Lusk Local V8I5-DEC 2022

to all .’ Let us all do whatever we can to help them and especially their children to have as happy a Christmas as possible. Our goodwill should also extend to those less fortunate than ourselves in our local area. Those who are homeless, those who are sick, those struggling to make ends meet especially the elderly who are living off state benefits and who have little or no family to care for them. Maybe this year we should look in on our elderly neighbours and those sick and disabled in out community. Make sure they have fuel to heat their homes and food over the Christmas period and in the winter months ahead. Yes, we are all feeling the pinch at the moment. but most of us have a roof over our head, a warm place and bed to sleep in and family members who care. So let us appreciate all those things we take for granted by showing our caring and compassionate side this Christmas to those who for one reason or another find themselves in need. We all have a responsibility as human beings to care for each other and Advent gives us an opportunity to do just that. So let us be caring and compassionate. Show it by shopping local, checking on our elderly neighbours and supporting our community and each other.

Wishing you a happy and healthy Christmas to you all from the Locals Team

O’Donoghue Welcomes Safe Routes to School Scheme for Lusk

At the November Council meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue welcomed the implementation of the Safer Routes to Schools programme at the junction of R127 bypass and Raheny Lane. The Safe Routes to School Programme was developed in Partnership with the NTA and Green-School in 2020 as a response to the need to support schools to increase walking and cycling to school. The programme aims to improve safety at the school gate by providing ‘front of school’ treatments to alleviate vehicle congestion, improve walking and cycling access for students and increase the number of students who cycle to school by expanding the volume of cycling parking. The Lusk site is one of the first schools chosen for works in Fingal under the programme. As part of the Safer Routes to School Programme for Rush & Lusk Educate Together School, the Active Travel Unit in FCC included within the design the inclusion of an additional crossing point of the R127 to serve both the bus stop, the

schools via the pedestrian bridge and the Sports Hub in Rathmore Park. Earlier this month, the contractor commenced works on the site, to install the necessary pipes to carry a power supply to the new signalised traffic lights, located close to the Lusk Sports Hub entrance. On 26th of November upgrade works were carried out at the junction to build it out, with existing kerb lines to reduce traffic turning speeds and provide a safer crossing point for vulnerable road users.Cllr O’Donoghue thanked the Council Management and school principles in RALET and LCC for their progressive thinking on the matter stating, ‘The new lights will provide a safe crossing point for parents and childing using the schools and Sports Hub facilities. The School Principles have really led the way in facilitating both a safer transit for local students to the schools and with the recently installed pedestrian gates between the Hub and the schools, there is better connectivity between these important community facilities.’

Lusk Heritage short stories are a lovely Christmas present

Lusk Heritage Group are delighted to make available a wonderful new collection of short stories entitled Tales of Gaels and Bales, written by Lusk’s very own Jim Monks, the treasurer and founder member of Lusk Heritage Group. These twenty three amazing short stories were years in the writing, some were recorded and preserved on audio by Jim Hawkins from Swords, while more of them were gathering dust on Jim Monk’s cluttered bookshelves at home. Aidan Arnold, Chairman of the Lusk Heritage Group and a good friend of Jim’s for the last fifty years, finally realised their potential as a treasure trove of local Fingallian folklore. He set about pulling the stories together into a single volume. He searched out and met a young Bulgarian girl called Yoana

Topalska, living in Rush, working in Skerries and studying art, who produced 14 stunning illustrations for the book. Aidan, in cooperation with Lusk Heritage Group, has now published this beautiful little book which he feels deserves pride of place on every bookshelf in Ireland. The stories look back at much more than our history. You’ll meet the Dunne family from the Nevitt. In 1848, at the height of the Famine, Paddy and Sarah and John, Pat and Sally, went over the road, down the hill of the Nevitt, on their way to the North Wall of Dublin and a voyage to a foreign country. Jump forward 100 years to Paddy Farrell, a man totally at peace with himself, warm outside from the good log fire in the pub, warm inside from three bottles of ale, but World War 11 was

Tidy Towns commended by National Competition Judges

In the National Tidy Towns 2022, Lusk finished 4th place in their category just missing out on the bronze award. Overall points increased to 334 from last year in Category E. One of the comments from the judges was “Congratulations to the committee and volunteers in Lusk for a great performance in this year’s tidy towns competition. Keep up the good work and we look forward to seeing your lovely town again in 2023” Also the annual mass held in St MacCullins Church Lusk on the 6th November 2022 for the deceased who are buried at Balrothery Union cemetery. A gathering was held

afterwards in Murray’s pub Lusk with Councillor Brian Dennehy and Councillor Rob O’Donoghue speaking about the workhouse times. A sign has been erected on the site and thanks to Nina Flynn and supporters for their help over the years. Also a warm thank you to the Murray family.”

about to change all that. Paddy’s only son Boot Farrell who deserves a book all to himself. Join Boot on his hilarious first visit to Skerries where everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong. You never know where you’ll find yourself or who you’ll meet between the pages of Jim’s Tales of Gaels and Bales. You could be in Lusk, Rush, Skerries, Ballyboghill, Balbriggan, London, Santiago or New York, but everywhere you’ll find yourself in the company of real people, genuine laughter and simple human kindness. Tales of Gaels and Bales is available now to buy in local outlets. It will make a perfect stocking filler and Christmas present for anyone interested in Lusk, in Fingal or just curled up on the sofa enjoying a good book and a laugh.

Photo by Brian Egan

Lusk ICA new meeting times and Christmas Market

The Lusk Guild day and time for future monthly meetings has changed. The monthly meeting will now take place on the first Tuesday of the month in Lusk Scout Den from 3.30pm until 5.30pm. In addition to our monthly meetings we also have a range of activities for ladies who like to keep fit. Mon, Tue and Thurs – Tai Chi -Tuesday 11.00 - 12.00 – Chair Yoga - Tuesday 11.30 - 12.30 - Exercises in the Hub /when weather is bad we do exercises in the old church. - Saturday 11am – meet Rush South Beach car park for sea swimming. This is just a small selection of our activities so join us for some fun as new members are always welcome. You can also contact us through our Facebook page. The Lusk ICA Guild is busy preparing for our Christmas Market which takes place on Sunday 4th of December in Lusk Scout Den from 11am to 4pm. We are very happy to welcome back Antoinette with her selection of Christmas Crafts and novelties, Cistín Chic who have a range of festive Homewares, Jacinta with her handmade cards for all occasions , and Linda with her range of jewellery.A warm welcome also to our new stall holders who have a wide variety of crafts and gifts. Doris who has a selection of Embroidered

tableware, Jennifer with her knitted hats. From Me To You with a range of Christmas crafts, Linda with her Macramè Fairy’s and Mushroom light sticks, Kate with her Christmas crafts, Milk Bath with their range of Self care and gift products, and Sarah with her woolly knits. No ICA event would be complete without delicious home baking, preserves and chutneys , there will be lots to choose from.. Make sure to pick up tickets for our fabulous raffle and you can also pick up a cup of tea or coffee while you hrowse the stalls.Santa will be joining us at noon so all the boys and girls can let him know how good they have been all year and tell him what they would like. For any further information please contact us through our Facebook page. Caroline O’Malley PRO

Lusk Action Group: People from the community for the community

Our Christmas lights were turned on the other day and we marked the occasion for the community with some hot drinks served by Top Shop and festive carols sung by the Lusk Choir. Many thanks to all who helped put the lights up, to Conrad and staff at Top Shop, to the Choir and to those of you who came to enjoy the moment with us.Did you know that Lusk has a new sports club? The Lusk Ravens basketball club is now in operation out of the Lusk National School Hall and has a weekly academy for 5th and 6th class primary school children as well as ladies’ and men’s training sessions. Check out their Facebook page for more details. This is sure to be a great addition to already very sporting community. Well done to all involved in getting it off the ground.It’s not just basketball that’s available as an extracurricular activity in and around Lusk. Lusk has art classes, an athletics club catering for all track, field, road & off road disciplines, dance classes, a football club, a GAA club, the ICA, various martial arts classes (Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing & Taekwando), pilates classes, beavers, scouts and girl guides, yoga classes, walking groups and many more. If you’d like to know more about any of them or would like to set up a new Chess, Cards or even Tiddlywinks club or have a query on Adult Education and the likes then please contact us and we will help to direct you. Now that the dark evenings are upon us it’s important to have something to keep us active and in touch with others.As always, we are on the lookout for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time

to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us on luskactiongroup@ gmail.com.

Christmas Spending Can Be Better Controlled

By Dave Kavanagh

Are there actions you can take to make the festive season less of a financial burden? Of course there are.Firstly, manage expectations: Most people can’t remember what they got 2 years ago, so don’t put yourself under too much pressure for “big” presents. Next, leave the credit card at home: At about 20% interest, adding debt for things you don’t need to overspend on, only starts the new year off in a negative.Be realistic with food shopping: The shops are only closed for 1-2 days, do you really need to stock up so much? In the days/weeks after Christmas, make a list of all the things you bought but didn’t really need or through out, and keep it for next year, so you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Kris Kindle: Talk to family and close friends to agree to pick one person and buy them a present for a set limit, to ease the burden.There are things you can also do all year round that can save you enough to cover the cost of Christmas: Switch utility providers, the savings can be quite substantial. Compare before you shop for larger items: Just because one store has a sign saying the TV you want is reduced from €799 to €699, doesn’t mean that another store that does not have a sale on, isn’t selling the same TV for €649. Take the time to shop around when your car or house insurance

renewals come in, it can be well worth the effort. Review premiums that you pay regularly, such as mortgage protection or life cover, especially if they were taken out directly with a bank who could not compare. Finally, go through a few months’ bank statements: we regularly find people paying for things that should have been cancelled years before or that they simply no longer require.

Dave Kavanagh QFA has been advising people financially for over 25 years. For quotes or information (with no cost or obligation) he can be contacted by emailing him on info@financialcompanion. ie or use the contact form on www. financialcompanion.ie or @Davekav_ advice on Twitter and Instagram. Combined with his previous role of gym/ nutrition adviser, he regularly gives talks and workshops at seminars and events for groups, companies and government departments on financial wellbeing, positivity and motivation. As heard on RTE 2FM , LMFM and TV3.

In the heart of Malahide, AppliancesDelivered.ie is promising to deliver your chosen appliance within 24 hours if you live in the Greater Dublin area.

In the heart of Malahide, AppliancesDelivered.ie is promising to deliver your chosen appliance within 24 hours if you live in the greater Dublin area. AppliancesDelivered.ie is part of the greater Briscoe group established in 1964 with branches in Drogheda, Arnotts Henry Street, Brown Thomas Grafton Street, Dundrum, Cork and Limerick.

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Paul Casey, manager of Appliances

Manager Paul Casey and his staff looking forward to you calling in to our newly refurbished store in the heart of Malahide

AppliancesDelivered.ie

Paul and his team are happy to answer questions and provide advice both on the phone and in person.

Now not only online, customers can visit their store in Malahide and experience, “our new kitchen showroom which has the latest models in American fridge freezers, ovens, dishwashers and other kitchen appliances. You can browse the wide range of quality options from established brands like Miele, Neff, Whirlpool and Bosch.”

Other brands available, and on display, include Fisher and Paykel, SMEG, De Dietrich, Samsung and Indesit. Or browse their Tech department for a full range of top brands for the techie in your life

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Reviews on Trustpilot confirm the valued personal service provided by the team at AppliancesDelivered.ie where it has a score of 4.8 out of 5.

Commemorative Society wins Film Award for Dramamentary

There was great excitement for members of the local Fingal Old IRA Commemorative Society 1916-1921 last week. The Society won a Special Achievement Award at the Underground Independent Film Festival which is in its thirteenth year on the International circuit. The Award was presented to the well known Deputy Mayor of Fingal County Council Cathal Boland at the Awards Ceremony held in Dun Laoghaire recently. Cathal directed the forty-five-minute long Dramamentary of an event which occurred in Ballyboughal in April 1921. Cathal based the film called “Who shot Sergeant Kirwan” on newspaper accounts of the event and the witness statements now stored in the Military History Archives along with the stories told by the relatives involved on the

day. Many play the roles of their Grandparents in this Award-Winning film. It was a first and unique experience for the Director, Cast and Production team. Cathal said when receiving the Award that it was a great community event which drew people in and got them engaged. He added that while the Award was made to him the achievement was only possible by the collaborative work of the whole team. He said much of the credit must go to Eric Campbell who filmed, edited, and provided the special effects and his wife who composed the soundtrack. There were no professional actors involved and indeed this was a first also for Cathal. The Society has another film lined up and Cathal says they will go into production early next year.

Cathal Boland with the award.

Niamh’s Festive Food Fun!

For parties, ensuring that the whole family gets their ‘7 a day’ over the festive season or for just a bit of fun and something to do! These are imaginative ways to get young people involved with food and encouraging a wide variety of vegetables and fruit throughout the day over the Christmas period.

Snowman/woman Spuds!

1.Cook and mash potatoes with a small amount of milk.

2. Use a spoon/ice-cream scoop to shape the mash into a larger round ball for the body and a smaller round ball for the head.

3.Place the small round ball on top of the large round ball on a plate/serving dish.

A ‘Veggie’ colourful Christmas tree

1.Wash and peel a long and large carrot. Top and tail the carrot.

2.Cut the carrot in half and then slice each half lengthways to make the trunk of the tree. Place onto a large serving dish (or use less carrot for a smaller plate).

3.For the tree branches and leaves, the following could be used: long runner green beans, mangetout or cucumber in long slices as in the image.

4.To make the star at the top of the tree, I used a star shaped cookie cutter and placed hummus inside and then lifted it off. The hummus can then be used to dip the vegetables into!

5.To decorate the tree, the more different coloured vegetables the better! In this image, there is peppers, beetroot and peas.

6.Finally, for the presents under the tree, cut different coloured peppers or carrots into shapes. I used tiny strips of beetroot to make bows on the presents.

4.Cut up a variety of vegetables to make the face, hat/hair and buttons and stick them on/in the balls of

mash potato. In the image attached, I used beetroot, peppers, brocolli, carrot and peas.

5.There’s many vegetables that could work for the arms! I used celery and long strips of carrot in mine.

Porridge Penguin

1.Make porridge as you/your child likes it.

2.Scoop onto the centre of a plate in a rounded heart shape.

3.Place blueberries around the edges of the porridge and down either side as arms.

4.Place 2 mandarin orange segments underneath as feet.

5.Place 2 blueberries and a triangle shaped chunk of kiwi

into the porridge as eyes and a nose.

6.Use a red pepper in a triangle shape and a blueberry for a hat with a bobble!

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas time and health and happiness for the new year. For preschool, primary and secondary school or community group talks and workshops, please arthursniamh@gmail.com. See my ‘Fun food’ and ‘Recipes’ albums on ‘Biabites’ Facebook for other food ideas.

News & Events

Lusk AC Members compete wonderfully in 2022

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of 2022 which has been a remarkably busy and successful year for Lusk Athletic Club on all fronts with so many great performances in Track and Field events, in road and cross-country races by so many of our adult and juvenile athletes. Lusk Athletic Club had a phenomenal 50 club members complete the Dublin Marathon on Sunday 30th October with no less than 4 athletes breaking the 3-hour barrier. Across the pond another 3 club members completed the New York marathon on the 6thof November in very unseasonal temperatures (22 Celsius).Well done to Alex Bell, Dan Cronin and Fiachra Beirne. Great credit is due to all the coaches and athletes who diligently followed a 20-week marathon programme from June onwards. Congratulations to Cara McNally on a great run to finish in the top 10 of the Under 19 race at the Dublin Junior cross country championships which took place at Citywest golf course in November and to our Fit 4 Life group who graduated by completing the Donabate Parkrun 5K in November with great support from their coaches and club members who either ran the 5K with them or volunteered at the event.Thanks to the club committee and club members who put a huge amount of work into setting up the OTC which will be of massive benefit to all club athletes training over the winter months. Strength and conditioning every Friday evening open to all. The Lusk Athletic Club Christmas Party and awards night took place in the Man O War Gastro Pub on Saturday 3rd December and was another great club occasion. Well done to all who helped to organise this event and to all the award winners for 2022.

Junsa Taekwondo Club News

End of Year Preparation’s at Junsa Taekwondo!

With the end of the year fast approaching, it’s a busy time at Junsa Taekwondo. We are preparing for the last tournament of the year and the club grading. The club grading is probably the highlight of the club calendar. This is where the students preform there skills both in Kyrougi (sparring) and the traditional part of Taekwondo, stances, blocks , strikes and kicks. It’s a wonderful time in the club. Have a look at our preparation in our pictures. We at Junsa Taekwondo work hard to provide a safe and happy environment for our students we also encourage our students to take part in all aspects of our martial art and help promote their confidence, fitness and their own individual talents. A Happy Christmas to all our friends, supporters, our participants and their families and to you all!

Robbie lands a scoring punch . (Advanced class)

Having a laugh! - Robbie and Conor (ad vanced class)

Emma and Natalia in preparation for upcoming tournament. ( intermediate class)

Nathan and Max in action ( intermediate class)

Taekwondo Twins Sarah-Jane and Daire

Dominic and Calum pad kicking (beginner class)

Charlie and Mason in sparring preparationIntermediate class

Our beginner class at the start of training

Our intermediate class after their sparring training.

BRIAN DENNEHY

Across

1. They get Father Christmas moving! (8)

6. The man in red who comes to visit every home. (5,3)

13. Famous ballet company based in St. Petersburg. (5)

14. He allegedly gets the worm. (5,4)

15. The act of joining two or more things into one. (5)

16. A sum of money saved for the future. (4,3)

18. Hard and straight-grained timber. (9)

19. A colour or shade. (3)

20. Natural agent that makes things visible. (5)

22. An item in addition to what is usual or strictly necessary. (5)

24. Expression of amazement or joy. (3) 26. Ireland’s first Nobel Prize winner. (5) 28. Something that requires little or no effort. (2-7)

30. “To ... is human, to forgive divine” (Pope) (3)

31. When our only natural satellite is but a thin crescent. (3,4)

33. The place where an incident in real life or fiction occurred. (5)

34. Public transport vehicle. (4) 35. Soft drink. (4)

37. Norwegian playwright whose “Doll’s House” is set at Christmas. (5) 40. Saddle attachment to support the rider’s foot. (7)

41. Damage or spoil to a certain extent. (3)

42. People who rent out buildings. (9) 45. Continuous dull pains. (5) 46. A piece of turf. (3)

47. Went out like the tide. (5) 49. Freely available whenever needed. (2,3)

50. A boy or young man. (3) 52. Talking rhythmically to the beat of music. (7)

55. A device which artificially creates the effect of being in conditions of some kind. (9)

57. Penne and Spaghetti are types of this. (5)

58. Break into a conversation. (9)

59. Fill someone with astonishment. (5) 60. A person who purchases goods for personal use. (8)

61. Beat malt protects household surfaces. (5,3)

Down

2. Coins used by nineteen EU countries. (5)

3. A short month before December. (3)

4. Describes trees with leaves throughout the year. (9)

5. Another name for Welsh Rabbit. (7) 6. Fashion, vogue, mode. (5)

7. Binge hour with the person next door. (9)

8. Sound, especially when recorded or reproduced. (5)

9. Clothes and linen that need to be washed. (7)

10. This Charles Dicken Heep has become a byword for a falsely humble hypocrite. (5)

11. People who spend as little money as possible, misers. (10)

12. This famous folklorist wrote “The Snow Man.” (8)

17. E.T. was one of these. (17)

21. Unintelligible or meaningless speech or writing, nonsense. (9)

23. Utterance similar to the sound of clearing one’s throat, used to attract attention. (4)

25. Reddish-brown natural dye use to colour hair. (5)

27. The smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist. (5)

29. A king or ruler in Latin. (3)

32. A quickly rotating mass of water in a river or sea. (9)

34. Small Spanish savoury dishes. (5) 36. The night bird. (3)

38. A person who is too interested in what other people are doing. (4-6)

39. A type of soft, mild, creamy cheese with a firm white skin. (4)

40. Expense edible bivalve molluscs. (8)

41. It falls right in the middle of the coldest season. (9)

43. Move your head down and up to indicate approval or assent. (3)

44. Common rodent with a bad rep. (3)

48. Pottery which has been fired but not glazed. (7)

51. A club where people dance to recorded pop music. (5)

53. Object which separates white light into a spectrum of colours. (5)

54. An Irish police officer. (5)

56. A jewelled ornamental band worn on the front of a woman’s hair. (5)

59. The highest and lowest playing card. (3)