Thursday, October 20, 2016

Flowers down, next it's Christmas lights

The Christmas Lights Committee is seeking support from businesses and individual contributors for the second stage of its 2-year plan to complete a full set of new lights for the festive season, writes Brian Byrne.

A sub-committee of Kilcullen Community Action, the Committee has expressed its appreciation for the effort last year, which was very successful thanks to businesses, Kildare County Council, and the community response to the street collection.

On its Facebook page, the Committee says it would really appreciate help again this year to help fund the second phase of Christmas lights for the town. "If every business could please contribute €50 and residents support the street collection would certainly be a fantastic help," Antoinette Buckley of the Committee says.

Businesses will be canvassed in the first week of November and a street collection date will be confirmed later.

The Kilcullen Christmas Lights 2015 project cost a total of €13,115. Income for the project totalled €11,885, comprising €5,885 provided by local businesses, a grant of €5,000 from Kildare County Council, and proceeds of a street collection of €1,091.

The biggest expenditure was the purchase of new lighting systems from Newpark Electrical totalling €12,055, electricity charges of €450, the Christmas tree at €120, insurance premium of €240 and miscellaneous costs of €250.

The deficit of €1,230 was absorbed by Kilcullen Community Action.

The bulk of the work installing the lights was carried out by volunteers.