Lucan

ALSOINSIDE: GALLERIES ..................... 2

MOTORS ........................18

BUSINESS ................... 20

TRAVEL ..........................31

ENTERTAINMENT ........ 32

CLASSIFIEDS ............... 34

INSIDE: Esker school celebrates its new

Green Flag award P8-9

Council asked to buySun Chemical siteCouncillor hails ‘glorious’ chance for Liffey property

� PAUL HOSFORD

SOUTH Dublin County Coun-cil has been asked to bring the Sun Chemical buildings and land at Mill Lane in Palmers-town, into public ownership.

The property comprises period buildings including a terrace of eight houses that are

still occupied and a number of detached residences as well as flax and cotton mills, a mill race and a stone building that has been used as a factory as well as extensive River Liffey frontage including the site of the famous Liffey Ferry.

Local Councillor Guss O’Connell (IND) has formally

asked the council to bring the building into their ownership.

“This is a glorious oppor-tunity to bring into public ownership one of the most significant heritage sites in South Dublin County,” said Cllr O’Connell.

Full Story on Page 4

Education:New position joy for Joanna LABOUR TD Joanna Tuffy, seen here with Mayor Caitriona Jones (Lab) and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn at the recent open-ing of Adamstown Community College’s new library, has been elected the chair of the Oireachtas Education committee.

“I believe that the new commit-tee can have an important input into the development of policy on education and social protection to bring about improvements and as chair I intend to prioritise that aspect of the committees work,” said Deputy Tuffy.

FREE GAZETTEGAZETTELucan

LUCAN • PALMERSTOWN • CELBRIDGE • LEIXLIP • ADAMSTOWN • DODSBORO • LIFFEY VALLEY • BALLYOWEN

JUNE 21, 2012 Find us on

Boxing: Esker’s new club hold debut show at Barnhall Page 38

Soccer: Local players help to reclaim Kennedy CupPage 40

BRIDE & GROOM: You’ll love our guide for a beautiful wedding P21-28

••• BBBBAAL

‘The Phantom of the Opera modestly talks about his art’

FEATURE: P14

2 LUCAN GAZETTE 21 June 2012

GIRLS Groups get together to help support causes

Guiding a fun fundraising dayL

OTS of Brownie Guides from the Griffeen Valley and Tir na nOg packs took part in a fun day recently, at which they celebrated the upcoming Olympics,

as well as fundraising for Down Syndrome Ireland, and SERVE, an Irish charity that is a development and vol-unteering organisation committed to tackling poverty.

Organised by five Guides from the Griffeen Val-

ley Guide unit – Hollie Redmond, Sarah King, Sarah Connolly, Eve Tuohy and Cliona Woods, as part of their Silver Birch challenge this year – the afternoon fin-ished with a campfire, where the girls sang around their Olympic torches that they made during the afternoon. It was a fun, and worthy, afternoon for the members of the local instituition, which hit its centenary last year.

€16,500 for arts winners

BURSARIES: 14 AWARDS ACROSS CREATIVE FIELDS

THE winners for South County Dublin’s Arts Bursary Awards have been announced in four different categories.

Winners included vis-ual artist Kevin Gaffney, who will use his €2,000 prize to create a video publication, At First there was Darkness and Fluid inside my Lungs.

Just No Band will use the €1,500 Annette Halpin Memorial Award to make a professional recording.

Other winners includ-ed Rory White and Phoebe White, who will attend the Lake District International Summer Music Academy, and study violin in Indiana, respectively, while ani-mator Andrew Moore will use his €500 to cre-ate a short film to submit in an international film festival.

In total, 14 awards were given out across vari-ous mediums, including music, literature, perform-ing arts and visual arts.

The prize sum of the

accumulated awards was €16,500, dispersed among the winners.

Mayor Caitriona Jones (Lab) met the talented 14 winners at County Hall to congratulate them on their achievement, and to acknowledge their contribution to artistic development in County Dublin.

Orla Scannell, arts officer, was also present, and spoke about the history of the bursary awards.

The meeting provided a wonderful opportu-nity for all of the artists to meet the Mayor, and to meet with each other and exchange informa-tion about their ideas and projects.

The bursary awards were established in 2000 and, since then, more than 90 awards have been made to the arts community

For further information on the bursary awards, and arts in South Dublin, see http://arts.southdub-lin.ie.

Emily Kavanagh, Ciara Byrne, Orlaith Smith and Simone Fraser

The girls had lots of fun with their fundraising

Laura Lakes, Katie Redmond, Mollie Byrne and

Roisin O’Sullivan Chloe Sheehan has made her own Olympic Torch

Jenny Baron and Rachel HallElla Lydon, Sarah Pigot, Aislinn Cullen and Megan Lawlor

21 June 2012 LUCAN GAZETTE 3

Winging it to get to Cloud 9� PAUL HOSFORD

[email protected]

OPENING an envelope last Christmas Day, and finding a voucher for a fly-ing lesson with Flightwise, based in Weston Airport, my immediate thought was that my girlfriend had hatched an elaborate plan to bump me off.

Then, realising that she had nothing worth get-ting in the event of my untimely demise, I came to the conclusion that she had, in fact, given me a chance to do something I had wanted to do since childhood.

So, having waited for nicer summer weather and, predictably, having

rain wash out my first day, I finally got to take to the skies last week.

Climbing aboard the Grob training plane, my instructor, Richard Casey, a former office equipment salesman bitten by the aviation bug, tells me to forget all of the things I had learned on Microsoft Flight Simulator. Well, there’s a waste of many teenage hours ...

I’m told to “fly the picture”, which, in flying parlance, means keep the plane level, essentially. The key being to keep the horizon and nose of the plane level, which will greatly increase your chances of keeping the plane in the air.

AVIATION Chocks away as Paul ‘Biggles’ Hosford takes a flying lessonAnnual camera showPALMERSTOWN Cam-era Club’s third annual Photographic Exhibi-tion will take place this weekend, from Saturday, June 23 to Sunday, June 24, at the Parish Centre, Palmerstown, from 10am to 5pm.

The camera club started in 2009, and has been going from strength to strength, with mem-bership now in the mid 1980s.

OutingsMembers meet every

Wednesday night in the Palmerstown Parish Cen-tre at 8 and, during the summer months (July and August), go on summer outings, which is a good opportunity to take pho-tographs and learn from some of the more experi-enced photographers.

The event will be offi-cially opened on Friday by Sean Casey FIPF, MFIAP, EFIAP. All are welcome to attend.

PASTIMES

The Gazette’s aviation enthusiast, Paul Hosford, gets a whole new perspective on Leixlip (inset)

After a series of checks and re-checks, we are air-borne and quickly up to 1,000 feet. And then the words I honestly hadn’t expected to hear until much later: “Okay, you’re in control.”

The rush of fear and adrenaline that coursed through me at that stage would have been enough to kill a mid-sized dog.

I had been told about not gripping the control column too hard – some-thing they call “the death

grip”; a thoroughly reas-suring name.

Naturally enough, the second I take control, I grip too hard and the plane moves around – a lot. Not how you imagine though.

The movements from side to side feel more like skidding a bumper car than anything else.

Richard has me relax my grip and, from there, things improve – until I spot from the corner of my eye that he hasn’t his

hands on the controls at all.

When you learn to drive, you always know that the instructor’s feet are on the clutch and brake. Here, you can see that the control of the plane is, albeit momentar-ily, up to you.

I’m taught how to climb to 1,500 feet, do some left and right turns, climb again to 2,000 feet, and turn to a heading.

I hold my heading, passing Leixlip, from a

height I’d never thought I’d see the town from, and eventually pass over the controls to Richard.

He’s going to land us and, as confident as I’m feeling all of a sudden, I’m okay with him having this one because the landing is smooth as silk.

I can now see how peo-ple get addicted to flying. There is nothing quite like it and I, personally, cannot recommend it enough.

For further information, see www.flightwise.ie.

gazette group

ww

w.

.com

All of your latest

local news, sport,

features and

pictures are now

just a click away


Olympians: Bearing an Olympic torch to light up

the faces of everyone at the Lucan Spa HotelTHIS Olympic torch sparked plenty of interest when it visited the Lucan Spa Hotel last week. Hotel owner Frank Colgan, and general manager Justin Parle’s faces lit up at the sight of the noble standard, with the have-a-go Olympians ready to carry the torch for Ireland – or at least, for the staff and the guests of the hotel to get a good look at it. And, although – understandably – health and safety regulations prevented the torch from being lit with a (non-Olympian flame, or any flame, for that matter), nothing could make interest in the torch fizzle out, as Frank and Justin helped to bring West Dublin a little closer to the glory of the Olympics.

� PAUL HOSFORD

[email protected]

SOUTH Dublin County Council (SDCC) has been asked to bring the Sun Chemical buildings, and land at Mill Lane in Palmerstown, into public ownership.

Independent councillor Guss O’Connell, Peace Commissioner, has formally asked the council to bring the building into their ownership.

He said: “This is a glorious oppor-tunity to bring into public ownership

one of the most significant heritage sites in South Dublin county.

Speaking to The Gazette this week, he said: “The property comprises some fine period buildings, including a terrace of eight houses that are still occupied, and a number of detached residences, as well as flax and cot-ton mills, a mill race and a fine stone building that has been used as a fac-tory, as well as extensive River Liffey frontage, including the site of the famous Liffey Ferry.”

He went on to say that it was an

objective of the current County Development Plan to bring Liffey Val-ley lands into public ownership and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do so, given the depressed state of the property market.

“There will never be a more oppor-tune time to bring this jewel of the Liffey Valley into public ownership.

“All of it is within the Special Amen-ity Area established in 2000,” contin-ued Cllr O’Connell, who is also one of the founder members of the Liffey Valley Park Alliance.

This is a non-party voluntary body of some 20 national and local volun-tary groups which have campaigned for the preservation of the Liffey Val-ley, not only as an amenity for the greater Dublin area, but also because of its landscapes and heritage quali-ties.

Cllr O’Connell said that he has also been in contact with local Minister Frances Fitzgerald (FG) to press home the case for national support to secure the property, and bring it into public ownership now that Sun Chemicals

have decided to move elsewhere.“I know that resources are very

scarce, but the potential of this part of the valley in terms of tourism and traditional craft is immense.

“Already, a voluntary group from Palmerstown are involved with SDCC heritage and conservation staff, in a project aimed at restoring the old mill race and building, and in bringing the various mills back into use as a heritage site of national and international significance,” said Cllr O’Connell.

Council: Safety checks on river bank outSOUTH Dublin County Council (SDCC) says it is not in a position to exam-ine lands on the south bank of the River Liffey in order to ascertain its safety for any form of rec-reational use of the river.

Labour councillor Eamon Tuffy asked if the council “has been request-ed, in the context of the Irish Water Safety Report, to carry out an evalua-tion of safety issues along the southern bank of the Liffey, particularly in the area opposite the Wren’s Nest, along the lines of the examination carried out by Fingal County Council, and if it can advise what works are planned to enhance safety, and give a timetable for the carrying out of proposed works”.

In response, the coun-cil said the land was in private ownership and, therefore, it could not carry out the checks.

In addition, “as previ-ously reported to mem-bers, at the time of the publication of the [report], a number of issues relating to the ownership of lands meant that the council was not in a position to carry out measures rec-ommended. These issues have subsequently been clarified.

“While the council does not encourage such access, it is acknowledged that the lands are regular-ly used for access for both fishing and swimming,” said SDCC.

HERITAGE ‘Once in lifetime’ chance to buy Liffey Valley ‘jewel’

Council called on to purchase Sun Chemical site

Physics mural is unveiled at St Joey’sA CERAMIC mural in St Joseph’s College was officially unveiled by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fit-zgerald, this week.

The ceramic stone wall mural depicts the journey of physics through the ages, and is a creation of girls from the school’s art class, who worked under the guidance of their art teacher, Niamh Garvey, and artist, Niamh Sin-nott.

Minister Fitzgerald said: “I’m delighted to officially open this fantastic mural, which has been an edu-cation to all of us and will continue to educate stu-dents here in St Joseph’s for decades to come.

“An awful lot of work was needed to get this project from brainstorm-ing sheets to the colour-ful, ceramic journey through history on this wall,” she said.

The mural, The Future of Physics, depicts major achievements down the years in the field of phys-ics, and now decorates the route to the Physics Room in St Joseph’s College.

Referring to physics teacher Declan Doherty, Minister Fitzgerald said: “This mural is a par-ticularly lovely tribute

to Belfast-born scientist, Jocelyn Bell, who I hear is coming to St Joseph’s to see the mural. I’m sure Mr Doherty is very impressed by that!

“I’ve opened murals before, but never one as permanent as this. The ceramic stone wear means that this creation will remain here as a tribute to the girls who worked so hard on it.

“The mural, which takes us through the ages, begins with Galileo look-ing through a telescope towards St Joseph’s Phys-ics Room.

“Famous physics dis-coveries and scientists, including Newton and Marie Curie, are all fea-tured on the wall,” said Minister Fitzgerald.

She added: “Well done to all involved in this fan-tastic project; to Niamh Garvey and Niamh Sin-nott, who encouraged the girls to take on this project and guided them along the way; to princi-pal Siobhan Corey, and physics teacher Declan Doherty, and art teacher Felicity Lynch, who sup-ported this initiative, and to all of the girls involved – congratulations on your wonderfully creative achievement.”

SCIENCE: ‘CERAMIC JOURNEY’ IS PRAISED


Calls for another local playgroundCALLS have been made for a new playground to be provided at Hermitage Park to serve estates in the East Lucan and Bal-lyowen area.

Councillor William Lavelle (FG) said that the estates in east Lucan must be provided for under the council’s new play policy.

He said: “[At a recent] county council meeting, councillors approved a proposed new play policy, which was prepared by the sports and recreation policy committee.

“I welcome this new policy, which recognises the importance of play and recreation to support children’s development, health and well-being.

“Lucan’s existing play-grounds at Griffeen Valley Park and Adamstown are incredibly popular. But, given that Lucan now has a population similar to

Waterford city, I believe we deserve additional playground provision.

“To ensure a good geographical dispersal of playgrounds, I believe that Hermitage Park – in particular, the newer part of the park, between Bal-lyowen Lane and Mount Andrew estate – would make an appropriate loca-tion for a new playground to service the large popu-lation in the East Lucan and Ballyowen area.

“I am calling on council management to seek fund-ing for provision of this playground, and to con-sult with local residents to identify an appropri-ate and acceptable loca-tion,” said Cllr Lavelle, who also welcomed the beginning of works on the long-awaited dog park in Johnsbridge.

“Over the past 18 months, I have led

efforts at council level to progress this project in response to requests coming directly from Lucan dog-owners.

“Having raised this matter repeatedly at Area Committee and county council meetings, the Parks Department agreed, firstly, to update the park bye-laws to allow for the introduction of authorised dog-runs and, secondly, identified a location at Griffeen Valley Park, next to Johnsbridge estate, for the Lucan Dog Run.

“This week, works, which had been delayed by bad weather, will start on this project, which will be completed in a few days.

“I wish to thank all those Lucan residents who contacted me in support of my efforts to progress this project,” said Cllr Lavelle.

It’s three-time: Local girls help brew up for motor neurone disease eventLUCAN lasses Eve McCarthy, Ava Quinn and Mia McCarthy were kind enough to offer The Gazette a cup of (imaginary) tea at the recent launch of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association’s (IMNDA) upcoming Drink Tea for the MND campaign. The Gazette couldn’t imagine three more helpful children than the col-ourful trio, who were helping to highlight that the tea day is being held as part of the global MND awareness day on June 21, with Irish tea-lovers invited to brew up, and help support the initiative.

COMMUNITY: LUCAN’S SIZE DESERVES ADDITIONAL FACILITY – CLLR LAVELLE Wheelie

good fun on bikesTHE final event of BikeWeek, which runs all this week, will be held in Corkagh Park on Sun-day, June 24 at 11.30am.

The event is aimed at family groups and per-sons with disabilities, and will start at the Civic Offices in Clondalkin vil-lage and travel to Cork-agh Park.

Parents with young children can join in from within the confines of the park itself, if they prefer.

ActivitiesWith plenty of activi-

ties, including balloon modelling, live music, vintage bikes, refresh-ments and a pet farm, a fun-filled day for all the family is promised.

For further informa-tion on Bike Week and the events that will be taking place, see www.sdcc.ie, telephone 01 414 9333 or email [email protected].

FAMILIES

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY

LucanGazetteCALL US ON 60 10 240

SELLSALEADVERTISE YOUR SALE

WITH THE GAZETTE...

...THE BEST LOW COST

ADVERTISING FOR YOUR BUSINESS

CALL US NOW ON 60 10 240


No bus routes review until the end of 2014BUS routes in south Dublin will not be reviewed until the end of 2014, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has confirmed.

Fine Gael councillor William Lavelle asked South Dublin County Council (SDCC) “to seek an update from the NTA on the planned review of bus routes and services, which the NTA advised of in their most recent presen-tation to the [transportation depart-ment]”.

In response, SDCC said that the NTA would conduct the review in 2014.

The council said: “The NTA is con-tinuing to undertake financial and operational reviews of the Dublin Bus Network Direct project as each phase is implemented.

“A wider review of the public trans-port network of services operated by both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann under public service contracts with the authority will be undertaken in advance of those contracts ending in December, 2014, with new contracts being either directly awarded or entered into, fol-lowing competitive tender.”

SUICIDE Rise in demand puts pressure on service

Pieta House is calling on west Dubliners to help support its work, whether through

volunteering to help with its services, or by supporting one of its fundraising events,

such as the recent Darkness Into Light event at the Phoenix Park

Pieta House makes call for extra helpPIETA House is seeking volunteers and fund-raisers, due to a massive increase in the numbers seeking its service.

In 2011, there was an 81% increase in the number of people who sought support from the suicide and self-harm cri-sis centre.

As it is the only organi-sation in the country that provides a profes-sional, face-to-face, free of charge therapeutic service for people in the acute stages of distress, this increase created wait-ing lists for Pieta House’s services.

To provide these serv-ices, 80% of Pieta House’s income comes from fun-draising events, and the organisation is heavily reliant on the support of volunteers and friends of Pieta House.

Marie Peelo, volunteer and fundraising co-ordi-nator with Pieta House, is asking people to volun-teer their time.

She said: “The services provided by Pieta House are so important to peo-ple across the country; no other organisation provides services to peo-ple in the acute stages of suicidal distress.

“We’re inviting people to sign up as volunteers

and fundraisers. Even two hours’ commitment per month will make a big difference.”

Pieta House, the sui-cide and self-harm crisis centre, officially opened its doors in Lucan in Jan-uary 2006.

The unique, clinically-based model developed by Pieta House is used across the five centres in Dublin and Limerick,

while there are also active discussions in progress to open centres in Galway, Cork, Waterford and Roscrea.

Since 2006, Pieta House has grown to include almost 70 thera-pists and staff. Demand for their services is con-stantly on the rise.

To date, more than 6,000 people have been

seen and helped by Pieta House.

The primary aim of Pieta House is to reduce suicide by helping people get through that criti-cal phase when suicide becomes a plan rather than just an idea, and demand is constantly on the rise for the services provided by Pieta House.

Joan Freeman, CEO and founder of Pieta House, said: “Our vol-unteers, fundraisers and friends do truly outstand-ing work. We’re so grate-ful for the support we get from all over the country, and this support is really important in maintaining Pieta House.

“Throughout the year, we always need help with bucket collections, church gate collections and the like. We’d also like to hear from people with particular expertise who might want to give some time to the organi-sation.

“Signing up as a vol-unteer or fundraiser is a practical way to support Pieta House and our col-lective fight against sui-cide,” she said.

Anyone interested in getting involved can con-tact Marie Peelo at 01 628 2111, or email [email protected].

MOTORINGPAGES 18-19

�

Yee-haw!

‘All hail the

mighty Jeep

Wrangler

Unlimited’

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

‘Signing up as a volunteer or fundraiser is a practical way to support Pieta House and our fight against suicide’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Joan Freeman- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


HEALTH President Higgins to help mark milestone

Celebrating a century of Peamount care� PAUL HOSFORD

[email protected]

PEAMOUNT Hospital is celebrating 100 years in existence with Presi-dent Michael D Higgins on hand to launch the celebrations, which start this week.

Peamount Healthcare was founded in 1912 as a tuberculosis (TB) sana-torium by Lady Aber-deen and the Women’s National Health Associa-tion (WNHA).

Formed in 1907, the WNHA was an extraordi-nary movement of volun-teers who undertook one of the first public health education programmes in Ireland.

At its height, the asso-ciation had 18,000 mem-bers, who carried their public health campaign across the length and breadth of the country.

Ultimately, the WNHA concluded that they should also address the treatment of TB. They acquired the farm in Peamount, near New-castle, Co Dublin in June, 1912, and quickly com-menced construction of a new sanatorium.

From the outset, the WNHA was determined that Peamount would be in the vanguard of clini-cal practice, and would operate to the highest standards possible.

Peamount became the

largest such facility in Ire-land, and developed into a centre of excellence for the quality of care pro-vided to its patients.

Today, Peamount Healthcare is an inde-pendent vo luntar y organisation that, in part-nership with the Health Service Executive and colleagues in the com-munity, provides a range of health and social care services to the commu-nity.

Fran Brennan, of the Friends of Peamount, says that the preparations are all go.

“It’s going well, but there has been a colos-sal amount of work. It is hard to tell how many

This youngster is pictured having a great time at an ealier Peamount fun day, with

the hospital promising celebratory events to remember as it marks its centenary

people will be here over the weekend, but we have 600 confirmed already. It’s hard work, but it’s a once-in-a-century event,” said Fran.

As part of the celebra-tions, the hospital will host a family fun day on Sunday, June 24.

The Open Day is being held to raise funds for the Intellectual Disability

Services in Peamount, and to create a fun day for everyone.

The event is organ-ised by Limelight, the Peamount Parents and Friends Association.

To coincide with the celebrations, Peamount Healthcare are also host-ing an art and historical exhibition tracing the his-tory of Peamount through

the decades. Clients of Peamount’s Residential Services, supported by professional artists and volunteers, prepared the exhibits.

The exhibition will be part of a week-long arts festival on the Peamount campus, involving pag-eantry, dance-movement, drama, creative writing and oral histories.

Fun stuff for kids at Lucan LibraryLUCAN Library has a host of summer Spraoi events for young children coming up over the next few weeks.

The events start on July 3 with a visit from a local creche, who will take part in the Ready 2 Read campaign, with an Eco Unesco workshop for eight to 12-year-olds later on that day.

EventsOther events include

a hip-hop dancing class, African storytelling, and Gymboree – an inter-active, fun workshop for babies, toddlers and children aged from three months to six-years-old, that takes place on July 6 and 13.

All of the events begin booking on Friday, June 22 and can be booked by calling 01 621 6422, or by emailing [email protected].

SPRAOI

DublinGazetteNewspapersAdvertising Sales Professionals

Dublin Gazette Newspapers is Dublin’s fastest growing community weekly regional publisher,

with 8 titles covering the M50 from Swords to Dun Laoghaire.

We are currently looking to recruit:

We are now seeking experienced media sales executives to work in

our advertising dept in our Lucan head offi ce on a number of Dublin

Gazette titles. Experience in newspaper advertising sales is preferable.

Full clean driving licence and own car required; fl uent written and oral

English essential. Excellent package on offer to suitable candidates.

If you can work on your own initiative within a team environment, are

motivated, enthusiastic with an excellent work ethic, please send your

cv to: [email protected]


After great work and a hard effort from

Fly your flag highE

SKER Educate Together National School were recently awarded the Green School Flag. The Australian Ambassador to Ire-

land, Bruce Davis, agreed to raise the flag in a ceremony that took place on Wednesday, June 13. Mr Davis and his wife, Meg Johnson were already scheduled to take a tour of the school and to look at the Educate Together ethos in

action. The green flag is awarded to schools who have made a particular effort to make them-selves more environmentally friendly. The flag is awarded on the basis of passing a review and an assessment, and needs to be renewed every two years. More information can be found at www.greenschoolsireland.org.

Bruce Davis and wife Meg Johnson with teachers of Esker Educate Together National School Pictures: Ian Fleming

ENVIRONMENT

Colette Kavanagh, Meg Johnson, Paul Rowe, Bruce

Davis, Peggy Masterson, and in front, the students,

Austen, Kafia, Maria and Ayesha

Keeley, who was one of the student

representatives on the Green School

committee Duvall, Talha and Ryan

Abdul, Saman Ali and Rahil

Meg Johnson and Bruce Davis with students Chenille

and Fahad

The Green Flag with the Australian and Irish flags before the raising ceremony

Students were invited to wear their national dress for the day


everyone involved Esker ETNS raise Green School Flag

Bruce Davis after raising the flag

Daniel and Mohamed Mehreen, Lagein, Thea and Souma

Wiktoria and Greta

Adam who is also a student

representative on the Green School

committee

Meg Johnson inspects the Green Flag

Bruce Davis gets to know the many different students at the school


RACING Dublin gets treated to a once in a lifetime show

Rev your enginesO

N JUNE 3 Bavaria City Racing brought Formula 1 to the streets of Dublin. More than 110,000 spectators gathered

for an adrenaline-fuelled afternoon with superbikes, super cars, touring cars, formula 2, WRC, drifters, and the star attraction; demonstrations from internationally cele-brated Formula 1 cars and drivers including

Jenson Button. Lasting around five hours the show was a tremendous success with the organisers saying they transformed the capital into race track without a hitch. Despite the poor weather on the day, spirits were high and everyone went home with life long memo-ries.

Jenson Button and his Formula 1 car on the streets of Dublin

PJ Gallagher gets locked

out of his car

Eddie Jordan

Jenson Button gives the thumbs

up to the crowd

Dana Arikane, Rozanna Purcell, Kerri-Nicole Blanc

and Daniella Moyles

Giedo van der Garde races past the spectators

21 June 2012 GAZETTE 11

12 GAZETTE 21 June 2012

� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

OXFAM Ireland has signed up singer, Sharon Corr, to champion its new campaign, Ending Poverty Starts with Women.

Sharon’s is now the first voice to speak out on behalf of the Oxfam Ire-land appeal, which aims to shine a spotlight on the need for equal treatment of women, as well as tack-ling global poverty.

Speaking of her new humanitarian role, Sha-ron said: “I’m honoured to be the first person to add my voice to Oxfam Ireland’s new campaign, because when women are treated as equals, every-one benefits.

“It’s a woman’s natural instinct to nurture and provide sustenance for her children.

“But, without access to, or a right to land, the means to grow food, or a voice in their own society, they struggle to do this.

That means entire com-munities suffer.”

Sharon will travel to Tanzania with Oxfam in July as the campaign’s ambassador.

There, she will meet women who are improv-ing their families’ situa-tions in a very real way with Oxfam’s support.

The singer-songwriter, and judge on RTE’s, The Voice, said of the immi-nent trip: “Ending Pov-erty Starts with Women calls on men and women to use the power of their voices to make a differ-ence and, this summer, I’ll be travelling to Tan-zania with Oxfam to see

first-hand how they are helping women effect real change, and how we can support them.”

Oxfam is urging the Government to sup-port the campaign by increasing overseas aid to women’s r i g h t s p r o -

grammes in the most vulnerable, d e v e l o p i n g countries.

The aim of the campaign is to get 10,000 people across Ireland to add their voice to the campaign.

Oxfam Ireland chief executive, Jim Clarken, said: “We are delighted that Sharon is support-ing our work.

“We want the public to join us making a dif-ference to the lives of

Singer-songwriter and TV show judge – and Oxfam Ireland champion – Sharon

Corr is calling on everyone to help support the charity’s new campaign, which will

help to improve the lives of women in Tanzania, and help communities

Help make a real change for women

TANZANIA Oxfam signs up Corr to help with appeal

TOM Dunne, of News-talk, has named Ireland’s best unsigned singer/songwriter – Ross Breen, from Leixlip, whose impressive composition is entitled, Monet.

As winner of a national music contest’s search, Ross won a day’s record-ing time in the famous Windmill Lane Studios, and will get billing and a slot at the Indie-pendence music festival, and anoth-er at a Cathy Davey gig.

The Indie-pendence Music and Arts Festival takes place in Mitch-elstown, Cork from August 3 to August 5, and includes such acts as Feeder, Delorentos, Jape, The Frank and Walters, Royseven, The Kanyu Tree and Maverick Sabre.

Ross got into writing music and songs through his initial love of poetry. He got his first electric guitar for Christmas when he was 11, and hasn’t stopped playing and writ-ing since.

His winning song, Monet, was written after a school trip to the National Museum.

Leixlip local is named as best unsigned talent

MUSIC: WINNER

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

‘I’m honoured to be the first person to add my voice to Oxfam Ireland’s new campaign’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Sharon Corr- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Musical’s star � BAIRBRE NI BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

CAMERON Mackintosh, the biggest musical theatre producer in the world, is bringing a newly-designed production of Phantom of the Opera to The Bord Gais Energy Theatre this July.

The show’s leads are John Owen-Jones, who plays The Phantom, and Katie Hall, as Christine.

The Gazette spoke to John about his upcoming Dublin show, and Mack-intosh’s newly-conceived production.

“Pretty much every-thing was redesigned. We started off by getting back to the script and the music, and went from there.

“The set design is total-ly changed, and the cos-tumes have been tweaked. Really, though, the biggest change is to the set,” he said.

Altering the famous Phantom set was a risky thing to try, but John is more than enthusiastic about the final result.

“The former set was long considered the star of the show, but it was dif-ficult to tote around.

“We have to bring the whole thing to different venues, so it had to be re-invented in a way that would ensure we could put it up in three days, and bring it around the world.

“The strange thing is that, although it’s now big-ger than the West End set, it’s much more mobile. It’s madness as, usually, when you take a show on the road, you have to scale the set down, but this is more spectacular.”

John was the consum-mate professional and guarded the secrets of the new set design when probed.

“I won’t give anything away but, at times, I’m in life-threatening situations on stage!”

John has been playing the part of the Phantom

on and off since 2001, but said that there was no need to try to keep it fresh, as the performance usually took care of itself.

“It’s never the same each night; things go wrong, the musicians play differently and audi-ences react with a differ-ent vibe.

“There’s an old saying – Dr Footlights takes con-trol – which means that when the curtain goes up, all the problems disap-pear.”

In relation to the variety and influence of audience responses on his perform-ance, he said: “Oh, it’s massive. It’s immensely positive to get instant feedback from an audi-ence, but the way they react varies a lot.

“In Broadway, they scream and whoop for the performance, where-as in Japan they’re very polite and simply clap at the end.”

AppreciationHowever, the phenom-

enal success of Phantom has ensured a highly enthusiastic display of appreciation by audiences around the world.

“With a big blockbuster like this, audiences gener-ally go crazy at the end. There are always stand-ing ovations each night, which are fabulous, but can never be taken for granted,” said John.

In relation to perform-ing at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, he admit-ted with shame that: “I’ve never been to Ireland.

Isn’t that awful? I never needed to go, and I live in a lovely rural place in Wales.

“It’s funny, when I was doing Les Miserables in Paris, I invited my mum and dad over to visit to see the show, but they weren’t bothered.

“But as soon as I said I was coming to Ireland, the whole family want to come and stay over with me!”

Speaking of Les Miser-ables, The Gazette picked up the common Irish thread of Colm Wilkin-son, whom John has worked with in the past.

“Colm is a legend. He has such great stories, he was even telling us about when he met Elvis. What a great career he’s had!”

John listed Wilkinson as one of his great idols by saying: “Phantom was written with him in mind, but Cameron poached him for Les Miserables, and created Jean Valjean with him. That’s amazing.

“I also admire Michael Ball, and the American actor/singer/dancer, Mandy Patinkin. He can turn his hand to every-thing, and I’d love to do that, too.”

John’s co-star is Katie Hall, who was a com-petitor in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s TV talent show, I’d Do Anything.

“I didn’t see the show, I don’t have time to watch shows like that. X-Factor is appalling, Britain’s got Talent’s not too bad.

“Katie, however, is nat-urally very talented, very

One of the exotic masquerade ball’s revellers has a sinister purpose ...

ARTS The Gazette hears a confession from The Phantom of

SUPPORT

LOCALBUSINESS

SHOP LOCALLY

CALL THE GAZETTE ON

60 10 240


sings production’s praiseform then – I was more interested in Cub Scouts.

“I started on the stage in school plays, and really got the acting bug, but never sang. Then, one night, I did a cabaret and I was terrified but, after-wards, someone told me I could sing.

“This was strange to me, as I thought every-one could sing. I mean, why wouldn’t you? Over the years I’ve done a lot of musical parts, but still don’t really see myself as a singer. Maybe they’ll rumble me, some day!”

Such fears of exposure, though imagined, suit the polished Phantom’s char-acter to a T.

Phantom of the Opera is on at Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Grand Canal Square, Docklands, from July 25 to August 4.

Tickets are priced from €20, and are on sale now through Ticketmaster at 0818 719 377.

bright and very willing to learn. Both her parents are opera singers. She’s a joy to work with.”

John equally praises the professionalism of Cam-eron Mackintosh.

“He is a brilliant pro-ducer and it’s no wonder he’s so successful and so enormously rich.

“He can see what’s wrong in a production right away and, although

he mightn’t know how to fix it, he’ll know who to get who can. He has this uncanny awareness of what an audience wants, too.”

On a final note, the singer recapped on the meandering journey that had brought him to the leading role in Phantom of the Opera.

“Music wasn’t really a big thing in my fam-

ily. We had no money for a record player so I used to go around to my grandad’s. He had a record player in a cup-board, and we’d listen to comedy records, for some strange reason, and some old opera.

“Things really changed when my brother got a cassette player for Christ-mas, then I really got into music. Yet, I didn’t per-

The Phantom (John Owen-Jones) and Christine (Katie Hall)

The Opera: “I’ve never been to Ireland. Isn’t that awful?”

John Owen-Jones, in full stage make-up and costume for his role as The Phantom,

spoke modestly to The Gazette about his role in the hit musical


GazetteSTYLESTYLE Edited by

Laura Webb

OMEGA-3 fatty acids are essential fats found in plant and marine oils. Recent research has firmly established Omega-3s (with the most common type being EPA and DHA) as a key factor in reduc-ing the risk of cardio-vascular disease – the most common cause of death in Ireland.

Oily fish such as mackerel, herring, sardines, tuna, salmon and trout are the best source of Omega-3s.

If you think you require an Omega-3 supplement, it is important that you ask your pharmacist for one with high levels of EPA and DHA.With thanks to the staff at

Lucan Village Pharmacy

OMEGA-3’S

HELP TO STAY

HEALTHY Big choice at LittlewoodsT

HE summer festi-val season is almost here and, to get you all summer ready,

Littlewoods Ireland seems to have everything needed for that weekend away.

Ireland’s leading online department store has everything from stylish get-ups to camping equip-ment. Remember that comfort is key to a good weekend at your festival’s fields!

Playsuits and shorts are ideal for comfort. The top picks are the Lipsy Floral Print Playsuit (€43) and the South Short Printed Playsuit (€28) – team with the South Cropped Denim Jacket (€36) to complete the look and, if the weather is slightly chilly, these playsuits look

great worn with opaque tights.

Rock it out with grungy blacks and quirky prints. The funky Love Label Marico Chelsea Brogue Ankle Boots (€59) add an uber-cool edge to the Love Label Floral Shirt Dress (€45).

For a trendy, laidback style, we love the Love Label USA Flag Print Vest (€20) worn with the Love Label Dipped Back Jer-sey Skirt (€30) and black Converse or boots.

Keep your belongings in check with a trusty cross body bag. The Leather Cross Body Bag (from €34) will fit all your essentials.

Make sure you’re pre-pared for the Irish weath-er with a lightweight rain jacket or parka, such as

the South Summer Parka (€49).

Wellingtons are top of the list when it comes to festival essentials! Go cute and girly with the South Guillemot Front Lace Wellington Boots (€34) or opt for plain and simple with the Super-dry Festival Wellingtons

(€77), both of which are guaranteed to keep your feet dry all weekend.

Littlewoods Ireland has a fantastic range of camp-ing equipment to make sure you really enjoy the experience. The ultimate camping luxury is with the Gelert Portable Gas Cooker (€25).

The spacious Highland Trail Vancouver Three-Person Tent (€94) is incredibly easy to assem-ble; if camping in a larger group, the Highland Trail Ontario Eight-Person Tent (€219) is ideal, with two large bedrooms and a living area.

During the day, lounge

in the Gelert Caldera Moon Chair (€52) or the Highland Trail Camp-ing Chair (€14) – both of which are light and com-pact.

From top fashion to tents, www.littlewoodsire-land.ie is your one-stop-shop for all your festival essentials this summer.

Give festival frumpiness the boot with Littlewoods’ Superdry Festival Wellingtons (€77); Leather Cross Body

Bag (from €34); South Petite Summer Parka (€49) or a South Cropped Denim Jacket (€36)


GazettePETSPETSBrought to you by Miriam Kerins of

the DSPCA

THE FACTS: PRAISE AND REWARD IS THE STRATEGY FOR DOMESTIC PET HARMONY

It needn’t be ruff going for Kitty and Fido to get alongD

O YOUR new cat and dog, err ... fight like cats and dogs? Well,

it’s no wonder – they are two very different types of animal, with specifi-cally different needs.

However, don’t worry, all is not lost because, given the right environ-ment, Kitty and Fido can get along perfectly well together.

Below are a few hints and tips to take into con-sideration if you’re hop-ing to introduce canine and feline harmony into your household.

Make sure both your pets understand basic commands, especially the command, “No”.

Contain your dog, and allow the new cat to get used to her environment through touch and smell by letting her wander around the house at her own pace, thus dispers-ing her unique scent.

Then, secure Kitty, and allow your dog to get used to the new animal’s scent, rewarding him for his acceptance.

Pretty soon, Fido will learn that having Kitty around is good, because he will associate her

presence with yummy rewards and positivity.

This can all take time and, remember, patience is the key – you should never force your animals together; always let them move at their own pace.

An older, established dog may feel a tad intimi-dated by Kitty, especially if she’s the feisty type.

If this is the case, sim-ply praise and reward your dog for showing good manners, and praise Kitty for being so tolerant because, believe it or not, a swipe of her paw could cause serious injury to the unsuspect-ing Fido.

If there’s chasing involving your dog, make sure to intercept it immediately by putting a lead on his collar, and distract him by asking him to perform some familiar obedience tasks, such as “Sit”, “Roll over” or “Heel”, in return for a treat.

Historically, it is the dog who engages in chasing the cat, because that’s usually what they do if they get tense or aroused; however, when a cat is stressed, she will usually excessively

groom herself, or she may even pee.

If you’ve got to leave your pets unattended – and do bear in mind, many cats and dogs can be left unattended without any bother at all – I would suggest you don’t do this until you’re 100% happy that they absolute-ly adore each other.

In the meantime, keep them in separate rooms when you pop out to the shops.

When it comes to Kitty’s feed-ing and litter tray ritual, please do not allow your dog to have

access to her bits and pieces.Cats can be a little bit pre-

cious, especially if a dog steals their food or plays in their litter tray area – this type of canine behaviour will only serve to cause stress to your feline.

Place Kitty’s food on a high surface, such as a shelf or a win-dow ledge, where your dog can’t reach it.

As is usual with cats, Kitty will enjoy having a high vantage point, so provide areas out of the dog’s reach, such as a large, strong scratching post, or by

placing some branches of an old tree up against a wall, or simply just clear off a few shelves.

I mean, you may find that Kitty and Fido are okay with other cats and dogs – as in, they’re not entirely opposed to seeing them somewhere off in the distance, they just may sim-ply have a dislike for the specific one that is currently invading their space.

If there’s dislike there, that’s not a reason for you to give up, it just means you need to have realistic expectations and to

take it slowly.Sure, once they become

familiar with each other’s body language and scent, they’ll soon learn to get along. Just you wait and see!

And, if Kitty and Fido can manage to get along – well, per-haps there’s hope for you and that dreadful work colleague who annoys you so much ...

� For more information, log onto www.dspca.ie or contact your vet or email me at [email protected]

It might take time, and patience is key, but never force your animals together - let them find their own pace


GazetteMOTORSMOTORS

� CORMAC CURTIS

WRITING about cars is just about the most satis-fying aspect of my job.

It’s nothing short of a privilege to be trusted with the industry’s latest vehicles for the purposes of review, often before the general population have even had a chance to see them in the flesh.

The levels of comfort and convenience that car manufacturers manage to pack in to even the most modest of cars never ceas-es to amaze me.

Add to this the extraor-dinary strides that motor companies have made in engine efficiency and fuel consumption, and there really is always some-thing new to investigate and report on.

It therefore makes no sense that motoring jour-nalists – myself included – can sometimes get a lit-tle jaded when it comes to their craft.

But, luckily, just as things seem to be getting a little dull, the motoring gods throw you a prover-bial curve ball.

I was recently lined up to road-test one of Chrys-ler’s latest offerings, but, unfortunately, the car wasn’t available, so an alternative was suggested by the good folk at Chrys-ler.

It’s not often that I am offered a true American motoring icon to put through its paces, but the week in question brought just that opportunity. Enter the Jeep Wrangler – yee-haw!

TOMTOM WANT YOU TO HELP IT MAP PARADISESATELLITE naviga-tion giant, TomTom recently launched its Map Paradise Project, recruiting families and groups of friends to help map five tropical islands.

Applications have now closed for the first island (Fiji), and have opened for St Lucia.

TomTom is look-ing for people to spend two weeks on the island, and earn €10,000 for mapping it.

Successful appli-cants will need to explore St Lucia in a specially equipped mapping car, the first stage of the TomTom map-making process.

RainforestsNo mapping experi-

ence is needed, but TomTom is looking for people who would enjoy visiting rainfor-ests, banana and coco-nut plantations, and who don’t mind great weather. This work will take anything from a day to two weeks, depending on how much time is spent sunbathing, swimming or exploring.

Corinne Vigreux, managing director, TomTom, said: “We have had thousands of applications to map the first island of Fiji. Don’t worry if you miss out on the Fiji map-ping experience, as there is another great opportunity to map St Lucia.”

A TomTom jury is busy looking at all the applications for the Fiji Map Paradise Project. The winners will be announced on Friday, June 22, on Facebook and via email.

Applicants need to fill out a form at www.tomtom.com/summer.

At least one person from the group must be able to drive. Five people are able to take part in each project.

RoadRoadSignsSigns

� 6-speed manual� Economy: 7.4L/100km� Top speed: 172km/h� 0 – 100km/hr: 11.1 sec � CO2 emissions: 194gm/km� Tax: €1,129 PA� Long wheel base model starts at €41,750

SPECS:

JEEP WRANGLER

UNLIMITED 2.8CRD

Whether wading in Wexford or hill-climbing in Howth, the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

A sensible dash layout hasn’t scrimped on comfort and style

Not any Wrangler, mind you; there was no way I was going to fit the family and all the neces-sary gear for a long week-end away in to the back of the classic Sport version. That would never do.

I was presented , instead, with the monster that is the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited – and there is certainly nothing limited about this monster.

Both in terms of visual impact and raw capability, this baby has it all.

I drove the long wheel base version of the Wran-gler, with five seats and a big ol’ trunk for every-thing you could possible need to carry.

I must admit to feeling a little over-enthusiastic when I laid eyes on it.

The possibilities when you’re handed the keys of such an iconic and eye-grabbing vehicle are just too tempting to resist.

Before I sat into the front seat, I was already planning on taking off the entire roof section (eas-ily done by removing six bolts) and possibly even the doors, before sticking the transmission into low 4WD and taking to the hills.

I may not have quite gotten that far, but I did manage to put it through a few different tests – not least of which was my wife. It’s no secret that husbands and wives don’t often agree on what is practical or even desir-able in a car, so I wasn’t expecting the missus to get too excited about the Jeep. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

We were both embar-rassingly excited about the attention this car attracted – not only that, we were driving in incred-ible comfort.

With a vehicle like this, you have to accept a few compromises; after all, even the name Jeep is derived from what the car was first called – the GP, which stood for general purpose. However, what does the Wrangler Unlim-ited offer?

From the front, you are looking at a pokey 2.8 CRD engine with 200bhp married to a six-speed manual gearbox and full 4WD; good grunt without too many bells or whistles – but there is an automat-ic version available.

The muscle will take you to 100km/h in a lei-surely 11.1 seconds, and eventually tops out at 172km/h – nothing stel-lar, but that’s hardly the point with the Wrangler.

The car comes in at a little over two tonnes, and gets an average of about 7.1 litres of fuel per 100km driven. (At this point, you may be planning on driv-ing through a few rivers, so take note that the wad-

ing depth is 482.6m!)The test car came with

a very comfortable black leather interior that made it feel that little bit spe-cial. Because the Jeep is designed to be easily stripped down – there are minimal controls on the doors, so buttons for the electric windows, mirrors etc are all located on the centre console.

The chunky, leather steering wheel has but-tons for cruise control, car settings and music/phone control.

What I really liked about the cabin is that Chrysler are offering all the options that you could want in terms of sat-nav, phone connectivity and music through their own-brand Uconnect System,

but they keep the display simple and don’t feel the need to include large LCD screens – less is more if you are consid-ering taking the roof off your vehicle and doing some extreme driving.

Don’t worry – there is a good air con system, as well as heated seats if you like to keep the tempera-ture just-so.

The real compromise in drivability is when you leave our national prima-ry roads and take to their bumpier, less-well-kept country cousins.

The passengers in the Wrangler are sure to feel a little knocked around when you are navigat-ing potholes and badly-patched up tarmac; the suspension is set up for

proper off-roading, not urban roads – but that’s a small price to pay for such a capable car.

As a matter of fact, back in Texas, the Jeep has received more awards than any other SUV – and they know their SUVs in Texas!

In fact, this car does reflect true Sports Util-ity Vehicle quality – I certainly can’t imagine taking most other SUVs where I would take the Wrangler.

If you do want to buy one of these cars, the incredibly useful long wheel base version starts at €41,750 with the man-ual gearbox. Is it worth it? Well, if I had the money, I would certainly own one – ’nuff said.

Yee-haw! All hail this mighty Jeep Unlimited


Edited by

Cormac Curtis

REPUBBLICA DAY SEES TOP CARS SHOWCASEDDIGNITARIES, dip-lomats and members of the Irish-Italian business community were amongst the invited guests to this year’s Festa della Repubblica (The Feast of the Republic, which commemo-rates the 1946 insti-tutional referendum, which led to the formation of the first Italian government) garden party at the Italian Ambassador’s residence, in Lucan.

Attendance at this annual celebration was especially strong this year, as members and friends of the Italian community in Ireland were keen to wish the newly-appointed Italian Ambassador of Ire-land, His Excellency Dr Maurizio Zanini, well in his new role.

CelebrationOne of Italy’s best-

known companies, FIAT Group was rep-resented at the event by its managing direc-tor, Adrian C Walsh, who added extra cel-ebration to the event by bringing along a range of Chrysler and Jeep vehicles.

They highlighted FIAT Group’s suc-cessful turnaround of the America carmaker which, as recently as 2009, was in danger of going out of business but which, in 2012, posted first quarter profits of $740 million.

Of particular interest amongst the assembled guests was the Chrysler 300C luxury car, which had been brought in from Britain especially for the event. The flag-ship Chrysler model has just gone on sale in Ireland, with prices for saloon starting at €57,995.

RoadRoadSignsSigns

AHEAD of its arrival in Ireland next September, the exciting new Ford Focus ST was put through its paces recently at a special launch drive event

in Nice, France.The car builds on Ford’s long her-

itage of performance models, and carries the DNA of the company’s renowned previous ST and RS cars.

This latest Focus ST is Ford’s first truly global performance car, and has been jointly developed by Ford’s RS team in Europe and the Special Vehi-

cles Team (SVT) in the US.The car goes on sale in 40 countries

across the globe this year.Ensuring the high level of driving

dynamics that enthusiasts have come to expect from a Ford performance model, the new Focus ST is powered by a specially developed direct-injec-tion 2.0-litre, all alloy, turbocharged, four-cylinder EcoBoost engine with a 250PS output, and yet the car remains capable of returning a fuel efficiency performance of 7.2L/100Km and CO2 emissions of 169g/km – 20% better

than its predecessor.Commenting on the car, Eddie

Murphy, chairman and managing director of Ford Ireland, said: “Be it for the enthusiast or the novice, the new Focus ST possesses all the great, fun-to-drive qualities that customers want.

“Thanks to its exhilarating per-formance, road-gripping dynamics and superior levels of refinement, the Focus ST is a performance car that is ideal for everyday driving.”

Standard specification in the new

Focus ST includes Ford Power keyless start, sporty Recaro seats, Bluetooth and 18” alloy wheels.

The debut of the car in Ireland will coincide with the Focus ST’s star-ring role in the new all-action movie adaptation of the classic 1970s British police series, The Sweeney, with actors Ray Winstone and rapper Plan B (Ben Drew) as Regan and Carter.

The car goes on sale in Ireland priced from €35,170 – full spec and price details for the Irish market will be issued closer to launch date.

Focus ST grabs attentionThe exciting new Ford Focus ST goes on sale in 40 countries across the globe later this year, with its arrival in Ireland due in September

2.8CRD is not just an award-winning head turner, but, more importantly, has plenty of oomph, blending visual flair, comfort and power in a great package


CHEF Christopher Jones and his partner, Marita, says that they are very excited about owning a business in Dublin 15.

He told The Gazette that it has always been their dream to own a restaurant, and this has finally come true.

Chris comes from Wales and Marita from Germany. The couple met in Switzerland while working in a hotel, and romance blossomed.

From there, they trav-elled to exotic and far-flung places, working in restaurants across Aus-tralia, New Zealand and south-east Asia, with many other destinations

in between.Chris, with his Miche-

lin Star, and multi AA rosettes background, had no problem finding work, and Marita, with her experience in hos-pitality, also had no dif-ficulty.

Both enjoy outdoor activities and, whilst on their travels, enjoyed sur f ing , wind sai l -ing, scuba diving and cycling.

Finally arriving in Ire-land, both got jobs in Sligo, where they settled for a time, with Marita in the well-renowned Source restaurant, and Chris as head chef for Conrad Gallagher’s res-

taurant.They arrived in Dub-

lin in January and, since then, their project has been the refurbishment of their restaurant, and opening it.

They both enjoy liv-ing in the Castleknock area, but currently have no time to enjoy the out-door activities.

However, both admit that weather had not really been on their side either, and Chris says that, like us all, they are living in hope of summer actually arriving.

For details about The Gallery, see www.gal-leryrestaurant.ie, or tel-ephone 01 821 2828.

Interview: Christopher Jones, co-owner, The Gallery restaurant, Castleknock

Q&A

Serving up a great new business idea

Christopher Jones, The Gallery restaurant

Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be?A: I wanted to be a farmer; it’s

the start of the food process

Q: What was your first job?A: It was working on a farm

Q: And your first pay cheque?A: I think it was about £15 for

a week’s work

Q: When did you start your present job?A: We started preparations for

the restaurant back in Janu-

ary, finding the right location,

looking for suppliers, prepar-

ing the menus, etc

Q: What is the best thing about your job?A: I love being able to find

great quality ingredients for

my food, the hunt is part of

the fun

Q: Have you achieved any-thing that you once thought you could not pull off?

A: Running a Michelin star

kitchen – this is something

most chefs imagine happen-

ing, but few manage it

Q: What part of your working day do you ‘delegate’?A: As a head chef, delegation

is key throughout the entire

service. I have an excellent

team in the kitchen which I

delegate various responsibili-

ties to.

Q: What’s currently on your desk that shouldn’t be?A: My desk is the kitchen

counter, and there’s nothing

on there that shouldn’t be!

Q: Is there anything about yourself that you would like to set the record straight on?A: Not all chefs are crazy like

the TV celebs; many of us are

only partly crazy

Q: What sport do you follow?A: Rugby, the Welsh, but now

the Irish, too

Q: What sport can you play?A: I don’t play any more but

I enjoyed rugby when I was

younger

Q: What habits would you like to lose?A: I don’t have any bad

habits!

Q: At the moment, what are you looking forward to?A: Honestly, I’m looking for-

ward to our restaurant con-

tinuing to grow and becoming

the success that I know it can

be, and seeing as many people

enjoying my food as possible

Q: What is you guilty music, TV or movie pleasure?A: Recently, on a rare couple

of days off I watched the en-

tire first series of Homeland.

Whilst the show isn’t really a

guilty pleasure, the fact that

I actually got to watch the

whole thing was.

Q: Who best represents modern Ireland – David Nor-ris or Jedward?A: Not a lot of scope with

those choices, so, Jedward

Q: What music/pictures/movies do you have on your iPod/iPad?A: The restaurant has actually

inherited my iPod so there is

lots of jazz music on it at the

moment

Q: Who do you follow on Twit-ter/Facebook?A: I’m new to Twitter so not

following anyone yet; on

Facebook I only follow my

friends

Q: What was your last Tweet/Facebook status update?A: On The Gallery page, I

posted: “Lovely summer pea

soup with pancetta mint-pea

salad caesar dressing”, along

with a picture. A must try!

Q: Describe your dream meal?A: White asparagus cocktail

with Dublin bay prawns,

perfect

Q: Who would you like to have dinner with – Enda Kenny or Dame Edna? A: Need some alternative op-

tions, please

Q: Where do you enjoy spend-ing money frivolously?A: The farmers’ market, I’m

like a kid in a sweetshop,

there.

Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?A: Five pairs of shoes, three

pairs of trainers, two Crocs

Q: What was your worst holiday experience?A: Lanzarote, many years ago,

on an all-inclusive package.

It was a disaster from start to

finish.

Q: Describe your dream holiday?A: Scuba diving in Borneo,

I’ve done it before, loved

every minute

Q: What would be your dream job? A: I’m doing it right now,

owning my own restaurant is

fulfilling my biggest ambition

Q: What do you plan to do when you retire?A: Buy a small farm, grow my

own fruit and vegetables, and

basically relax and enjoy life.

CAN I ACCESS MY PENSION MONEY? Q – I HAVE been made redundant after only 12 years’ service (now 36). The pension itself is worth €75,000. Can I release any of this money now or do I have to wait til age 65?

Greg – Rathgar

A – SORRY to hear of your redundancy – employ-

ment is the key to our survival and, with 14.3%

of the country’s workforce unemployed, we do

need all hands on deck to drive that impetus to full

employment.

You appear to be in an occupational pension

scheme and, therefore, precluded from making any

withdrawals now.

Usually contributions continue til age 65, at the

end of which (and presuming it is a Defined Con-

tribution pension) you can take 25% of the fund

then as a tax-free lump sum and the balance, again

depending on what is left, into an annuity or an

approved retirement fund (ARF).

If you leave the fund as is with your current

employer, it is deemed paid up, but should still grow

each year.

As long as your now ex-employer remains sol-

vent, at 3% growth each year, your €75,000 fund, at

65, will grow to c. €171,595. At 5% growth, the fund

would rise to €294,000.

Of this, €42,899 you can take on retirement

as that 25% tax-free lump sum. The balance of

€128,696 can be invested into an annuity (guaran-

teed income for life, based on a fixed deposit rate.

When you die, the insurance company keeps the

fund and, generally, the first five year’s income is

guaranteed for you and/or your surviving spouse)

or provided by that time, you do not have an annual

pension income of at least €18,000, invest €120,000

into an Approved Minimum Retirement Fund, which

you cannot touch until age 75 but the balance you

can invest yourself.

However, this will only be €8,696 out of which

every year you MUST take 5% (€36.23 per month

taxable!). With the ARF/AMRF, should you die, the

proceeds at least will go to your estate.

If you feel the company that has made you redun-

dant may not be there itself in 29 years’ time, you

can opt for a Buy Out Bond or Pre-retirement Bond.

You transfer the value of your pension NOW to a

bond in your own name (still cannot release funds

til age 65) but you now have control over your own

pension management.

If left with the company, on retirement you would

need the signatures of the trustees to release

funds – they may not be around in 29 years’ time.

Either way, you need to see a report EACH year

on the performance of your fund, and understand

the implications – ask questions if it is not perform-

ing.

Best of luck with the job hunting.

� Contact John with your money questions at

[email protected] or visit his website at

www.moneydoctor.ie. John Lowe, Fellow of the

Institute of Bankers, is founder and managing

director of Money Doctor

GOT A MATCH REPORT?

Call our SPORTS TEAM on 60 10 240 or

email [email protected]

GazetteBUSINESSBUSINESS Supported by AIB


DRESS TO DAZZLE P26DRESS TO DAZZLE P26DAPPER DESIGNS P24DAPPER DESIGNS P24 THE CIVIL OPTION P28THE CIVIL OPTION P28

D u b l i n ’ s c o m p l e t e g u i d e t o yo u r w e d d i n g

WELCOME to the Gazette’s Bride and Groom supplement, your complete guide to creat-ing the perfect wedding day.

Inside you will find everything from the lat-est craze that is sweeping its way across the Atlantic, an engagement photo of the happy couple, to the all important hen party.

Civil partnerships are on the rise with many couples choosing to get married in the venue where they are holding their reception and we look at some options for this.

As well as that we look at his and hers out-fits for the big day including some stunning gowns from Caroline Castigliano. Make up tips come courtesy of a professional make up artist who says many brides are now veering towards applying their own on the big day, much like the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.

We also give you some ideas on the best places to hold your special day. So read on for some fantastic advice and tips on how to throw the ultimate wedding bash.

J U N E 2 0 1 2&Bride Bride groom

work and a real wedding experience.

Trim Castle Hotel, at just five years old, battled it out against some of Ire-land’s top hotels, includ-ing Carton House, Mount Wolesley and Tulfarris.

The hotel, which cel-ebrated its birthday last August, is proving extremely popular with bridal parties, and will play host to more than 140 weddings in 2012.

Couples have even trav-elled from as far away as Australia and Singapore to celebrate in style in the stunning countryside which surrounds Trim Castle Hotel.

Jillian O’Brien, from

the hotel, said: “This is one of the most prestig-ious awards in the wed-ding industry, and we are delighted with our win.

“We were up against some very tough competi-tion and it is such an hon-our to be recognised as The Best Wedding Venue in Leinster.”

She added: “Everyone who works in Trim Castle Hotel in some way works with our weddings, and this award is very much a testament to the hard work of every one of our staff members.”

With couples beginning to move away from the traditional church wed-ding, the hotel has regis-


l CHOOS I NG THE R ECEPT I ON S ET T I NG l

Hotel easily marries all tastes

&BRIDE GROOMD u b l i n ’ s c o m p l e t e g u i d e t o y o u r w e d d i n g

Given Trim Castle Hotel’s exemplary comfort and attention to detail, its beautiful setting and remarkable features, it’s no wonder that

the award-winning hotel – named as the Best Wedding Venue in Leinster – has attracted wedding couples from as far away as Australia

� ELLEN COONEY

THE stunning Trim Cas-tle Hotel sits with quiet authority overlooking the mystical Trim Castle, and, this year, holds the title of Best Wedding Venue in Leinster.

The hotel was presented with the overall award at a

ceremony which was held by WeddingsOnline.ie in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, with more than 17,000 brides and grooms voting.

Judging for the top 12 hotels in the category was then carried out by an expert panel that based the result on the quality of

tered to hold civil wedding ceremonies, and can cater for up to 250 guests.

This move forward is a perfect example of how Trim Castle Hotel under-stands modern couples.

It possesses the old-world charisma of the Anglo-Norman castle, which is perfect for a white wedding, while also providing contemporary standards of magnificent food and decor.

There is also a dedi-cated wedding team to assure couples intend-ing to hold their wedding celebration at the hotel of personal and professional attention in the planning and preparation of their special event.

The hotel team really does aspire to make their wedding day the most memorable and enjoyable day of their life.

The huge influx of bridal parties and guests should bring approxi-mately 20,000 visitors to the area, providing a huge boost to the local econo-my, and especially to busi-nesses such as hairdress-ers, florists and make-up artists.

If you would like any further information on weddings at Trim Castle Hotel, see www.trim-castlehotel.com, or call 046 948 3000 to speak to one of the wedding co-ordinators.



l HOT E LS O F F ER I NG G L AMOUR , C L ASS I C ST Y L E AND PROF ESS I ONA L I SM l

� ELLEN COONEY

WEDDING showcases are a great way to get inspired ahead of the big day, and Bracken Court Hotel, Balbriggan, will roll out the red carpet for their extravaganza on Sunday, July 22.

The hotel’s dedicated wedding co-ordinators have been hard at work to provide a glamorous event for soon-to-be new-lyweds, who, on the day, will be able to say “I do” to some amazing offers and complimentary treats.

Food and drink selec-tions can be sampled, and on-hand advisors will be there to answer any ques-tions on accommodation, the reception, meal, flow-ers, and entertainment.

The hugely experienced weddings team will walk

couples through every moment of the day and, while they are happy to advise couples, they are also experienced in listen-ing and accommodating the wishes of each wed-ding party.

In this regard, unique touches can be designed to suit each occasion at the couple’s request, such as bespoke menus, com-plimentary chair covers and co-ordinating bows in the wedding suite.

Admission to the show-case is completely free, and complimentary spar-kling wine and canapes will be served, demon-strating the classic and glamorous experience that is the Bracken Court Hotel.

As usual, there will be a number of exhibitors at the showcase. includ-

Grow to love Bracken Court

Bracken Court Hotel, Balbriggan

ing limousine companies, cake designers and enter-tainers, addressing every aspect of the special day.

Visitors will be able to visualise every moment of their big day, right down to the details on their cake.

The four-star luxury Bracken Court Hotel is

renowned as an excep-tional wedding venue, with a unique character, and truly friendly and professional service.

The hotel also has a policy of holding only one wedding per day, ensuring an exclusive experience with maximum attention and focus from the staff.

For further informa-tion, or to enquire about 2013-14 wedding pack-age specials, or the wed-ding showcase, contact the Bracken Court Hotel dedicated team, Jean Bermingham and Helga Duffy, at 01 841 3333, or e-mail [email protected].

ANOTHER option for an upcoming wedding is the beautiful Courtyard Hotel, Leixlip, which offers an intimate setting in ambient surroundings.

Renowned for their ability to capture the true essence of the day, the hotel firmly believes each wedding should totally reflect the personality of the bride and groom.

Catering for numbers as small as 20, up to 120, the Courtyard Hotel has an extensive list of menus, packages and options available to every couple on their special day. It can also tailor packages to suit individual needs.

To discuss your wedding reception, please con-tact Lynda Roche or Jessica Kilpatrick, who wel-come the opportunity to show you around the hotel and discuss your day in further detail.

The Courtyard Hotel, Leixlip

The Courtyard Hotel delights

WE HAVE

135,000*

READERS

EACH

WEEK

ADVERTISE

YOUR YOUR

BUSINESSBUSINESS

TO OUR

READERS

CALL

60 10 240

*based on

standard industry

measurements


l MOSS H I R E ’ S DAPPER DES I GNS l

� ELLEN COONEY

CHANGING trends and personalised touches aren’t just for the wedding dress any more, as grooms are getting into the spirit of bridal fashion.

While the traditional black tailcoat will remain a classic for generations to come, it is increasingly possible for the men in a wedding to have their formal wear reflect their own personal style and taste.

Moss Hire are predict-ing that spring/summer 2013 will be a time for

more vibrant colours, such as lemon, citrus green, fuchsia and aqua blue, to trend among bridal parties.

MatchedAlthough it is safe

to assume that most grooms will stick to the traditional black or grey suit, it is remaining popu-lar for ties or cravats to be matched in colour to the bridesmaid’s dresses (as this selection of Moss attire, right, shows).

With more than 140 stores in Ireland and Britain, Moss Hire, or

Moss Bespoke, offers both a suit hire service, and comprehensive tai-loring for every taste.

Their wide variety of off-the-peg suits can be paired with a myriad contrasting accessories to personalise any groom’s look.

As leaders in bridal trends, Moss caters for the travelling bridal party, as suits can be picked up and dropped off in any store nationwide.

For further informa-tion on current trends and suit hire, see www.moss.co.uk.

Grooms update their looks with colour accents


Moss caters for grooms looking for classic style, with

its wide selection including this Lingfield morning suit

Beckbury, Seville, lilac ties Cream, caramel, Gloucester ties

Canzo waistcoat

Lingfield waistcoatFuschia tie

Citris green

cravat

ADVERTISE

WITH THE

GAZETTE

CALL

6010240

LOCALMATTERS

S U P P O R T

L O C A L

B U S I N E S S




� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

ON YOUR big day, one thing you don’t want to have to worry about is your make-up.

If you’re having your make-up done by a profes-sional make-up artist, find a good one by getting as many recommendations as you can from people whose taste you respect.

A month before the wedding, book into a reputable beauty salon for a micro-dermabrasion, to ensure glowing skin.

Then a fortnight before the big day, get your eye-brows waxed (if you don’t pluck them).

If you choose to apply your own makeup (a la Kate Middleton), the fol-lowing steps will ensure a flawless and superbly-polished look.

• Cleanse and tone your face, and apply a small amount of primer (avoid-ing the eyes).

• Apply a long-lasting matt foundation and con-cealer for any imperfec-tions.

• Apply concealer around the eye area, both on the lid and inner eye, and then seal with pow-der.

• Apply translucent powder over the whole face with a large, soft brush; brush some matt bronze on the cheek-bones.

• Apply neutral shadow over the whole eyelid area, then contour in the eyelid crease with a darker, natu-ral shade.

• Curl your eyelashes and apply false ones, if you like.

• Line the lips with a neutral pencil, apply a soft shade of lipstick, and a pop of gloss.

• Finally, shimmer your shoulders and collar-bone.

For further information, or to book a professional make-up artist, contact Mary at Eyes On Me at

Perfect make-up tips for your day

l E GGCE L L ENT OPT I ONS FOR HEN PART I E S l

A HEN party is a monu-mental occasion in a girl’s life, and the duty of booking that party is the responsibility of the bride’s closest friends, or family – the bridesmaids.

The Newgrange and Ardboyne Hotels are the answer to all hens’ prayers. Situated only 35 minutes from Dublin in the heart of Navan, they take all of the hassle out of organising hen par-ties by offering a host of all-inclusive hen party

packages.From a simple night

out on the tiles with din-ner, drinks, live music and fabulous nightclubs to dance the night away, to more adventurous hen party packages (including go-karting and paintball-ing at The Zone Activity Centre, to a day on a farm making bread, milking cows, bog jumping and ceili dancing at Causey Farm), the hotels are sure to have a package to suit any type of hen party.

Another important factor when choosing a destination and activity for a hen party is price, and the Newgrange and Ardboyne hotels have put together a variety of pack-ages to suit all budgets.

All of the hen party packages can be viewed at www.ardboynehotel.com, or at www.new-grangehotel.ie, or contact hen party organiser, Kate, by emailing [email protected], or tel-ephone 087 950 5974.

Navan nights out

l 2 0 1 3 ’ S TRENDS ARE FOR STRONG ST Y L ES l

Dress to dazzle for your big day� SUSAN CRADDOCK

The Courtyard for Brides

CLOSE your eyes, and think – what type of bride are you? Romantic? High fashion? Holly-wood glamour? Vintage? Boho? Or simply con-fused?

Every new wedding season brings a new trend. The key to not regret-ting your photographs 20 years down the line is incorporating this trend without it taking over.

One big trend we are seeing this year is convert-ible dresses – a very clever take on the two-dress movement.

With celebrities these days having at least

one change, if not two, throughout the course of their day, demand for that second dress is high.

Realistically, it’s not always possible to have a second dress, so what we are seeing are dresses with trains, or extra features, which can be removed.

Clever, if this appeals to you, but if you have found your dream dress, chances are you won’t want to take off any of it!

Peplums offer a high fashion escape this sea-son. This is an excellent way to inject your dress with a dose of Haute – don’t fear about added volume around the hip. This look can be fantastic at creating a waist on boy-

ish or curvy figures. The back is back, but

softer – gone is the bare back of 2012 and, in its place, is lace (or sheer tulle, or spectacular key-hole closings). This softer, more seductive silhouette is easier to wear and far more romantic.

Colour, and how brave are you? Colour is of the hottest trends coming off the New York runway this year. We are not talking just a pop of colour, either – we are talking full-on reds, black, etc, and big, bold prints. This is defi-nitely not for the faint-hearted.

So, now you are armed with the new looks for 2013. Best of luck!

Caroline Castigliano wedding dresses exclusively available at The Courtyard for Brides,

St Olave’s Business Centre, Kinsealy, telephone 01 803 8152

Such stunning wedding dresses are available from Belleza Bridal, Palmerstown

Shopping Centre, Dublin 20; telephone 01 643 4802; www.bellezabridalwear.ie


l H AV E F UN W I TH PHOTOGR APHY AND CRE ATE A MORE P ERSONAL WEDD ING l

� ELLEN COONEY

WITH thousands of new options and ideas being beamed into our homes every day from the inter-net and dedicated wed-ding television chan-nels, Irish weddings are steadily becoming more polished and more per-sonal.

One of the more recent trends hitting the Irish scene is that of engage-ment photo shoots – a fun, fashion-style photo shoot of an engaged cou-ple, where they have a chance to express their personalities and have their affection for each other captured in art.

Combining the chance to get to know your photographer with the opportunity to take a relaxed, fun portrait, this

hot new trend is sure to become the next big thing.

People can use their recently taken shots to decorate wedding sta-tionery, such as photo wedding invitations, or create contemporary table numbers.

These shoots can be tailor-made to each cou-ple, as they usually take place on location, and there is no specific dress code.

Most photographers offering this new service are also wedding photog-raphers, and the engage-ment shoot can be a great time to get to know them. You can ensure that you can work with them, and that their style of pho-tography is exactly what you’re looking for.

It’s a huge benefit to

An engaging trend that’s just a click away


have this chance before your wedding day, as, if it doesn’t work out, you always have the chance to find someone who will work better with your tastes.

On the other hand, you may find out that you instantly click with your photographer, and this can instil confidence and alleviate one worry for the big day.

Even if you have already chosen your pho-tographer, an engagement shoot can allow you time to get to know them, and develop a sense of com-fort working together.

Professional photogra-pher Denise Cannon says: “I love getting to know a couple during an engage-ment shoot; the couples are so much more relaxed and trust me when I want

to be creative or silly.”One thing many cou-

ples want out of their wedding day is a beauti-ful portrait, but the stress of the day can make them strained or rushed. An engagement shoot is the perfect way to obtain the same result with half the hassle.

The biggest advantage is the freedom of both the couple and the photog-rapher to express them-selves fully.

There is also the chance to create glam-orous, styled shots that there would never be enough time for on the

big day. Another bonus is that there are no expec-tations from family or friends about what the photos should look like.

Of course, the most important thing about an engagement shoot is that you and your part-ner have fun doing it, and get a chance to relax and enjoy some time together ahead of the big day.

For more on this service, contact award-winning wedding and portrait photographer, Denise Cannon (LIPPA, LBPPA, LMPA) at 01 802 1100; see www.design-worksphoto.com.

This DesignWorks Photography shot highlights a growing

trend for Irish couples – a lovely engagement photo shoot



l CHO ICE WITH THE WATERSIDE HOUSE HOTEL l

� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

A NEW market is boom-ing in Ireland as many couples are electing to have civil ceremonies rather than the traditional church wedding.

In 2011, 19% of all cou-ples in Ireland married in a civil ceremony, and this number is expected to rise this year, due to the increased popular-ity of civil ceremonies, as well as the growing trend of civil partnerships for same-sex couples.

The popularity of church weddings may be declining, due to the greater convenience and choice a secular ceremo-ny offers today.

There is no longer any need to split your wedding day between two different

venues, such as a church and a reception area or hotel.

There is also more scope to be creative and even flamboyant in your style of ceremony, and this makes the whole day more individualised.

From the music to the decorations and even the vows, a civil ceremony can bear the distinctive stamp of the couple involved.

The Waterside House Hotel in Donabate hosts outdoor civil ceremonies on the beach, or on their sea-view terrace.

Jessica Collins, wed-ding co-ordinator at The Waterside House Hotel, Donabate, said: “With no pre-marital course required, and more crea-tive control over the cer-emony itself, we have seen a spike in the demand for

civil ceremonies.”Registrars, who assume

the traditionally held role of the priest in civil ceremonies, are either assigned by the HSE, or can be an independent registrar, approved by the HSE.

The main difference between these two options are that HSE-assigned registrars must perform the ceremony indoors, whereas independent registrars can perform outdoor ceremonies, as well as indoor ones.

If you would like to learn more about the various options available, including costs and relat-ed paperwork, you can contact Jessica Collins at The Waterside House Hotel at 01 843 6153, or email her with any que-ries at Jessica@waterside-

The civil option

The Waterside House Hotel, Donabate, offers a wonderful beachside setting choice for civil ceremonies


Improving your DIY both inside and out

Lighting and heating are important things to consider when you’re renovating your garden

WITH the summery smell of freshly-cut grass in the air and the waft of paint under our noses, the gardening and DIY season is well and truly underway, as homeowners are taking advantage of the warm-er weather to smarten up their homes, both inside and out.

If you have joined the ranks of the self-improvers , and are currently carrying out home improvements, or preparing to host a styl-ish garden party — big or small — then here are some tips and advice on how to get the most out of your activities in the DIY domain.

Hire, don’t buyYou will be amazed

at how low equipment hire costs are at the moment. Since the recession hit in 2008 there has been a huge

reduction in hire rates, in some instances of up to 50%. Hiring means you’re not paying a for-tune for equipment you will only use a couple of times a year.

DIY is not a walk in the park

You wil l have to give it ample time and effort. There is plenty of equipment out there that makes DIY acces-sible to everyone, but DIY can be hard work. You still need to put your back into it to get results.

Fancy al-frescoIf you’re hosting a

summer garden-party or barbecue, look into a stylish party tent and, maybe, a patio heater. Al fresco wining and dining in Ireland requires us to make more than a few pro-visions regarding the

weather, so make sure your guests are toasty whatever the weather. Tornados excepted.

Make sure your gar-den is tip-top

L a w n s - m o w e d , hedges trimmed, flower beds blooming, weeds pulled, and crucially make sure your patio is smooth and hazard-free. You don’t want any heels getting caught in a nasty crack. A few sim-ple DIY jobs in the gar-den can really brighten the place up.

Don’t forget lightingThe evenings are

long but why not set the mood with a few outdoor lamps and lan-terns. Festoon lights are versatile and easy to set up. And many come with energy effi-cient LED bulbs so your ‘green’ credentials are intact. For smaller

parties, extension leads will do, but for all-sing-ing all-dancing affairs, you might need a gen-erator.

It might be a garden party

But you will always find them in the kitchen at parties. And trips to the bathroom will inev-itably lead to a quick snoop around inside. So freshen up the car-pets, steam clean your tiles and enamelled surfaces and why not take the opportunity to repaint or wallpaper?

Your home should shine inside and out.

Ask the experts Plenty of DIY and

gardening equipment suppliers now offer expert free advice and even on-site calls by appointment. So bring in the big-guns, you’re worth it.

For general advice and more information on hiring equipment, con-tact HSS Hire. You can find your local branch by searching on www.hss.com.

DIY AND GARDENING: A SMALL GUIDE TO TACKLING THE BIG JOBS

GazettePROPERTYPROPERTY gazette group

ww

w.

All of your latest local news, sport, features and

pictures are now just a click away


Carol king of the up- and-coming talents

Orla Sheridan, consumer channels group manager at Microsoft, with competition winner, Carol Keogh, and

Ciaran Bollard, CEO at MUZU TV

� ELLEN COONEY

MONKSTOWN resi-dent Carol Keogh has scooped the top prize in a competition to find Ireland’s best unsigned act.

The Unsigned and Online contest, which was organised by Micro-soft and MUZU TV in association with IMRO, ran for ten weeks, and aimed to promote inde-pendent Irish music in a digital age.

Both companies col-laborated to challenge musicians to promote their material using vari-ous Microsoft products and digital material.

This forward-thinking approach saw bands and artists from across the nation accumulate nearly 100,000 views on YouTube as they bat-tled it out to win points online and vie for the Number 1 spot.

Carol Keogh’s song beat stiff competition to claim top place. and the young singer-songwriter walks away with a prize worth over €10,000.

Carol said: “The tim-

ing is fantastic as I’m currently working on my debut album as a solo artist. Advance orders are going to go live in the next few weeks and the win has really broad-ened my reach.”

With technology con-stantly moving forward, it is ever important for musicians and artists to

INTERVIEW: LOCAL SINGER WINS ONLINE COMPETITION

harness the power of the online movement both for the promotion, and the production of music and videos.

New tools allow inde-pendent acts to produce material at a fraction of the cost, and to promote themselves effectively and to a large audience, without the need for

backing from a major label.

On the subject of dig-ital media as the future, Keogh said: “It’s the present. There’s no way around it. It has its pros and cons but the main advantage to it is that you can reach people. It’s non-denominational and crosses all borders and boundaries.”

The prize consists of a digital marketing cam-paign across Microsoft platforms, an acous-tic session in MUZU TV’s studio and a slot on stage at an upcom-ing gig at Dublin’s The Academy.

Carol’s chance to per-form on one of Dublin’s most popular stages with her backing band The City Fathers comes after more than a decade of hard work and patience in a difficult industry.

The local singer/song-writer has been working in the music scene for years, writing, perform-ing and recording with various bands. However

she has been perform-ing as a solo artist since 2008 with her forthcom-ing debut album cur-rently in production.

She has previously released two albums with The Plague Mon-keys in the late 90s and she was nominated for Best Female Singer at the 2002 Meteor Awards while performing with The Tycho Brahe.

Orla Sheridan, con-sumer channels group manager at Microsoft said: “‘Into the Blue’ is a really great song. Carol has shown a real deter-mination throughout her music career and the win will give her added exposure to help with her continued success.”

Carol expects that her debut album will be completed by Septem-ber and hopes that it will be ready for release in time for Christmas. In the meantime her win-ning song and all other entries can be viewed at http://www.muzu.tv/unsignedandonline/

AFTER last week’s so-called Murder on the Gdansk Floor, our Euro 2012 dreams have been dashed, the current weather would be more suited to the time of year when we drag trees into our homes, and I’m not going to even mention the word “bailout”.

But no matter what happens in our lives, there are some things that remain constant: and music is one of them.

In fact, if anything the recession has drawn more artists out of the woodwork in what we can only assume in some cases is to raise some much-needed funds. Well, how else do you pay for the garage full of cars?

There have been more “anniversary edi-tions” of albums and groups reforming of late than you can shake a drum stick at.

But I’m not complaining! Many of us never thought we’d see the day when David Lee Roth would sing with Van Halen again, or The Stone Roses doing another tour.

And it’s great to see a charity working here in Ireland that is encouraging the next gen-eration of musicians.

The Musical Youth Foundation uses dona-tions to buy instruments for children who wouldn’t be able to get them otherwise.

And the charity boasts some really innova-tive ways of fundraising: including accepting your old or broken instruments which they pass on to artists who create once-off pieces of work which are sold to benefit the char-ity.

Be sure to check out its exhibition running at the top floor of St Stephen’s Green Shop-ping Centre in Dublin before it ends this Sun-day, June 24.

It’s the world’s first Instrumental Art Exhi-bition and admission is free.

Find out more information at www.musi-calyouthfoundation.org.

I wonder if they take old vuvuzelas?

FastTunes with Radio Nova’s Dee Woods

GazetteMUSICMUSIC

Carol Keogh ponders her digital future in the music business


GazetteTTRAVELRAVELFastTravel

GOLF: SHOWCASING THE FANTASTIC FACILITIES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

� NATALIE BURKE

THE NORTHERN Irish Coast is the place to be this June, with a star

studded line-up already on course for this year’s Irish Open Pro-Am, due to take place at the Royal Portrush Golf Club next week.

Principal sponsor of the Irish Open, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), has revealed that a host of Hollywood stars and names linked to the entertainment and sport world are set to take part in the eagerly antici-pated golf competition, which will take place on Wednesday, June 27.

Lost in Translation and Ghostbusters star Bill Murray will make an appearance at the prestig-ious event along with his brother, Joel, star of the newly-released God Bless America and well-known for his roles in The Art-ist and hit TV series Mad Men.

Irish-American actor Aidan Quinn, former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating and Northern Irish football legends Martin O’Neill and Pat Jennings are also expect-ed to compete along-side rugby stars Andrew Trimble and David Hum-phreys, while former jockey and National Hunt trainer Tom Taaffe has also accepted an invita-

Stars set to tee up at the Irish Open

The Royal Portrush Golf Club will host this year’s Irish Open Pro-Am

The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge is just one of many

attractions

tion to play on the famous Portrush course.

Chief executive of NITB, Alan Clarke, is looking forward to show-ing the high profile visitors the many sights Northern Ireland has to offer during their visit to what promis-es to be one of the largest events on the 2012 tour-ism calendar.

“The Irish Open is a fantastic opportunity for those involved in local tourism and sport to showcase our fantastic facilities here in Northern Ireland and the quality of the event is reflected in the attendance of such high-profile guests from sport and screen.

“Their attendance will further raise the profile of Northern Ireland golf as an exciting and fast devel-

Enjoy a great night at the drive-in moviesFOTA Island Hotel and Spa has paired up with Movie Junction to offer you a night at the drive-in movies and a luxurious overnight stay at the hotel.

Movie Junction is one of only two drive-in cinemas in Europe and is located in Carrigt-wohill, close to the Fota Island Resort.

The offer includes an overnight Movie Junction package at Fota Island Hotel, with complimentary cinema tickets to the nearby drive-in.

You just drive to Movie Junction, tune in your radio to the dedicated soundtrack chan-nel and watch the movie on the massive 10 x 20m screen.

If you’re feeling peckish during the flick, you can even flash your headlights and have pizza and popcorn delivered to the driver’s seat.

Make a real childhood dream come true by watching a movie on the big screen in an authentic drive-in movie theatre.

When the movie is over, you can simply drive back to the beautiful Fota Island Resort where you can relax, and unwind with a vari-ety of treatments in the spa.

You’ll feel even more like a movie star by the end of the night.

Overnight Movie Junction packages at Fota Island Resort cost from €134 per room including breakfast.

Edited by

Mimi Murray

oping destination.“We have a full pro-

gramme of activity planned for these guests to make sure that their trip is a memorable one and many will be staying on to enjoy the tournament, see other parts of North-ern Ireland and sample a variety of golf courses.

“With our three home grown major golf champi-ons, a world class course and a fantastic line-up competing for the prize, it’s really no surprise that this event has captured the imagination of celeb-rities and public alike,” he added.

Situated on the North Antrim coast, the Royal Portrush Golf Club occu-pies a triangle of giant sandhills with magnificent views in all directions.

When not hitting a hole in one, visitors can brave the thrilling rides at Bar-ry’s Amusements, a Por-trush institution, take the nearby Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge challenge across to Carrick Island, chill out at one of the North Coast’s Blue Flag beaches, visit Ireland’s oldest working distillery at Bushmills or explore the awe-inspiring landscape

of the Giant’s Causeway. With the Irish Open

just over a week away, the European Tour is expecting the event to be a sell-out with a crowd of 100,000 expected over the four days from Thursday, June 28, to Sunday July 1, but according to NITB’s Alan Clarke, it’s not too late to catch Rory McIlroy and company in action.

“Tickets have been sell-ing like hot cakes since going on sale,” said Alan, “but although Saturday

and Sunday are pretty much sold out, there is still some availability for Thursday and Friday’s play with a variety of accommodation and package options still up for grabs”.

For more informa-tion on accommodation offers for the Irish Open as well as details on all of Northern Ireland’s golf courses and other events, visit www.discovernorth-ernireland.com or call save 1850 230 230.

Call our NEWS TEAM on 60 10 240 or

email [email protected]

GOT A STORY?


Till kingdom comesThe veteran cast look on in despair as they get out acted by 12-year-olds

GoingOUT

GazetteENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

Anderson proves once again that if you want a quirky film then he is the only man wacky enough for the job

�

� NIALL BERMINGHAM

IF YOU’RE familiar with Wes Anderson then you probably know what to expect with this quirky little tale. However if you are a total newcomer to his films, then Moonrise Kingdom does have enough charm and genu-ine good natured fun in it to warm even the coldest of hearts.

Anderson’s latest live action film since 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited; this offering shows that the auteur hasn’t changed a bit, and I for one say thank god. The break in live action seems to have revitalised Anderson and given him a new found vim for the medium.

With sweeping shots and inch perfect framing, the composition of the film is amazing. Add to it the fantastic dialogue, the hilarious character inter-action and the superb use of music, the film is just a delight to experience.

Set in 1965 and placed on the fictional island of New Penzance, the story follows two young lov-ers who go on the run to escape the troubles that come with being 12 years old, mixed with the kind of bittersweet drama that Anderson loves to inflict on his characters.

Sam (Jared Gilman) is an unpopular Khaki Scout who meets Suzy (Kara Hayward) while at a church play (with a sur-prisingly high production value).

The two instantly hit it off and swap addresses to keep in touch by post (the film is set in the six-

ties after all). After a year they plot to run away together so they can live out their own lives free from the hassle of their oh-so complicated and unbearable lives.

Their running away causes an island wide man hunt, which is led brilliantly by Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) and Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton). Working together Cap-tain Sharp and Scout Master Ward gather the rest of Sam’s Scout troop, and Suzy’s parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) to find the young lovers.

Most of the manhunt is shown from the perspec-tive of the two runaways and uses the film’s best asset to absolute perfec-tion: the island back-ground. Filmed around Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, the loca-tions are just fantastic and are filmed meticu-lously with tremendous loving care.

Along the way we are introduced to many dif-ferent characters with some superb casting behind them all. The likes of Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton and Bob Balaban have small roles but each pulls off star performances worthy of recognition.

Add them to the names already in the cast (Wil-lis, Norton, and Murray) and you’d think it would be easy for the two new-comers to get lost or over-whelmed.

This is not the case though. As he did previ-

ously in Rushmore with Jason Schwartzman, Anderson takes relative beginners in Gilman and Hayward, places them in leading roles and achieves brilliant results. These two definitely have a bright future ahead of them in acting, if they desire to follow it.

The only problem to find with the film is that some of the cast mem-bers are under used. Not a huge fault but a fault none the less. I suppose it’s a compliment to say that I liked the characters so much that I wanted to see more of them.

Chosen as the opening film of this year’s Cannes film festival, Moonrise Kingdom received a very limited release. At time of printing there are very few cinemas still showing this film in Dublin but if you get a chance to see it then go for it.

You will be in for a very whimsical and very quirky treat.

FILM OF THE WEEK: Moonrise Kingdom�� (12A) 94 mins

OUR VERDICT:A DELIGHTFUL piece about young love, hidden love and finding out who you are whatever age you may be. The cast shines and the setting provides the story with an exceptional life that is 100% Wes Anderson. Mixing drama with comedy with ease this is a film that will have something for everybody.

Director: Wes AndersonStarring: Jared Gillman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman

THE PAVILION THEATRE 01 231 2929Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill

TOGETHER they have garnered international renown for taking traditional music to the very edge of the genre, holding listeners spellbound. Martin Hayes has been an All-Ireland fiddle champion six times over; he was awarded the prestigious 2008 Musician of the Year award from Ireland’s Irish language television TG4. Dennis Cahill is a master guitarist, whose innovative accompaniment is acknowledged as being a major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition. For one show only, June 26 at 8pm, tickets are priced at €22/20.

MILL THEATRE 01 296 9340 Finghin Collins

ONE of Ireland’s most successful musicians, Dubliner Finghin Collins was born in 1977 and studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O’Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. Winner of the RTÉ Musician of the Future Competition in 1994 and the Classical Category at the National Entertainment Awards in 1998, he went on to achieve major international success by taking first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1999. Since then he has developed a flourishing international career that takes him all the world. June 27 at 8pm. Admission: €20.

CIVIC THEATRE 01 462 7477The Legend of Luke Kelly

HAVING just returned from an 11 date tour of Germany with folk legends, The Dubliners’, Chris Kavanagh will bring his acclaimed Legend of Luke Kelly Show back to the Civic theatre. Lead singer Chris bears a remarkable resemblance to Luke while his singing talent captures the depth and passion of the great man. He is joined onstage by the accomplished musicians that make up The Patriots. Friday, June 22 at 8pm. Admission: €15.

DRAIOCHT 01 885 2622Niamh Kavanagh and her band

NIAMH’S back with her brilliant blend of rock, soul, r&b, Eurovision hits, tracks from her successful albums and her own favorites with that amazing voice Commitments’ director Alan Parker ‘‘had to have’’. Described as the ‘‘Rolls Royce’’ of Irish singers, Niamh Kavanagh represented Ireland at the Eurovision twice. Catch her on June 30 with tickets €20/€16.

GazetteGAMINGGAMING

� SHANE DILLON

LACKING a time travel machine, I’m unable to confirm the results of a top secret (well, more or less) Microsoft event from earlier this week, at which it was expected that the company would launch its own branded Microsoft tablet, run-ning a fancy-shmancy mobile version of Win-dows.

At the time of writ-ing, rumours were well and truly rife among the chattering gossips of the technology industry, as they grabbed cups of tea, leaned over back garden walls, and speculated on the mysterious Los Ange-les event invites sent out to many key journalists, which lacked even ave-nue.

However, the chit-chattering industry gos-sips/speculators were expecting a Microsoft

tablet to be unveiled, which, indeed, has sure-ly been on the cards for some time.

After all, Apple’s been slowly but surely march-ing across the comput-ing landscape over the past few years; a stealthy invasion which has seen its iEverything gadgets seize a significant part of the mobile phone market, as well as entic-ing millions of people to swear allegiance to Apple’s tech, rather than to the humble PC, where Microsoft’s software has mass dominance.

The fact that I’ve cre-ated and submitted sev-eral articles using my iSomething, rather than through trusty old Word, is proof enough of that wavering allegiance.

And so, although Microsoft is still largely identifiable as a soft-ware company, despite its hardware divisions

(such as its somewhat profitable Xbox 360 wing and related divisions, for example), it needs to rollout some big guns to tackle Apple – and fast.

Not only Apple, mind you, as Google, and a number of smaller play-ers, have also made inroads into traditional Microsoft territories, with everything from standard word process-ing to 3D modelling to Cloud backup services available, “free”, via other platforms than a paid-for Microsoft platform.

AvailabilityA cursory glance at

business pages in the past few years has shown how PC sales are signifi-cantly slowing; the vari-ety of reasons for this suggests everything from the natural plateauing of availability to mass pen-etration of the markets to the recession to there

being an R in the month to – well, you name it, but sales have definitely slowed down and, with them, the required soft-ware, as provided largely (but not exclusively) by Microsoft.

At this juncture, a Win-dows tablet would make sense, given the interest that a rejigged Windows 8 OS could bring to such a mobile gadget, and assuming that a wealth of content would be available.

After all, whatever about the approximately 17.8 billion people play-ing Angry Birds on the hoof, the rise of Apple’s iPad has, at least, shown that there’s a very real, and substantial, mar-ket for a wide variety of useful, and creative, computing Apps in a rejigged, modern tablet format, freed from the dull-as-porridge presen-tation that earlier hand-

held tablets long suffered from.

And so, whether or not I’ve egg on my face at the time of your reading this – for all I know, the press event was a deeper look at its upcoming, interest-ing SmartGlass content enhancement/delivery system – the need for Microsoft generals to straighten their hats, muster the troops and roll out some big guns in the fight for market share grows stronger by the day.

Giant that it is, and as powerful as the compa-ny is, it would be foolish indeed to continue los-ing ground to its old rival – and on a “new” battle front, as well!

Certainly, if Microsoft doesn’t tackle Apple’s tablets soon, it’ll be well and truly pipped at the post. Now, where can I get a time travel machine?

Given Microsoft’s need to (at least) stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Apple in the tablet sector – and soon – it’s increasingly likely that

tech-loving shoppers will soon be able to trek off to shops to Spoc - sorry, shop around for a Microsoft tablet to rival Apple’s. After all, that

would be a logical business decision for the enterprising company to make, and there’s enough market space for both ... Illustration: Shane Dillon

A NimbleBit of gaming pleasureTHINK there’s room for another Irish airline mogul? Want to run your own fleet of pretty, petite planes, called something like, oh, say, Flyin’ Air? Then Pocket Planes (IOS-driven) is for you!

It’s another charm-ing title from Nim-bleBit, with cutesy, heavily pixel art-led graphics; repetitive and seemingly sim-plistic gameplay – and the ability to suck hours from your life.

And best of all, it’s free, for your iPad, iPhone or iTouch – or all three!

As the title suggests, you run your own airline, starting at one of a number of base areas around the world, eg Europe, or Japan, and so on.

From there, you run your initial, very limited and basic fleet of planes – little better than cropdusters, truth be told – around the area, shipping passengers and cargo, gradually unlocking other airports, better planes, plane parts, and so on.

And repeat, hour after hour, day after day, as you, and Flyin’ Air (or whatever) gradually expand to become the world’s number-one airline (after you’ve finished dressing your pilots as, say, Ghosts, Ninjas or Pirates, of course), ready to fly emergency sup-plies of trampolines. Pocket Pocket Planes, pronto.

Bytesandpieces

There’s enough space for two tablet leaders


LUCANclassifiedsGAZE

TTE

GAZE

TTE

Email us at [email protected]

To advertise, call us now on 01 60 10 240

DENTAL

PET SERVICES


PLUMBING

COMPUTERS

NAILS

HANDYMAN

SOUTH DUBLINCOUNTY COUNCIL

John Ward is applying for Permission for the provi-sion of a new dormer and window to the side of the roof of the house at 46 Liffey Close, Liffey Valley Park, Lucan, Co. Dublin. This application may be inspected or purchased at a fee not exceeding the reasonable cost of making a copy, at the offices of South DublinCounty Council during its public opening hours of 9am - 4pm, Mon-Fri, and a submission or observation may be made to South DublinCounty Council in writ-ing and on payment of the prescribed fee (€20.00) within the period of 5 weeks beginning on the date of receipt by South Dublin County Coun-cil of the application.

PLANNING NOTICE

15864

BUILDING

PLUMBING

BATHROOMS

PAINTING

DVD SERVICES

CARPENTRY

SKIP HIREALARMS

PLUMBING

CARPENTRY

WE

HAVE

135,000*

READERS

EACH

WEEK

ADVERTISE

YOUR YOUR

BUSINESSBUSINESS

TO OUR

READERS

CALL

60 10 240

*based on standard industry

measurements


� [email protected]

SHREDDIES Parks Tennis launched itself into summer last week at Fitzwilliam Lawn Ten-nis Club, announcing details of its coaching programme which will run throughout venues across Dublin for bud-ding players hoping to improve their game.

Parks Tennis is 35 years old this year, having been launched in Dublin in 1977. It has developed into a nationwide coach-

ing programme aimed at boys and girls from six to 17 years of age.

This year, the camps will operate in over 168 venues with over 50 in Dublin alone. 24,000 children participated during the winter and summer programme in 2011, and that number is expected to rise for 2012.

There are midweek and weekend coaching sessions on offer. Month-long courses cost as little as €35 depending on the

location, and equipment is provided within the camp cost.

With tennis now being an Olympic sport and the world-famous Wim-bledon tennis tourna-ment around the corner, tennis is becoming more and more popular among children and teenagers.

One young player Rachel Brady, aged 12, said: “I can’t wait for the summer holidays because it means it’s time for Shreddies Parks Tennis again. It’s really

TENNIS: THOUSANDS OF DUBLIN PLAYERS SET TO TAKE PART IN 35TH YEAR OF EVENT

Alex Kavanagh and Ruth Bourke at the launch of the 2012 Shreddies Parks Tennis programme

Parks life beginsagain for summer coaching classes

good fun and I made lots of new friends last sum-mer.

“My coach, Chris-tine, was really nice and I learnt lots of new things.”

There are 300 quali-

fied tennis coaches involved in Shreddies Parks Tennis this year, so, no matter what level of skill a child might have when they start the pro-gramme, every child will be catered for.

Shreddies’ brand man-ager Jennifer Quinn said: “This fantastic, low-cost programme is the per-fect way to keep kids active during the summer holidays to learn a new sport and Shreddies are

delighted to support such a great programme.”

For more information and to find your nearest Parks Tennis location, log on to www.park-stennis.com, or call 01- 8338711.

GazetteSPORTINTERNATIONAL HIT: INTERNATIONAL HIT: Jiu Jitsu star Moura Jiu Jitsu star Moura makes his mark makes his mark with Irish visit: with Irish visit: Page 29Page 29


GazetteSportSport

Family fun

You couldn’t Esker for a better dayS

ATURDAY June 9 saw Esker Celtic FC take over Hermitage Park for their annual family fun and awards

day. It was a huge success for the club and raised much-needed funds to help in the upkeep of their clubhouse. With bouncy castles, face-painting, a five-a-side competition and a barbecue it turned out to be a sunny day to remem-ber. The team awards were also given out. Esker Celtic is the largest soccer club in Lucan with over 37 teams and more than 600 young people playing at all levels in Dublin schoolboy football.

Face painting was available

for all who wanted it

Everyone involved, from those winning awards to

those enjoying the barbecue, had a brilliant day

The much coveted awards

The gladiator games were fiercely fought

Action from the five-a-side

matches

Some of the award-winning players on the day

All of the award winning players have great

mementos of the day

There was huge competition in

all the matches

A very proud coach and his team

The tricolour was a very

popular face-painting choice

Everyone was able to enjoy the fun and

games


PAUL Fox and his Royal Grappling Academy played host to seven time World Champion and innovator of the sport, Robson “Robinho” Moura, this month when he stopped off in Dublin as part of his European tour of seminars.

One of the f i r s t inductees to the Inter-national Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation’s Hall of Fame, Moura became the first ever graduate of the sport at that level to teach a seminar in Ire-land, with his first stop off being just to “watch” Fox’s class on a sum-mery Wednesday night in Dunboyne.

Sitting quietly in the corner, unless it was pointed out, it would have been hard to know that there was a legend of the sport sit-ting amongst members of one of the country’s newest clubs.

Any doubt that the fellah in the corner was anything other than just a shy relation of one of the regular fighters along for the evening disappeared when Rob-inho jumped up during a technical drill and start-ed showing some sub-

tleties of the art for the students, all the while wearing a pair of jeans and a baseball cap.

His roars of “beautiful” and “nice” encouraged the Academy’s mem-bers as they launched into a session under his tutelage, with the excite-ment and the enjoyment in the class reaching an all time-high.

It was a special treat for Royal Grappling Academy as Moura’s seminars were not due to begin until the next day. The grateful stu-dents can put the spe-cial visit down to the legend’s friendship with head coach, Paul Fox.

Two years have passed since the Irish champion visited Moura in Tampa, Florida. Showing up on his door ready for train-ing, Fox had stayed in the Brazilian’s house and trained with him every day before win-ning the Florida State Championship, and receiving his purple belt from Robinho himself.

Moura’s trip to Ire-land was the Blanchard-stown local’s chance to return the hospital-ity, and Moura began his seminars in Barry Oglesby’s Kyuzo Martial Arts in Glasnevin, where he hosted members of Oglesby’s team, students of Andy Ryan’s from BJJ Revolution, and some of Fox’s apprentices from the Royal Grappling Academy

With the rain pouring down, Robson sat in the back of Fox’s car with his wife with a puzzled look on his face on the way to and from the Glasnevin gym.

Only the day before, on the journey home from his impromptu appearance at Royal Grappling Academy, Moura was very enthusi-astic about the weather.

“I can’t believe it’s still so bright out at 10 o’clock,” said the Bra-zilian as he took a pic-ture of the crimson sky, before sending it on to his thousands of inter-national fans on Twitter.

After the first seminar in Glasnevin, the easy-going champion trav-elled to Limerick to train with Fergal Quinlan’s BJJ Revolution Limerick, then on to Cork to help out at Liam Beechinor’s BJJ Cork and, finally, back up to Dublin where he trained with SBG of the Longmile Road.

As if the weather wasn’t a far enough cry from the roaring heat and sandy beaches of

Moura makes his mark on D15 visit World Champion Jiu Jitsu star Robson Moura was a welcome visitor to Dunboyne last week, and left a big impression, writes PETER CARROLL

World champion Robson Moura at the Royal Grappling Academy

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Robson sent out a great message while he was here - that Jiu Jitsu can knock down barriers and unite a community.’-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FastSport

PREPARATIONS are now complete for the 2012 Dublin Cup, a special water-polo event taking place at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin 15 at the start of July.

The Dublin Cup is a five-nation pre-Ol-ympic tournament with some of the world’s best teams - defending Olympic triple gold medallists Hungary, world bronze medallists Croatia, European silver medallists Montene-gro, Romania and Team GB - all taking part before they head off to London 2012.

Team GB and Romania will stay on after the tournament for training in the NAC.

For more information on the event, see www.dublinwaterpolo2012.com and Dublin Cup Water Polo 2012 on Facebook.

Top-level water-polo teams ready for NAC

Rio, finishing up on the Sunday, Robinho, a life-long fan who was for-merly under the spon-sorship of his beloved Vasco Da Gama FC, had the unique experience of watching the Repub-lic of Ireland play soccer for 90 minutes.

Paul Fox caught up with GazetteSport to share his thoughts on a big week for Irish BJJ and the Royal Grappling Academy.

“I’ve always wanted to have Robson over because he’s a seven time World Champion, a Hall of Famer and he’s also one of the most innovative and creative fighters that’s ever been on the mats.

“All of the gyms that he appeared in had great things to say about his technical ability and his movement. If he didn’t roll (spar) in a seminar he did a Q & A and when he did, a lot of people were blown away that he could answer their questions so quickly and precisely,” said Fox.

“Moura sent out a great message in the short period of time that he was here – Jiu Jitsu knocks down barriers, it’s a great way of meet-ing people and he really brought the whole com-munity together while he was over.”

For information on up-coming seminars and training enquiries, log on to royalgrapplingacad-emy.com

New Olympic

pool launches

at UCDA NEW world-class sporting facility at UCD, featuring an Olympic-sized pool, will open its doors to the public next Mon-day, June 25.

Situated in Belf-ield, the facility will offer a state-of-the-art, ten-lane, 50m swimming pool, one of only a handful in Ireland, and is open to children taking part in the just-launched UCD Sport and Fitness Learn to Swim summer pro-gramme which runs in July and August.

A full suite of chil-dren’s swimming lessons will be avail-able from September. In line with the high standards through-out the facility, all

swimming lessons will be provided by experienced and qualified teachers. The facility is also available to students past and present, staff and the general public.

Current UCD Sci-ence student and new pool user, former Irish Olympian at Beijing 2008, Aisling Cooney, said: “It’s exciting to see young children learning to swim here at UCD and hopefully some of them will grow up to be our next Olympians in years to come.”

For more informa-tion on the children’s Learn To Swim sum-mer programme, the September children’s lessons, or becoming a member contact UCD Sport and Fit-ness on 01 716 3800 or email [email protected].


St John claim Dublin Schools soccer titleST JOHN the Evangelist School’s soccer team recorded a fine victory in the Dublin Schools’ Soccer Final last week when they defeated St Patrick’s of Ringsend 2-1 to claim the title.

The Adamstown boys started well but were caught on the break in the ninth minute when the Ringsend striker latched onto a long ball and calmly finished to take the lead.

With Dami Oluwafemi asserting his author-ity in midfield and Christopher Akpaloo and Oneill Alli looking sharp up front, Adamstown created a number of chances but they were denied by some last-ditch defending and some good goalkeeping

Along the way, Khalid Shitta-bey and Isaac Amujo came to grips with the long ball tac-tic of the opposition and Adamstown began to dominate territory and possession, but the vital breakthrough eluded them.

Early on in the second half the two full backs, Kieran Asare and Emmanuel Fakoyede, were strong in possession, and Patrick Akpoveta and Stephen Adebowale were caus-ing difficulty for the opposition.

Ten minutes in and Adamstown were award-ed a free kick 30 metres out. A beautiful strike from Millenic Alli saw him place the ball in the top corner of the net for the equaliser.

Spurred on by this, Adamstown went all out for the win. Stephen Adebowale, Oneill Alli, Patrick Akpoveta, Christopher Akpaloo and Millenic Alli all came close but were denied by a combination of good defending and bad luck.

With only four minutes remaining Ringsend created their only real chance in the second half and it took a top class save from Aru-nas Bandarenka to keep the teams on level terms.

From the ensuing corner Millenic Alli won the ball in the air and his headed clearance led to Christopher Akpaloo breaking away and winning a corner at the other end.

A good delivery from Millenic Alli caused chaos in the Ringsend defence and Isaac Amujo strolled in at the back post to slot home the winner.

There were joyous scenes as the cup was presented to team captain, Millenic Alli.

It has been a remarkable season for the Adamstown boys who, playing in the competi-tion for the first time and unbeaten in topping the league section.

Batting for Adamstown: Weekend of success for CCADAMSTOWN Cricket Club’s top teams made it two out of two last weekend, with the first XI routing table-toppers Mullingar 2, and the second XI qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Minor Cup beating Ring Commons firsts. The first XI hit 278 runs in their 40 overs, with Captain Kamil Mahajan scoring the first-ever century for the club, making 112 runs. Mullingar2 could make 106 runs only, giving Adamstown1 all the 25 points in their LCU Division 9 clash.

GazetteSportSportFastSport


BEFORE a packed crowd at Barnhal l Rugby Club last week, the recently formed Esker Amateur Boxing Club hosted its inaugu-ral club show.

With Edenderry BC, St Saviour’s OBA, The Borough BC and The Curragh BC participat-ing in the event, the show promised much and did not disappoint with the calibre of the young boxers from the array of clubs on display.

Esker ABC, who only formed in April of this year, had over 20 male and female boxers com-

peting on the night. There were a number

of outstanding bouts, and Esker were proud of the successes that their boxers attained, irre-spective of the actual result of the bouts they took part in.

14 -year-old Chris Roman bustled his way to victory over Kata-zan Kiode of St Sav-iour’s OBA to open the evening.

Evan Walker, who faced The Curragh BC’s Gerry Casey, the broth-er of Willie “Big Bang” Casey, was unlucky to come up just short in this hard-fought bout.

Alanna Riordan, Tay-

lor Brady and Char-maine Reilly showed that the Esker girls are equally skilled in the ring, and they all per-formed well in exhibi-tions.

The bout of the night was the battle between 13-year-olds Dylan Reil-ly from Esker and Craig Mangan of Edenderry.

Mangan took the first round well, but Reilly’s fitness began to tell, and he landed hook after jab after cross over the next two pulsating rounds, and the crowd were on their feet when Reilly’s hand was raised in vic-tory.

Both boxers subse-

quently won best home and away boxer awards at the end of the night.

Also boxing on the night were Ryan and Luke Wilson, War-ren and Dean Keating, Dwayne Ward, Conor and Nathan Horrigan, Hughie and John Nevin, Mathieu Zamarlo, Scott Brady and George Morga.

A special presenta-tion was made to Dylan Ward, who fought in an exhibition bout on the night, and was then presented with a framed certificate by Jim Mur-rin of Edenderry BC and president of the Leinster Council for boxing for

Dublin last May. A brilliant night was

had by all, and the club wish to thank all the local businesses who kindly donated prizes for a raffle on the night, as well as the great support that was shown by local boxing fans and the staff at Barnhall who helped set up the night.

Local councillor and a big supporter of the club, William Lavelle, was also on hand to present trophies and Esker ABC wish to offer their thanks.

For more information on the club, contact Ed on 085 748 0207 or Mar-tin at 085 179 4531.

Esker BC begins at BarnhallEsker Amateur Boxing Club’s Chris Roman gets the decision in his bout against Katazan Kiode from St Saviour’s at Barnhall last week

BOXING: LOCAL CLUB HOLD INAUGURAL EVENT AT RUGBY CLUB


CLUB NOTICEBOARD

OUR Clubhouse is 10 years old this

month and, to mark the occasion,

club president Mick Molloy is hosting

a mid-summer Barn Dance on Satur-

day, June 30. This will be an open-air

event (weather permitting), with live

music, dancing, bar facilities, finger

food and open fires in a traditional

outdoor country style. It promises to

be a great club night and tickets are

available from the bar or any social

committee member at just €5.

Lucan Sarsfields’ family sponsored

cycle takes place on Saturday, June

30 at 2.30pm.

All are welcome to take part, and

sponsorship cards can be collected

from bar or from website in the down-

load menu. The cycle itself is from 12th

Lock to 3rd Lock via Grand Canal Cycle-

way. The event is being sponsored by

Stagg’s Cycles in Lucan Village. If any-

one has any queries, please contact

Garry Beagan on 085 174 3646.

The second volume of our camogie

newsletter is now available in the

downloads section of our website.

This year’s golf classic will be held

on Friday, July 20 at Lucan Golf Club,

and we are hoping to have another

great day. To ensure the success of

this venture we need the support of

all club members. As an incentive, we

are running an additional competi-

tion only open to teams representing

a club team with a winners’ prize of a

€500 sports voucher for the club team

they represent.

The cost of a team of three is €180

for a morning tee time and €240 for an

afternoon time. For further details,

contact any committee member .

You can now register for our sum-

mer camps on our website, www.

lucansarsfields.ie. The cost this year

is €55. Any queries can be directed to

Lisa Tuite 086 377 4887 or Catherine

Hayes 087 640 9701.

LUCAN SARSFIELDS

WESTMANSTOWN GAELSWELL done to our the intermedi-

ates who had a good win over Bal-

lymun Kickhams at Russell Park in

the championship last Saturday

evening, coming out on top on a

score of 1-7 to 0-3.

No luck for our junior teams with

junior 1s losing out to Cuala, and

junior 2s going down to Raheny.

Quiet week next week with just

Junior 2s in action in the league.

Tr a in ing con t inue s at usual

times. The ladies have a cup fix-

ture against St Margaret’s on

Friday evening at Westmanstown

at 7.30pm, with training every

Wednesday at 7.30pm. For the lat-

est information, visit www.garda-

gaa.ie.

U-8 hurling against Good Counsel

was cancelled but the U-10 football-

ers beat St James’ Gaels in a friend-

ly. Tickets for Dublin v Wexford on

July 1 can be ordered at www.west-

manstowngaels.ie.

Tickets are being distributed

for the annual €1,000 Buster Draw

which takes place on Saturday,

June 30.

The Family Fun Day takes place on

the same day from 2pm onwards.

The Gaels Cul Camp takes place from

July 9 to 13. You can register online

at www.westmanstowngaels.ie.

Follow GazetteSport on Facebook and Twitter and online at www.gazettegroup.com

AISLING MCGING S/FDublin 2-6

Cork 1-7


THE Dublin ladies’ devel-opment seniors side over-came a tough test from their equivalent compe-titiors, Cork, overcoming the reigning champions 2-6 to 1-7 in the Ashling McGing semi-final last weekend in Glanworth, Co Cork, and will now face the might of Kerry in the final.

In the early stages, Cork looked sharp at the back, their defence shut-ting down three Dub-lin attacks in the early encounters of the match.

After having one of their own offensive moves repelled by a resilient Jackies’ back line, Cork made sure with their sec-ond attempt, notching a goal on the scoreboard at the five-minute mark.

Dublin’s reply came about through some fan-tastic flowing movement, with nearly all 15 bodies

on the pitch being used before the ball found the hands of Hannah Tyrell.

In an amazing effort, Tyrell carried the ball from the 45, leaving Cork tacklers in her wake as she stormed toward the opposition goal and net-ted with consummate ease.

With the equalising goal in place, the back lines both stiffened once again, with Cork and Dublin both turning over possession on a number of occasions in a nip and tuck affair.

Every point that the Jackies put over was quickly answered by the Rebels, and the game was still very much in the balance when the half-time whistle blew, with the score at a nail-biting 1-3 to 1-2 in favour of Pat Stritch’s Dublin ladies’ side.

Cork came out with the bit between their teeth in the second half and quickly put themselves back amongst the points,

levelling the scores at 1-3 apiece.

The s ides traded points, with both outfits defending well, break-ing down scoring for-ays, while Dublin coped very well with the Cork offence, dealing with the long, rangy passes down the centre of the field that they relied upon for their gameplan.

Sinead Deegan gave Dublin a bit of breathing space with one of her sig-nature looping finishes, deceiving the goalkeeper into thinking the ball was destined to go over the bar, before it dipped late and nestled into the back of the net.

With the game getting away from them, Cork’s tired tackling and frus-tration led to one of their midfielders getting sin-binned, and, with Dub-lin not taking advantage of their extra body, Cork pulled the score back to within two points, mak-ing for a nervy last ten minutes for the Dubs.

The Jackies managed to stay safe for the last ten minutes, although it may have put a few grey hairs on their most die-hard fans. In the final reckon-ing, they were delighted to knock out last year’s champions and saw themselves through to the final.

Forward’s coach, Eamon O’Donnel l , shared his thoughts on the dramatic semi-final with GazetteSport.

“We’ve made huge improvements to this team and the unity in the side was clear for every-one to see out there.

“Results at this stage are forged out of hard work, and we’ll have to approach the final against Kerry in the same mindset.

“We’ll have to work very hard to overcome this Kerry side, they’re a very tactically sound bunch, but I know the girls will go for it, they’re up to the challenge,” said O’Donnell.

Jackies defeat the champs in semis

LADIES’ FOOTBALL: DUBLIN SET UP KERRY FINAL

Dublin ladies’ development side claimed a hard-fought victory against Cork in the Aisling McGing semi-final last

weekend. Pictures: GAApics.com

ST PAT’S PALMERSTOWNANOTHER wet week saw the junior

footballers beaten by a strong St

Mark’s team.

The U-14 footballers were unlucky

against Erin’s Isle.

While the U-11 girls’ camogie

retained their unbeaten record

and beat Naomh Barrog to hold

onto their postion at the top of the

league.

The U-12 girls were not so lucky

but put up a great performance.

Please place your orders for

Croke Park tickets by 10am on Sun-

day, June 24.

Lotto numbers and results: First

draw numbers drawn were 4, 22, 27

and 1. There was no winner.

The second draw: numbers drawn

were 14, 15, 18 and 13. There was no

winner.

The Any Three Numbers winner

was Stephen Brady.

The next draws will take place

next Sunday, June 24, and the first

draw jackpot will be €10,000, while

the second draw jackpot will be

€2,800.

The draws takes place at 10pm on

Sunday in Palmerstown House.

ALL OF YOUR LUCAN SPORTS COVERAGE FROM PAGE 35-39 JUNE 21, 2012

BOXING CLEVER: Esker BC open

competitive campaign at Barnhall P38 Ga

zetteSPORT

� PETER CARROLL

[email protected]

BRANDON Payne and Conor Masterson of Lucan helped the DDSL recapture the Kennedy Cup, seeing off Wexford in the final and their coun-ty rivals and reigning champions, the NDSL, in the semis on their way to overall victory.

A prestigious competition, the Kennedy Cup is the holy grail of schoolboy football in Ireland, and with the NDSL coming into the competition as reigning champions, Garrett Dodrill’s men were on a mission.

Drawn in Group 8, the DDSL outfit’s perform-ances became increasingly dominant throughout the group stages with a 4-0 win over Carlow, a 6-0 win over the SDFL in their second outing and an amazing 7-0 performance against Mayo securing the U-14 squad a place in the next round.

With a 20-man squad, Dodrill stressed the importance of team work throughout the compe-tition, with every player banking important pitch time in the group stages.

Kerry were the side to face the DDSL in their quarter final affair, and despite the Kingdom’s big, physical and direct style of play, the Dublin school-boys used their immaculate technique to overcome them 3-0, in a hard-fought game.

Then came the moment that every spectator was waiting for when the DDSL faced off against the NDSL.

In a close affair, the teams traded possession and despite the DDSL knocking on the door of a result in the scheduled time, the 1-1 score line pushed the affair into an extra period, but again neither side was able to make the breakthrough, and the matter was decided on penalties.

Eric Donnelly of Home Farm showed great skill deflecting a spot kick away from goal and, after the NDSL missed another chance, the DDSL’s steely nerves brought them to a 4-1 win.

As impressed as Dodrill was with the win, he also had an eye on the other semi-final which pit-ted the Rebels of Cork against the tactically sound Wexford, with the latter pulling out a 1-0 result.

The final made for a nervy 90 minutes with the

DDSL missing a couple of half-chances and, with nothing separating the sides in 90 minutes, the ref-eree added four minutes of extra time.

A free kick was sent from the halfway line into the Wexford box where the DDSL’s centre forward headed the ball down for Lucan’s Brandon Payne, who sent the ball home and confirmed the DDSL as Kennedy Cup champions.

“It wasn’t only the 20 lads we brought, it was every player that has represented the DDSL over the last two and a half years that won the Kennedy Cup,” said a delighted Dodrill.

“My time with this group has finished now, but we’ve all had a ball and the parents have been a great help to me throughout the process.

“Ten of the lads have been selected for the FAI international set up for the Hibernia Cup, and really, I think they all should be there.

“Our goal was to win this amazing Cup, and all of the hard work has paid off. I believe we’ll be seeing some of them heading off to England to play Premier League football in the future,” said Dodrill.

Lucan United duo Lucan United duo help net Kennedy help net Kennedy Local pair assist as DDSL side claim prestigious national title with impressive showing in campaign

The DDSL side celebrate their Kennedy Cup success which came after an epic campaign that saw them close out Wexford in the final

FIGHT CLUB STAR:Jiu Jitsu legend comes to Dublin on world tour P37

Lucan

Documents