With this issue,
The Bridge enters its 56th year,
writes Brian Byrne. A significant milestone in any publication’s history, but even more so for a community magazine that relies on print media for its continuation in an age that has become ever more digital.
The leading lights this month are a core group of Spout customers who plan a St Patrick’s Day swim in the Liffey to raise funds towards the Kilcullen Heritage Wall initiative from KCA. They’re gathering sponsorship, and hopefully a few other brave souls to accompany them.
The front page also has pointers to other main stories inside: the opening of Mountain Flow Yoga, the next play in rehearsal by Kilcullen Drama Group, and a profile of Armelle’s Kitchen in the Bit of Business column.
Also inside are feature pieces on a variety of subjects, including the imminent launch of a debut fantasy novel from Crookstown’s Conor Forrest, drawing on Irish mythology, which is a rich source for such fiction and will no doubt provide him with further inspiration. There’s also an explanation of the recent Threads of Connection tapestry display in Kilcullen Heritage Centre. From regular contributors, Mary Orford taps her own favourite source, the Schools Folklore Collection, in a piece for International Women’s Day on 8 March, with extracts from the work of local girls who grew up to be women who contributed much to the Kilcullen community. Noel Clare explores Oldtown Woodland Park in Naas, Daithí de Róiste gives us the backstory on the Great Connell Priory, and Eugene Brennan ponders the electrical and water lifelines passing through and around Kilcullen. If you always wanted a timeline of the history of Kilcullen, well, now you have it, from Sean Landers in his regular column, beginning in 550 with the death of St McTail of Old Kilcullen monastery and finishing up in 1853 with the publication of a novel, The Clintons, by Maria La Touche of Halverstown. A lot happened in between.
The memoir penned by Jim Kelly about his lifetime work with the late Tony O’Reilly continues this month, focusing on the early years of the move to Castlemartin. It’s a fascinating series.
John Duffey tells us that his favourite occupation of the moment is sitting and thinking. This month, his thoughts are on two bachelors of Kilgowan that he knew, Tommy Murphy and Tommy Kenna, whose lives were taken up with rural work, and leisure activities that themselves helped put food on the tables (ferreting, anyone?).
The schools this month are the KCCEC preschoolers and afterschoolers, providing a page just as busy as they are, in the Scoil Bhríde ones that follow: schools have such an amazing variety of activities these days.
There’s more sports news this month. The canoe club, AFC, and Jack Courtney’s darts career all feature, while the GAA headlines the return of the Juvenile Academy. And The Bridge stalwart, the pitch and putt club, gives its usual mix of news and archive.
All that and more, at the usual outlets. Enjoy the start of the 56th year.
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