is the first music released by the group. The songs where recorded in the start of 2024 in sonic studio. These three new songs are a blend of classic rock and roll and more psychedelic sounds. The new EP is released by Moltesanti records and is distributed worldwide by DistroKid.

“We spent a large part of this year and last year working on our sound and now we are finally ready to release our music to people,” said Sweep Head’s bassist and Vocalist Sean Walsh. He went on to say, “people can expect to hear a blend of a variety of genres and can expect more of this sound in the future”.

We at St Colmcilles are looking to grow our teams. If you are interested in playing Gaelic football, please come along. Training will resume for this programme Thursday 29th August

Save the date 24th August. For the community of Swords, we are holding our annual Family Fun Day. All welcome!

Are you new to area. Looking to meet more people. Gaelic for Mothers and others is a great way for women of all ages to meet new people. Call Deirdre on 087-9309962 if you are interested.

Next year, 2025, St Colmcilles will mark its 90th year, we are looking to create a book of memories. If you have a story to tell or photos of years gone by, please email them into us - stcolmcillesswords@gmail.com