Balbriggan. History and Photos. Balbriggan.net. No.1 Web site.

Free Email address---JoeSoap@Balbriggan.net
It's a while since we mentioned this but if you are fed up getting junk, pornographic or just nuisance emails, one solution is to have a Balbriggan Email address. If you have an Eircom address you will notice that you get between 10 and 30 emails a day, all rubbish. With our email addresses you will receive no such mails. Just let us know what email address you want and we will set it up, and best of all, it's FREE.27.06.04

Beat This-Outer Banks, North Carolina USA.
Check this out from Monsignor Patrick Brady and his cousin Pauline Volz, nee McNamara. "Please say hello to our cousins Aggie, Eileen and the whole Daly clan". This is our furthest photo of Balbriggan.net. Can anyone beat this? Click on photo to enlarge.27.06.04

The Following Article is taken from WWW.Politics.ie

Sargent seeks legal advice to have harbours kept in public ownership
Tuesday, June 29

More news from Marine & Natural Resources
On the eve of the proposed sale of Balbriggan and Skerries harbours, Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent TD, after intensive talks, is seeking legal advice to have both harbours kept in public ownership.

Deputy Sargent said today that, “Tomorrow, on 30th June 2004, Balbriggan and Skerries historic and working harbours are due to be sold unless Section 88 of the 1996 Harbours Act is put into effect transferring both harbours from the ownership of Dublin Port to Fingal County Council.”

Trevor Sargent TD, who represents the Dublin North constituency, has met with officials from both the Department of the Environment and the Department of the Marine, along with Fingal County Council and Dublin Port and local Dáil representatives, to work out a transfer arrangement.

“I regret that the two Departments effectively sat on their hands and pleaded abject poverty even though Clogherhead port in Minister Dermot Ahern’s own constituency recently received grants totalling €8 million.”

“I am now seeking legal advice in order to have the two harbours retained in public ownership as the Harbours Act of 1996 envisages. This is what the people of Balbriggan and Skerries want, and have asked for by way of more than 1,000 signatures from petitions and letters to date,” concluded Deputy Sargent.

NewsFlash NewsFlash--Balbriggan Harbour Saved.

The Following was sent to us by Joe Corr of the Green Party on 29th June at 22.20 and it reads as follows:

29 June 2004

Sargent welcomes breakthrough in campaign to retain Balbriggan and Skerries harbours in public ownership

Green Party Leader and Dublin North TD Trevor Sargent has expressed his delight at hearing in the Dáil from An Tánaiste that the order under Section 88 of the Harbours Act 1996 to transfer the harbours of Balbriggan and Skerries to Fingal County Council has been signed today at the 11th hour. This order will prevent the sale by the state of these historic and working harbours into private hands.

Deputy Sargent said today that, “The heated meetings over the last number of days, in which I was involved, and the loud protests from the communities affected - which included letters and petitions from over 1000 individuals - have had their effect at last. I was ready also with legal advice to challenge this drive to privatise the harbours every step of the way. Fortunately, common sense has prevailed and the will of the people and the law have also prevailed.”

Turtle Dove spotted in Balbriggan.
Many thanks to Phil in seapoint who got some great photos of this rare bird. Obviously the Dove had heard how nice a place Balbriggan was and wanted to see for himself or herself. These photos were taken on the 26th April using an SLR camera attached to a telescope. Do you have any unusual photos of Balbriggan, maybe a Partridge in a pear tree, let us know and we will publish same. Thanks again Phil, click on thumbnail to enlarge. 30.06.04

Biggest Scoop for the Web Site by far;
We have done it again and this time it’s big.
Thanks to a most generous gesture by a local individual we have received a substantial number of old photographs dating from between 1895 to about 1905, all depicting scenes and people in Balbriggan. These are Glass Plates and are a unique collection most of which have not been seen previously by the public. Presently we are in the process of transferring them to a format which will allow us to display them on the web.
Keeping checking this page for more details.30.06.04

New Balbriggan.net marketing Team.
Having conquered the land, we are now looking to the sea. Click on the thumbnail to see enlarged.01.07.04

Balbriggan.net has been asked to publish the following. Suffice to say that we have no connection with any political party and we are available to all other political parties.

To All Supporters of the ‘Save the Harbours’ Campaign
A Chara,
On behalf of Cllr. Joe Corr, Fingal County Council, Cllr. Heidi Bedell, Balbriggan Town council and myself, I write to thank you all for your support which, much to our relief, has culiminated with an Order being signed by The Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources to transfer our local harbours to Fingal County Council. The petition and letters were compiled with the help of over 1,000 people including your goodself. The large volume of correspondence and petitions featured and was very useful at meetings I spoke at in the Department.
It was vital to demonstrate that the political fallout of Balbriggan and Skerries harbours being privatised would have had far reaching knock-on effects, and any private owners would have met huge resistance to any plans they might have had to take away these vital local amenities.
The issue is now to look anew at the harbours and draw up plans for repair and improvements which will ensure that these amenities are a source of pride for the community. We would be delighted to discuss this matter with you at your convenience if you can write or phone the Constituency Office (8900360) to arrange a time and place.
Le gach dea-ghui,
TREVOR SARGENT T.D.
Party Leader.

D-Day has arrived. DVD Audio Visual Slide Show-Now available.
At last the day has come for the escape of "Balbriggan, the way things used to be" and its available from two shops in the town, Vision Radio on Dublin Street and Around a Pound on Station Street. The price is € 10.95 and for that you get about 20 minutes of photos, old and new to music by the welsh composer Medwyn Goodall. The DVD will play in most domestic players manufactured after 2001. It will also play in all computers regardless if you only have a cd drive. We think you will enjoy and we welcome your reviews. 02.07.04

"Unprecedented Demand;
The new DVD showing Balbriggan past & present has temporarily sold out in the shops. A spokesperson has informed the Balbriggan Bugle that the team are working hard to ensure new stocks will be available on Monday morning.
This shortage in stock has come about due to the unexpected level of demand. The Balbriggan.net Marketing team say this is due to the high quality of the DVD, coupled with it's very competitive price"03.07.04

Malone's Forge---Dublin Street.
Thanks to the Benton/Curtis Collection we have another gem, Malones Forge on Dublin Street which was between Dominic Rafter's and the old Garda Barracks. Click on thumbnail to enlarge 04.07.04

Glass Photos of Balbriggan.---Thanks to David Brangan.
Finally we can reveal that David Brangan is the man who has made these photos available to us. In a statement issued to Balbriggan.net, it reads as follows: "These photographs of Balbriggan were taken by my late father, Thomas J. Brangan, of St. Benen's Gormanston. He was born in November 1903 and died in December 1989. He used to go around on his bicycle to take photos and while we do not have dates, are presuming they are taken circa. 1920's. If you recognise any of the faces, do not hesitate to contact us. They are original glass slides in their original box. Copyright belongs to David Brangan." The sequence of events is as follows, Team member, Martin Fanning, came into contact with David Brangan during the Special Olympics but it was on a recent meeting that David mentioned to Martin that he had some very old photos and within a few days he gave Martin 12 to see for himself. Martin contacted Tony who couldn't believe what he was seeing. Because the photos are on glass you can't scan them onto a computer unless you have specialist equipment and this is where our photographic expert comes in. Team member Joe Curtis has seen other photos on glass before so he knew what to do and how. Tony cleaned each of the 12 glass slides with a damp cloth and Joe scanned them. This took several hours and when we were finished we carefully wrapped each glass and returned them to Martin who in turn returned them to David along with a DVD of the images. David then gave Martin a further 30 glasses and then a final batch of about 58. It took Tony and Joe two full days to clean and scan the final batch and we have to thank Joe's wife, Margaret, for feeding Tony for the two days and allowing her kitchen to be taken over with glass slides everywhere. On Monday 5th July in a meeting with Martin and Tony, David has agreed to allow Balbriggan.net to publish the photos on site at a low resolution and as an added security feature has requested a watermark on each. On behalf of Jack Benton, Joe Curtis, Martin Fanning and Tony Healy we sincerely thank David and his wife Colette for their cooperation. Click on thumbnail to see the first of the slides along with photos of David with Martin and Tony. 06.07.04

DVD update and another Glass Photo.
Apologies for the four day delay in updating the site. The primary reason is our DVD on Balbriggan of which we are struggling to keep up with the demand. We had some technical problems at the start where some wouldn't play in the domestic DVD player but this has been sorted and if you purchased one of these simply return it to the shop for a replacement. Its available in McGoverns and Around a pound priced € 10.95. Our Guest book is filling up at an alarming rate, so much so that it takes a while to open. To rectify this we are going to remove some of the earlier messages and ones that have little or no comment. Next is another photo from the David Brangan collection and this is truly a fantastic photo, again not seen before but available exclusively to B.net. There are four adults and three children standing on the corner of Clonard street and Drogheda street, it was then Derhams Pub but today it is the Medical Centre. Click on thumbnail to enlarge 10.07.04

Skerries Races---By Keith Sherwin.
Many thanks to Keith for submitting two excellent photos of the Skerries races last week. Well done keith you must let us know what camera and lens you used for these shots.11.07.04

Sunshine House, Balbriggan.
Opening New Playrooms.

Today 14th July 2004 The President, Mrs McAleese, officially opened a new playrooms area at Sunshine House. Despite an unfavourable weather forecast the Sunshine did win out and all attendees had a wonderful few hours celebrating the opening of this most needed extension to the facilities at Sunshine House. The President obviously enjoyed the opportunity to address her (mostly) young audience and she spoke with great warmth and affection for the work carried out by the organisers of the week long breaks. She spoke about the wonderful support received from the ESB and how the partnership worked between the voluntary and corporate groups to the advantage of all the 120,000 or so children who have been on holiday in Sunshine House during the past 70 years.
An ‘all inclusive’ society where want and hardship is unknown to our children would be her wish and we still have some work to do to achieve this. She spent some time after the official opening meeting the children and made many admirers for the seamless manner with which she addressed both children and adults alike, and indeed made all ‘inclusive’ in the events of the day.
Balbriggan.net were delighted to be invited to the official opening and to the refreshments served, to the usual high standard, afterwards at the nearby Bracken Court Hotel.
Balbriggan.net also adds the request for supporters to remember to add a few Euros to The Sunshine Fund when the Advocate paper is on sale. All the funds go towards bringing children for a one week holiday each year to Sunshine House, Balbriggan. These children are all from families who have fallen on hard times so otherwise could never provide their children with a holiday. Click on thumbnail to see some photos of the day. 14.07.04

David Brangan's--The Bath House
The latest photograph from the David Brangan collection is a firm favourite of the team at Balbriggan.net, in particular Martin & Tony. It shows the Bath House in all its glory and what a fine building it was in its day. The building is still standing but is in a terrible state of repair, as we can all see when walking our beautiful coastline at Black Rock, also know as Kings Strand. How about restoration & preservation? Let us know what you think at Balbriggan.net. Click on thumbnail to enlarge 20.07.04

Web Site Latest.
Unfortunately, over the past few weeks we have been unable to keep the site updated as often as we would like. This is due to work commitments, the Balbriggan DVD and some Spanish students who are addicted to MSN messenger and so its difficult to get at the computer. This situation should improve in the coming days, please God. Today's picture is taken by PJ Cullen in the 70's of a Mr Richardson looking across a misty harbour. We think you will like this. 22.07.04

Remember Us Meet With President McAleese.
Sunday 18th July 2004.

On Sunday last the Remember Us group from Balbriggan attended the special “Blessing of the Fleet” ceremony at Howth Harbour, near Dublin.
President McAleese was in attendance and took part in a musical demonstration to the delight of a huge audience. She entered fully into the spirit of the occasion by assisting the Samba Band to the great delight of the Remember Us children who had worked hard to have their section “word perfect” on the day.
Members of the Irish Navy happily posed for photographs with members of the Remember Us group and the children particularly appreciated their involvement.
At the end of a tiring but satisfying day the volunteers and children returned to Balbriggan both as spectators and participants in a wonderful day. Well done Martin. Click on thumbnail to see the rest of the photos 24.07.04

Balbriggan Boxing Champion
"Looking for something else I found this photo this morning. Being aware that Anthony McMahon is in Balbriggan at present I guess this might prompt a few memories for him. He is at left of seccond row from back. He went on to win Irish titles as did Greg Kenny, Jimmy McIntyre & Niall Guildea. If my memory is correct Dave Hanna is the trainer. Can anybody let me know the year this was taken? " JC.25.07.04

Station "Car Park" circa 1895.
Time once again for another photo from the David Brangan collection and this is another treasure. It shows a Jaunting car obviously waiting to pick up passengers from the train. Look closely at the Smyco building on the left at the highest point and you will notice that the plaque is not there.27.07.04

Engine No.85 passes through Balbriggan.
The Enterprise Express passed through Balbriggan Saturday morning belching smoke like the dragon of olden times. Interestingly she is passing over the street originally called George's St. (now called Church St.) and I waited in vain to see St.George slew this dragon. I guess the train was speeding at about 60 miles per hour and she looked awesome in the early morning.
Steam had a magical charm and I regret it's passing. Well done to the enthusiasts who keep the old trains running. JC 25.07.04

Balbriggan Small Boat Sea Angling Championship Also 5th & 6th. Leg of the SIFIX League.
24th & 25 July 2004
This weekend saw the fishing of the final leg in the Championship and unfortunately the elements did not make for pleasant fishing. After a hectic time at sea on Saturday where sea-sickness pills would not go amiss, it proved necessary to cancel the Sunday leg in the interest of safety due to an awkward wind.
Kieron Rice, Frank Baxter, Hugh Donnelly and the rest of the organisers were disappointed but happy to cancel one day rather than take the risk of a boating mishap in the inclement conditions.
The prize giving ceremony was brought forward to ensure a large attendance were there to show appreciation to the fantastic array of prizes supplied by the various sponsors. This event must surely rank at the very top of the league for the generosity of it's sponsors.
The Chairman expressed his wish to see all the anglers return to try their luck again next year, in fairer weather of course.
Just a few of the lucky (or just talented?) prizewinners are shown so click on thumbnail to view.(J.C. 25.07.04)

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