We look forward to welcoming the Very Rev. Arthur Barrett (pictured below), Dean of Raphoe and a former parishioner, back to St Paul‘s as a visiting preacher at our Harvest Thanksgiving this Sunday, September 30th, at 10.30am. His family connection with the parish continues through his son Nathan, who is our organist and choir director.
 The church will be decorated for Harvest the day before, Saturday September 29th, at 9.30 am.  All help and materials would be very much appreciated.

As part of marking our 150th anniversary, St Paul’s is launching a community project to support the creation of a sensory garden behind a residential complex on Adelaide Road  run by Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, just a few hundred metres from our church. The garden at “Anvers” will be  used not only by residents but also by those who attend the ABII day centre in Dun Laoghaire, as gardening is a valuable therapeutic exercise for those recovering from brain injury.
 This garden will be the final phase of a development project  launched at Anvers this week. And this Sunday, September 23rd, Barbara O’Connell, CEO of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland will be the speaker at our 10.30am service to talk about what her organisation does to help people adapt to life after a traumatic brain injury.
 There will be a retiring collection after this Sunday’s service to kick-start our fund-raising campaign. A brain injury can happen in seconds and change a life for ever.  See the ABI website for more information abiireland.ie

St Paul’s Indoor Bowling Club is currently looking for new members and is holding an Open Night this Wednesday, September 12th, in the Parish Centre, from 7.30pm-9.30pm. Please come along and give it a try over a cup of tea. 
Indoor bowling is for people of all ages and is fun, sociable and can be as competitive as you want it to be!  We meet on Wednesday and Friday nights in the Parish Centre.  Social play is a very important for our members. We also enter (about four) teams in various cup and league competitions run by the D&DUCIBA which involves parishes around Dublin.  If you have any queries, contact David Pain (087 219 7512).

Congratulations to Linda Gunning who grew the tallest sunflower from the seeds given out by the Rector on Rogation Sunday back in May. She nurtured this Giraffe variety to a height of three metres and 24 centimetres (that’s 10 feet and seven-and-a-half inches in old money). The winners of the children’s competition were sisters and cousins, Kate and Natalie Peirce and Amy and Zoe Wood  – their tallest  was three metres, 20 centimetres. The children’s runners up were Annabel and Vivienne Harte. The prize for the best grower’s story went to Karen Lavery; it was an escapade that involved a dog and sunflower survival against all odds.
 The prizes were awarded during our annual outdoor service  (photograph below) and barbecue for which the sun shone brightly and there was a great turnout of parishoners.