It Says in The Bridge: Dec 07
It's that time of year when it is hard to find the stories and pictures for all the adverts in The Bridge. That's not a complaint, for isn't it great that a completely voluntary magazine well into its fourth decade of existence can garner such support?
The back cover is a collage of pictures from Christmases past in Kilcullen and is a good indicator of the festive spirit that happens just about now.
The editorial this month touches on the same subject, and wrly muses on how the 'displaced' in the town are treated by the old natives. The anonymous writer is one of 'the new natives' and says Kilcullen is one of those 'rare' communities that 'let you in'. "Kilcullen is special to the natives," he or she writes, "Even without knowing five generations of all around you, it can be special to a new native too."
Maybe part of the charm is the constancy, the replaying of all the old stories, with just the right amount of new ones leavening the mix.
So the mix at this year-end Bridge is comfortingly familiar. The schools report from the deskways, with the 5th and 6th year students in Brannoxtown NS showing their own version of Christmas spirit by spending a day on the Curragh helping with the volunteers of the Samaratins' Shoe Box Appeal, which provides toys and treats for needy children. Scoil Bhride sent in a bunch of letters to Santa, all of which also ask after the health of Rudolf and Mrs Claus. The Halverstown NS kids wrote essays on some of the varied things they got up to during the year, and from CPC we read that the Transition Year students have been chosen to take part in a 'Power of One' environmental project.
Photo news in this issue gives much coverage to the Senior Citizens Christmas Party organised by the Kilcullen Scouts. Clearly a great time was being had by all, including retired Fr Supple.
And a couple of priests now gone to their reward are the centerpieces of a down memory lane photograph, which shows Fr Furlong PP blessing St Brigid's Well half a century ago. He is assisted by Fr Sean Collier, whose passing I noted in the newspapers recently.
Business news this month concentrates on the opening of 'Frills' ladies shop at Hillcrest, and the ending of the Hickeys name at Calverstown with the arrival of a CostCutter Express store, operated by Des Ivers.
There are Christmas messages from the religious leaders of the community. Fr Michael Murphy PP, in a reflection on the nine months of preparation and waiting by Mary for the birth of the Redeemer, notes that he personally has to make a big effort to stop himself getting lost in the 'whirlwind' of the weeks and days leading up to the festival. Reverend John Marsden looks at the torture and warfare abroad and the problems in our health system at home and says that, rightly understood, the Christmas message has a 'shocking relavency', and by celebrating it right we 'serve notice on opression and disorder and embrace a brighter vision of what is possible for our world'. Pastor Robert Dunlop suggests that when we reflect on the birth of the Messiah, 'we are immediately transported into the theatre of hope in the midst of uncertainty and insecurity'.
In features Roy Thompson looks back on yet another very successful 'Miscellany on SUnday' in aid of the Michael Garry House hostel for the homeless. He thanks all 'to whom we are indebted for the event' which had the largest turnout yet.
Billy Redmond muses on the difficulty in getting a pair of 'runners' for the marathon, and also wonders how it was that the Celtic Tiger passed him by (maybe the tiger was using Addidas?). Sean Landers is packing to come home for Christmas, and in his history page publishes extracts from the County Kildare Electronic Online Journal, one of which is an account of the hanging of a man at Kilcullen Bridge.
Mull in his GAA slot looks back at the career of John O'Brien, who represented both club and county with great distinction but never managed to play for Kilcullen even though he married a Kilcullen lady.
After that, it's the ads, and the message from The Bridge to all who are associated with it, including the readers, to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Brian Byrne.
