All About You: Elevate Credit Union reflects on historic year

Elevate Credit Union, based in Douglas village and Glanmire, but also with branches at Passage West/Monkstown and Grange has issued a new year message to members.

In the message they say: “As the end of 2024, we’re taking a moment to celebrate what has been a truly historic year for our credit union.

“This year, we achieved some remarkable milestones, which included: Successfully merged Douglas and Glanmire Credit Unions; rebranded as Elevate Credit Union; continued unwavering support for our local community, and celebrated exciting growth in our loan book and current accounts.

“The primary function of Elevate Credit Union has always been to provide accessible financial services to our members. Due to progression within the commercial sector and member needs, we have altered and advanced our available services to stay relevant to members throughout the years.

“We constantly strive to provide our members with the best possible service and keep them at the centre of everything we do.

“None of this would have been possible without you, our valued members, and the dedication of our fantastic team. Thank you for your trust, support, and partnership on this journey.

“Hope you all had a happy Christmas and a wonderful new year. Here’s to building on the successes of 2024 and making 2025 even brighter together.”

They have also issued fraud protection notice to members which includes:

Do not disclose your PIN number to any third party. Note that we never ask for your full PIN number in order to log into our website https://elevatecu.ie/ or in any communications with us.

Phishing is a type of fraudulent activity carried out by cyber criminals who send disguised e-mails or make phone calls or texts to people or organisations purporting to be from familiar or reputable sources to encourage the recipient to click on links to malicious websites, to transfer or pay money or to disclose sensitive information such as account details, account PIN numbers or passwords or credit card information.

Be vigilant in relation to any unsolicited communications or attempts to convince you that a call is from persons claiming to act on our behalf (or on behalf of any other financial institution or any official or State body) in an effort to trick you into disclosing information in response.

Be suspicious and do not be tricked, even if the caller knows some of your details such as your name and address, account number or date of birth. Do not disclose any information in response to an unsolicited communication when asked for personal data such as passwords, usernames, PIN numbers or banking information and do not click on any links or open any attachments from these communications. If you are in any doubt about a communication purporting to be from Elevate Credit Union, do not respond.

Christ King TY students hold annual Christmas fair

Ballinlough Writers Group to meet at community centre

The Ballinlough Writers Group will meet at the Ballinlough Community Centre on Friday, January 17, from 5.30pm, for some festive writing.

A spokesperson said: “If you are new to this please note The Ballinlough Writers Group meet on the third Friday of every month and it’s open to all people, including beginners, and anyone interested in writing.

“So even if you’re only half interested please come along and check us out. We look forward to meeting you.”

Enquiries to Ronnie on 087 1672715.

Lennox Robinson 100 word short story postponed

The organisers of the Lennox Robinson shorty story said that they “regret to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances our annual short story competition has to be postponed for this year”.

This proved a popular competition writers over several years.

They went on to say: “We’d like to thank all who entered the competition and we’ll hold all the entries until new arrangements have been made.”

GAA club charity collection

The Douglas GAA community and friends came together to support three incredible charities: Good Shepherd, Irish Heart Foundation, and Simon Community.

A spokesperson for the club said: “Thanks to your generosity a full van of goods was delivered to Edel House (Good Shepherd); a very packed car of donations went to Simon Community and cash donations were also collected to further support these vital causes.

“We also want to extend a special thank you to the amazing organisers, who have been leading this initiative for the past six years. Your dedication and hard work make this all possible.

“If you missed the event our online donation link is still open. So if you couldn’t make it on Saturday, there’s still time to contribute. Every little bit helps.

You can donate at: https://member.clubforce.com/memberships

“Furthermore we had a great collection in the bar recently where Christmas jumpers were to the fore. Just a few euros short of €700 was collected for Marymount.

“A heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated and supported this initiative.”

Have Douglas news to share? Contact Rory.noonan@theecho.ie