Heritage event for Heritage Week

The Kilcullen Heritage Group will present an evening of local memories on Wednesday 30 August as its contribution to National Heritage Week.

The presentations will focus on how the town's Valley Park came into being, a recollection of the An Tostal Donnelly's Hollow pageants in the early 50s commemorating the Donnelly and Cooper fight, and Castlemartin from the 1400s to the recent past.

The speakers are:

Jim Collins, a key mover in the development of the Valley following its purchase by Kilcullen Community Council;

Brian Byrne, whose father Jim helped to maintain the memory of 19th century pugilist Dan Donnelly by exhibiting the fighter's mummified right arm in The Hideout pub and also organised the pageants to raise funds for Kilcullen Boxing Club;

Nessa Dunlea, who has had a lifelong interest in Castlemartin and also conducted an extensive interview with the late Phoebe Morrissey who lived on the estate.

The event will be held in the evening in the Kilcullen Heritage Centre.

Further details will be announced closer to the time.

Brian Byrne.