Around Portarlington Way

Around Portarlington Way

Light up Portarlington

It was noticed last night that many street lights are not working in town. That’s very dangerous for people out walking in the dark.With the dark evenings now we need to have our streets, roads & estates lit up. If you are aware of any lights around the town that are not working please take the Pole number & ring it in to Killaree Lighting @ 087-6220144. You don’t need to live near the area where the light is gone to ring it in. Each pole has a number on it. So to light up the town fully & make each area safe please make that call.

Together let’s light up Portarlington!

AGM

The 45^th AGM of Portarlington Social Services/Meals on Wheels took place on Friday January 29^th in the Social Services Centre. Chairperson Jenny Champ opened the meeting to welcome all. Last year there were 5,403 cooked & delivered to people in the town & surrounding rural areas. The people who receive the meals are recommended to the Committee by their doctor & nurses, who see the need for these people who require good nourishing meals. A big thanks to our ladies in our kitchen for the high standard and quality which they achieve in preparing the dinners. The new extended kitchen is certainly a great addition to our food preparation and cooking area.

In the year 2015 it cost €51,000 to run the facility. Without the generosity of the public & the HSE we could not continue to function.

Portarlington Social Services Meals on Wheels

Fund Raising

The Annual Flag Day and Church Gate Collection was held in July & October. We are always so grateful to the public for their ongoing generosity to us. We also continue to receive donations from individuals and groups.

Also thanks to Breda Dunne our card Secretary who does the roster for the 60 plus delivery people.

Our thanks as always to the Community Employment Project for their continued support and our thanks also to their Supervisor, Martina Smyth for all her help.

Thanks also to the HSE, PCDA, and all our committee members for their dedication and commitment this past year. In the past year we have once again made great progress. We must continue in our endeavours to maintain these high standards.

The Committee for 2016

Chairman-Paul Mooney. Secretary-Ann (Bourke) Dunne. Treasurer-Geraldine O’Reilly. Card Secretary-Breda Dunne.  Committee- Ken Dunne, Jenny Champ Hendy, Rory Whelan, Mary Maher & Rita Behan.

 Trustees- Dorothy Odlum, Dr Adrian Honan, Ken Dunne & G O’Reilly.

Welcome to regular local news updates from around Laois here! Photo courtesy of www.nopunchline.wordpress.com

Unfortunately in the past year we have 2 of our long time Committee members resign. Patsy McGuinness & Eva Carter gave many many years of their time to our Committee & the running of our Centre. They will be sorely missed & we wish them health & happiness always.

Social Events

Bingo evenings resumed last Wednesday September 3 & will continue each Wednesday at 8.30pm in the Centre. Thanks to our Hostesses who help out each week.

Our Friday Cuppa starts on next Friday Feb 15 at 12pm for 3 hours. This came about from a meeting with our Primary Care nurses who feel there is a need for this in our Town. The plan is to have people gather together, to have lunch, be it for a chat, a game of cards or Bingo, or a sing song.

Portarlington Men’s Shed

It’s all systems go now. We have the keys to the old Fire Station now. A meeting will be held next Tuesday February 9 at A. L. E. R. T office on Botley Lane (next to Clown Around ) at 7pm. Should you be interested in joining the Men’s Shed you are welcome to attend. We are hoping for lots of new members in our new premises. Thanks to Darren Byrne for the use of his office for the meeting.

Men’s Shed will meet in Alert Training Premises.

 Dancing

Dancing continues every Monday night in The Gandon Inn, from 9.30pm to 11.30pm in aid of Portarlington St V de Paul. February 15-Peter Burke. February 22-Tony Bird.  Come along for a great night out.  Admission €7.  All welcome.

School Enrolment

Cloneyhurke N.S. is now accepting applications for enrolment for the school year 2016-2017. Application forms are available from the school or by email at cloneyhurkens@gmail.com.

Portarlington Speakers

Club President Carmel Moore had everyone guessing when she started her talk by saying she was watching her back. She then gave a very instructive guide including a comprehensive handout on how to look after your back and ensure that you are able to avoid that scourge of modern life back pain. Everyone was invited to make A New Year’s resolution to look after their backs.

Joanne Molloy enthralled everyone with a short poem written by her son. Such a privilege to hear original poetry. Mark Bastow tackled the tricky problem of how to pick a speech topic.

Geraldine Kennedy hosted a very lively table topics session where everyone had the opportunity to talk for up to 2 minutes on a variety of subjects ranging this time from the considerable merits of shopping locally in Portarlington to the worst ever Valentine’s Day presents which were two saucepans and a frying pan. The star topic was your favourite film with speaker after speaker on their feet showing that Portarlington Speakers could easily be renamed Portarlington Film Buffs. And of course the star event was the networking interlude aka coffee/tea break when we all had a good chat, a good cup of tea and some very tasty biscuits. The Speakers’ next meeting is in the Killenard Community Centre from 7.45pm to 9.30pm on Tuesday February 16 and all are welcome. Want more information? Please see FaceBook, MeetUp,  email: port.speakers@gmail.com or click here.