Special Olympics souvenirs handover

A collection of memorabilia related to the Kilcullen involvement in the World Special Olympics was handed over on Friday night to Nessa Dunlea, chair of the Kilcullen Heritage Group.



Kilcullen hosted the Kenya contestants for the 2003 event.

The items included a shirt donated by Milcah Omenda, the head of the Kenya delegation; a collection of Special Olympics photographs relating to the Kilcullen activity, collected from many sources and produced on DVD by Joe Robinson of the Kilcullen Scout Troop; and a cut glass rose bowl presented to the committee by Kildare County Council.

Other items include the Kenya team's Certificate of Participation signed by the Minister for Science & Technology of Kenya; one of the T-shirts worn by the volunteers of the host town; a Host Town information manual; and a framed list of the Kilcullen Host Town families and volunteers.

A Special Olympics baseball cap along with a team shirt and a copy of the transportation guide and map for participants was presented by Shane Nolan, one of the Kilcullen team, who also carried the Kilcullen banner in Croke Park with Niall Kennedy.

The banner itself was designed by Brenda Scullion and made by Mary Phelan, and is also part of the collection. The design is a representation of swallows flying between Kenya and Kilcullen.

The booklet about the town's involvement in the event, The Kilcullen Experience, published by The Bridge, was one of a number of Special Olympics related publications handed over. Others included a copy of the newsletter for volunteers and the Croke Park programme.

Thanking everybody involved, Nessa said she hopes that there will be a display board erected on which the items can be displayed.

"We're thinking of having it inside the gate, near the projector," she said. "We'll arrange it so that we can change the display periodically so that everything gets seen."



Brian Byrne.