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6th November 2012 • Volume 19, Issue 35 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. • Tel: 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie
Swords Couples’ Kindness Reaches Uganda Ever since Swords husband and wife, Tony and Terri Burke adopted their beautiful three and a half year old daughter, Jovia from Uganda, they have been involved in helping to make life easier for people there. They have been sending donation boxes to Uganda, in an effort to change the lives of workers in the Sanyu Babies Home in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. It’s the oldest and best established Babies Home in the country. These hard pressed workers are known as ‘mamas’ and they work tirelessly for little or nothing and live in slums. Terri told the County Leader about how she became involved with the donation boxes. “When we were adopting Jovia, we spent two months in Kampala and got to know the local customs and a taste for life there. The mamas keep the place going and ask for very little and we thought that they deserved something for themselves.” The boxes are full of top quality second hand clothes, shoes and handbags which have been donated by friends and family. Indeed, some of the clothes are brand new. The mamas use these for their own use. Terri explained that the mamas
By Patrick Finnegan work from 7am to 7pm, six days a week for little or nothing. They never complain and make sure that the children are well looked after. They know that the boxes are arriving and they get really excited. The thought of gifts arriving from a far off land is very exciting for them. They particularly love the handbags. Fingalians GAA Club have also donated some football jerseys, which will be paraded around Kampala,” said Terri. As the boxes are quite heavy, they are expensive to ship to Uganda. This is where Swords and District Credit Union came to the rescue. They sponsored the cost of shipment with DHL. “Fiona Cunningham and Darren O’Reilly from the Credit Union were a great help to us and also Pat Byrne from DHL,” said Terri. She also explained the impact the box will have on the mamas. “This will make a huge difference in their lives. They always seem to be overlooked and this means the world to them. We’ve already sent several boxes to Kampala since 2010, when we adopted Jovia,” she said.
Broadband Rollout For Rush And Skerries Local TD Brendan Ryan (Lab), has welcomed the inclusion of Rush and Skerries in Phase IV of the rollout of Eircom’s Fibre Broadband. When fully rolled out, locals will be able to avail of a speed up to 70Mbp. This is great news for businesses in Rush and Skerries, as they now join the North County towns of Balbriggan, Swords and Donabate in the new scheme. These are very popular tourist towns and with the high volume of residents, community groups and visitors that would use the businesses on a daily basis, it is essential to have a fast and reliable broadband scheme. With this in mind, Deputy Ryan was very positive about the announcement. Speaking to the County Leader, he said: “This is welcome news for businesses and
By Jennifer McShane homes in the Rush and Skerries communities and follows on from the announcement in September that Balbriggan would join Swords and Donabate, which were already covered in the rollout. Overall this is good news for the North County. The provision of high quality Broadband is vitally needed throughout the country to promote business growth and education.” Chairman of Skerries Chamber of Commerce, Martin Scully also expressed his delight at the decision. He told the County Leader: “Anything that will improve our services around the North County and in Skerries in particular, is always welcomed. Hopefully, this will give a boost to our local businesses who rely heavily on a high quality broadband service.”
Terri and Tony Burke are pictured with their daughter, Jovia who is sitting on the donation box to be sent to Sanyu Babies Home in Kampala, Uganda. Also in the picture is Darren O'Reilly from Swords and District Credit Union, who sponsored the shipment of the box to Uganda.
New Chair Of Skerries Community Association and Scorers The new chairperson of Association. Skerries Community Outgoing chairAssociation (SCA) has person, Jane Landy been named as Martin said, “Being chairRussell. person of the An active volunteer, Skerries Community particularly in the world Association is very of cricket, Martin brings rewarding. I wish great energy and breadth Martin all the best in of experience to the role. his new role,” she As well as being a said. director of the associaMartin told the tion for several years, Martin is also chair- New Chairman of Skerries County Leader, “I’m Community Association, Martin person of Balbriggan Russell really looking forward Area Project Association, to working with the as well as team-secretary of The Hills various groups, like the Tidy Towns Cricket Club. He is also treasurer of committee who, year after year, put the Mourne Estate Residents and in sterling work to ensure that Management Association and past Skerries is always in contention. The president of Leinster Cricket Umpires Council does not have the necessary
resources in this economic climate, which heaps more pressure on the Tidy Towns. Martin is also looking forward to exciting events in the coming year. “Skerries will, once again, stage the finish to the Rás next year for the seventh time, which is a tremendous achievement. The Soundwaves Festival is great for the town and the committee do a great job. We would like to help the theatre group and see where they’ll go from here. They are trying to get reclining seats, but the cost is prohibitive. They have a hall and stage, but no theatre. We will try to resolve this situation if we can. I’m also dedicated to the entire community in the town and I keep a keen interest in all activities concerning Skerries,” he concluded.