Going to Camp this summer?

Summer Camp season starts today. Just in case you might have missed what’s available, here’s a list of events, locations and dates.

1.
Kilcullen Badminton Club Summer Club

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre, Kilcullen

• When: Starts Tuesday, 2 June 2026; then every Tuesday (8–11pm) and Thursday (8–10pm) throughout the summer

2.
Soccer Skills Academy (1st camp)

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 29 June – 3 July 2026

3.
Camp Kilcullen

• Location: Scoil Bhríde, Kilcullen

• When: 29 June – 3 July 2026 (9:30am–2pm)

4.
Born to Strum Music Summer Camp (1st week)

• Location: Crookstown

• When: 29 June – 3 July 2026

5.
Brannockstown Baptist Church Summer
Kids Club

• Location: Brannockstown Baptist Church, Brannockstown

• When: 6 – 10 July 2026 (10am–3pm)

6.
Kilcullen Activity Summer Camp

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 6 – 10 July 2026

7.
Born to Strum Music Summer Camp (2nd week)

• Location: Crookstown

• When: 6 – 9 July 2026

8.
Kilcullen AFC Summer Football Camp

• Location: Kilcullen AFC grounds, Kilcullen

• When: 13 – 16 July 2026 (10am–3pm)

9.
Badminton Ireland Camp (1st week)

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 20 – 23 July 2026

10.
Latin and Ballroom Camp

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 20 – 24 July 2026

11.
Badminton Ireland
Camp (2nd week) 

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 28 – 31 July 2026

12.
Soccer Skills Academy (2nd camp)

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 4 – 7 August 2026

13.
Irish School DIY Camp

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 4 – 7 August 2026

14. Let’s Go! Summer Camps

• Location: Kilcullen Community Centre / All Weather Pitch, Kilcullen

• When: 10 – 14 August 2026

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AFC seeks U16 players

A reminder that Kilcullen AFC is inviting expressions of interest from players for its U16 Premier squad ahead of the 2026/27 season. Sessions start 6th-30th of July.

The club is offering young footballers the chance to train and play on quality astro and grass pitches under UEFA-qualified coaches in a positive, player-focused environment. 

Interested players or parents can contact Mark on 087 1528118 for more information.

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Applications for Credit Union educational bursary

A reminder that applications are open for the Chris Kelly Educational Bursary for 2026, continuing a long-running initiative that honours one of Kildare Credit Union’s founding members.

Open to KCU members attending third-level education for the first time in 2026, including mature students, the bursary offers the successful applicant €1,000 per year for up to three years to support the cost of further education. An application can be made here.

The bursary, which has been running since 2005, will be awarded by draw from all eligible applicants. Applications can be submitted using either the downloadable application form or the online application form.

The closing date for completed applications is Wednesday, 30 September 2026.

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Eileen Tan bringing her fragrances enterprise to the next level of a roller-coaster ride

Eileen, centre, with participants at the workshop.

Kilcullen entrepreneur Eileen Tan conducted a workshop on fragrances today for influencers and practitioners in various aspects of the beauty and wellness industry in Kildare, writes Brian Byrne. The event at Keadeen Hotel invited participants to learn the building blocks of perfume and create a fragrance of their own.

Introducing the afternoon, Eileen provided a short background of her childhood in Malaysia, where her interest in scents came from visits to her aunt's garden. "It was full of plants, trees and flowers, and I remember the smell of lemongrass, the green sweetness of the pandan leaves, the warmth of the earth, and the little mimosa plant that I used to play with." As a teenager, she inherited a box of perfumes from her aunt, and one of them stayed in her memory, not as a smell but how it made her feel.

She told how another major interest, music, shaped how she thinks when composing a perfume. "In music, we compose notes and chords, and it's very similar in perfume: you have top notes, middle or heart notes, and base notes. We also have 'chords' in perfumery — we call them echoes." Suggesting that a perfume's effect is unique to each person, it can be considered a story about the wearer. She invited the workshop participants to 'write their own story' by creating their own fragrance.

The Compose Your Own Story: Mini Fragrance Experience session guided attendees through the basics of fragrance design using a curated palette of scent accords created by Eileen. Rather than focusing on whether a perfume was “right” or “wrong,” she encouraged people to notice what they were drawn to and what memories a scent might bring up.

Participants were introduced to three key layers of perfume: Top notes — the opening impression, often bright, fresh, sparkling or citrusy; Heart notes — the emotional core, which can feel floral, soft, romantic or spicy; and Base notes — the lasting memory, adding warmth, depth, musk or woods.

The experience was structured as a hands-on fragrance lesson. Attendees first smelled different accords, then chose one from each layer, and began blending by weight in a 10ml bottle. They started with 0.50g of each selected accord, then adjusted the formula in small increments until the scent felt balanced.

The workshop emphasised observation and reflection. Participants were asked to write down first impressions, describe the mood or memories each accord evoked, and record their final formula so the perfume could be recreated later. At the end, they were encouraged to name their fragrance and describe the story behind it.

Eileen first came to Ireland in 2008, having met and married Irishman Peter Farnan in Kuala Lumpur. An initial craft venture in making cute crocheted animals, along with developing scented candles, gave her the opportunity to renew previous entrepreneurial activities. Advised by Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer to approach the Local Enterprise Office Kildare, they put her forward for Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers programme, where she pivoted to working on a fragrance development idea that could be scaled as a business. She first showcased her perfumes at Styled for Success on International Women's Day last October, as five fragrances under the banner of Maison d'Eileen, and recently completed the third and final phase of the New Frontiers programme.

"It has been a real roller-coaster ride," she told the Diary today, but is looking forward to the next twists and turns on her entrepreneurial journey.

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Gormanstown graves blessing today

The Gormanstown Church blessing of the graves will take place today, Sunday, 28 June, after the 9.30am Mass.

Families and parishioners are invited to attend this special time of prayer and remembrance.

On Sunday, 6 September, prayers and blessings of the graves will be held at 2pm in New Abbey Cemetery. At 3pm, Mass will be celebrated in St Brigid’s Cemetery, followed by the blessing of the graves.

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Mary Leadbeater remembered in Ballitore

The Annals of Ballitore, written by Mary Leadbeater and originally published in 1862, were described today as a "document from the heart of somebody who was at the heart of her community", writes Brian Byrne. Launching a revised edition of the book, as part of an honouring of her life on the 200th anniversary of her death, author and publisher John MacKenna said the Annals were her personal diaries, not written for publication, but are a celebration of her community.

"It's the things that happened, the people who were here, and their interaction with their society," he said. "It was a small community, and she names names, and by the time you finish reading the Annals, you almost know them. It's a bit like reading the local notes in today's Nationalist or Leader — you actually get to know the people."

Born Mary Shackleton in the Quaker village of Ballitore in 1758, Leadbeater was a poet, correspondent, and chronicler of local life whose works included Poems, Cottage Dialogues among the Irish Peasantry, and Cottage Biography. The Annals were edited from her personal diaries about her observations and events in Ballitore between 1766 and 1823. They were first published in 1862 as two volumes under the title The Leadbeater Papers. The new revised edition includes a foreword by John MacKenna.

Also present today was Cllr Ivan Keatley, Cathaoirleach of the Athy Municipal District, who noted particularly her accounts of the lead-up to and the local happenings surrounding the 1798 Rebellion. "How lucky we are to have her completely impartial account of what actually happened, not taking one side or another. Stuff that is not ordinarily written down, and probably is still skirted around in times of war."

Mario Corrigan, Senior Executive Librarian with Kildare County Council, thanked everyone involved with the celebration of Mary Leadbeater's life, recalling the fortunate happenstance in the 1970s of the preservation of the old Quaker Meeting House that allows it to be the village Library and Museum today. He also remarked that the statue of Mary Leadbeater on the site had been created by a young artist, Eamon Keenan, who today works in Kildare Library Service.

The afternoon included a walk, In the Footsteps of Mary Leadbeater, conducted by John MacKenna, as well as an exhibition hosted by The Thread Shed, in the Meeting House, Reflections on the Life of Mary Leadbeater through Contemporary Art and Craft.

Afternoon tea was served, and many of those present wore vintage dress from the era described in the Annals.

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Coffee Morning for Maintain Hope

A reminder that the annual Coffee Morning to raise funds for the Maintain Hope charity that supports families in Kenya will be held at Whitehall Cottage TODAY, Saturday 27 June. Hosted by the Dooley family, the event will run from 11am to 2pm.

Maintain Hope currently supports around 80 Kenyan children within their families in the Ngong area to ensure they are healthy and can continue their education through primary, secondary and even third level.

For every child aided to learn and live a fuller life, the beneficial ripple effect for the future of their families and community is beyond measure.

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