Category Archives: SCA
Skerries Community Association Accounts 2020
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For information about the AGM on 4th October 2021, and the report for 2020/21 go to AGM 2021: The 2020/21 Report
AGM 2021: The 2020/21 Report
This year, the annual report about the work of the Skerries Community Association and its committees will not be distributed to every household in Skerries. A limited number of printed copies will be available in the Community Centre, in local shops, in the week before the AGM (4th October 2021) and on request by email to chair@skerriesca.com.
Click on the thumbnail below to see the full report with turnable pages.
Skerries Community Association & Committees 2020/21 Report
And if you’d like the links to be clickable, open the PDF here:
Jim Quigley Award 2021
Recognition of couple’s volunteering contribution to Skerries life.
On Saturday 9 October 2021 Skerries Community Association (SCA) and Skerries Town Football Club jointly recognised the immense contribution of Michael (Mick) and Noeleen Bolger to community sporting activity in the town. The occasion was the presentation of the Jim Quigley award for volunteer of the year and it took place in the grounds of Skerries Town FC after the weekly Kids Academy coaching session.
Every year SCA invites nominations from residents for the Jim Quigley Award which are then passed to independent judges for assessment.
This year the Judges selected Mick and Noeleen as the winners of the Jim Quigley Award for their years of dedicated work with Skerries Town Football Club. In their written comments, the judges said, “running Saturday morning coaching sessions (the Kids Academy) for up to ninety under-tens for seven months of the year is not an easy task. To do this for eighteen years coupled with involvement with other sporting and community activities including the Community Games at Mosney and the Special Olympics at Croke Park in 2003 requires dedication and commitment second to none.”
Mick and Noeleen set up the ‘ Kid’s Academy” on Saturday mornings with Skerries Town Football Club in September 2003 to provide coaching in basic football skills for five to nine year olds. They felt that children in the early years of their football life need an environment of non-competitive football to learn the basic skills. The Kid’s Academy, or KA as its better known provides such an environment.
The judges remarked that the real winner is the community of Skerries who get such wonderful benefit from the work done by people like Michael and Noeleen.
Accepting the award, Mick said that many others are and were involved in making the Kids Academy a success.
Michael McKenna presented the Jim Quigley award on behalf of the SCA and Owen O’Brien, Chairperson Skerries Town F.C. made a presentation of flowers and champagne on behalf of the club to Mick and Noeleen.
Notice of Annual General Meeting of Skerries Community Association (SCA) 4th October 2021
Skerries Cycling Festival 2021: How it turned out
Skerries Cycling Festival 2021: How it turned out
By Michael McKenna
Skerries Cycling Initiative’s first cycling festival took place on 22 August. It was a lot of fun and definitely something to build on it, going forward. We started off the day – a lovely one weatherwise – with a 5km and a 25 km cycles from Skerries Mills carpark. People of all ages and abilities, just as we hoped for, took part. This was to be a day for celebrating cycling as a healthy normal way of getting around, whether by you chose a simple one speed bicycle or something sleeker.
Undoubtedly the most eye catching and eyewatering entrant was Robin of Donabate’s Alpha-7 Velomobile, seen below as he chats with Brendan Grimes and Dermot Higgins.
To quote Robin:
Continue readingSkerries Cycling Festival 2021: On Yer Bike!
Let’s celebrate cycling!
Skerries Cycling Festival 22nd August
A festival to celebrate the Freedom Machine!
The good news: There will be a one-day Skerries Cycling Festival, even though the four-weekend Skerries Summer Festival had to be cancelled for 2021.
Skerries Cycling Initiative (SCI), part of Skerries Community Association, with support from Fingal County Council and Skerries Mills, is holding its first ever cycling festival and invites you invites you to come along.
The Skerries Cycling Festival will be all about encouraging people to integrate more active travel into their daily lives so that they can enjoy the fun and other benefits of cycling.
Continue readingSkerries Cycling Initiative (SCI) Newsletter August 2021
SCA Summer in Skerries Submission May 2021
Summer in Skerries Project – Submission from Skerries Community Association
Introduction
Skerries Community Association (skerriesca.com) welcomes the initiative from Fingal Count Council to restore part of the Harbour Road area to “promenade” status.
Continue readingSCI Submission Fingal Coastal Way May 2021
Introduction
Skerries Cycling Initiative is a committee of the Skerries Community Association and a member of Cyclist.ie, the national cycling advocacy network. We welcome the Greenway development as a means of improving active travel in the area and encouraging modal shift.
Continue readingRowing 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