ÁTH TRASNA ABÚ - A TOWN TO BE PROUD OF
AS we enter the final days of November we look to the impending arrival of Christmas 2019. Where better to spend your time and money than right here in the heart of Duhallow. Newmarket has the shops and services to cater for all your needs this festive period. Best of all we have the warmth of welcome you will not enjoy anywhere else. Our traders will be happy to assist you in finding the best gifts at the best possible prices. The community development association both encourage and invite you to avail of what our town has to offer this Christmas and beyond. On Saturday, November 30th we welcome the man himself Santa Claus who will meet and greet the children of Newmarket from 4pm. This is a free event and we invite you all to come and join the fun in our community garden. This is a wonderful way to really launch the festive season in our community and we hope to see you all there. 2019 was again a year of hard work and progress for the community development association. Our Tidy Towns score again was up and our strong showing in the county council anti-litter challenge was a source of great pride to us. We led and helped to fund the painting scheme in partnership with Cork County Council. This saw over 40 applications which included painting the round wall. This scheme has enhanced the look of our town by painting buildings which, in turn, has added to the Tidy Towns efforts and improved the overall appearance of our community. We are proud each year to work on projects that progress Newmarket in any and every way that we can. Again this summer we were delighted to enjoy not one but two festivals. The Newmarket summer festival, which is so iconic and at this stage a real symbol of a Newmarket remembered and enjoyed by so many generations. This electric event culminates in a firework display which lights the sky over the carnival grounds. The crowds that gather each year to watch this big finale gets larger each year. Speaking of events that get larger each year, there’s is no denying the growing popularity of Scullysfest. This is not just a celebration of music, it takes in art and culture also. The Faces of Newmarket exhibition was a stunning success in 2019 and much credit is due to the committee for creating events that engage the community in such a wonderful way. We wish both committees every support and success as we face into the summer of 2020 next year. The community was both excited and delighted to welcome home the Duhallow junior hurling champions in a most spectacular victory parade last September. A drought of 40 years was ended by our talented hurling team. We wish to congratulate the team the selectors and the club on a magnificent achievement and wish all our GAA teams - men and women, girls and boys - all the very best in the new year. The community development association would like to thank all those who assisted us throughout the year. Our Tidy Towns volunteers, Cork County Council and especially those based in the local office. Thanks to the hard workers of our local Fas group, especially Bob Kennedy, who does huge work for us each year. Our biggest thanks, as always, is to our local traders who support not just us but all groups in town each year. They deserve all the support that we can give them, in turn; they are the very heartbeat of our local economy. In closing, I must give a special thanks to my fellow committee members - a great group to work with and I’ve been honoured to spend the past decade alongside them. The biggest thanks is to the people who support and encourage us. We are proud of this town, we believe in it and we are honoured to live in it. I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and I hope the new year is everything you could wish it to be. Keep an eye on Newmarket, something tells me 2020 is going to be very special. Áth Trasna abú!