Social Events

It’s not all hard work and no play. Swords Tidy Towners know a thing or two about partying!

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July 2024 was party month

The Fingal County Council Events Unit excelled itself this summer. Never ones for missing out on fun events, many of our members attended all four of them.

First there was the Vintage Festival for the over 55s on the afternoon of July 25th. It was a free ticketed event, which was swiftly booked out once again. Live bands and workshops and colourful outfits were the order of the day. Swords Castle was the perfect venue.

Nathan Carter was the star attraction in the Town Park on the last Friday night in July. It was time for our members to don their cowboy/girl gear and to sport their line dancing steps. Even the rain could not dampen their spirits.

On Saturday night Sister Sledge returned to Swords as the headliner for another sell out concert. The support acts were The Blue Belles, and tribute band Essentially Cher. Many of our Tidy Towners danced the night away, despite the fact that they’d put in several hours of volunteering work that morning.

Sunday was Family Day in the Castle grounds. The sunny weather drew a large crowd of children and adults, who enjoyed all of the activities.

STT Christmas Party 2023

Peacock’s Bar in Rivervalley was the venue for our end-of-year celebrations on December 8, where Fiona and staff ensured that we had a wonderful evening.

Andy, the DJ, worked his magic with the dance music and karaoke. As usual there was no shortage of volunteers wanting to perform their songs either individually or in groups.

Guests included several members of the Women’s Shed and the Men’s Shed. Councillors Brigid Manton and Joe Newman, generous donors and supporters of STT joined in the fun too.

We appreciate the kind donations to our Chrismas hamper by SuperValu Boroimhe and Pavilions Swords.

Halloween in Swords 2023

This year our committee decided not to make this event a fund-raising one. Instead, many of our hard-working group met up at Swords Town Park to enjoy the evening of entertainment laid on by Fingal County Council.

Dressing up was optional. Ken and Grace couldn’t resist the opportunity!

Families and other groups, many in Halloween disguises, packed around the stage, enjoying the live performances.

Swords Castle provided the perfect backdrop for the fireworks display. Hot gas flames spurted up at intervals over the battlements providing heat and light on a cold October evening. The sky was ablaze with every imaginable type of firework, accompanied by loud bangs and ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the crowd.

Congratulations to FCC’s Events Team, led by Paul Barnes, for a wonderful evening of family entertainment. They never disappoint us.

Our festivities continued at The 44, which was decorated very imaginatively. Grace almost ended up in the clutches of a strange creature on the wall. Another strange character sitting at the bar had obviously been waiting a long time for his drink!

STT Night out at Chalk Venue

Members of the STT group enjoy the opportunity to kick up their heels occasionally. It’s not all work and no play.

On September 8, management of The Chalk Venue kindly provided free passes for members, who are fans of Bruce Springsteen.

A wonderful night was had by all, while they danced or sang along with tribute group “Glory Days”.

STT’s Summer Social

This year’s STT’s summer social was due to take place outdoors on Saturday, July 15. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favour, so plan B came into operation

A large group of us had a wonderful evening of wine, pizza and song, sitting amongst our potted plants in our large polytunnel, while the rain lashed outside.

It was a great opportunity to relax in each other’s company during this particularly busy time of the year. Members have been working on Wednesday evenings as well as on Saturday mornings for several months now. Some have also been out individually on other days during this judging period.

Castle goes Country

On July 29th on a balmy summer’s evening, a lively bunch of Swords Tidy Towners got together at Swords Castle for the Nathan Carter show. This performance was part one of “Castle Goes Country”, a weekend of concerts organised by Fingal County Council.

Friday night’s show was a sell out, with thousands of people flocking to see Nathan Carter. Amongst a sea of cowboy hats we danced to hits like “Wagon Wheel”.

Unfortunately for performer Jimmy Buckley, the weather turned on Saturday night. Heavy showers deterred many from attending as planned. The weather could not dampen the spirits of the hardy STT crew, who danced between showers. Jimmy and his band gave a great performance, and would have been pleased with the number of dancers during the dry, second half of his show.

On Sunday evening a small number of STT members had enough energy to attend the “Friends In Low Places” show. Once again there was no holding them back, when the dance music started.

Back to Normal Party

It’s been a very long time between parties for our group. Covid restrictions had prevented us from having large social events for over two years, so Friday’s party (June 10) was a significant one. It was a wonderful opportunity for members old and new to enjoy one another’s company in a relaxed setting.

Former members, who’d moved away from Fingal, were happy to accept their invitations. Current members looked unrecognisable without their working clothes and hi vis vests. It was time for glamour, singing and dancing at Peacock’s bar in River Valley.

The management provided us with large platters of finger food, as a thank you for the work we do in the community. The staff looked after us very well, while we partied until 1 am.

Andy and Lorcan, our disc jockeys, played toe-tapping music which got everyone up dancing. They also organised our enthusiastic singers, keen to show their skills at karaoke.

Fingal county councillors from different political persuasions joined us on the dance floor and really enjoyed the festivities.

It was also a great opportunity to celebrate a very special birthday. Rose, who’s in charge of our polytunnel, was thrilled with the surprise 70th birthday cake, organised by our group.

Despite the late night, we had a good turnout on Saturday morning for our work session.

Double Celebration

Following our regular Saturday morning round of litter-picking, gardening and grafitti-busting on January 29, we gathered together at The Old School for refreshments. Our fourth Silver Medal, which we’d won in 2021, had arrived. We marked the occasion with hot beverages, provided by Willie our genial host, and his friendly staff. Delicious cream cake and a variety of chocolates were enjoyed by all too.

It was a double celebration. Two of our members had just arrived home from Australia after two years. A total travel ban by the government over there had prevented them from leaving.

It was wonderful to be finally able to celebrate as a group.

Coffee/Tea Mondays in November

This year, 2021, the Tartan Larder – a local coffee shop are providing a free coffee each Monday during the month of November to all Swords Tidy Town volunteers as a way of giving back to the community and saying thank you. We appreciate the gesture and a delicious cup of hot drink very much.

Packman Awards

Some of our hard working volunteers enjoyed a beautiful evening at the Pakman Awards ceremony, which took place at the Shelbourne Hotel on 29th of October, 2021.

Christmas Breakfast organised by Youthreach

Eddy at Youthreach has organised Christmas Breakfast for our poly tunnel crew. A huge thank you to June who took on the task of cooking it all.

STT Zoom Christmas Party

A Christmas party like never before – this year we had our first virtual Christmas party. A big thank you to Noel and Teresa for hosting the special Christmas Quiz zoom event. It was very much enjoyed by all.

Breakfast with Swords Youth Service

Sandra Moore from Swords Youth Service invited representatives of STT to attend their celebration breakfast on December 17. Everyone enjoyed the good company and the wide variety of food!

STT Christmas Party

This year’s Christmas party was held at Wright’s Wine Bar in Swords, the perfect venue for dancing and karaoke. As usual, our members were keen to take to the dance floor, but the most popular activity overall was karaoke. All of our party goers were keen to perform their favourite songs either solo, as duos or in groups. A wonderful time was had by all, as they celebrated another year of hard work and successful projects.

Attending Matt’s solo exhibition “Seeing The Light”

On October 21 we had an amzing night at our friend and Swords Tidy Towns member Matt Cullens’ Art Exhibition in the Atrium of FCC offices. The exhibition was opened by the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. Eoghan O’Brien and beautiful speeches were given by David Gilna and Matt himself. In his inspiring speech he talked about his illness and how it inspired his paintings and also about the reasons behing the decision to donate 50% of all art sales to The Irish Lung Fibrosis Association (ILFA). The night was a huge success and many paintings were sold on the night. The exibition was very well attended by Matt’s family and friends, local polititians and of course by a very proud Swords Tidy Towns family.

Harminder treats his Swords Tidy Towns family to a lunch

On September 14, after our regular clean up we gathered at the polytunnel to enjoy a delicious Indian meal prepared and served by our STT member Harminder. His kind gesture was to show his appreciation of all the work we do for our community. It was indeed a delicious feast on a beautiful day and was very much appreciated by all. Thank you Harminder!

Fingal Fleadh 2019

On September 5, we enjoyed the wonderful performance by Clannad members Moya Brennan, Cormac de Barra and Paul Jarvis. The castle chapel was the perfect venue for such melodic traditional singing, to the accompaniment of such talented harpists and percussionist. This event was to launch the four-day Fingal Fleadh for 2019. There were free performances, workshops and children’s entertainment in the grounds of Swords Castle. Session trails around the town’s pubs were enjoyed by many too. This was Fingal’s third successful Fleadh. So we are more than ready to be the host of the 2020 Leinster Fleadh Cheoil!