Woodbine Books hosts launch of writers group book

"I knew I could write, but I never finished anything. I didn't know anything about the craft of writing, so when I was recommended to take the course at Maynooth run by John MacKenna and Angela Keogh, I thought maybe it was time ..."

So, Paula Kavanagh, well known to patrons of Woodbine Books in Kilcullen, became one of 17 people like her who completed the 2024/2025 Maynooth University Certificate in Creative Writing for Publication, run by author John MacKenna, writes Brian Byrne. Last Friday, an anthology of works from the group was launched at the bookshop, with MacKenna doing the honours. The book's title, Indent, reflects his constant emphasis on the importance of formatting to hold the reader's attention, especially indentation. That also inspired the group's name.

"When we graduated last year, we had all got on so well that we didn't want it to end, so we had already formed this writing group, called The Indentations. Then we asked ourselves, why not publish a book and have something concrete from all we had done on the course?" One module led by Angela Keogh, who runs Harvest Press with McKenna, had explored the publishing industry, including discussions on self-publishing. Karen Brown, a member of the group who has published on Amazon, prompted them to consider this option. The outcome is a very professional publication of 32 stories, available in hardback, paperback, and as an eBook on Amazon.

"It was a massive team effort," Paula Kavanagh said. "We selected pieces we had completed during the course. Some of us handled editing and proofreading. Another member, Cáit Bohan, has a friend, Tríona Walsh, who is an illustrator, and she designed the cover, posters, and invitations for the launch. Stephen Donagh, member Sandra Linnie's husband, built our website, took photographs, and is managing our social media. All of this has been a labour of love, and I’ve gained an incredible group of friends from the course."

For John MacKenna, who has published 26 books, including novels, short-story collections, memoirs, and biographies, the biggest reward of running this course over more than two decades has been "meeting several hundred people interested in writing and spending time with people who love books." He estimates that around 20 course participants have actually published their own books over that time. "It's not just about the books, though. It's about people being committed to beginning and middling and finishing something, even if it doesn't get published. That they have the discipline to work on it — that's brilliant too."

He says working with course participants energises him personally and also brings satisfaction in seeing people flourish. "It could be someone who's been carrying a story in their head since they were 15. They might be in their 50s now and never had the time or confidence to do anything with it." He describes the launch night for Indent as 'brilliant' for this latest group. "They've worked phenomenally hard. It's not just the writing; they've put the whole book together. Edited it, printed it, produced it. It’s amazing, and perhaps the first step on a new road for some of them."

Introducing the evening, Paula Kavanagh described the group as creative, collaborative, and wonderful people who put their words, hearts, and energy into creating something special from day one. "We’ve laughed and cried together. We've listened respectfully. We've slagged unmercifully. We've come together like no other group I've been part of. I'm so proud of us."

John MacKenna admired that the group did not see writing as a competition but rather as a communal effort. "Yes, of course, writing is a solitary act. It's about being on your own, telling your stories, making your own way of writing, meeting characters, and getting to know them over weeks, months, perhaps years. But with a writing group, there also needs to be a sense of cooperation and community, which was present last year. Once the course ended, the group didn’t. They kept writing, meeting, and then they put together this book. A book is a tiny thing and a huge thing. Every book is important because it has an effect on somebody else, and doubtless this one will have an effect on many people who will read it, but it also had an effect on those who wrote it. They are not just writers, they created this work — they sat down and decided, ‘We’re going to do this.’"

The evening continued with a unique 'pop-up' set of readings from the 11 members of The Indentations present. Each read around 90 words from their piece to keep the launch lively and swift. Closing the event, Paula Kavanagh thanked the School of Adult Education in Maynooth for hosting the course, and John MacKenna and Angela Keogh, along with Kilcullen's own Ilona Blunden, who also teaches on the course. "We owe them a debt of gratitude, because we are a product of their legacy, turning writers into authors."

Finally, presentations were made to John MacKenna, Tríona Walsh, Stephen Donagh, Karen Brown, and Dawn Behan of Woodbine Books, before Paula said the magic words: "It's not over yet, there's booze left ..." 

If there was one valuable lesson the writers had learned from the course, it was how to end a story properly.

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Raggy's Café opens at Kilcullen GAA

Lauren, Francesca, and Olivia.

Two young girls from Kilcullen have opened Raggy’s Café in the GAA clubhouse, writes Brian Byrne. They are sisters, Olivia and Francesca Lambert-Mills, and working with them is Lauren McLaren, a fellow CPC TY student and Kilcullen GAA U17 player alongside Francesca. 

The café, launched in association with Dundalk-based Green Beans Coffee Roasters, offers award-winning blends and seasonal flavours supplied and supported by the family-owned roastery. Green Beans is providing ongoing training and product updates, including sessions on specialised iced and summer drinks. 

The idea originated from a club request to provide coffee at club events and developed into two recent pilot events to gauge demand. Raggy’s Café, which will open on weekdays after TY classes to accommodate people using the community walkway, will also be open during matches and other club events. 

Olivia, a singer, was the winner of the 2025 JBforever27 Music Bursary at CPC and is now studying Musical Theatre at college. 

Besides offering a much-needed service, the café project provides practical life and business training for its young operators. Currently, the menu includes tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and snacks, with plans to expand as the venture develops.

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Kilcullen woman wins property and surveying awards

A Kilcullen woman has scooped a remarkable three wins at the School of Surveying and Construction Innovation Awards held in the Grangegorman TU Dublin Campus last week, writes Brian Byrne.

Karen Fitzpatrick, employed by REA Brophy Farrell in Newbridge, was honoured at the college’s annual awards ceremony, where she received accolades for Best Performance in Valuations, the Michael J O’Leary Award for Property Promotion, and the overall Best Performance Assessment Award. 

The event celebrated top-performing students from across the country. This is the first time anyone has received all three awards together. 

"We are so proud of her achievement and this testifies to her hard work," her employers said in a Facebook post, "as backed up by her dedication and commitment to all REA Brophy Farrell clients on a day-to-day basis."

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Spout swimmers raised almost €1,700 for Kilcullen mural project

A cheque for €1,697 was presented to Kilcullen Community Action last evening by the participants in the Spout Sponsored Swim held on St Patrick's Day, writes Brian Byrne. The money will go towards the cost of the Kilcullen Heritage Wall mural commissioned by KCA. 

Ann Cashman, chair of KCA, thanked all who had undertaken the swim and who had supported them with their donations. "We're really overwhelmed by their generosity," she told the Diary last evening. "We're thrilled with all the community support for this project."

The organiser of the swim, Patricia Byrne, said she hoped the event would become an annual one in support of Kilcullen Tidy Towns, possibly expanding it to include a number of other St Patrick's Day events that would give Kilcullen a festival ambience on the national saint's celebration day. "We have had a lot of feedback from people who say they'd like to take part in the next one," she said. A veteran of winter sea swimming, she added that the Liffey event was 'very cold'. "I've done the Christmas morning at the Forty Foot, and also the one in Clare from Lahinch beach, but this was harder than any of them. It was great, though, to be able to do something like this locally." She expressed thanks particularly to Kilcullen Canoe Club for allowing the event to take place from their dock facilities, and also for the use of the showers afterwards by the participants.

The mural, costing almost €9,000, will be located on the gable end of the development of a formerly derelict building now under refurbishment by Fitzpatrick Heavey Homes, facing along the approach road to the town from Newbridge. The plaster base on which the work will be painted is currently drying, and it is hoped to have the artwork finished by the end of May. It will incorporate local history, heritage, nature, and the environment and will include motifs of Kilcullen bridge, a horse, a stylised waving hand of welcome, the Liffey, swans, badgers, and wildflowers.

There have been a number of donations from other groups in Kilcullen for the mural,  as well as events that included a very successful Table Quiz recently held in Fallons by KCA.  There's an iDonate page for people who want to give individual donations, which will remain available until late in April. 

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New single, Old Alzy, from Saoirse Mhór is powerful and truly moving

Kilcullen-born musician Paul Durney, known artistically as Saoirse Mhór, has released a new song titled Old Alzy, exploring musically the heart-rending topic of dementia, writes Brian Byrne. A longtime singer-songwriter based in Germany, Paul has made his living as a professional singer-songwriter playing in pubs and at music festivals all over that country. 

Available as a downloadable single on all major music platforms, Old Alzy is a gentle treatment of an all too common modern life issue, that is a powerful, truly moving and sweet piece, brilliantly written and performed. It deserves to have a global audience. 

Paul sang as a youngster in the Kilcullen Community Capers back in the 1970s. In 1980, after a spell working in Berneys Saddlers, he left Ireland and busked his way across England and Germany, where he settled in 1987 and now lives near Heidelberg. Following a period working with various local bands, fronting them and writing many songs, he collaborated with producer, sound engineer and singer/songwriter Andy Horn in The Dolldrums CD featuring Paul's songs ‘Skin’ and ‘Mirror’.

On a trip to Ireland in 2004, after hearing Luka Bloom playing in The Riverbank in Newbridge, he picked his pseudonym Saoirse Mhór and began his life of entertaining on the streets and on the Irish pub scene in Germany. He worked with Germany-based Irish music band Fleadh from 2005. In 2006, his CD 'Skin' was released, featuring Belgian busker flute player Tom Drost and two years later, he released a CD, Thursday Asks, on which he had penned five of the 11 tracks. In 2017, he produced his 11-track album Ghosts of Tomorrow, dedicated to his father Patrick (who passed away in 2024). In 2021, Paul won the Best Song of the Year in the 39th German Rock & Pop Awards for 'Ashbury Lane' from his album Minor Tales Major Stories. He last performed in Kilcullen in 2014, with Fleadh in a night on the stage of the Town Hall.

Despite the challenges that currently make album production financially difficult, Paul has been developing his home studio, taking on to himself the roles of recording, mixing, and mastering. While recognising the rapid impact of AI in the process, he's now dedicated to mastering the craft of sound engineering, a skill that takes years to develop. Additionally, he is seeking opportunities in TV and film music, though he compares the process to a lottery, with the chance of a song ending up in unexpected places, such as a ketchup advert.

Old Alzy is available as a downloadable single on all major music platforms. Do give it a listen.

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Deadline closing for Burke's Pharmacy Buy Irish draw

With only a few days remaining to enter, customers of Burke's Pharmacy in Kilcullen are encouraged to take part in the shop's ‘BUY IRISH’ campaign draw for a chance to win one of five hampers filled with leading Irish brand beauty, gifting, and healthcare products. 

The draw for the campaign, which has been running for the past month, will take place on Tuesday, 31 March, and winners will be notified by phone. 

The prizes feature renowned Irish brands such as Spotlight Oral Care, Revive Active, Sculpted Beauty, Newgrange Silverware, Cocoa Brown Tanning, SoSu Beauty, Bellamianta Tanning, Biabelle Tanning, Nutri Nua Vegan Vitamins, One Nutrition Vitamins, Voduz Hair, Ultra Pure, and Green Angel. 

To enter, simply purchase any Irish brand product in-store before the campaign closes on Tuesday.

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John Healy takes chair at TUD Ógra Fianna Fáil Kathleen Clarke Cumann

Kilcullen-Newbridge Local Area Representative for Fianna Fáil, John Healy, has taken on a new role as the chair of the Technological University Dublin (TUD) Ógra Fianna Fáil Kathleen Clarke Cumann, writes Brian Byrne. A graduate of UCD in History and Politics and currently pursuing a master’s in Public Affairs and Political Communications at TUD, his appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the party, with the Dublin Central by-election on the horizon. 

He says he is eager to revive the historic Cumann and has plans for several upcoming events, inviting anyone in the college interested in politics to get involved.

Kathleen Clarke, for whom the Cumann is named, was the wife of Tom Clarke, executed for his part in the 1916 Rising. She was a founder member of Cumann na mBan, and during the War of Independence, was an active fundraiser, sheltering men and women on the run. She worked as a District Justice in the Sinn Féin courts in Dublin. 

A founder member of Fianna Fáil, between 1928 and 1936 she served in the Seanad. She was Dublin's first female Lord Mayor, from 1939 to 1943. From 1965, she lived with her youngest son, Emmet, and his family in Liverpool, returning briefly to Dublin in 1966 for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Rising. She died in Liverpool on 29 September 1972, aged ninety-four.

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Community Centre donation to mural fund

Image: Kilcullen Community Action.

A generous donation from Kilcullen Community Centre has given a boost to the Kilcullen Community Action Heritage Wall Mural fund.

The contribution was made possible through a promotion for the recently opened Fun Foods Catering stall beside the Coffee Hatch.

Plastering of the wall at the Newbridge Road location has now been completed, and work on the mural itself is expected to begin once the surface has fully dried. 

Donations to the project can still be made through the fundraising page. 

Meanwhile, the proceeds from the recent Spout Sponsored Swim will be handed over to the fund at 6.30pm on Friday night, in the pub.

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Dowling Property: Sandlands, Calverstown, Kilcullen

Need Room for a pony? Dowling Property has the great pleasure of offering this substantial, five-bedroom, detached bungalow for sale, which is located in one of the area's most sought-after locations, just south of Kilcullen Town.

"Sandlands" stands on an elevated, circa 1.44-acre site and enjoys wonderful views of the Dublin/Wicklow Mountains and the surrounding rolling countryside front and rear. This is an ideal property for someone who has an interest in keeping a horse or animals, as it has a splendid paddock and an agricultural shed which contains three stables. The house extends to circa 187 sq m and has been in the same family ownership since it was originally built, and is presented in good decorative order throughout. 

The accommodation is spacious and benefits from a large entrance hall, kitchen/diner, guest WC, three reception rooms, two bathrooms, utility room and five generously sized bedrooms. Every room enjoys views of the rolling countryside and the well-kept gardens, which have an array of flowers and shrubs. 

The location is simply 1st class and just a five-minute drive will find you at the main M7/M9 motorway, providing excellent access to Dublin. With its superb location, extensive accommodation and paddock, we must now advise on early viewings of this "chain-free" sale, as we predict strong interest. A real gem & not to be missed!

AMV €475,000. Kildare Office 045 482189. dowlingproperty.ie

Are you selling this spring? This is the busiest time of the year for sales, as the evenings are getting longer and temperatures are warming up. We have a large selection of properties coming to the market which may suit you. We can also offer you a FREE, on-site sales appraisal of your property and advise on the sales process. We’d love to hear from you, and maybe it will be your property you’ll be reading about next. 

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Kilcullen cyclist wins 2026 Coombes Connor Memorial

Kilcullen CC's Gavin Stapleton claimed a standout victory in the C3 race at the prestigious Coombes Connor Memorial in Drogheda, Co Louth. Stapleton’s clubmate, Colm Bracken, also made the podium in third place. 

The Coombes Connor Memorial commemorates two key figures in the formation of one of the area's cycling clubs in the early 1970s.

Now part of the Cycling Ireland National Single Grade race series, the event is a longstanding and highly regarded fixture on the Irish racing calendar and forms a cornerstone of one of the biggest weekends in Irish cycling.

The Kilcullen club races in sponsor Murphy Geospatial jerseys.

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Easter week musical reflection will aid mental health

A special Holy Week musical reflection will take place at St Joseph’s Church, Gormanstown, next week, with all donations supporting the work of mental health charity Beyond Stigma. 

A Musical Reflection in Holy Week is organised by Gormanstown Choir on Spy Wednesday, 1 April 2026, at 8pm. 

Beyond Stigma develops evidence-based programmes to address internal stigma and feelings of worthlessness and shame among vulnerable populations, both in Ireland and in the Global South. Organisers say the evening will offer a space for quiet reflection and preparation for Easter, combining sacred music and prayer with an opportunity to support people living with deep, often hidden, emotional struggles. 

Everyone is welcome. Contributions of any amount will help Beyond Stigma continue its work with those most at risk of exclusion and despair.

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