< Previous© April 2017 The Meath Coaster20Council Update by Cllr Stephen McKeeCivic Reception For St. Colm-cille’s Gfc – Supporting GAA In Our CommunityAt our monthly March meet-ing, I was delighted to pro-pose that Meath County Council hold a Civic Reception to honour the achievements of the Club in reaching the Intermediate All-Ireland final. My mo-tion was accepted and so a night is being arranged for Friday, March 31st at 8pm in Gilna’s Cottage Inn to celebrate an incred-ible year for the Club. Louth/Meath Boundary Review Deci-sion At our March monthly Municipal District Council meeting we discussed the deci-sion by the independent Boundary Review Commission not to change the County boundary between Louth and Meath. I was happy to make a submission to the Drogheda Boundary Review Committee on behalf of local residents opposing the plan to move parts of County Meath into County Louth for a number of reasons in-cluding the fact that many families in this area have a close tie to County Meath in terms of sending their children to schools such as Donacarney and Gaels-coil An Bhradain Feasa, and the strong connections to Meath Gaelic Football through St.Colmcille’s GAA Club.Nevertheless, it is also clear that residents in the general East Meath are frustrated at what they perceive as neglect. Bettystown, with disastrous planning de-cisions in the past that has seen housing estates built on floodplains, is a case in point. On the Dublin Road, households in Grange Rath alone will pay over €300,000 in 2017 to the Revenue authorities for Lo-cal Property Tax and though I was happy to help deliver new bus bays outside the estate working with Meath County Coun-cil, residents are still awaiting a footpath to connect to the local Gaelscoil.There is a general sense that Meath Coun-ty Council are happy to use the large pop-ulation of East Meath to generate tax in-comes yet we have to fight tooth and nail to get basic funding for services in our area. Meath County Council now need to step up to the plate and provide further investment in the basic services that the large local population need and deserve as hard-working taxpayers.Footpaths In Donacarney And Bettys-town – Road Safety For ChildrenI recently had the Area Engineer out to look at the need for a footpath from Bettystown Cross to Donacarney Primary Schools. At our recent Local Area Meet-ing, the Council confirmed that road-sur-facing works are due to be carried out this Summer following a recommendation I made. We now need the Council to engage Cllr Stephen McKee continues his support of St.Colmcille’s GAA Club© April 2017 The Meath Coaster21further with residents and commit to pro-viding for a footpath for both pupils and residents of Donacarney and Bettystown. A similarly dangerous situation continues at the Laytown schools campus where we await the provision of a new footpath. Previously, I supported an allocation of €150,000 to be spent on the footpath from the schools in Laytown to Bettystown Vil-lage and have continued to raise this issue with Council officials. I will continue to put pressure on the Council on behalf of local residents until this work is done. Further InformationStephen McKee is reminding residents that they can contact him directly on his mobile 086 0432760, by email stephenm-ckeeff@gmail.com or through Facebook at Cllr Stephen McKee. §086/1733396086/3673406Mullenandsons1@gmail.comwww.Mullenandsons.comMullen & SonsBuildersFifth Generation Irish BuildersFor All Your Building NeedsNew Builds - Extensions - Renovations Attic Conversions & All Roof WorkFully Insured and Registered© April 2017 The Meath Coaster22Fit Kids/Fit Teens off to World Championships in Glasgow! The local Fit Kids/Fit Teens Dance school is ecstatic as all of their eight current Hip Hop Crews qualified to rep-resent Ireland at the UDO World Cham-pionships which will be held in Glasgow in August. Director- Jacinta Cassidy is over the moon as not only did they sweep the boards at this event, but they also triumphed at the Irish Hip Hop/Breakdance Masters in Tralee too with their Senior Crew Hold-Up winning €1000!!!!Local East Meath Dancers who qualified are Sarah Browne, Evan Burke, Amy Brennan, Sophoe Sherlock(all from Mornington), Ella Browning, Shauna Browning, Gemma Byrne(all from Bettystown) Riahannon Fitzgerald(Laytown), Cal-lan Kilduff(Stamullen) and Zara O Farrell(Grange Rath).There was also a huge turn out at Scotch Hall on St Patrick’s Day as dancers from Laytown, Drogheda, Balbriggan and Ter-monfeckin Fit Kids/Fit Teens classes en-tertained the shoppers with a lively dis-play.The troupe are now starting preparations for their upcoming Summer Show ‘Movie Magic’. All new boys and girls are wel-come! Corns, Callouses, Verrucae, Ingrown Toenails, nail surgery and other treatmentsState of the art Gaitscan analysis pressure plate used in the assessment of foot, back and leg pain.Orthotics prescribed to stabilise foot function and rehabilitationOpening hours 9.00-6.00Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: Saturday 10.00-1.00Niamh Tully, BSc (Hons) Pod. MCh.S. S.R.ChMain Street, Laytown, Tel: 041 9888492Chiropodist / Podiatrist(State registered)The Foot ClinicPlacenta CapsulesConsuming your placenta after giving birth is anatural way to replenish your body, and will haveyou looking great and feeling energised. 19th of April, Wednesday Morning @10.30am20th of April, Thursday Evening @7.30pmJULIANSTOWN PARISH ROOMS, LAYTOWN ROAD8 weeks - €70 or €12 drop inContact Margaret - 0876948715Liminal Yoga © April 2017 The Meath Coaster24Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh now draws to an end, we look forward to our final and most anticipated event – our inter school European Song Contest which takes place on May 11th.SoccerThe SSN Erasmus team Erasmus Ceremony On Monday 20th March, the staff and pupils of Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh welcomed teachers from seven European partner countries with a spectacular per-formance of Irish music, dance and sport. Teachers in attendance came from Ice-land, Germany, Poland, Greece, Spain, Turkey and Romania. This was the last day of the final transnational meeting in a three year “Song for Europe – 12 Points” music project. The occasion was a tremendous success and we were particularly honoured and thrilled by the visit of Mairéad Mc Guin-ness, the First Vice – President of the Eu-ropean Parliament who gave a wonderful speech at the ceremony. As this project On Tuesday, 14th March the girls from Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh went to the MDL in Navan to compete in the annual 5 a side girls soccer tournament on astro turf. We were split into two teams, the Girraffes and the Zebras. We all trained very hard in the weeks coming up to the tournament and were very grateful to Ms.Garry and Mr.Morrison to give up their lunchtimes to coach us. When we got there we put on our new school jer-seys, they look great. We warmed up and got into the “zone”. We all played a good few matches, each team playing a mini-mum of 4 matches, all of us got plenty of © April 2017 The Meath Coaster25game time. Unfortunately the Girraffes didn’t make it to the knock out stages be-cause they didn’t score enough goals, the Zebras qualified, they were unbeaten. We played teams from Whitecross School, Le Cheile, Kilmoon Cross and many others. The qualifying was a great opportunity for the whole squad. We won, we qualified to play in the North Leinsters. On the way home we stopped off and got Easter Eggs. We are now training hard for the finals!Spikeball TournamentsWe had a quick introduction to the game of spikeball before playing in two very enjoyable tournaments in Dundalk and Drogheda. .Many thanks to Mr Morrison and Ms. GaryMs. Fiona O’ Donnell’s amazing marching band Bláithín Maguire (Principal), Mairéad Mc Guinness (EU Parl.), Noel Quinn (SSN Chairperson) & Helen Doak (Erasmus Coordinator) with cupcakes to fit the occasionCecelia Ahern is pictured in SHS library with students from Transition Year and students from Georgetown Visitation, Washington (as part of our American Student Exchange Programme) Cecelia Ahern Visits Sacred Heart School Sacred Heart School in Drogheda was delighted to welcome best-selling Irish author, Cecelia Ahern, on Mon-day 20th March to meet with our Transi-tion Year students, visiting American Exchange students and teachers from Georgetown Visitation.Cecelia Ahern's books have sold over 25 million copies worldwide, and two of these were made into the successful films ‘PS I Love You’ and ‘Love, Rosie’. She discussed her writing career, and her re-cent Young Adult publications – ‘Flawed’, and ‘Perfect’, due to be published on April 6th. A lively question and answer session followed during which Cecelia Ahern discussed how she gets her ideas, how she develops them and the process of crea-tive writing. Aoibhín Russell, Head Girl, thanked her for her words of encourage-ment for a future generation of writers. A small presentation followed. The princi-pal, Miss Carroll, thanked Cecelia on be-half of the school. The event finished with a book signing session for all students. §© April 2017 The Meath Coaster26Wellness Day at the City North Hotel, April 22nd. Come and join the wellness team at the City North Hotel for an amazing day filled with insightful talks on how to man-age stress. Stress has become a huge part of our everyday lives and has a huge im-pact on our emotional, mental and physi-cal state. You will end the day feeling motivated, relaxed and restored (and well fed!) and armed with some amazing techniques that will enhance your life forever!We have 5 fantastic speakers for you and there will be demos throughout the day which include massage, fire cupping and henna. Included in the cost is a delicious, nourishing lunch and healthy snacks, teas/coffees during the refreshment breaks.10.00am: Laura Hilliard Brady – Recon-nect with your Inner NetMindfulness - ‘The deliberate intention to pay attention.’Laura will share some quick formal and informal techniques to keep you in the moment. This will help you come back to a neutral place in your body and mind, helping you to focus more clearly on the task in hand.She will explore the idea of our Inner Critic, where this voice stems from and the difference between our left and right brain; knowing how to maximise your strengths before a talk or an important meeting. Re-wiring your left brain is the key to your success.11.00am Refreshment Break11.30am Niamh Muldowney – Au-ricular Acupuncture for stressUsing the ancient wisdom of eastern medi-cine Niamh, a licenced acupuncturist, will teach you how to use acupressure tech-niques to assist in managing your stress levels. For those willing to experience ac-upuncture she will also incorporate an ear acupuncture treatment. Interactive tongue and pulse diagnosis also demonstrated.12.45pm Lunch created by Head Chef Eugene Farrell1.45pm Ciara Ryan – Stress Management and NutritionStress is the top health problem expe-rienced in the workplace. This talk ad-dresses the impact of stress on the various body systems, the different types of stress, how stress affects our food choices, the nutrients that stress depletes, foods that contain stress-busting nutrients and stress management tips and techniques.2.45pm Refreshment Break3.15pm Marie Ryan – Mindful Moving MeditationA guided visualization will be followed by a walking meditation in a circular or spiral fashion. An introduction to mindfulness based stress reduction will be offered. Im-merse yourself in the sound vibrations of the Tibetan singing bowl. Bring your five senses AND your sense of adventure. Be-ing present is a gift you give yourself!4.15pm Geraldine Nolan – Moving on “What’s next for me”?This session gives you the opportunity to reflect on this day and explore how you will use or process this new information. We will explore resilience, values and self-limiting beliefs that may be holding you back and you will be invited to move to more empowering beliefs which can help you to move forward with renewed focus, setting goals and living the best version of you. Tickets are €135 per person. To book con-tact 01 690 6666 or email greatevents@citynorthhotel.com §© April 2017 The Meath Coaster27LoughcrewThis month Ms. Stafford’s class were very active creating Spring art while Ms. La-lly’s class were engrossed in the story of the Gruffalo. Scoil Oilibhéir NaofaCeoilchoirmOn Thursday 16th of March we held a ceoilchoirm mór for Seachtain na Gaeilge. Every class performed an ahm-ran or dan. There were many young chil-dren performing jigs and reels. Ms. White, her sister Nicola Nigro, Fergal Fay and his mother Gertie Mc Cormack joined in later to inspire the children. In between performances Ms. Barry, Mr. Deering and Mr. Kavanagh played tin whistle, fiddle and sang respectively. We had an excel-lent day and we thank all involved. Healthy SchoolsAs Part of Our Healthy School’s Pro-gramme, second class had a visit from lo-cal nutritionist Anna Ryan. Anna visited each of the second classes and showed them how much sugar is in their favourite food. Thank you Ms. Howard for co-ordinating the healthy schools intiative. Artist of the MonthThis month’s budding artists were delight-ed to be recognised at our assembly. Ms. White and Ms. Mullen had singled them out for a reward and praised their creativ-ity and talent. §© April 2017 The Meath Coaster28Loreto School BalbrigganLoreto Secondary School Balbriggan had quite a number of East Meath students from a wide range of schools at-tending the entrance exam on March 5th. The girls turned up bright and early to sit their exams and we look forward to wel-coming them to our school in the next academic year.This feature gives some idea as to why the school may interest so many. The wide range of activities in the cultural, sport and academic fields make the school an attractive option. The students from this area play a significant part in the life of the school. Take the very exciting semi-final gaelic football match played against Emyvale in Monaghan on March 15th. Over half the team were Colmcilles’ girls and they did their club and the school proud in their professional and enthusias-tic play. Unfortunately we were pipped at the post by one point and failed to go through to the all-Ireland girls U16 GAA final. Three hockey teams were through to the North Dublin finals at jun-ior senior and minor levels. Once again our teams are popu-lated with a number of students from Boyne Hockey club. The Water Polo team came third in the all-Ireland Sen-ior Cup tournament on Wednesday which took place in the Na-tional Aquatic Centre, Gillian Farrelly, pictured below, makes a huge contribu-tion to the success of this team and is very involved in driving it forward..Keeping it local, our First Year classes visited Newgrange, Monasterboice and Mellifont Abbey during the week as part of their history class curriculum. All of the students enjoyed their trip to visit our lo-cal ancient heritage sites. But not to stay too local there were four exciting trips for first Years to the Harry Potter Studios and Roald Dhal’s homeplace in London. The students flew there and back in one day to keep costs to a minimum. Many of them used their confirmation money to pay to-wards the trip. A meeting for parents of current Third Years was held to explain our Senior Cycle structure and the option format. It was very well attended and hopefully informative for all.Following this our 5th year Senior Prefects ran a Sub-ject Fair for 3rd year stu-dents over the course of the afternoon.The aim of the Fair was to help 3rd year students to make informed choices re-© April 2017 The Meath Coaster29garding their option subjects for Senior Cycle. Each of the 14 Senior Cycle option subjects was represented by two/three 5th years. These students discussed their cho-sen subject with 3rd years, answering their queries about course content, level of difficulty, assessment and usefulness for future careers. 3rd years had already been given short presentations by teachers that morning on each of the option subjects. Well done to the Walton’s music group which was selected as one of six schools to perform in the National Finalist Con-cert for the Walton’s Music for Schools Competition. They will perform in the National Concert Hall in Dublin on Tues-day, 2nd May.During Seachtain na nGaeilge, the school hosted Danny O’Reilly from the Coronas Loreto Balbriggan present the Transition Year musical “Beauty and the Beast” from Tuesday, 4th April – Friday, 7th April. Show begins at 7.30 p.m. sharp.Tickets available from 086 0438321Réalt na Mara GNSDonacarney have done it again, for the third year in a row the Réalt na Mara girls have reached the county FAI 5 aside fi-nals. The Donacarney girls fought hard in their 5 matches against various teams across the county to earn their place in next weeks finals. Superb goal keeping from Leah Sanders and ex-cellent team play from Kaci Lynch and Eimear Brennan helped in the 5 nil semi final win. Abbie Sherlock and Katie Callan were a strong hold in the defence. The girls will con-tinue to train daily until the finals day on March 29th. Good Luck Donacarneyfor a short concert. The 4th and 5th Years were delighted to meet Danny and really enjoyed the performance immensely. §Next >