Judging for this year’s Tidy Town’s competition starts over the coming weeks and we are making a huge effort to get the town looking fresh and tidy for the Summer. We meet on Tuesday nights at the Park at the West End to do a bit of litter pick up and often a bit of gardening so please come out and give us 1 hour in your week (7-8pm) to do something for your community!

If you’ve any landscaping suggestions please get in touch with us at contact@athtrasna.com or just chat to a committee member! Hope to see you at the Tuesday night clean-up hour!

Shopping in Newmarket has always been a pleasure due to the wonderful customer service and excellent value our traders have to offer. Our local business people have come together to give the local consumer a special week packed with cut price savings and special offers. The Newmarket Shopping week runs from Saturday April 16th to Saturday April 23rd. The special offers on clothing, food, fresh fruit and veg, electrical goods, every meal from breakfast to dinner not to mention beauty treatments, hair cuts and so much more. We invite you to come and see what out town has to offer.

We have been fortunate in these difficult economic times to welcome a number of new business people into our town. We thank them for putting their faith in our community and hope that this shopping week will help promote our businesses on every corner of every street. If you want value for money and a warm courteous environment to do your shopping then join us in Newmarket not just for the shopping week but every week.

See the events folder in the Gallery for the list of offers.

The Newmarket Festival Committee want to share the rules for the Soap Box race. Please see below:

Soap box entry requirements
-Should have a safety belt fitted.
-Should have a roll-over bar or high backed rigid seat fitted which will be sufficient to save pilot from injury in the event of a flip over.
- Should not exceed 1.5m in width
- Chassis clearance should be no higher than 30cm from the ground
- Wheel base from front axle to back axle should not exceed 2m
- Wheels diameter should not exceed 50cm
- Should not have any mechanical parts to increase its speed (so no catapults, pedals or jet engines)
- Must have a rigid steering system (no ropes)
- Must have a back two wheel braking system
- Must not have any smoke or fire devices fitted
- Must not have any design element to endanger themselves or the public (i.e. No sharp metal objects, mirrors or glass)
- The Soap Box MUST have a solid floor
- No part of the Soap Box must extend beyond the width of the Soap Box
- A Soap Box derived from an existing chassis is permitted provided that it complies with the rules
- Your Soap Box design must be easily accessible, so that in the event of a crash the driver can be evacuated quickly.
Please note that entries not complying with the above criteria will not be accepted to take part in this year’s soap box race.

RULES:
A maximum of four crew members per team.   One person to be named as Captain, one person to be named as Driver (can be the same person if desired)
- Every sleeve top, protective footwear, gloves and knee & elbow pads (no bare arms, legs or skin). No exception to this rule. All DRIVERS MUST WEAR A CRASH HELMET!!
- No team will be allowed to compete under the influence of alcohol or medication or any other mind altering substance.
- Teams must follow the instructions of the safety officials, marshals and the Festival committee.
- All members of the team must sign a declaration absolving the organisers from any and all responsibility at scrutiny.
- All children competing in the junior race must at scrutiny and racing be accompanied by a parent or guardian, who must have signed the Permission Form at scrutiny.
- It is the responsibility of each Team Captain to ensure the safety of his/her team. Team Captains will be required to sign a declaration to this effect.
- In all matters relating to the Soap Box Race, the Committee’s / Judges decision is final

TO START: SCRUTINY:
All competitors must present their soap box on Sunday the 3rd of July 2011 between 1:30pm and 2:30pm at the church car park Newmarket. The inspection will focus on the general safety of the soap box, braking system and drivers safety clothes. To ensure you pass scrutiny, make sure you stick to the above rules and specifications:

THE SOAP BOX RACE
- Teams must assemble at the scrutiny area,  A driver’s brief will take place at this time.
- Scrutiny will be completed by 2.30pm and Start & Finish instructions will be issued when signing on.  In the event that a team has failed their inspection, they may request a re-inspection after rectifying any non-compliances..
- The race is open to all home-made racing carts, all of which will race against the clock, one at a time.  Your SoapBox and driver will be pushed off the starting line by one/two of your crew.  Once one SoapBox has got to the finish line safely (or the wreckage has been removed from the circuit), the next SoapBox will start. Your entire cart and any debris must be removed immediately after your time trial.

Happy Racing!

We will be starting our town clean up nights again on Tuesday the 12th of April starting at 7pm and meeting at the town park. All equipment will be provided and we’ll work through until 8pm. We had a great team last year and thankfully had some good weather! The main activity is litter clean up and we may have some bits of gardening and other odd jobs. It’s a great way to get out in the fresh air, meet some people and make a positive difference to our environment.

Aside from making our town tidy and pleasant to live in we are also hoping to improve our score in the Tidy Towns Competition this year. If you can’t make the night we would appeal to you to keep an eye out for litter and if there is anything you can do to make your home or business look more appealing that would make a huge difference to our chances in the competition.

If you’ve any questions or suggestions for what type of landscaping we could do around the town please get in touch with us at contact@athtrasna.com or grab one of the committee members. We’ll be putting together a landscaping plan for this year over the coming weeks. One of the key areas we’ll be focusing on is the pump house on Scarteen Street.

The Newmarket Traders Association will be launching a Shop Local Campaign over the coming days. In the current climate it is essential that all members of the community make a special effort to support local businesses and therefore local jobs. There are a wide range of businesses in our town providing a wide range of great quality services and products. You might be surprised at the great value on offer.

Make sure you check out our business directory for a list of many of our local businesses. Watch this space for future developments by the Traders Association.

As ever if you have any suggestions or queries please don’t hesitate to get in touch through the contact form on this site or email contact@athtrasna.com

Áth Trasna Abú!

An update from the AGM of the community development association – the committee for 2011 was formed. We have a number of new members and Liz O’Connor has filled the post of PRO. We would like to thank our outgoing PRO Mary Stack for all her hard work throughout 2010 – she will be greatly missed.

Our first task this year is the Saint Patrick’s day parade. This will kick off from the West End at 12:30 on Thursday March 17th. All are welcome to join in. There will be prizes for Best Float, Best Car, Best Business Window, Best Adult Costume and Best Juvenile Costume. Don’t forget to drop into the Coffee morning in Hourigan’s Lounge, High Street which is in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. Also if you’re looking for something to do the night before the Juvenile GAA club are holding a sports quiz in Hourigan’s also.

La Fhéile Pádraig faoi mhaise dhaoibh go léir

The Newmarket Community Development Association will be holding an AGM on Thursday, 17th February, at 8pm in the IRD. We are really eager to see some new faces this year and would welcome any new ideas and suggestions on the night. This is a great opportunity to make a positive contribution to your community, meet new people and gain some new skills and experience.

We will also be holding a Church gate collection on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of February. Money collected will be used to fund local projects (such as landscaping and town events) as well as funding insurance costs for local town amenities. Your support, as ever, is hugely appreciated.

The Christmas day swim was postponed due to adverse weather conditions. It will now take place New Years Day at 12.30.

The proceeds from this year’s Swim will go to St. Josephs Foundation, Charleville who look after those with Special Needs within our community and Kanturk Community Hospital who care so well for the elderly.

Last year over €8000 was raised for the National Rehabilitation Hospital and the Michael O’ Dea
rehabilitation Fund.

Please come along and support this great cause.

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The swim took place on the 1st of January in the Island Wood. Well done to the organizers of this great event and to the brave 23 men and 1 woman who took a very cold dip!!

You can follow the Christmas Day Swim on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewmarketChristmasDaySwim

Despite the severe weather conditions we had a great turnout at both the carol service and the Christmas disco in Scully’s. The Newmarket choir led the singing and were joined by a large group of well wrapped up locals who had braved the elements. The snowy landscape added to the festive atmosphere and made the night both visually and vocally memorable.

The night continued in Scully’s bar with a Christmas disco with DJ Cal. We were delighted to be joined by the Newmarket Minor Hurling county champions, who celebrated their recent success with enthusiasm! We greatly appreciated their presence. DJ Cal kept the crowd in high spirits throughout the night with a great mix of music and humour.

Photos will be posted to the Gallery over the coming days.

Congratulations to the winners of the competitions: Relish for most festive business and the Murphy Family in Killowen who won best dressed house!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the community for all your support during the year. We’ve been able to complete a number of projects in 2010: creation of a biodiversity garden (outside the protestant graveyard), landscaping, St. Patrick’s day parade, erection of the Christmas lights, painting of the pump house as well as the launching of this website. We had another successful year in the Tidy Towns competition, coming second in our group and managing to improve on our overall score by 5 points from last year. All this would not have been possible without the help of many volunteers who worked so hard this year. Much thanks is also due to the the Newmarket traders who have been extremely generous in contributing towards the cost of the Christmas lights and St. Patrick’s day.

We will be holding an AGM at the start of next year. The more people we have involved the more projects we can undertake for the community, so new members would be very welcome. If you have ideas for events or projects for Newmarket, or would like to get involved please get in touch. More details to follow in the New Year.

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Dhaoibh.

This evenings events (Carol Service and disco in Scullys) will still be going ahead despite the weather. Please wrap up warm (we won’t be outside for too long) and please take care traveling and only do so if it is safe.