Activities - St Patrick's Church Dalkey

Annual Summer Fete and Dog Show

Over 70 years of community tradition – and still going strong!
We’re getting ready for another fantastic Parish Fete on Saturday 10th May, and we’d love your support to make it a success! It’s a day filled with fun, food, community spirit, and plenty to enjoy for all ages.
Join us for:
 Games & Raffle
 Bargain Stalls
 The Dog Show
 Lunches & Treats
 Bouncy Castle & Family Fun
 Books, Plants, Clothes & More!
We Still Need Your Help!
We’re looking for:
 Stall volunteers
 Helpers on the day
 Donations – now more than ever!
Donations Welcome from 5th–8th May

The Parish Hall will be open Monday to Thursday (5th–8th May) from 9am to 5pm, or by arrangement – just contact Ali on 085 158 3733.

If you need to drop things earlier, let us know and we’ll do our best to help!

We’re collecting:

 Toys
 Bottles
 Good-as-new Adult & Children’s Clothes (no underwear please!)
 Gifts
 Bric-a-Brac
 Cakes & Deli Items
 Clean, good-quality dog accessories (leads, bowls, toys, etc.)
 Adult & Children’s Books

Would your company like to sponsor a stall or make a donation? We’d love to hear from you!

Supporting the fete is a great way to give back to the community and be part of a special local tradition.

Film Socials

After a very eclectic mix of films this season, we shall take a break for the “summer” until September. Many thanks to all those who came along, in spite of what the weather had to throw at us, and were kind to the projectionist with his random choice of films!

Book Club

There will be no meeting of the book club in May. The next meeting will be held on Thursday 5th June at 7.30pm in the Gallery Room. We will be discussing Breaking the Heart Open by Tony Bates. This will be our last meeting of the season. All Welcome.

All are welcome to join us for discussion of some great books. We meet approximately every 4 – 6 weeks from September to June with a break for the Summer.

Contact: Deirdre Deverell 086 803 4531

Flowers Guild

When you think of a Church your mind naturally goes to flowers; step forward St. Patrick’s Flower Guild. A rather grand title for an enthusiastic group of amateur arrangers. None of us are professional arrangers but we use our own style to welcome worshippers each Sunday. The commitment is small, arrangers are only called on twice per year. For festivals; Christmas, Easter, Harvest, the team works together. Once finished we gather over coffee and biscuits to admire the work. Pop in and have a peek… we’d love you to join us. We look after new recruits so you won’t be left on your own until you feel ready. If you’d like to help, give your name to the Parish Office and we’ll get in touch!

Cubs, Scouts and Beavers

In 1956 the Rector, Rev Desmond Murray, opened a scout troop. As a former Merchant Navy Chaplain he suggested Sea Scouts would be appropriate for our location beside Bulloch Harbour. The group is open to boys and girls and there are sections for various age groups: Beaver Scouts 6 – 8 years old, Cub Scouts 9 – 11, Sea Scouts 12 – 15, Venture Scouts 15 – 17 and Rover Scouts 18 – 25. A wide range of fun activities, hikes, camps and expeditions on land and kayaking, rowing and sailing afloat, is co-ordinated by a team of enthusiastic adult volunteer leaders. New youth members and more volunteer leaders are always welcome. More information may be obtained from their website www.dalkeyseascouts.ie

Dramatic Society

Firstly, congratulations are due on several counts in relation to the Bray One Act Festival. Our production of The 39 Steps, Even More Abridged by Patrick Barlow was much enjoyed by the audience and received two nominations from adjudicator Geoff O’Keeffe – Chris O’Conchuir, for best supporting actor, and best comedy. Seymour Cresswell, known to many parishioners as an actor and director with our dramatic society, was presented with the prestigious Fred Lee Award.

Rehearsals are underway for our production of Brian Friel’s wonderful play ARISTOCRATS, which will be staged in Dalkey Town Hall next month (Wednesday 2nd to Saturday 5th April). Please put those dates in your diary/gizmo right now…

Set in the mid-1970s in a crumbling Georgian mansion outside Ballybeg, Co. Donegal, the play is about an upper-class Catholic family which, over four generations, has declined from a position of social power to one of genteel poverty.

The siblings have gathered for the wedding of the youngest sister, Claire (Annette Burns) but stay for a funeral. Upstairs the domineering Father (Seymour Cresswell) demands attention, albeit now from his sick bed. Particularly challenged is his only son Casimir (Jamie Cox), who has returned from Germany for the first time in a decade. His fanciful stories about the O’Donnell family, Ballybeg Hall and its famous visitors fascinate and then confuse Tom Hoffnung (Robert Boland), an American academic researching a book about the life and lifestyle of the Big House and Catholic ‘aristocracy’ in Ireland.

Also home for the wedding is the middle O’Donnell sister, Alice (Odette Colgan) with her husband Eamon (Tom Delahunty), a local Ballybeg man. Their lonely life in a damp basement flat in London is made even more difficult by her battle with the bottle and his job as a probation officer.

Struggling to survive in the decaying Big House, eldest sister Judith (Karen O’Brien) has to care for bed-bound Father, Claire and her mood swings, and Uncle George (Len Nealon), who hasn’t spoken for many years, relying on local man Willie Diver (Mark Aylward) for both financial and emotional support.

Directed by Judith Elmes, ARISTOCRATS has both humour and pathos aplenty. It will be staged nightly at 8pm in Dalkey Town Hall from Wednesday 2nd to Saturday 5th April inclusive. Tickets (€18) are available from www.gr8events.ie or tel. 01-280 7185. We hope that we’ll see you there.

Indoor Bowling Club

We play on Tuesday evenings at 1930 from October through to April. We then stop for the summer. Our team recently won the prestigious inter club McIlwane cup. We are always happy to have new members. Contact Ken Grace 087 221 8997

The Friday Art Group

A Group of friends with a shared interest in Art, meet in the Northover Hall on Friday afternoons 2.30 to 5.00 during school terms and on Friday mornings 10 am to 12.30 during school holidays. The group of amateur artists works in watercolours / oils / pastels or acrylics without an instructor. Each person brings their current piece to work on and enjoy the company and a chat over a tea / coffee break. New members are welcome. Contact Ed Taylor 087 258 1949

St. Patrick’s Parish Craft Group

All types of creativity are in evidence at the weekly meeting of our active Craft Group. Meetings are on Tuesdays at 3pm during “term time” in the upper room in the Northover Hall. Industry is punctuated with talk and always with a welcome break for tea and biscuits. New skills are taught (…and learnt) with patience and good humour, and on a more serious note the group regularly supports charitable initiatives, financially and otherwise. New members are always very welcome.

For further information, please contact Carolyn Peare 086 809 2321.

Choir

The St Patrick’s church choir sings at the regular 10.15 service on Sunday mornings, and at the annual Christmas carol service. The choir’s repertoire ranges from hymns and psalms to anthems and liturgical settings, and embraces a wide range of musical periods and styles. All are welcome – and encouraged! – to take part, whether or not you have sung in a choir before. An ability to read music is helpful, but not obligatory, and all sheet music is provided.

The choir rehearses every Wednesday at 19.30-20.30 from September to the end of June, so if you are interested in joining, feel free to come along any time. As we practice new music every week, new members are welcome to join at any point during the year (though please note there are no Wednesday rehearsals in July or August). You can also contact the organist and choir director, Eleanor Jones-McAuley, at 086 151 0899.

“O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth!” (Psalm 96:1)

Dalkey Interchurch Migrant Support Group

A group of parishioners from the Catholic, Church of Ireland and Quaker communities in the area, got together in 2017 to support refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Ireland seeking safety and protection. Members of the group have provided advice, educational supports such as courses and laptops, clothes and bicycles, bringing children and families on trips to beauty spots or the zoo, entertainment and social activities such as social evenings at Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. We are giving friendship and moral support to help them to settle into life in Ireland. In March 2024 we hosted a lunch for 26 migrants in the Northover Hall. Our guests travelled from Mosney, Bray and Balseskin Direct Provision Centres and brought some delicious food such as jollof rice and chicken to supplement food provided by our group members. Our visitors enjoyed a tour of the church with some spontaneous singing of hymns. The group usually meets in Dalkey once a month and would greatly welcome new members to help in the work. If you would like to get involved or simply to know more about what we are doing, then please write to DalkeyIMSG@gmail.com or to donate go to https://www.idonate.ie/crowdfunder/MigrantSupport