< Previous© June 2017 The Meath Coaster20National Sandcastle and Sand Sculpturing Festival 2017Now in its 15th year the National Sand-castle and Sand Sculpturing Festival takes place in Bettystown Co Meath on the weekend Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd of July. The Festival commences with the Beach Sports day on Saturday followed by the Sandcastle competition on Sunday.This is a family fun weekend and is grow-ing in strength each year. From a few hundred people in 2003 to a few thousand spectators and participants last year. Such is the talent it has been difficult over the years to remind all the spectators and in-deed the judges that none of the entrants are professional sandcastle builders or professional sculptors. UNITAS Beach Sports FestivalSaturday 1st July 10am-5pm Contact - Sangeetha Bala - 086-3548146 - sangee-tha.bala@gmail.com. Beach cricket is a unique fun filled enter-tainment involving competitive cricket Laytown Tidy TownsWe are coming to the busy season for Laytown/Bettystown with large amounts of visitors arriving as soon as we have a few sunny days. This usually coin-cides with Meath County Council upping their game with extra litter bins and Staff to keep pace with all the extra demands of keeping the area clean and safe for the visitors and their children. We will also see our Beach Wardens on duty making sure everyone has a great time and will be helping them stay safe. Our purpose built Picnic Tables with Disabled Access will be placed beside the Information Board opposite O’Reillys Supermarket in Laytown and in the Me-morial Garden. We had a delay due to a technical issue with the supplier but they should be in place mid July.We hope to have new planters in place around the village during the next few weeks. If anyone has shrubs or plants they would like to donate for these we would be very grateful!The flowerbed at the railway sidings is badly in need of attention, and we hope to have a day tending to it during the month of June. If we had a few more volunteers who would like to help, even if only with this project, we could get it back to its former glory. Anyone who is interested could let us know while we are out on our normal Saturday morning clean up!The CCTV cameras are still sited at the Bottle Bank in Laytown, they used to be rotated with other sites but have been there for months now. We have heard ofseveral people being fined upwards of €300 for simply thinking they can leave their cardboard boxes at the bank or peo-ple leaving black bags of clothes without putting them in the recycle containers. People with good intentions just let their guard down and next they know a fine ar-rives in the post !That’s all for now, stay safe and enjoy our beautiful beaches ! §© June 2017 The Meath Coaster2127/28 St. Benan’s Villas, Laytown, Co. MeathLaytown Business since 2002 086-8496792 / 041 9828585CAR SERVICING• Local Business, Est. 2002 • Contact Ken / MoniqueMon-Fri 930- 6 • Pre-NCT & All RepairsHealth CentreLaytown Motors GarageSt. Benan’s VillasCoast Rd LaytownKenPiper58@gmail.comFollow the sign on the Coast Road Adult Education Service The LMETB Adult Education Guidance and Information Service monthly drop-in morning in the Alpha Centre, old Co-láiste na hInse, Bettystown is on Tuesday morning 20 June 9.30am to 12.30pm or telephone ahead to make an appoint-ment. You can contact Stephanie or Ann, Monday to Friday on 041 98 42030, 087 2300195 or email laegis@lmetb.ie. played on the beach by teams of 6 players using tennis balls and cricket batEvent Type: Community/Club Sports ac-tivities, Open to all age group, Family /group Activities: Cricket tournament in beach, Beach Races, Family fun/Children activitiesDetails: Beach Cricket Tournament - Registration Fees per team €60 or (€10 per head). To register online visit http://beach-sportsireland.com/index.php/register/Sandcastle & Sculpture Sunday2nd JulyThe fun begins at 10.30am for the sculp-turing and 2.30pm for the sandcastles. With judging and prizegiving at 4.30pm.There are prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd in each of the following category in the SandcastlesUnder 5yrs, Under 8yrs, under 13yrs & family.Junior And Senior Sculpture will receive cash prizes.The Dick O’Reilly Perpetual Cup is pre-sented to whomever the judges deem to have given the best effort on the day, across all of the categories.We are a not for profit group. With the assistance of Meath County Council we arrange beach clean ups prior to, during and after this weekend festival. We have sponsorship from local businesses and Meath County Council Members. §© June 2017 The Meath Coaster22Alone It Stands Claims Bord Gáis En-ergy Student Theatre Award“Alone It Stands”, produced by Co-láiste na hInse under the school’s Lady Gregory Project, won the Judges’ Choice Award for the best student drama in Ireland this year!The play was nominated for the Bord Gáis Energy Student Theatre Awards last week, with the cast given the opportunity to perform on the stage at the Bord Gáis Theatre in front of a packed house. The judges praised the cast for a production of a “higher standard than many professional shows”. The dáltaí were thrilled by the op-portunity to perform on the vaunted stage.A second drama, “Only Dull People are Brilliant at Breakfast” written by Leaving Certificate student Carl Morris, was also nominated for an award in another fantas-tic year for drama within the school. Over forty students, including the writers, pro-ducers, directors and cast from both plays, attended the awards ceremony at the Bord Gáis Theatre last week.Coláiste na hInse Yearbook on SaleThe Coláiste na hInse Yearbook 2016-2017 is now on sale. The book is a jam-packed edition with 192 pages featuring photographs of students from every rang group in every year, a huge section on our Leaving Certificate students, stories, poetry, essays and artwork. A huge thank you to all local businesses who have sup-ported this publication through their gen-erous sponsorship. Over 300 copies of the book have already been sold and the remaining books are quickly selling out!Junior and Leaving Certificate StudentsBest wishes to all our students as they em-bark on their Leaving and Junior Certifi-cate exams in early June!Coláiste na hInseStudents Complete Silver Gaisce Ad-ventureOn 11-13 May, the first ever CNI GAISCE Silver Adventure Journey took place. GAISCE is a self-development programme for young people and at Silver Level this involves a minimum of 78 hours of commitment in the following areas: Community Involvement, Personal Skill and Physical Activity. The final and most daunting challenge for us, an 8 strong CNI band of merry men and women, was a three day expedition on the River Barrow in Carlow. A huge thanks to Charlie at Go With the Flow for making this trip possi-ble and so enjoyable. In typical Irish fash-ion, we started off in glorious sunshine and experienced every season imaginable on a fun filled open canoe adventure. We battled weirs, sun burn, terrible singing; we endured torrential rain, wind, no show-ers; we cooked under the stars and played © June 2017 The Meath Coaster23Finnish skittles; We picked each other up and we paddled, oh how we paddled. The sight of the beautiful riverside village of Saint Mullins was an awe-inspiring one – it’s done and we have a Silver GAISCE Award for the mantelpiece. Gold beckons but only the fearless may continue.Programme students Jacob Dean and Arsalan Malik (photo below) reached the final of the Irish Junior Maths competi-tion held in Catleknock College recently. A huge congratulations to Jacob and Arsa-lan on a marvellous achievement.AthleticsOn the 17th of May, three stu-dents from Co-laiste na hInse travelled to Morton Stadi-um in Santry to compete in the Leinster schools track and field championships. Twins, Aaron and James Smith, competed in the junior boys 1500m and 800m events respectively. Stefan Bors also took part in the junior boys triple jump. A special mention must go to James Smith (photo above) who ran a superb 800m race in his fastest ever time of 2:07:79, earning himself a bronze medal and a place in the All-Ireland track and field championships. These take place in Tullamore on 3rd June and we wish James the very best of luck.Pitch and PuttThe CNI pitch and putt team of Aedan Prone, Eoghan Power and Alex Magu-ire competed in the All-Ireland final in Tullamore recently, finishing a highly creditable sixth place. Congratulations to the trio on an excellent season.Fifth Year Trip to Butler’s FactoryThe Fifth Year Home Economics students enjoyed a recent trip to the Bulter’s Choc-olate Factory, where they had the oppor-tunity to don their chefs’ outfits and bake their own treats, as well as sampling some sweet treats. §Run Against HungerOn 17th May CNI hosted its first ever RUN AGAINST HUNGER. €1400 was raised by students who were sponsored per lap they ran around the school grounds. Over-all, 1370 kilometers were ran on the day or the equivalent of Bettystown to Basel, Switzerland! The money will go to the charity Action Against Hunger which tar-gets food poverty around the globe. This is also part of a European eTwinning Pro-ject with schools in France and Sweden, who are also holding fun runs in May. A huge thanks to Relish Café for sponsoring this event. Because of the success of the run this year, we are hoping to make it an annual event.First Year Students Reach Final First year Science Student Enrichment DROGHEDA DUNDALK© June 2017 The Meath Coaster26Drogheda Grammar School Prize DayA large crowd gathered in the Bevan Lamb Hall to hear Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell speak to the school , parents and guests recently. Dame Burnell spoke about her own school life, the challenges facing a woman forging a career in the scientific world and about the importance of being open to change and learning things. After her speech the various prizes for academic achievement, diligence, attendance, extra- curricular achievements and attendance were presented. GraduationThe school held both its annual gradua-tion ceremonies in the second last week of school. Up first was TY graduation night where our TY students demonstrated the nu-merous projects, and assignments they had completed this year as well as receiving cer-tificates and awards for their achievements.On Friday 26th May the students and par-ents of the Leaving Cert class 2017 gath-ered as the school hosted their graduation ceremony and presented them with gifts to mark the conclusion of their time here. With much laughter and recollection, per-formances from the students and speeches from parents, teachers and others it was a fitting way to end the year and celebrate another group moving on to the next stage of their edu-cation and life. We wish the class of 2017 the very best of luck. Live adventurously and let your life speak.Chess team cleans upThe Drogheda Grammar School Chess Team have had a very busy schedule in recent weeks. They have won the Inter-Schools All-Ireland Finals which takes entries from all the country’s fee-paying schools, while they also took second place in the Chess All-Ireland finals in Limerick which is the largest schools tournament in the coun-try. On the day, they were beaten by half a point by St. Gerald’s College, Castle-bar. Piotr Baczkowski who is the current Grammar School Chess Captain went unbeaten all year in all competitions, to take first place as the All-Ireland Schools Individual Champion. To round off their season they won the local league which is held every year between all the local sec-ondary schools. Maths ChampionWell done to Robert Finan who beat all challengers from a large number of schools to win the 1st year inter schools maths competition held in Navan recently. TY enterprise winnersCongratulations to our TY publishing team, Totem Publishing who won the best group award in the recent Drogheda Young Innovators competition. Their fi-nancial advice guide for young people has been selling out and had been a great pub-lication worthy of the award.HockeyWell done to the team from Drogheda Grammar who won the Boyne Hockey club schools cup, beat-ing Dundalk Grammar in the final after extra time. Having lost to the same opposition last year it is a greats sign of progress for this young team and many thanks to all at Boyne Hockey club for organising and hosting the tournament for all the secondary schools in the area. §© June 2017 The Meath Coaster27Loreto School BalbrigganAs the school year draws to a close it is a very busy time in Loreto Second-ary School Balbriggan. The 1st 2nd and 5th year students are sitting their Loreto ex-ams and 6th and 3rd years are preparing for their state exams. We wish them all the very best. Transition year finished up with an interesting and packed graduation evening. The girls were awarded for their achievements and some of the activities in which they have been involved were showcased through song and dance and multi media. the HPV vaccination’. They will proceed to take part in the international finals next Novermeber. Another achievement worth noting is that of Emma Jane Power in 4th year. Emma was recognised this week as the student who achieved the highest grade in Junior Certificate Music in the country in 2016. Ella Mc Carthy in 1st year came first in the countrywide maths competition run by the Irish Mathemat-ics Teacher’s association. We wish all our students the very best of luck in their exams and a relaxing and happy summer break. §Congratulations to Savannah Rose McAuley, Anna Sowray from Laytown & Mornington respectively and to Kelsey Wilson who were the outright winners of Scifest, DCU. They will now complete in the National Final in November. Lauren O Keefe and Caoimhe Dunne were awarded Joint Senior Sports Persons of the year. Caoimhe plays golf and tennis in Laytown and Bettystown golf and tennis club.The sixth years left on Tuesday 23rd with a beautiful graduation Mass and ceremony followed by refreshments. The school also held its junior and senior prizegiving cer-emonies with many students from the East Meath area featuring as prizewinners. Some of these students are pictured here and as space is restricted, some will fea-ture in the coming monthsAs ever, acheivements in the school go well beyond inhouse awards. Two local girls, along with a third student were the overall winners in DCU’S Sci Fest Com-petition with their project on ‘An inves-tigation into the short term side effects of Katelyn O Brien. TY student of the Year pictured here with Miss Mc Donough© June 2017 The Meath Coaster28Avoiding Slow Performance #3Parts 1&2 of this article can be found at the blog links at the bottom of this page.Laptop/Desktops Performance Issues#4 Not enough Ram (memory installed)Insufficient RAM (random access mem-ory) on any computing device can se-verely impact both the performance and more importantly the life of the device. Understanding the relationship that ram plays in your device is quite often misun-derstood. This area of understanding has become muddied by the advent of the tab-let and smart phone. Most computing devices consist at the most base level of three components – 1. The Processor – aka cpu central pro-cessing unit or brain if you like, 2. Ram (random access memory) pro-vide an area to run apps. 3. Storage for your information, the op-erating system and your apps.The processor runs your apps and loads these apps into ram when you require them. If you had only one app then this would be a very simple process and unless the size and you would have a blazingly fast device. Obviously this is not the case so the cpu uses swapping to overcome this issue. Swapping involves moving your apps in and out of ram as needed. To do this the cpu and creates temporary files on your storage device and this process takes time. The more apps you run the slower your system will become as it must man-age the swapping process as you pop be-tween your apps. Thus the more ram a device has the less swapping that must occur. It’s as simple as that. Adding additional ram to desktops and laptops was usually possible but like everything this option has become less available with the move to cheap throw away laptops. Smart phones and tablets cannot have ram upgrades. Before you rush out and buy more ram its important to understand that ram alone is not the only issue. The power of your cpu and the storage on your device are part and par-cel of the package. There are also other considerations which to avoid confusion I won’t go into!The swapping process requires energy and energy creates heat. Heat kills de-vices. It is vital to keep your device as cool as possible. When it comes to laptops and desktops regular checks by a qualified technician will ensure all the components in your computer that ensure it stays cool are working effectively. Finally a note on storage, the cheaper laptops now available have less than 1/10 of the storage capacity of computers I worked on ten years ago. Progress ? You decide on that one. Next Month, God willing, I will continue on this and the other topics listed. § Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com or at the telephone num-bers listed on this page. This article, and all previous articles, are available to view online at http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/ or www.reidyonline.com/blogspot.htm COMPUTER PROBLEM?Contact Oliver 041.988.7526 087.797.0740iPhones Smartphones RepairLaptop/Desktop Repair & UpgradesCall us on 041 9886545 for an appointment.Email: bettystowndental@gmail.comWeb: www.bettystowndental.ieTriton Road, Bettystown, Co. Meath (between Funtasia & Tesco)Open Saturday MorningsLATE NIGHT OPENING ON Mondays, Tuesdays and ThursdaysPrivate, PRSI and Medical Card Patients WelcomeDr Matthew Crinion B.D.S. (NUI) 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 ClinicFergus O’Dowd TDTel : 041 9842275E-mail: fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ieor text me at 087 2352920Constituency Office - 1 Leyland Place, Stockwell St, DroghedaOffice HoursMon-Fri 9.30am-1.00pm2pm-5pmFergus O’Dowd @fergusodowdNext >