Colours are a theme in this issue,
writes Brian Byrne, notably the gold one on the magazine's banner, over the lead story of the winning of the
second gold medal by Kilcullen in the
2026 Supervalu Tidy Towns competition. The story also highlights the 400-mark milestone reached for the first time — the absolute joy on the faces of three KCA representatives at the Croke Park reveal of the results reflects the pride that everyone involved in the Kilcullen result deservedly feels.
The colours of the centre spread could well be blue, white and red, the pages illustrating the detail of the recent trip by the Kilcullen Twinning Group to Saint-Contest in Normandy. It would seem to have been a triumph for both sides, in music, culture, and fraternité across borders. And then we have the report from the recent Pink Run in Narraghmore, in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland, another colourful triumph of generosity at local level for a national cause. The pictures from the latest Lions Club-organised social for seniors also show a colourful lot having lots of fun.
In news pages, the magazine reports on the recent 10th anniversary of Woodbine Books — an achievement through dedication and passion from Dawn and Co in a challenging business space — as well as the sponsorship of a Community Car by Dunlea's Kia, a facility that will make things easier for those who have to attend medical and other appointments at times when public transport doesn't cut it. The handing over of yet another major cheque to the Irish Cancer Society by the Mac & Norman Rally organisers is given a well-deserved place, as also is the report on the recent retirement of Billy Dowling from some 58 years at (behind) the bar.
The heritage of family is part of every one of us, and this issue of The Bridge has a couple of pieces illustrating just that. Mary Orford devotes her page to a family relative, Nurse Probationer Eleanor Frances Orford, who died from typhoid in 1917 at a Liverpool Hospital, contracted from a patient at a military hospital where she was working to help those injured in WW1. Eleanor was remembered at a service in her home town in Athy for 120 local people who had died because of that conflict. It's a poignant description of recollection 'at the going down of the sun'. Another local family, Myers, is the subject of a piece by Bernie Linnane, whose grandmother was Katherine Myers. The article is very much a recollection of how Irish people born in the 1920s and 1930s were swept in a flowing wave of emigration to England, and, sometimes, were washed back.
In regular columns, Billy Redmond writes about the recent Dílis go Bráth celebration of military stories in Kilcullen, of which he is one. Noel Clare in Out and Away travels a bit further than usual, to Killarney. Eugene Brennan muses about travel too, in this case the milestones in the Kilcullen area marking the old toll road from Dublin. Julie Felsbergs is also travelling, writing about a recent trip back to her Brannockstown home with her mother, which caused her to reflect on how home can change its place. Sean Landers writes about the pulpit in Kilcullen Parish Church which was brought back to its rightful place after years in the wilderness of a shed.
In sports this month, Bobby Molloy's recent 24-hour run around the Field of Dreams is headlined as 'epic' on the Kilcullen GAA page. Jim Kavanagh's Racing Legend is the Aga Khan IV, Prince Karim, who turned his inherited stud farms in Co Kildare into one of the most respected owner-breeder operations in the world. In Pitch and Putt, a magnificent hole-in-one by Annette McCarthy of St Bridget's is recorded.
And, as always, more. More to enjoy about your local town, in your local magazine, from your regular outlets.
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