Christmas Raffle.
Sellers have been out and about selling tickets for the Monster Christmas raffle and have received a fantastic response so thank you very much. Don’t worry if nobody has called to you yet, they are on their way. If you are not at home they will leave you a leaflet telling you how to get your hands on some tickets. Remember tickets are just €2 or three for €5 and the list of prizes is well over the 30 mark at the moment. Hotel break, cash, coal, oil, hampers, timber, meal vouchers, tickets to Michael English, vouchers to name but a few. The money raised from this raffle will go to the Community Centre and your support is greatly appreciated.
November Masses
Fr. O Byrne would like to say thank you to all who attended the special Wednesday night masses during November for the dead and I would like to say a big thank you to all who did the readings and prayers over the four weeks.
Community Alert AGM
The AGM of the High Road/Ballyduff Community Alert Group will take place on Tuesday December 6th at 8pm in Ballyduff Community Centre. All are welcome to attend this meeting. This group have done tremendous work since their formation and are to be congratulated. The text alert scheme they run is fantastic where we receive a text about any suspicious behaviour in our areas. Please come along to the meeting and help keep your area safe.
A Christmas Carol.
Now that it is officially December we can begin to mention Christmas. The perfect way to start off your Christmas and get yourself in the Christmas spirit is to pop along to the carol service which is being hosted by St. Nicholas’s choir. On Wednesday December 14th at 7.30pm you are invited to come along and enjoy some of your favourite carols in Ballyduff church. Joining them on the night will be pianist Damian O Brien, flautist Ger Dower and Soprano Lupita De Bhail. Admission is free but there will be a whip around at the interval and donations will go towards Ballyduff Community Centre. I attended this event last year and I must say I really came out feeling great after it. Come along sit back , let your mind rest and enjoy a real musical treat.
After the service you are invited back to Ballyduff Community Centre for some mulled wine and mince pies and tea,coffee and cake.
Church News.
A date to mark in your diary is the annual reconciliation service which will take place during the masses on Saturday December 17th at 7.30pm and Sunday 18th at 10am. This is an ideal opportunity to wipe the slate clean before the Christmas season.
The Christmas collection for the support of the priests of the parish will be taken up during the Christmas masses and you are asked to be as generous as possible. There are envelopes available for this collection in your yearly pack or a one off envelope will be distributed to houses in the coming weeks.
Tidy Towns AGM
Another date to mark into your 2017 diary is the AGM of our local Tidy Towns group. The meeting will take place in Ballyduff community centre on January 17th at 7pm and all are welcome to attend. New faces are especially welcome and discussions and ideas for on going activities. The group would like to thank everyone for their hard work and support over the year and a special mention to Declan Power who is doing a great job around the area at the moment.
Keep A Lookout
We’ve all been wrapping up in our Winter woolies with the drop in temperatures in the past few days so I would ask you to please check in with neighbours around you, young and old to make sure they are ok for heat, food etc. Little small helpful things we can do to help others can mean an awful lot. Sometimes people might be just glad of a chat. In a busy world we are unaware of other peoples circumstances and so sometimes a kind word or deed can mean the world to someone. Believe me you get just as much out of it