2023 AGM Flyer

2023 Report: A Look Back on the Past Year

As every year in the run-up to the Annual General Meeting (to which everyone in Skerries is invited!), the chair and the committees of the Skerries Community Association look back on the past twelve months.

We have put together reports and photographs, which will be delivered to households in Skerries over the next week or so.

It will also be available in our community centre, in Skerries Library, Skerries Mills, and in some of the local supermarkets.

And we are also publishing it here (below), for your convenience.

Will we see you at the AGM? It will take place on Thursday 15 June from 8 pm in the Little Theatre, Old Schoolhouse, Skerries Community Centre. There will be refreshments!

Click on the link below if you’d like to see the full PDF.

Máire Jones is the Jim Quigley Volunteer of the Year 2022

Jane Landy, Chairperson, Skerries Community Association, and Máire Jones, Jim Quigley Volunteer of the Year 2022 (Photo: John Coleman, SCA)

Every year, the Skerries Community Association (SCA) awards the Jim Quigley Volunteer of the Year title to a group or an individual.

In doing so, the SCA honours the memory of the late Jim Quigley – a man who, like so many of us, was a “blow-in.” He and his wife Brigid came to Skerries in the 1970s. He volunteered in his local Residents Group and from there was drawn to the Skerries Development and Community Association, where his involvement lasted 22 years, ten of them as Chairperson.  Perhaps the most visible legacy of his work in Skerries is the Community Centre, which opened in December 1982. You can read more about him on the SCA website.

Brigid Quigley at the 2022 Award Ceremony. Photo: John Coleman, SCA

This year, the award was made at a particularly fitting and festive occasion – in the context of the Skerries Community Centre 40 Year Celebrations (7 August 2022), and in the presence of Jim’s widow, Brigid. To great applause, SCA chairperson Jane Landy introduced the winner, and Brigid Quigley handed the award to Máire Jones.

Máire at the 2022 Skerries Water Safety Week (photo: Skerries Water Safety on Facebook)

The judges chose her in recognition of the range of her volunteering activities. She is a long-time volunteer with Skerries Water Safety (the winners of the Jim Quigley Award in 2017, by the way),  she maintains the Skerries Community Association website, she is a founder member of Skerries Walking Club, she is one of the more active volunteers with the Skerries Community Garden, she is a Skerries Community Car Volunteer Driver, a Skerries Cycling Without Age Volunteer Pilot, and the Skerries Neighbourhoods WhatsApp Group contact person for The Haven. This year she has also been involved in supporting refugees from the Ukraine who have come to Skerries.

Can you begin to see why the judge picked her out of a very strong field of nominees? Congratulations Máire! Well deserved.

Michael McKenna, Secretary, Skerries Community Association

2022 Report for the SCA and its Committees

See also the recent NOTICE OF THE SCA AGM TO MEMBERS
The AGM is free but numbers are limited. Please register now on Eventbrite.

Affiliated to Muintir na Tíre, registered charity CHY 6865. skerriesca.com. info@skerriesca.com
Registered Offices: Skerries Community Centre, Dublin Road, Skerries Co. Dublin

SCA Chair Jane Landy writes: Back in the chair plus arrivals and departures

It’s less than a year since our last AGM (4 October 2021) and Skerries and the world seem to be very different. An end to all Covid restrictions since March 2022 has meant that those committees who rely on holding in-person events have been able to get back to business. Back in September who would have thought that we would be welcoming people fleeing from war-torn Ukraine to our town? (See skerriesca.com/Ukraine for more.) And I find myself (an SCA old-timer) “back in the chair”, which is as enjoyable and fulfilling as ever!

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Skerries Community Association AGM 2022 and Signed SCA Accounts for 2021

NOTICE OF THE SCA AGM TO MEMBERS

The event is free but numbers are limited. Please register now on Eventbrite.


NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Skerries Community Association CLG (SCA) will be held online via Zoom on Thursday 23rd of June 2022 at 8 pm to transact the Ordinary Business of the Company, that is to say: –

1. To confirm the Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting

2. To receive and adopt the Directors’ Report and Financial Statements for year ended 31 Dec. 2021

3. To elect Directors to the Board of Skerries Community Association CLG

4. To elect Members to Skerries Community Centre Board of Management

5. To reappoint Dempsey Mullen as Auditors and to authorise the Directors to fix their remuneration

6. To transact any other business proper to an Annual General Meeting of the Company.

Dated this the 1st of June 2022, by order of the Board, Secretary.

NOTE 1. No person other than a Director of the Company retiring at the meeting shall, unless recommended by the Directors, be eligible for election to the office of Director at any general meeting unless, not less than three (i.e. 20 June  2022) nor more than 21 days (i.e. 2nd June 2022) before the date appointed for the meeting, there has been left at the registered office notice in writing, signed by a member duly qualified to attend and vote at the meeting for which notice is given, of his/her intention to propose such a person for election, and also Notice in writing signed by that person of his/her willingness to be elected. [Nomination Form below].

NOTE 2. The names of candidates who have consented to stand for election to the Board of Management of the Community Centre, together with the names of their proposers and seconders, shall be given in writing to the Secretary, and shall be posted on the Community Centre Notice Board at least three days prior (by 20 June 2022) to the holding of the Annual General Meeting. [Nomination Form below].

NOTE 3. Copies of the Directors’ Report and Financial Statements will be available to members at the Community Centre and at www.Skerriesca.com at least seven days prior to the holding of the Annual General Meeting.

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Nomination Form

Please click here to download the nomination form for printing. Copies are also available from the Community Centre.

For election to the Board of Directors of SCA CLG or to the Board of Management of Skerries Community Centre [please underline the Board for which you are nominating]

I wish to nominate ____________________________________ for election to the Board of:

Skerries Community Association CLG OR Skerries Community Centre Board of Management (underline one)

Printed name and signature of Proposer: ____________________ ___________________

I consent to my nomination for election

Signature of nominee _____________________ Date: __________________________

NB: Please return signed Nomination Form to the Community Centre by 20 June 2022 or by email to secretary@skerriesca.com


Signed Accounts for 2021

Click on Full Screen for best viewing. Also available to see here.

Skerries Cycling Initiative: Evening Cycles Around the Town from May 2022

SCI Logo and a bike

It’s time to get out that bike and go for a Summer evening cycle around Skerries !

Starting and finishing at Skerries Mills car park on Thursday 26 May at 7.30 pm

The terms “herd immunity” and “critical mass” became all-too-familiar during the recent crisis.

How could cyclists achieve herd immunity, that is, immunity from the dangers of sharing the road with traffic?

The answer is to band together, forming such a large group that we become the traffic.

And so “critical mass cycles” have become a phenomenon that’s really putting safe cycle routes on top of the agenda all over the world.

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 16-22 SEPTEMBER 2022

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is the European Commission’s flagship awareness-raising campaign on sustainable urban mobility.

It promotes behavioural change in favour of active mobility, public transport, and other clean, intelligent transport solutions.

To celebrate and of course to participate, we at Skerries Cycling Initiative are planning a major critical mass cycle during that week. But we’ve no intention of waiting until September to get on our bikes. After all, it’s summertime at last!

We’re organising a series of summer “critical mass” cycles, starting on Thursday, May 26th. There will be further cycles on each of the last Thursdays in June July August and finally the big one in September.

We are aiming to double the number of participants each month and hoping to have at least 100 cyclists, scooterers and wheelers of all sorts at the first of the cycles. Do the maths! If this works we could have 1600 cyclists making our voices heard and having fun together in September.

The people of Skerries have told us time and time again that they are reluctant to cycle around Skerries because of the lack of safe cycling routes. Here is your opportunity to find out what it would feel like to cycle safely in Skerries with like-minded friends and family.

We also believe that the planners, councillors, officials and national politicians cannot continue to ignore the demands of 1000 very loud voices.

We’ve estimated that there are probably more than 5000 usable bicycles in Skerries.-So, it’s time to dust off, oil up and hop on your bike.

Be there, at 7.30pm on Thursday, May 26th.

This cycle will start and finish at Skerries Mills Bike Park- No! That’s not a typing error. Let’s reclaim our town park and our streets! See you there!

Public Meeting: Ukraine

Public Zoom Meeting

To get an overview of what is happening locally regarding welcoming and assisting our Ukrainian guests, we will hold an online meeting next Wednesday evening (Wed 6 April, 8 pm) to allow people to share information on local initiatives, and to hear from people hosting accommodation or providing other services to assist Ukrainian guests. We would also like to hear from any Ukrainians already living in Skerries.
Please contact us at skerriesukraine at gmail.com and we will forward a link to the Zoom meeting.

The Skerries Ukraine working group is a group of local volunteers who are helping to coordinate efforts to welcome and assist our Ukrainian guests. You can contact this group by email on skerriesukraine [at] gmail.com and you can find more details on skerriesca.com/ukraine

Skerries Cycling Initiative invites us all to join them at the 2022 Skerries St Patrick’s Day Parade

“Make Skerries Wheelie Safe”: Get on your bike for the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade!

Skerries Cycling initiative (SCI) wants you, your friends and family to dust off your wheels for this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade, and to hit the streets of Skerries with you and your machine decked out in your brightest and funkiest colours.

Will you join them? Let them know you’re coming here.

Kick-off at 3 p.m. on 17 March on South Strand. Assemble from 2.30 p.m. (tbc, they’ll send an email to all interested before the end)

Michael McKenna, Secretary of Skerries Cycling Initiative, writes:

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Will Skerries CoderDojo return?

Once upon a time, there was a thriving CoderDojo in Skerries. Ninjas (youngsters) aged 7 to 17 met once a month for a busy, creative Sunday afternoon in the Little Theatre. Skerries CoderDojo was both part of the overall CoderDojo organisation and a committee of the Skerries Community Association. We had lots of fun, as you can see from this post from 2015.

Ninjas grew up, mentors and champions moved on…

And now there is hope that we can find people who are ready to start Skerries CoderDojo anew! There are still some funds in the coffers. All that’s needed is a handful of parents / mentors were to come forward!

I myself was the Champion of the group (as the person sort of leading it is called) from 2014 to 2017. As I’m involved in other things, I won’t be able to be part of the new CoderDojo committee again, but am happy to help and would host and attend a first Zoom call to explore possibilities.

Interested? Send am email to Sabine@cccSkerries.com please!

Will ninjas and refreshments return?

Rowing Club Proposal – SCA Observations

The following observations have been made by Skerries Community Association on the recent planning application made by Skerries Rowing Club for the erection of a club house at Skerries Harbour.

RE: Application F20A/0558 Skerries Rowing Club

Planning Department, Fingal County Council

Skerries Community Association welcomes the opportunity to make observations on Planning Application F20A/0558 from Skerries Rowing Club.

The Association’s purpose is to develop and improve generally the town and its neighbourhood for the benefit of the people of Skerries and to increase its attractiveness for residents and visitors to Skerries. Having sustainable water based activities which enhance the cultural and economic life of the area is to be encouraged. Such activities entail having adequate land based ancillary facilities.

However, with regard to the planning application from Skerries Rowing Club the Association notes that the proposal would entail a valuable, substantial and uniquely positioned piece of public open space in the harbour area passing from public amenity space, into the de facto possession of a small private group for their exclusive use.

The site being proposed for this development is located directly by the sea in the busy harbour area of the town. As Skerries grows in population and people seek to enjoy the amenity value of walking and socialising in this coastal town there is growing pressure for more open space, not less.

The Association supports the enhancement of watersports amenities in Skerries as these bring a valuable dimension to the town. However, given the broad community demand for such facilities (scouting, kayaking, sailing, rowing, swimming, motor-boating, etc) as well as the constrained space available in the protected harbour area, the Association feels that the allocation of Council land for this purpose should follow broader consultation on a more integrated plan to deliver the capacity to store and safely launch  sports boats as well as to deliver shore-side facilities to benefit the maximum number of water uses in the community, while minimising impacts on land-based recreational use of the harbour area. The association feels that the proposal has fallen short in this respect.

The Association notes too, that the only building that currently stands on the seaward side of the road (from the harbour pier around to the Red Island carpark) is one used by people who risk their lives to rescue those in distress at sea. It is entirely appropriate that this RNLI building continue to be located directly beside the Sea Pole Memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives at sea. The insertion of a large building between the two would be a physical barrier undermining the powerful and poignant relationship that exists between the two structures. 

In conclusion the Association is strongly of the view that the current proposed development on this site would be an infringement of the general public’s access to and enjoyment of the area and would take from the unique spatial relationship between two of Skerries iconic structures.  Neither would it do anything to meet the needs of other water based activity groups.

Michael McKenna

Chairperson

Skerries Community Association

08 December 2020