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Sky Is The Limit For Swords Boy!

A Swords schoolboy is set to have his names literally in lights, when he won a European competition to have a satellite named after him. Adam Vaughan, a 10 year student at St Cronan’s Senior National School in Brackenstown, has just won the Irish leg of the European Galileo drawing contest, defeating 176 other entries from across the country. His satellite, named Adam Ireland, is due to be launched into space sometime between now and 2019. The competition was organised by the European Commission to coincide with the creation of the EU’s ‘Galileo’ satellite navigation system. Adam’s satellite is one of the 30 being put into orbit, as part of the Galileo Satellite Programme.

Pictured is award winner, Adam Vaughan, aged 10 from St Cronan's Senior National School in Brackenstown, with his teacher, Ms Somers.

Barretstown Is DAA Charity Of The Year

Barretstown has been chosen as the Dublin Airport Authority’s Charity of the Year for 2012. Staff from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports all cast a vote to choose a charity to fundraise for each year. Last year the 3T’s - Turning the tide of Suicide was the chosen charity and a cheque for the grand total raised will be presented in February.

Maritime Museum In Balbriggan

To coincide with the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, Balbriggan Maritime Museum have come up an unique initiative to mark the occasion. The Maritime Museum will open its first ever ‘Pop Up’ exhibition for one day only, on Thursday, February 9th in the Bracken Court Hotel. Balbriggan has a rich Maritime history and visitors will be able to get a front row glimpse into this thanks to the exhibition. Schools and the community in general will have the opportunity to view a special showcase of artefacts never seen in public before.

Popular Malahide Principal Retires

On January 15th last, “The Quiet Man”, as he has been dubbed by parents, pupils and colleagues, hung up his boots, gave back the chalk and headed away into the sunset. Former principal at St. Oliver Plunkett School, Malahide, Tony Healy decided to take early retirement from his post, to begin a new chapter in an illustrious career after 40 years service to the children of the school. He was involvement in many areas of public life, including The Parish, Credit Union, Malahide Tidy Towns, MSRA, St. Sylvester’s GAA club, as well as every facet of life in the school including five Green Flags, numerous sports achievements and having one of the top academic schools in the country.

Tony Healy

Malahide Credit Union Opens New Premises

After a period of over 40 years and much deliberation, Malahide Credit Union has moved from Railway Avenue to new premises on Main Street, and officially opened for business on Wednesday 18th January last. Over the years, Malahide Credit Union has played an integral part in serving its members and the community at large.

‘Scientist’ Triumph For Skerries School

It was another successful year for Skerries Community College at this year’s BT Young Scientist Awards. Transition Year student, Eamon Deanney McCarthy won second place in his category for his Biometrics project. Eamon has participated in the competition two years previously with his projects like ‘The Biggest Prime Number Ever.’ Eamon was “thrilled with the win” and will no doubt do just as well in future competitions. A number of other students also participated in the competition.

Pictured here is Eamon Hennelly McCarthy from Skerries Community College. He won 2nd prize in his category for his Biometrics projects at the recent BT Young Scientist awards.

Balbriggan Schools Excel In Scientist Awards

Three secondary schools in Balbriggan have come up trumps in this year's Young Scientist Awards. Ardgillan College, Balbriggan Community College and Loreto Balbriggan all submitted various top quality projects to the competition. Frank McLoughlin and Ruaidhri Kennedy, two first year students from Ardgillan Community College, participated in BT Young Scientist with their project - 'To investigate the effectiveness of homemade detergents to manufactured detergents and hence reduce our carbon footprint'. They discovered from their project that homemade detergents containing lemon juice and vinegar were better and more effective at cleaning oil and limescale than three of the leading commercially manufactured cleaning products on the Irish market. At the final on Friday 13th January last, the boys were highly commended for their project.

Pictured here is Aideen McNally , Lily-Mai Hand and Niamh Kavanagh from Loreto Secondary School in Balbriggan who were 2nd in the Biological and Ecological Intermediate Group category for their project

Anger At Downgrading Of Malahide Garda Station

Malahide Garda Station will be downgraded in just over six weeks time. From March, the station will be closed from 10pm to 6am. Local senator, Darragh O’Brien (FF) has said he is extremely disappointed by the lack of response from Fine Gael and Labour Oireachtas members in Dublin North to the announcement. O’Brien said: “The silence from Fine Gael and Labour on this issue is extraordinary. The Government has decided that Malahide Garda Station will be closed from 10pm to 6am from March.

Gala Healthcare Awards Ceremony

The National College of Health Care Education (NCHE) held it’s first awards ceremony at the Clarion Hotel, Dublin Airport last week. The ceremony saw trainees from the local area, being presented with certificates of achievement. Nursing home students from Tara Winthrop Private Clinic, FIngal House and Kilbrew Recuperation and Nursing Care Ltd. were amongst the recipients of 54 awards. NCHE is based at Broadmeadow Hall, Applewood in Swords. Established in 2009 and led by Helena Moore, it is a Fetac accredited facility providing a wide range of Health Care Education Programmes. NCHE chose Swords and the North County initially because of the young and highly educated population.

Pictured at the NCHE Awards ceremony at the Clarion Hotel, Dublin Airport last week are, Ambassador Paramente from Lesotho, Helena Moore (Director of Nursing, Kilbrew Nursing Home), Fran Whelan (Managing Director, Kilbrew Nursing Home), Siobhan Moore (President Fingal Dublin Chamber) and Tony Lambert (CEO Fingal Dublin Chamber).

Jamóige Launched In Swords

Jamóige, Scouting Ireland’s jamboree for beaver and cub scouts, was officially launched at the County Council offices on Sunday, 15th January last. Held every three years on the June Bank Holiday weekend, this year’s event will be held in Ardgillan Castle. It is the largest scouting event in Ireland and over 4,000 scouts are expected. Over the weekend there will be plenty of camps and activities themed around Gulliver’s Travels. The closing date for bookings is 31st January 2012. Those interested should contact jamoige@scouts.ie. It promises to be a fantastic weekend and if the weather is half as good as 2009 it will be a real scorcher.

Pictured at the official lauch of Jamóige at County Hall in Swords on Sunday, 15th January last are County Mayor Cllr Gerry McGuire and Chief Scout for Ireland, Michael-John Shinnick, along with local scouts, Aoife Burke, Alice Coady, DJ Riley, Jessica Kelleher, Abigail O' Melia, Andrew O' Melia and Adam Tucker.

Closure Of Swords Laundry A Real Blow

There was some very disappointing news for Swords last week with the announcement that Jacksons Dry Cleaning and Laundry Company has ceased trading. The company, which is located on Main Street, appeared to be a busy outlet, which provided a very useful service for the people of Swords since 2009, employing three people. It is believed that high rent was the principal reason for the closure.

Jacksons Dry Cleaning and Laundry Company on Main Street in Swords, which ceased trading on Wednesday, 18th January last.

Balbriggan Group Looks Ahead To 2012

Balbriggan group ‘Remember Us’ had a very successful year in 2011 and are looking ahead this year to being just as successful. Firstly, the group would like to express their sincere gratitude to all the people, organisations and businesses in the north county who supported their various fundraising events and those who made donations last year. it was greatly appreciated by all involved, especially by the members who benefited greatly by the activities that were organised by the money raised.

St Colmcille's Girls' National School in Swords held an Open Day for parents of prospective pupils on Wednesday, 18th January last. Pictured at the Open Day are L-R, teacher Miriam Cody, Ann Louise Keogh and her daughter Isobel, Sylvia Kazlas and her daughter Meda and Katrin McKernan.

Charity Fashion Show In Malahide

There will be a charity fashion show in the Grand Hotel in Malahide on January 26th. The event is to raise funds for the Marc Owens Medical Fund. Marc is an 18 year old who was diagnosed in September 2010 with a rare and aggressive stage IV soft tissue sarcoma. He went to a clinic in Houston, Texas, the only clinic in the world that could treat this rare form of cancer. He is now back in Dublin, but will have to return to Houston in the future to monitor his condition.

Swords School Has To Turn Students Away

Loreto Girls' School in River Valley, Swords is still waiting for an extension to be built, despite having originally applied for one in 2003. The school gets more and more applicants each year and, as a result of the lack of space, has to turn many away as they just haven’t got the space. Speaking to the County Leader, Deputy Principal, Michael Behan says that the school is at the top of the list, but has yet to hear of any development on the issue: “It’s just a shame that we are still waiting as the issue isn’t over crowding as such, it’s more the fact that we have to turn students away.”

Dublin GAA star, Alan Brogan was in JC's in Swords just before Christmas to promote the new Dublin Players Calendar. Alan is pictured here with avid Dubs supporter and popular staff member, David 'Daisy' Walsh.

Exciting New Initiative By Movies@Swords

Movies@Swords are delighted to announce the launch of their new screenings available to customers. Their new Special Needs Screenings are a great development and are sure to provide an all inclusive cinema going experience for all. Janice Lawlor, Manager of Movies@Swords told the County Leader: “These screenings allow our customers to benefit from subtle alterations to the cinema environment and to attend newly released films with friends and family. Films are screened with the lights turned up, the volume turned down and with the trailers and adverts removed. People can feel free to move around the cinema or make any noise.”

Janice Lawlor, Movies @ Swords.

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