It Says in The Bridge: April 07
The lead story on this Easter issue is about the need for more gardai in Kilcullen and includes a number of statistical extracts which detail the numbers of various crimes and what proportion have been detected. The piece makes the point that an under-resourced garda presence trying to handle the serious stuff can't also deal with 'minor' crimes such as speeding and illegal parking.
There's also some updating of the position of the Community Playground in a release from Kildare County Council acknowledging receipt of a revised proposal from the Playground Committee. That proposal, of course, was well covered in last month's Bridge, but there was a subsequent very public 'crisis', apparently because of communications difficulties within Kildare County Council.
Another event given substantial photo coverage is the recent tribute to the late Des Byrne by the 'Moon & Sixpence' band, of which he had been a founder member. The two-night gig was another great success, with substantial funds being raised for the Hospice in Kildare.
In sports news we read how young Kilcullen athlete Kathryn Weir won a gold medal in the under-13 Shotput at the recent Leinster Indoor Athletics Finals. Community Games entrants in Art and Chess also get their share of pictures, and there's coverage too of Chrissie Byrne of St Bridget's Pitch & Putt Club getting a national award for being the No 1 ranked lady player for 2006.
This month's features continue with literary offerings in 'The Spout' pages, from the Kilcullen writers group which meets in An Tearman. There's also an account of how a special set of two-euro coins have been minted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.
A new series on 'Living in Kilcullen' introduces Laurel Wood estate to the rest of us, as just one of many developments in the town which are now home to people from many parts of Ireland. Bernard Berney also gets back into regular writing stride with the first part of a profile on Paddy 'The Kings' O'Neill, a man renowned for his ability to produce off-the-cuff one-liners.
In his own 'Off the Cuff' column, Billy Redmond muses on how little feedback he gets to his monthly offerings, but that doesn't prevent him from getting very, and rightly, bothered about the parking chaos on the Chapel Road. Sean Landers reports on how conversations get going on the Taipei subway, and how he even got propositioned there.
Sean also continues elsewhere his short series on the holy wells of Kilcullen, including the one near New Abbey which is recorded but not located. Another's location is more sure, in Dun Ailinne. At the other end of the local timeline, Sean Dillon in his 'Compute This!' column offers a basic introduction to broadband.
Finally back to the editorial, this week written by Noel Clare and highlighting the generosity of spirit of the Cross & Passion sisters who lived in Kilcullen for over a hundred years. A generosity which they themselves received when one Mr Quinn gave them the land for their convent and school, and which they themselves 'paid forward' by subsequently providing land for many of the community and sporting facilities we have today.
Noel suggests that the best way to keep that generosity of spirit alive would be for the whole community to cooperate to make the entire space around the property a central park for Kilcullen.
It's a thoughtful way to end this review.
Brian Byrne.
