Balrothery Newsletter April 2016

Spring Newsletter Balrothery Community Association April 2016

Balrothery Community Associa on 1916 Commemora on

2016 is a significant year for Ireland & for Balrothery too! Balrothery Commu- To mark the centenary of the 1916
nity Council has been renamed as Balrothery Community Associa on & we rising, Balrothery Tidy Village Com-
even have a new logo depic ng 'Baile Na Ridire' - 'Town of the Knights' . We mi ee have planted an Oak Tree in
are a commi ee of volunteers working together to make Balrothery Village a the area at the North end of Balroth-
be er place to live for young and old alike. Although we have no statutory ery, historically known as The Cuckoo,
powers, like all community bodies, we are constantly lobbying Fingal County we are currently researching the his-
Council to invest resources in the upkeep and improvement of Balrothery. We tory of this and hope to publish an
have recently made good progress but we cannot rest on our laurels as much, ar cle soon.
much more investment is needed to allow the infrastructure & ameni es to
firstly catch up & then to keep pace with the increase in popula on experi- We have several Oak
enced from 279 people (2000) up to 1858 people (2011). trees in Balrothery which
are hundreds of years
BCA feel it is important to generally improve the aes- old, so thought it fi ng
the cs of the village & our Tidy Village sub-commi ee is to commemorate with a
working relessly to bring about this transi on but we new Oak Tree, hopefully it will over-
also feel it is important to have a vision for the future & see the next 100 years as a living me-
to iden fy specific projects that will bring about posi ve morial.
change & addi onal facili es for residents. The largest
project being worked on at present is the development of The ceremony will be held on Sunday
Balrothery Park. The open space in Balrothery Park is a April 24th at 2pm and we will also
huge asset and very peaceful & tranquil getaway adjacent unveil a stone commemora ng the
to the village (especially in the evening as you can watch event and renaming the area The
the sunsets over Knock lake,) but the park is currently under u lised because access is a huge problem and it Cuckoo. The Lord Mayor of Fingal will
is impossible to cycle or take a buggy. Fingal County Council have commi ed to improving access & develop- join us plus other dignitaries. There
ing Balrothery park, construc ng pathways into and around it, introducing a new children's playground and a will be music and song followed by a
Mul -use games area (MUGA). Other towns in Fingal have these facili es and there is no doubt that resi- BBQ. This is a family fun event, hope
dents of Balrothery now deserve the same. to see you all there!

Another significant project with huge poten al is connec ng Balrothery Village to Ardgillan Park with a des-
ignated walking & cycling route. Ardgillan was recently listed in the top 10 parks to visit in Ireland however
the Darcystown Road is quite dangerous to walk or cycle which leaves Balrothery residents with no other
op on but to drive a car the short distance to Ardgillan Park. With new walking & cycling routes around

Ireland constantly being developed and open to the public we see this link as ' cking
all the boxes' and Fingal County Council are in agreement that it is a viable project that
will poten ally see Balrothery recognized as the 'Gateway to Ardgillan'.

Developing a local Heritage Trail is also a key Objec ve for the commi ee and we feel
that the local history & heritage of Balrothery is a 'sleeping giant'. The new genera-

ons of Balrothery Residents deserve to learn about their home area and , in doing so,
this may help people to feel a sense of place & in turn, respect the history & signifi-
cance of Balrothery, which was once the seat of governance for the Barony of Balroth-
ery which covered an area similar to the area now known as Fingal.

It is not all good news, as men oned, Balrothery today is s ll trying to catch up with the increase in residen- Quiz Night!
al development that took place between 2000 & 2015. There is no public seat in Balrothery. There is no
Balrothery/Balbriggan Tennis Club
public parking space in Balrothery. There is no safe controlled crossing point between residen al areas and Fundraiser Quiz Night. Friday 22nd
the retail units. A footpath is needed in front of the school & to access North County Cricket Club & Balbrig- April, 8:30pm in The Balrothery Inn.
gan Rugby Club along with many more important items. Thankfully, Fingal County Council have started to Table of 4, €20
invest in Balrothery and we have a healthy working rela onship with the council staff & with our public rep- All welcome! Always a good fun night!
resenta ves that we have no doubt will be maintained going forward. The socio-demographics of Balrothery
need to be looked at and planned for. A young popula on is growing up here, at present, there are no sup-
port facili es for teenagers. Help is needed in this area.

When you are involved in working to be er your community,
each day can bring a new item on the list, it may bring good
news of progress or, it might bring bad news, a set-back or a
problem, one thing is guaranteed, the list will constantly
evolve, there is no finish line and at mes, it can be quite tax-
ing and a distrac on from your own family life and your own
work, however, I derive the desire to con nue from two
sources, firstly from seeing……….

Email: [email protected] www.balrothery.com

Spring Newsletter Balrothery Community Association April 2016

posi ve improvements take place that you have helped make happen and secondly , from my fellow com- Balrothery Junior Singers
mi ee members whom have enough energy and enthusiasm to carry that sleeping giant on their shoul-
ders and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank them all for unselfishly volunteering their The Balrothery Junior Singers will hold
an Open Rehearsal on Monday 23 May,
me to try and improve Balrothery Village ,simply because they live here. Our current sub-commi ees are 2016 from 7 - 8pm in the Heritage Cen-
as follows : Tidy Village, Planning, Heritage, Youth & Sports, so if you are interested in ge ng involved in tre, Balrothery. This is a wonderful op-
any of these areas or would like to help in any way to make contact with BCA by emailing secre- portunity to hear the choir rehearse and
[email protected] or contac ng a member of the commi ee you may know. It is important that you do perform a selec on of pieces from their
because in order for us to be an effec ve community representa ve group, we need the community to 2016 repertoire. You may have a son /
keep feeding into the community associa on and even if you may not wish to directly join, please contact daughter who would like to join the
us with anything you see that could be improved or any idea you have that you think will benefit Balroth- choir and we will be accep ng new
ery. members in September. Admission is €4
for adults and €2 for children, payable at
Is mise le meas, Kevin Tolan - Chairperson. the door.

Youth Commi ee Balrothery Senior Singers

In 2015 the summer project took place in the Heritage Centre Annual Summer Concert 29th May,
and also including day-tours to local a rac ons including Tayto
Park. It is intended to do so again in 2016 about unfortunately 2016, 8pm in the Heritage Centre,
places will be restricted as there are simply not enough adult volunteers to cope with the numbers of chil-
dren applying to take part. If you would like to volunteer to help out with the youth commi ee please Balrothery.
contact [email protected]. If you don’t possess the relevant cer ficates we can provide advice on
how to ascertain them.

Traffic in Balrothery Balrothery/Balbriggan Tennis
Club: We are looking for new
A Balrothery Traffic Study was published by Fingal County
Council in October 2015 , this was in response to issues raised members both old and young! We
at local level at our deputa on mee ng held with Fingal County have a club night on a Wednesday
Council in January 2015. Balrothery Community Associa on at 7.30 pm (weather permi ng) and
were disappointed with a number of sec ons of the report, in par cular in rela on to a request for traffic all are welcome to come along and
calming measures on the Darcystown road. The report found that 'excessive speeding in relaƟon to the try it out.
speed limit was not occurring'. Membership is :
Adult-€60, Juvenile €30, Family €80.
We maintain that the Darcystown road is a very busy road, not
only is it the main access route to Ardgillan Park from the M1, Balrothery Pool Knights: In only their
but it is also used by Skerries traffic as a convenient route to 3rd season playing in the Round Towers
the M1 & by agricultural machinery. With the residen al es- Pool League, our local cueists have re-
tates of Rosepark on the North & Ringfort on the south of the cently won promo on from Division 2
road, it is essen ally a main road bisec ng a residen al area up to Division 1. This followed some
and therefore we feel that physical traffic calming measures, hard fought ba les by the Knights over
including speed ramps & signage are urgently needed to slow 20 weeks, home & away, with Balroth-
down the traffic (speeds up to 96kmph have been recorded) & prevent a serious accident. We do not ac- ery & Coast Tavern eventually finishing
cept all the findings of this report and we are preparing a formal response to be included on the Agenda at joint top of Division 2. Tuesday night is
our next Deputa on mee ng with Fingal County Council in May 20116. The report can be viewed on Pool Knight in the Balrothery Inn so
www.Balrothery.com and again we ask for any members of the community who wish to have their say on anyone interested in playing, or just
the issue of pedestrian safety to email [email protected] because the more public opinion we showing support, is
have the be er chance there is that something will be done. We do welcome the recent widening of the very welcome to
footpath along 'The Rise' to allow be er pedestrian use but this has not slowed down the traffic. drop in.

Planning for the Future

Balrothery Community Associa on will be making a submission to
the Fingal Development Plan 2017-2023 before 29th April next. We
encourage everybody to have their say on how they would like to
see Balrothery develop over the next 5 years. Please contact us with
any comments you may have and we can include them in our submission or alterna vely please visit
www.Fingalcoco.ie and make an online submission directly.

Email: [email protected] www.balrothery.com

Spring Newsletter Balrothery Community Association April 2016

Balrothery Tidy Village Commi ee

Balrothery Tidy Village commi ee have launched a new Adopt-a-Patch project. Many origina ons,
business and individuals have already signed up to take on a patch in the village of Balrothery and
surrounds. The idea is people and organisa ons take on responsibility for various parts of the Village.
An example of this is the Residents of Hamilton Park Care Facility have taken on the two greens to
the North of Balrothery. Both The Balrothery Inn & Andrews Spar have taken on the commercial
areas and the greens to the south of the village.

Patrick Hickey & Family of McNally Funeral Directors have been a significant contributor to the Tidy
Village project and carried out a major landscaping project at the front of Balrothery Heritage Centre
& graveyard last summer. Pat and his family have commi ed to maintain this area and the road to
Cricket and Rugby Club.

A central element of the Project is our online interac ve map, created by NiallKeady.com this map
allows visitors to our website www.balrothery.com to view the areas adopted so far and by clicking
an area can see who is responsible for any given patch.

Our Objec ves are:

•Encourage clean-ups throughout the year.

•Galvanise the prac ces of recycling and re-use where possible.

•Promote personal responsibility for li er.

•Heighten awareness of li er and waste issues.

Anyone wishing to Adopt a Patch to clean up at their own me please see
www.balrothery.com for details or contact [email protected]. We
hope this ac vity and all Balrothery Tidy Village projects will strengthen our
entry to this year Tidy Towns Compe on.

Other ac vi es The Tidy Village commi ee have organised are:

Saturday Clean Ups & Projects: Every Saturday the Tidy Village members meet
at 11am at the Community Resource Centre and do a 1 hour’s li er pick and

dy up around the village. We are also taking on several small projects throughout the year. The first of these projects is clearing
the path between the resource centre and the football fields. This project requires a li le muscle and we need a few extra bodies to
help cut away brambles and dead wood. So If you can spare an hour on Saturdays morning please come out, the same goes for the
li er pickers we need more hands and encourage the children to come out with you we have gloves and equipment to help with the
task and helping will ins l in the children a sense of community and they will respect their environment more.

This year’s Tidy Towns compe on has a special category, The Pollinator Award aims to encourage Tidy
Towns groups to implement pollinator friendly ac ons in their towns and villages as part of the Tidy
Towns compe on. Irish bees, crucial in the pollina on of our plants, trees and vegetables, are in de-
cline. This is because we’ve dras cally reduced the areas where they can nest and the amount of food
our countryside provides for them.

Balrothery Tidy Village will run a compe on this year for young and old to Grow the Tallest Sunflower, registra on form
on our website. We will also encourage every home and garden to grow summer flowers, or build some bug hotels! We will have more details posted
on village website www.balrothery.com. We encourage families to submit photos of their Sunflowers and Bug Hotels by email or Facebook to the Tidy
Village Commi ee throughout the summer.

Niall Keady, Chair Balrothery Tidy Village

Na onal Spring Clean!

April is Na onal Spring clean month,
various events on this month to help
improve our Village, great way for you
and your family to get community
involved!
• Strimathon, Sunday 17th April
• Clean up evening Wednesday

20th April, 7 to 8pm, encourage
Families to par cipate
• Weekly Clean up’s on Saturdays,
11am, meet at Community cen-
tre, tools and gear supplied.

Email: [email protected] www.balrothery.com

Spring Newsletter Balrothery Community Association April 2016

Village Clean up Evening Balrothery Na onal School

As part of Na onal Spring Clean month we are organising a light village clean up on We are delighted to have commenced build-
20th April from 7pm to 8pm. We encourage family par cipa on, a great way to show a ing work at Balrothery NS and are very excit-
bit of community spirit by ge ng out for an hour. Individual Estates and roads can do ed at the prospect of having lovely new
their own patch, Rosepark residents for example are mee ng on their own green at classrooms to replace the prefabs. The
7pm and look forward to seeing all adults and children out! school has been given a grant to do this.
However it is limited to the replacement of
Balrothery Community Resource Centre prefabs only. We would love to upgrade the
exis ng building also. The best me to do
We looking to expand use of Centre, we would welcome this is while builders are on site. The money
views from interested community groups and local sports raised at the Golf Classic will go towards this.
clubs. The centre is currently used by Tadpoles Crèche, The more we raise the be er the refurbish-
Tidy Village Commi ee, Community Associa on and vari- ment and the be er the learning environ-
ous mee ng groups. ment for the children of Balrothery in the
future. Let’s work together to achieve this
dream for our children.

Mairead Murphy, School Principal

Balrothery Community Garden Balrothery Heritage Centre

Would you be interested in helping to create a community The Heritage centre is available for events
garden? We’re looking at using the area of green space and community use,. We encourage commu-
between Community centre and playing fields for this pur- nity use promo ng Heritage, Arts and Cul-
pose. A new and improved footpath will be completed in ture. Allowing community classes and group
coming months to fields so a community garden would events. Has been used for mee ngs, Con-
make great use this area. certs, Art Exhibi ons, Heritage Exhibi ons,
Fitness classes, Pilates, Art Classes.
Contact: [email protected]

Email: [email protected] Contact Heritage Centre:
[email protected]

www.balrothery.com

www.balrothery.com