Over the summer local artist and Committee member, Laura Steerman, created a wonderful mural in St Olaf’s NS. Laura designed the mural based on ideas from the school children, and volunteers from the neighbourhood and school helped to paint it. A special mention to Paddy Cahill who designed the original school crest which features prominently in the mural. The Residents Association was happy to support the purchase of some of the materials used in creating this fabulous art piece.
We were delighted to host our second annual Summer BBQ on 25th June in the grounds of St Olaf’s NS. This wonderful event is fully managed by your Committee to thank you, our members, for your continued support throughout the year.
We were thrilled that so many members of all ages came along despite a very unfavourable weather forecast! Everyone really enjoyed the BBQ with burgers and sausages, complemented by some delicious chips from Romayos. We would particularly like to thank local resident Kyle for volunteering to manage the BBQ station for us.
A huge thank you to the ladies at the tea and coffee station for providing much needed refreshments. The kids were entertained with face painting, balloon modelling, a piñata, fun garden games and a bubble machine!
Our plan was to round off the BBQ with ice cream cones for everyone but no sooner had the ice cream van arrived than we found ourselves in the middle of a thunderstorm! Luckily we were able to move to the school hall so everyone could enjoy their ice creams and continue the fun inside. A huge thank you to those who helped us move inside and secure our gazebos! And a very special thank you goes to St Olaf’s NS for letting us use the grounds and for use of the hall to shelter from the storm!
Thanks to Peter O’Brien who donated tickets to Longitude and to everyone who took part in our raffle. The lucky winners were 152 Balally Drive and 15 Balally Drive and we hope they enjoyed their day out.
We are delighted that the BBQ was a great success again this year, it was wonderful to catch up with our neighbours of all ages and we encourage newer members to come along to our next social event.
Great fun was had at our Easter Egg Hunt on 8th April in the grounds of St Olaf’s NS. The children wasted no time locating hundreds of Easter eggs hidden around the school grounds. We had a very special visit from the Easter Bunny who did a fantastic job in encouraging everyone to find the eggs. There were lots of fun Easter games and delicious chocolate eggs. A big thank you to all who helped organise the day, especially to Bernard Murphy and Balally’s very own Easter Bunny (a.k.a. Kathryn O’Connell!). We hope even more families will come along next year for a special return visit from the Easter Bunny!
Some great photos from clean-up week, planting flowers from SuperValu, and skip day
We have planted a new oak tree on the hill, which is the memorial tree for residents of the estate. We’ll be watering it regularly over the next few weeks to help it bed in, and hope it will thrive and be be around for many years to come.
Photos from Santa’s Christmas Eve visit to Balally are now in the Gallery.
For anyone who grew up in Sandyford (or lived in the Park), this photo was taken in 1948 of of Clonard House/IMI on the right. The fields in the background would become Balally, Wedgewood and Moreen. The left of Clonard house is the old stables now The Park. Credit to Cathal McGlinchey for digging it out. Sourced from Facebook post.
You may also have noticed that the roundabout upgrade is now complete, and we hope you agree that it is a great improvement with a bit of style and design compared to before. A big thank you to everyone involved, with a special shout out to Rachel Crean and Anne Carey who made sure that it all happened successfully.
Thanks also to everyone who played their part in the estate clean-up in recent weeks. We think the area is looking great and now all we need is for the sun to keep shining. SuperValu once again provided us with some of the flowers. Here’s some photos of the work in action and the final photos.
A big thank you to SuperValu Balally who provided a selection of flowers for the planters around Balally. The estate is looking great in the sunshine. Thanks Philip!
Santa made his regular visit on Christmas Eve with some treats for residents and photos are now available on the gallery page. If you have other photos you would like to share just get in touch and we can add them here. Happy new year to all!