Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt 2021

The Mona Lockdown Smile

or many, it was a year when it was hard to smile without gritting those teeth.

Every time we thought we were out of the woods, another tree fell on our heads.

By now, we’ve had so many stay-at-home notices, some people are no longer sure they’ll ever work up the courage or the enthusiasm to venture out again.

Not that there weren’t good times to be had in Greystones over the past 12 months – it’s just hard to remember them when the year once again ends in a deflating lockdown whimper.

Just to prove that the silver lining of that Covid cloud could be pretty darn spectacular though, we once again got a bunch of happy, shiny Greystonians to reveal their good vibrations for the year that just was…

Pierce gets his just award

Diane & Pierce Cahill 
It’s been a fine year for this mother & son dynamic duo, with Pierce’s putting on his running shoes for his beloved Lakers and others, and raising not only thousands for charity but our spirits too. Over to Diane…

Here are a few things that us some real joy in 2021…

Things that made Pierce smile:

Pierce with Lisa Howley

Pierce enjoyed his runs with Lisa and Rio and Rio made him smile and laugh often.
The welcome and cheers that Pierce got at the end of his 5k A Day In May challenge.
“Diane made me laugh”.
Helping with Tidy Towns.
Finishing the half-marathon in Mullingar on 13th November.

Morning glory

 Things that made Diane smile:

Luke O Niall.
The RTE documentary, Cocooned.
Listening to Marty on Lyric FM in the morning instead of the continual depressing news on RTÉ and Newstalk.
John Boyne’s The Echo Chamber.

My son Pierce makes me smile every day.

But what made us both smile was Pierce’s Person of the Year Award.

Paul Quinn 3JAN21

Paul Quinn
Having sadly joined his brothers Colin and Brian in shuttering The Three Q’s restaurant in June 2020, Paul Quinn has kept himself busy creating unique and pretty sexy wooden kitchen utensils. Or maybe they’re spanking paddles? You can check them out on Instagram here, with a PQ Wooden Designs website due early this year…

Got wood…?

I’m fairly cheerful most of the time anyway – so, I usually spend my time trying to cheer up the people around me.

Given that I haven’t met too many grumpy gits around here, have made this quest quite easy.

Colin, Brian & Paul 1986

I’m happy to have all my family, friends, acquaintances and general head-the-balls around to keep things interesting. I guess that’s what a community is. Be nice. Say hi. Crack a joke and keep the wheels turning.

There are so many kind people around here who are more than happy to help others. I have witnessed it many times and I’m very grateful.

Be happy with what you have and if things don’t work out… change your view, move a few things around. It’ll be grand.

Paddy Holohan
It’s been a hectic year for anyone trying to keep Greystonians fed and watered, and Paddy Holohan managed to not only do that at SuperValu on the main street but his ever-growing passion for running, jumping and swimming like a man possessed resulting in one very full-on 2021.

Paddy Holohan JAN22 Pic: Niall Meehan

Following a dismal lockdown start to 2021 and outdoor events having being cancelled left right and centre in 2020, with the green shoots of spring came the hope of a somewhat normal summer and return to some of my favourite pursuits of IMRA (Irish Mountain Running Association) and our very own King of Greystones charity triathlon.

After spending so much time apart it was fantastic to see so many smiling faces doing what they love doing best, participating in events in the great outdoors.

In the summer of ‘21 it was great for the soul to be back once again doing those little things that we took for granted a couple of years ago – like running in a beautiful setting for an IMRA race or charging around Greystones head-to-head with our athletic nemesis.

With the Covid cloud returning at the end of the year, we can only hope to get more glimmers of hope in 2022 – and realise that these nuggets of joy in turbulent times will some day be the moments that we look back upon with great fondness.

Simon Carey
Taking the helm at St David’s after years of service was clearly a dream come true for the young Carey lad, as his enthusiasm for the Greystones school seems to know no leaps and bounds. And with the new and hugely improved HQ due to be fully unleashed in 2022, sure, Simon will be leaping and bounding even higher…

Simon Carey 25NOV21

Joys of 2021:

1. Getting our staff and students through the opening three tough months January – March with online teaching and learning.
2. Ensuring our Leaving Certificate students were afforded everything up to L.C in June 2021 and relief all went so well
3. Being appointed Principal of St. David’s Holt Faith Secondary School in June 2021 having served as Deputy Principal for seven years
4. Our school building commences in January 2021 (knocking down of old concert hall and work commences on refurbishment of existing building and new buildings)
5. On a personal note, vaccinations for all against corona put a great smile on my face and uplifted the soul

St David’s NOV21

1. Completion of work to St. David’s Holy Faith Secondary School by November 2022 which will see a total of 50 classrooms (8 extra to what we have now) and 6 extra office and professional spaces for meetings, school planning and extensive initiatives. Our new school sports arena (5 times bigger than our original old concert hall) with gym overlooking the Irish Sea on one side and the Wicklow Mountains on the other side.

Going Forward 2022:

1. By January 2023 the final piece of the jigsaw will see our new astro turf in place (where our prefabs are currently).
2. New school uniform for First, Second, Transition and Fifth Years as well as new P.E uniform for First, Second, Third, Transition and Fifth Years in September 2022.
3. Launch of new school website in March 2022.

Dawn Lawlor
What a year it’s been for Dawn Lawlor and her rather talented son, Maiu, the latter a 2017 Late Late Toy Show sensation who last month ended up representing Ireland in the Junior Eurovision. Baba-BOOM! And the woman had plenty of other reasons to be cheerful in 2021…

Hurray! We can now put soft plastics in the green bin!!

Levi vs Eiffel

Frolicking on the beach with my kids during the scorcher of a summer we had and throwing myself in the sea for a laugh fully clothed to cool down, ice cream cones, bike rides, picnics and sing songs.

The love and support for my son and our family from so many on his journey to Junior Eurovision and the hard work and enthusiastic commitment from the production team that got him there, and stayed by his side in Paris.

The mammoth uptake of vaccinations and being able to hug my parents and wider family again was incredible, however we all look back on this time in our history, I will always be humbled by the emotions, including the respect and gratitude that I felt.

Hope for 2022

I’m looking forward with a relaxed sense of optimism; we’ve got this now, we’re experienced, we know how to act, behave, mind ourselves and each other. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said, “The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes”, and I believe we do, have done and continue to change as each new challenge comes our way.

There is no going back and I’m happy to evolve and face into 2022 with a light hearted spring in my step. Any alternative just isn’t for me!

Ruairi Farrell
Being the principal of a school that has been patiently waiting for its permanent home for, what, 378 years now? That can’t be easy. And yet, Greystones Community College supremo Ruairi Farrell is nothing but positive, not only about the year 2021, but the times that lay ahead…

As a new year begins, and we reflect on the many challenges that we have all faced in the last 12 months, it is important to realise that there are always lots of reasons to be cheerful!

GCC Student Ambassador Team MAY21

I have to say I get my positivity from working with the young people in our community, seeing their tenacity, their resilience and their courage when overcoming these challenges. In 2021, our young people have dealt with school closures and online learning, the cancellation of activities and become accustomed to pods, bubbles, and isolation. But they rose to every single obstacle and took it in their strides with smiles on their faces.

GCC students clean-up 26APR21

More often than not, all the good work our young people do in our community may go unnoticed. I see first-hand their volunteerism, from coaching sports to supporting the tidy towns to fundraising for charities in our locality. These young people recognise the value of community and the importance of looking out for each other. This community spirit can be seen in abundance in Greystones and makes it such a wonderful place to live and work and I have no doubt it will continue long into 2022 and beyond.

Click de Pic!

On a personal level, I appreciated the small things this year, especially my 1-year-old daughter’s smiles and laughter when I come through the door after a long day at work! All too often, we forget all the many many reasons we have to be cheerful.

We can look forward with optimism to 2022, and with the confidence to know we will overcome whatever challenges we will face by continuing to look out for one another.

Patti & bodyguard Pam 16DEC21

Patti Schnably Shields
Embracing the Delgany life with a passion – and getting as far away from Trump as she possible can – Patti Shields has been at the forefront of ensuring that popular little village’s future. As a village. Rather than a city.

I grew up in a family dominated by a kind of forced Southern Baptist optimism.

“Keep a smile on ‘cuz it could always be worse’ was what my nana used to say, followed by some alternating story around her upbringing in a family of 11 children (3 of whom died before reaching the age of 10) and how some further calamity was layered on a circumstance because of a lack of gratitude.

As the eldest child (to survive to adulthood) she had street cred with all of us, and her stories made us gravitate to a more cheerful outlook feeling like we would be asking for trouble if we thought otherwise. That said, the current two-year span of Covid has given me very specific gratitude, especially for the simple things. It has hugely changed my perspective on how to organize my own priorities and led us back here to Ireland permanently this summer.

Proximity and spending time with family & friends, experiencing the beauty of nature, and doing things that benefit the greater good were ranked higher than staying up with the pace and noise of the rat race we left behind. And for us we have felt positive momentum in 2021 – and that is what I am truly optimistic about in 2022.

We have taken long walks in the beauty of Wicklow, shared amazing times with family and friends, and look to do more as Covid hopefully loosens its grip on the country. We love Delgany and the spirit of community that is here.

The Delgany Tidy Towns gang

I have enjoyed spending time getting involved in our local groups and working on solutions for the future.

We are not always in agreement, but we have the same passion for living and keeping this area beautiful and liveable for generations to come just as others have done before us. And I do not want to take any of that for granted.

All of that energy is great and I plan on rolling that optimism, spirit, and cheer into 2022 – along with a few pints of Wicklow Wolf…

Young Alan…

Alan Cox
Another busy year at Temple Carrig School, and that means its principal has been somewhat rushed off his feet. Even when the rest of the world were forced to put theirs up and stay indoors. Right now, there’s the little matter of finding substitute teachers for January’s return, thanks to that Omnicron bug putting 14 regulars on ice. Hence a short and sweet look back at 2021…

Temple Carrig’s sporting heroes

I may not be feeling particularly cheerful right now, but it has been a great year in some respects. The fact that all the secondary schools in the town are getting on so well and working so well together has been a major highlight of 2021. And then, of course, there are the kids, who make every day brand new, and full of a whole new fresh wave of possibilities…

Here’s to a great year ahead. We all deserve one…

Steven Duggan
The noted author struck a nerve with Greystones when his latest thriller, The Devil Himself, turned out to be littered with many thinly-veiled locals. The desire to find out just who, why and how made Duggan’s book a bestseller over Christmas. And the fact that all the proceeds from the book’s sale were going to Greystones Cancer Support made this a win, win, win situation…

Apart from having it confirmed that Greystones was the best place in the world to live – which even blow-ins and arrivistes like my family (who only turned up here in 1973) already knew – 2021 was another year in which we seemed to rediscover the value of community.
No longer distracted by the bluster of narcissists overseas during the US presidential election (which was won by a sentient human being) or Brexit’s efforts to lead our nearest neighbour to the Cliffs of Dover in lemming formation, or such unnecessary distractions as meeting friends in a ‘pub’ or ‘restaurant’, the town seemed to turn in toward itself. The harbour so many of us looked up as an outsized eyesore became the promenade in Nice, with hundreds taking their podcasts for a walk outdoors, while braver souls swelled the ranks (and shrunk the testes) of those hurling themselves into the freezing waters of the Cove and South Beach.

Davis Motors by Tom Byrne

We took care to keep our local businesses open, with some tragic exceptions – favourites such as The Three Qs and Davis Motors will be impossible to replace – and we doubled-down on our support for local charities, demonstrating that we are more than a community of well-heeled caffeine addicts.

Fenella!

We enter 2022 as a place where people still smile and say hello as they pass each other at the end of the leads of their Golden Labradors, and where Dry-Robed survivalists gather like emperor penguins on the pavements of the main street, when by rights they should all still be in bed. So bring on the New Year Greystones! Recession, we fart in your general direction! And pandemics? Go away or we shall taunt you a second time!

On a personal note, I’d like to thank everyone who bought a copy of The Devil Himself in The Village Bookshop over Christmas. In the end the book sold out four times, and we had to have extra copies printed in Cork to meet the demand. Thanks to the generosity and support of Fenella and the team every cent of your €14.99 goes to Greystones Cancer Support to help them continue the vital work they do in our community. Did I mention there are still a few copies left…?

Alan ‘Elvis’ Adamson
The once and future King is still living the retired life deep down in the country, but his heart is still in Greystones. Especially during a year like 2021…

It’s been difficult, not being able to visit Greystones as much as I’d like to in the past year. Greystones is like my Gracelands, and I know all my fans there must miss me terribly. But the coming is going to be an incredible and an amazing year.

Mainly because I’m going to be back in Greystones in 2022. A lot.

In the meantime, you can jump back through previous Reasons To Be Cheerful here.