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.

It’s the time of reckoning for the sunflower seeds given out in church on Rogation Sunday (May 6). Prizes for the tallest plant and for the largest flower will be awarded at the Outdoor Service and Barbecue this Sunday, September 2nd at 12 noon (please note later time for service). All welcome to the service and barbecue; there is no fee but small donations towards defraying costs welcome on the day.
 Parishoners are invited to forward their sunflowers’ measurements (height of plant and diameter of flower -metric or imperial) to the Rector at garydowd@eircom.net on or before this Friday, August 31st.  If your plant is very tall please be careful when measuring it!  (And if it’s in a pot, measure from the soil up.) You may wish to send a photograph as well. And if you have a story to share about your adventures with the sunflower seeds since May you may like to include that in your email.
 Meanwhile, continuing the eco theme and with the bonus of a later starting time for the morning service, we have designated this Sunday Walk/Cycle to Church Sunday – so everybody is being asked to try to leave the car at home if at all possible.

It’s a shame it is generally not possible to have the church open except for services. But during National Heritage Week, thanks to the parishoners who have volunteered  to supervise, it will be open 2pm-4pm daily from Monday, August 20th until the following  Saturday. This will not only give visitors a chance to step in and have a wander around, it is also a chance for parishoners to come and take a closer look at the 150th anniversary school projects, or, indeed, parts of the building you don’t normally stop to look at. All welcome – tell your friends and neighbours. Leaflets giving a brief history of the church are available inside the front door.

To facilitate the Dun Laoghaire Ironman Triathlon this coming Sunday morning, August 19th, many roads in the vicinity of the church will be closed temporarily (times vary) so it could be very difficult to attend church, especially at 10.30am.  (Selected road closures and times which may impact our parishioners most: Glenageary Road Lower 6.30am-9.30am; Sallyglen (from Graduate roundabout to Upper Glenageary roundabout) 6.30am-2 pm; Avondale Road, Glenageary Road Upper and Adelaide Road 9am-2pm.  Also many roads near the centre of Dun Laoghaire; see dirocco.ie/news/ironman-703  for further details.  Local access may be possible if you are walking!  The service at 10.30 am will go ahead as usual. But if you prefer to wait until the evening, there will be a service at 7pm too.

We will be opening the doors of St Paul‘s Church daily during much of National Heritage Week (August 18th-26th).  It seems apt in our 150th anniversary year to offer people the chance to see inside our historic building at a time other than during services. It is also particularly in keeping with the theme of Heritage Week 2018, “Share a Story – Make a Connection”.  We will have leaflets with points of interest and information about the church available to visitors – and  projects from GKNS and Rathdown are there to view as well.
 The doors will open from 2pm-4pm each day from Monday, August 20th to Saturday August 26th inclusive. 
 For more information about National Heritage Week, see heritageweek.ie

Exactly 150 years, right down to the very hour, after the consecration of our church building, on July 8th, 1868, the church was full again with an attendance of more than 275 people  to celebrate this significant milestone. It was very much a parish family celebration, with the second-longest-serving rector, the Ven Gordon Linney, returning to be celebrant and a former parishoner, the Very Rev Gregory Dunstan, Dean of Armagh, coming back as preacher. It was a particularly apt occasion to have him there as he, in a former life, had landscaped the church grounds – a setting which everybody could enjoy during the garden party after the service.
 Parishoners, neighbours and  local church and community representatives were all welcomed by the Rector to the service, for which the organist and director of music, Nathan Barrett, had composed a special Communion setting for the choir to sing. Straight afterwards, a commemorative tree was planted in the church grounds by Holly Kelly, a granddaughter of much-missed parishoner Deirdre Moppett who had been involved in the early stages of the planning of our 150th anniversary commemorations before her death last August.
 There was a great buzz at the all-age party afterwards, for which Linda Gunning led the catering with great panache and clockwork efficiency. Thanks to all those in the organising team and also the helpers roped in for the day. We’re hoping that at the 200th anniversary, some of those children attending last weekend will recall the sunny Sunday, 50 years ago, that they went to church, there was an ice-cream van handing out cones and everybody seemed happy!

The highlight of our 150th anniversary celebrations takes place this Sunday, July 8th, with A Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving.  It is taking place to the day and to the hour –  11.30am – of the service held to dedicate St Paul’s Glenageary 150 years ago on July 8th, 1868. Celebrant: The Ven. Gordon Linney (Rector 1980-2004) Preacher: The Vey Rev Gregory Dunstan: Dean of Armagh and a former parishioner.