Fingal County Council are planning to build a new Civic and Cultural Centre in the heart of Fingal’s county town. As part of the rejuvenation of Swords town centre the building, designed by renowned architects O’Donnell Tuomey, will include: a new County Library that will cover 3,000m2; a new theatre with seating for 165 people; a new art gallery exhibition space; a new Maker Space to encourage creativity; new studios and rehearsal rooms for the Arts; new archive and reference library and a new Café.

Outside the building the Council will open up Town Park by extending the grassed and landscaped area around the castle. The road and pedestrian spaces will be repaved and public access to the park at the Council Offices will be improved with the removal of railings and the installation of steps that will create a new open space incorporating County Hall, Swords Castle, Town Park and the Cultural Centre building.
The Council has opened public consultation on the plans for the Swords Cultural Centre on 7th July and has urge the public to have their say.

‘This is a major community development for Swords and everyone in Swords should take the opportunity to inspect the plans online or at the Council offices in Swords or Blanchardstown, Swords Castle and Council Libraries. Make a submission at www.consult.fingal.ie to give your thoughts and views. The Consultation will run until 22 August, so please let us know what you think.’

The 2024 Fingal Poetry Slam is coming to the Carnegie Free Library in Swords on 10th July and local poets are being encouraged to enter to be in with the chance of winning the chance to perform at the Grand Slam event later this year.

Poets of all experience levels are welcome to enter the event and are asked to come prepared to perform two poems of their choice.

Heats have already taken place in Malahide, Balbriggan and Blanchardstown with the Swords event hosting the final round. The events have been very well attended and the organisers are hoping for the same on 10th July.

Poets and audience members will also be entertained by host Sheila Ryder, The Poet Geoff, and there will also be live music from Ange Boxall.

The event is free, but tickets are required and can be booked by visiting fingalpoetryfestival.ie and visiting the Eventbrite link.

Regular training took place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays this month. All students are training really well with an eye on grading at either the JKS National Grading in Drumcondra or at the Club grading next month. The grading’s for new belts are important milestones for each student as they become more proficient at their Karate practice.

We linked in with our JKS Tallaght friends for a fundraising Bag pack for the JKS Ireland Squad members (some who are from JKS Swords), going to Japan in July for the World Karate Championships. We did really well and the funds will go directly to the Squad members to help them with the expenses of this trip.

This month (May), we are delighted to host Masao Kagawa Shihan, 9th Dan JKS, for a three-day seminar. Kagawa Shihan is the World Chief Instructor of JKS Karate and we are very fortunate that he visits Ireland once a year. Over the three days, Kagawa Shihan will instruct members of JKS Swords and other JKS clubs in many technical aspects of karate. He will also conduct Dan grading’s (Black Belt examinations) and Qualifications in areas such as Judging and Refereeing. A full report of the Seminar will follow in next month’s edition of our Club news.

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

St Colmcille’s GFC are delighted to welcome the mobile unit from Marie Keating Foundation to our club house on Wednesday 5th June.

This initiative is part of our Healthy Club and is open to all in the community .

The mobile unit will be at the clubhouse 10am-11.45am. Then, from 12pm-1pm there will be a Health held in the building with the nurse. There will be information and advice available on the topics Breast, Prostate and skin cancers.

The members of Swords Meals on Wheels were delighted when they learned that local singer and artist Roly Daniels has donated one of his painting to support a fundraising raffle for the local group.

Organised with the help of the Swords Bridge Club, the Meals on Wheels members were approached by Roly who offered to donate his signed painting ‘The Old Mill in Swords’ that will be raffled to raise much needed funds for the group.

“We received a wonderful donation of a framed painting of ‘The Old Mill in Swords’ painted by none other than Roly Daniels the famous Irish singer, not only a terrific signer but also an accomplished artist that has had an exhibition recently in Donegal,” explained Niall MacNeill of Swords Meals on Wheels.
“Roly lives locally and wanted to do something to support Swords Meals on Wheels. This unique artwork will be raffled in aid of Swords Meals on Wheel. There will be 100 tickets, each ticket will cost €10. Swords Bridge Club were instrumental in organising this and we are extremely grateful to Roly for his time and skill. And to all in Swords Bridge Club for their support,” Mr MacNeill added.

We had a busy month with regular training taking place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays along with a fundraising Bag Pack, competing in the Piltown Open Championships in Clonmel and Squad training with JKS Ireland. Our fundraising Bag Pack took place in Dunne’s/JCs in Swords. The purpose of the fundraiser was to raise funds for our students who are going to Japan in July to compete in the JKS World Karate Championships. We had two teams who volunteered for this fundraiser, and they spent Friday evening and all-day Saturday packing groceries for the customers of Dunne’s/JCs. We would like to thank the customers who supported us so magnificently in this fund raiser as we raised over €2000 for our students going to Japan. We hosted JKS Ireland Squad training in Applewood Community Centre this month. Our focus is getting our students ready to compete on the world stage at the World Championships and we covered Kihon, Kata and Kumite as well pushing hard on our general fitness levels. We travelled to Clonmel to compete in the annual Piltown Open Karate Championships. It was a long day as this is an extremely popular competition, but our Squad did very well taking home a number of prizes on the day. Danny, Lola, and Sophia each took third place in Kata while Sophia also took home third place in her kumite section. This is great preparation for the World Championships and our next competition is in early July, a week before we travel. We hosted JKS Ireland Brown & Black Belt training, as well as JKS Ireland Squad training in preparation for the World Championships. Finally, Ava Kane was presented with her Shodan (1 st Black Belt) Diploma and Darragh O’Sullivan was presented with his Nidan (2nd Black Belt) Diploma this month. 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

Currently the club are seeking an experienced person for the role of Bar Manager. There is an excellent package for the right applicant. We are seeking an energetic, enthusiastic Bar Manager. Please call Marian 0876819540 or email. We are also building teams at present. if you are interested in getting involved in playing Gaelic football, come along for a really fun filled football hour every Thursday and also Saturday. Finally, congratulations to Mary who came in to collect her winnings from our club lottery. She was joined by family and friends on the evening. Happy spending Mary and folks please remember our lottery finances our club and your support is most welcome.

iSecure Swords Thunder took on St Paul’s Killarney on Saturday 13th April as both teams returned to National Basketball Arena or the Div1 League Trophy Final and took home the Trophy. With a Tip Off at 5.45pm there was nothing between the teams at the end of the third quarter with the scoreboard reading 16 -16. The end-to-end plays continued and there still remained parity at the end of the second quarter at 34- 34. After half time the Thunder girls upped their game and went ahead for the first time in the game which left the third quarter scoreline at 54-47. St Pauls fought hard to even the scoring but the Thunder wre not to be bested on the day and came away 69 -63 winners as the new Division 1 Trophy winners. Congratulations to the team and their coaches and mentors.

There was a great turn out recently and so much work done, what a fantastic group of volunteers, you are all a credit to your community. FCC had a cameraman following us today making a short video of our work in the community. The group adjourned to the Old Schoolhouse for refreshments where they got well looked after by Willie and his wonderful crew. Later in the afternoon some of Swords Tidy Towns members had a cool drink to finish off a long day. Well, done to everyone and look out for that video!