Miah is on the star trail

I guess it's fair to say that not a lot of Kilcullen's adult population looks into 'The Den' on RTE 2 on most afternoons.

OK, for just one day, anyhow, maybe we should rethink that. The day, Tuesday next, 2 September. The time, 4.30pm. The slot, 'Star Search'.

That's when 10 year-old Miah Phelan-Sweeney will be taking a shot at something she's been preparing for since she was five. Maybe she didn't know it at the beginning, but with the level of musical talent she has developed, something like 'Star Search' was probably inevitable, sooner or later.

The competition brought 300 children for the initial auditions, and Miah has made it to the final 36. On Tuesday she'll be competing against two others to make it to the next level. Her performance won't be just a cover of some past or current favourite, but will be her own song, 'Ain't no Way'. And she'll be accompanying herself on the piano.

You know, that's not the easiest way to do a TV musical debut, but if she made it this far, she has to be good.

Miah and her family are living in Moone but all hail from Kilcullen, where her granny Mary Phelan will be among the fans watching on Tuesday. Her mum Paula is a musician and a music teacher and generally Miah's family background has had a lot of music.

"She works very hard at it," says Paula. "In addition to singing and piano, she also plays the violin and she's around Grade 5 level on both instruments. She gets up every morning at 6am to practice, before she goes to school."

Apart from the music, Miah has been writing a lot too. Since she was six or seven she has carried small hardback notebooks into which she wrote poems and songs, and now she has quite a lot of lyrics down. "She tinkers around the piano with them, and 'Ain't no Way' was one which she had recorded, which is what we sent in," says Paula.

Entries for the competition were called last May, and the first group were selected on the basis of recordings sent in. Then there was an audition for those remaining, and now the TV stage has begun. It's the third year of 'Star Search', but Miah and her family only heard about the call for entries a day before the closing date. They got the CD in just in time.

Getting this far requires something more than talent on its own. In Miah's case it is a very mature level of confidence in performance. She says herself that she doesn't get nervous just before a performance, but gets that out of the way the day before.

"On the day of a performance she's very focused," her mum notes. "She really means everything she's doing as she plays, and it shows."

Tuesday's segment has already been recorded, so no doubt Miah and her family will all be together watching, and hoping for a push to the next step.

That'll require the now ubiquitous phone vote. Which is why all of us in Kilcullen should drop whatever else we're doing and watch 'The Den' on Tuesday. And then get texting to vote her onwards.

Remember the time, 4.30pm. Dinner can wait.

Brian Byrne.

Golfers playing final

The Spout Golf Society is playing its second day in the finals of the Daily Star Competition today.

The opposing teams are from Kerry, Sligo and Laois. We wish them success.

Piping and drumming opportunity

Young people in County Kildare and surrounding areas now have an opportunity to join Lord Edward's Own Narraghmore Pipe Band.

Classes will be held at the Band Hall, Narraghmore at 7pm on Mondays, commencing 1 September and at the Day Care Centre, Kildare at 7pm on Tuesdays, commencing 2 September.

The band was founded in Narraghmore in 1916 and is well known for its participation in local and national events and in more recent years for its international activities.

For further information email mdassociates@eircom.net or phone 045 521190.

Poker nights

There's a Texas Hold 'Em Poker series running in The Hideout on Tuesday nights.

The competition has an estimated prize fund of €2,000 and the entry fee is €50 plus €10 registration.

The series is organised by www.jpoker.ie.

Kilcullen in the Dome

Donal Droney, son of Philomena Breslin and her husband, won the Escort of the Year title at the Rose of Tralee Festival last night. He works as an architectural technician and is an enthusiastic member of Naas Rugby Club.

Philomena, of course, is one of the Breslins of Brannockstown, and a professional singer. She said this morning that she's 'over the moon' about Donal's win.

Meanwhile, Kildare Rose Denise Healy is the daughter of Marlena Healy, a regular on the stage of Kilcullen's Town Hall Theatre as a member of Kilcullen Drama Group. Denise works as a planning consultant with ESB Telecoms.

Brian Byrne.

Thousands raised for Burma relief

While a final figure has yet to be tallied, the Diary understands that the recent World Vision party hosted in Brannockstown NS by Robert and Olive Dunlop has raised several thousand euros for flood relief in Burma.



A full report of the event appears on the Kilcullen page in this Wednesday's Kildare Nationalist.

In the meantime, this report in the International Herald Tribune sums up very well what conditions are like in the stricken area of the Irriwady Delta.

Brian Byrne.

Getting fit for winter

A new session of Fitness Classes, Aerobics and Body Conditioning will get underway in the Community Centre on Monday September 8.

Get fit, lose weight, look good for the winter. The sessions take place between 7-8pm each Monday and cost €7 a time.

More information from Geraldine at 087 9850883.

Marathon effort close to €20,000

The Diary has just received an update on the funds in from the Mini Marathon effort on behalf of the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund.

It has now reached €19,820 according to organiser Phena Bermingham, and though there is still some funding still to be collected when everyone is back from their summer holidays, a presentation of a cheque to PKRF founder James Nolan is planned for shortly.

Well done to all who supported the event.

Photo opportunities

If you notice people in Kilcullen snapping your picture, it might well be that your image will end up in the Lions-sponsored photographic competition currently in progress.

The project is part of a scheme to record modern Kilcullen for future generations, and will run through to the end of September.

There are a number of competition and project categories, and the interest of young people in taking part will be part of a 'blitz' by the organisers when the schools reopen in September.

Organiser Angela Murray-Hayden has also appealed for photos from ten, 20 or more years ago to fill back reference volumes, as part of the effort to build a 'photographic, social, architectural and environmental history of Kilcullen'.

Brian Byrne.

Make me an island

Most of the time, anyone living in the country with a very wet field would try and reclaim the land, filling and draining it to make it arable.



But Michael and Helen McDonnell, who live on the outskirts of Kilcullen, went the other direction, by turning the soggy section into a pond and an island.

And in the process, they have turned that little patch of their property into a wildlife and wildflower haven that they didn't quite expect.

"I always wanted a pond," says Michael, who with Helen has transformed over the last nine years the green field site where they built their home, by planting hundreds of trees of many varieties.

"This particular part of the land was always impassable for machinery, but a couple of years ago we had a dry August and I was able to get a machine in to make a path through it. We'd previously found that the drainage problem was because a tree had been blocking a culvert, so I cleared that. Then we dug out the pond and built an island in the middle of it."

Michael and Helen transplanted dozens of small trees which they had 'thinned' from other planting around their home, and hoped that over the coming years they could turn it into something of interest.

"But we were very surprised this year when a profusion of wild flowers came up, without us doing anything," Helen says. "I think it was because we disturbed the earth, and all the dormant seeds came to life."

The pond has also become an attraction for the local wildlife, which already includes badgers, hares, and a heron on the Corbally link of the canal which adjoins their property.

"A pair of wild ducks have already raised their first family at the pond," Helen says.

Both have always been interested in growing things, and using working with nature to make their presence blend with the natural landscape. They grow their own organic vegetables and fruit, and a chicken run keeps them supplied with free range eggs.



When planning their home, they proposed a reed bed for dealing with waste instead of the more common septic tank. "The planners were sceptical at the time, but we put it in anyhow," Michael says. "Now the Council brings out people regularly to show it to them."

Brian Byrne.

Heritage Week imminent

Just a reminder that National Heritage Week begins on Monday.

As the recent Dun Ailinne Interpretive Park dedication event was a joint venture between Kilcullen Heritage Group and Kilcullen Community Action, there will be no specific Kilcullen heritage event next week.

However, a list of events throughout the county is available here.

Takeaway reopens

The Macari Italian takeaway restaurant on Main Street reopened at the weekend, under new management. The business had been closed for several months.

The new proprietors are Patricia Macari and her husband Christian. Patricia's branch of the family already runs restaurants in Celbridge and in Fairview, Dublin.

The premises is on the site of the former Yankee Star restaurant, and was totally refurbished in early 2007 as an Italian takeaway.

Charlene stands in

After a period of dealing with floods and the general depression of an Irish 'summer', Charlie Dowling is taking a break from the travails of the White Horse Inn for a couple of weeks. But he's left the running of the popular hostelry in the capable hands of daughter Charlene.

Charlene recently qualified as an accountant.

The passing of Ann Berney

The Diary sadly records the untimely and unexpected death of Ann Berney, Rosetown, Athgarvan.

She will be very much missed by her loving parents Tom and Mary, and her children Ciara, Liam, Tara and Aoife, as well as her brothers Joe, Robert, Thomas and David and her sister Mary.

Ann was buried in in St Brigid's Cemetery, Kilcullen, on Wednesday, after Requiem Mass in Kilcullen Parish Church.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

(Apologies for the late notice, but your Editor was out of the country and unaware of the sad event.)

Concern about working students

Part-time working by second level students during the school year has a noticeable effect on their progress, according to the Deputy Principal of Cross & Passion College, Noel Clare.

He says it results in a higher level of non-attendance, and this can have particularly detrimental effects on subjects like Maths, the national failure rate of which has been a point of concern.

He says that since he started in teaching, the part-time working situation has become a much bigger factor in school absenteeism, especially after a weekend.

In the meantime, he is very happy with the overall results in the 2008 Leaving Certificate classes, which were given to the students last week.

"The students in general did very well in this year's Leaving Cert results, and most seemed to have achieved what they want," he said. "The English results stood out particularly well."

Brian Byrne.

(The full story on this issue is on the Kilcullen page of this week's Kildare Nationalist.)

Spout golfers

Don't forget the Spout pub's Golfing group are holding a Table Quiz in the pub on this Thursday evening, August 21.

It promises to be an event of great craic with the members of the star finalists in the Golfworks Societies 2008.

Ian Dillon at 087 6746072 is the man to take your bookings if you want to make a last-minute entry. It costs €40 for a table of four.

Altar servers

Kilcullen Parish is looking for new altar servers.

Fr Murphy has issued an invitation to boys and girls who have an interest in serving, and parents who are willing to offer themselves for supervision, to an information meeting in the Parish Church on Wednesday 10 September, at 8pm.

Great Mac & Norman day

There was yet another great turnout of tractor men and women, along with car and motorbike aficionados, and just generally anybody with an interest in transport and farm machinery, for the 2008 Mac & Norman Vintage Rally on Sunday.



We'll have a full report when they get to count all the money for the Irish Cancer Society, but in our usual way, you can have a look here at the start in Cannycourt.

Brian Byrne.

The passing of Paddy Brangan

The Diary records the death of Paddy Brangan, late of Conroy Park, Kilcullen.

In the years 1976-1978 Paddy built 500 ft of the slope-retaining limestone wall in The Valley. The amount of stone used was 400 tons. He also built the St Brigid's Grotto and the Pond with the Valley opening plaque at the town end of the park.



The work was a tremendous feat of skill and strength as he lifted and pushed the heavy stones into position before setting them into cement. Paddy also lowered the roadside wall bordering the valley from the church to the Jockey Stile to half its original height.

What you see and enjoy today in the Valley Park in Kilcullen 30 years later is the result of Paddy Brangan's skill and hard work.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Jim Collins.

Golf Classic postponed

The Parish Golf Classic which had been due to take place tomorrow, Monday, has been postponed.

The Curragh Golf Course is unplayable due to the recent inclement weather.

Forther information will be given later on new date.

The passing of Mary Conway

The Diary records the death of Mary Conway, formerly of St Brigid's Avenue, widow of the late Vincent Conway.

Mary, who has been living in Oghill Nursing Home in Kildare Town, is reposing at the home of her niece Bridie Byrne, Newtown, Kildare Town.

Removal will take place on Sunday at 6.15pm, to arrive at Gormanstown Church at 7pm.

The funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday at 11am, and burial will take place immediately afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Heritage Week: Aug 24-31

Nearly 30 events have been planned throughout the county to celebrate Heritage Week 2008 in Kildare. These events include a range of talks, field trips and exhibitions aimed at encouraging people to take an interest in their local heritage.

Heritage week is part of a European-wide initiative with the express aims of fostering awareness of Ireland’s built, natural and cultural heritage, thereby encouraging its conservation and preservation and increasing interest in our shared heritage. There is a wide variety of events this year and people are urged to come along and take part.

These events include a series of talks on KFM entitled “Your Place – Your heritage” by County Kildare Federation of Local History Groups; Athy Heritage Centre will host a talk “The Forgotten Heroes of South Kildare” by Frank Taaffe; and NRA archaeologist Noel Dunne will give a presentation "Uncovering Hidden People - The Archaeology of Recent Road Schemes in Kildare” hosted by Cilll Dara Historical Society. John MacKenna will discuss “Mary Leadbeater and The Quaker Influence on Ballitore”.

For the more active, IPCC are looking for volunteers to assist in the blocking of drains at Lullymore West Cutaway bog as part of its conservation management, Coillte are hosting a nature and heritage walk in Mullaghreelan Wood and Tir Na Mona will lead a walk in Donadea Forest Park and Ballynafagh Lake.

A number of exhibitions will be held throughout the county including the exhibition of Downing Street Silver in the Long Gallery, Castletown House, and Maynooth Local History Group will host an exhibition on ‘Aspect of Maynooth’s Past’.

Many local history groups will be hosting events such as a tour of the Church of St Michael & All Angels, Millicent, Clane organised by County Kildare Archaeological Society and heritage walks around Celbridge and Kildare. The Landmark Trust will host a self-guided tour of Castletown Roundhouse.

Heritage sites within the county, such as the Athy and Kildare Heritage Centre, The National Stud and Maynooth Castle have free admission or special concessions during the week. Kildare County Council has compiled a listing of these and the many other events happening around the County, which is available on www.kildare.ie or in all local libraries. To view a listing of Heritage Week events in other counties go to www.heritageweek.ie or call 1850200878.

Bridget Loughlin
Co Kildare Heritage Officer.

Golf Classic

Crookstown Athletic Club will hold a Golf Classic on 3 September at Rathsallagh Golf Club.

Entry is €400 per team and there will be a shotgun start. The fee includes arrival refreshments and a meal afterwards.

The contact is Ian Wyer 087 9823890 or Paul Quigley 086 2386298.

Crookstown Millview Athletic Club is a small but successful club catering for enthusiasts from the Crookstown, Athy and Kilcullen areas.

The event is part of a fundraising campaign to provide proper changing and toilet facilities for members. It is open to sponsors and the organisers would be glad to hear from any individual or business which wants to sponsor tees, longest drive and nearest hole. Spot prizes would also be welcome.

Permaculture course upcoming

There will be a Permaculture course at the Kildare Steiner School at Rathargid on the weekend of September 6/7. It will be conducted by Graham Strouts, who is attached to the Kinsale Institute of Education.

Places are still available at €90 a head. Kate Park at 059 9162867 has the details. She explains what it is all about here.

Badminton players do well

Members of Kilcullen Badminton Club acquited themselves very well in the recent Summer Bonanza hosted by the Terenure Badminton Centre.

The Kilcullenites joined with over 162 entries from 29 clubs, including a 'United Nations' representation of players from, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, France, Donegal, Waterford, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Louth, Meath and Dublin.

In the Class 5 Mens Doubles Gareth Hogan and Derek Phelan took runner-up place, as did Trina Walsh and Mary Sheehan in the Ladies Doubles.

In the Class 6 Mens Singles the winner was Des Cassidy and runner-up Ger Bissett. The Ladies Doubles in the class gave Nora Hogan and Murial Downey the chance to shine as runner-up. Murial was also part of the Mixed Doubles winning pair while Des was in the runner-up duo. Cathy Phelan was half of the Ladies Doubles win, while Karen O'Toole was in the runner-up pair.

Brian Byrne.

Scouts weathered the weather

That the Kilcullen Scout Troop wasn't washed out at last week's Jamboree in Punchestown was largely down to the good equipment they'd been able to buy thanks to the generosity of the people and businesses in Kilcullen.



"We had a new marquee tent," says Scout Leader Roy Champ, "and we also had new Icelandic sleeping tents and cooking equipment."

The weather was so bad that the organisers offically called off the Visitors Day planned for the Wednesday, and though many came anyway the mucky state of the camping area meant that it had to remain off limits to visitors.

The deluge on Wednesday morning provided an opportunity to show key elements of the scouting ethos -- being prepared and rallying around. Without being asked or directed, the youngsters got stuck in to dig drainage channels and divert miniature rivers away from tented areas.

The event closed on Saturday and Sunday was spent breaking camp and heading for home. For the Kilcullen group, that wasn't far away. But they had made friends from many far corners of the world and that is likely to be the most enduring outcome of the whole event.

There were 24 scouts and seven leaders in the Kilcullen involvement. The Troop is now in its 31st year.

Brian Byrne.

Spout golfers Table QUiz

The Spout Golf Society is holding a Table Quiz on August 21, in The Spout.

Tables of four €40. Further information and booking by calling Ian Dillon at 087 6746072.

Weekend flood raises concerns

Business owners at the bottom of the town are hoping there won't be a repeat of the flooding they experienced last Saturday afternoon during the unusually heavy rain.



Worst hit was O'Connell's White Horse Inn, where the water reached three inches depth before subsiding.

"It came in very quickly, and fortunately went down again very quickly after the Fire Brigade cleared the drains," Charlie Dowling said. "The cars driving through the flood water didn't help, as they caused waves which made the problem worse."

Fallons also got some water in, mainly from the side and rear doors, but weren't as affected as O'Connells.

Across the bridge, Eddie Cross described how 'a river' of rainwater poured down Main Street. "We got in some water in the upstairs lounge, but it didn't come into the pub, fortunately."

Charlie Dowling is now wondering is this what they have to expect in the future. "We'll just have to get in the sandbags, in case," he says.

Brian Byrne.

Garden Party 'rain' change

There has been a change in the alternate planning for next Saturday's Garden Party being hosted by Robert and Olive Dunlop in aid of Burma flood relief.

In the case of rain, the venue will move from La Touche Cottage in Brannockstown to the nearby Brannockstown National School, and NOT to Kilcullen Heritage Centre as previously reported.

The event kicks off at 2.30pm and there will be a programme of music and song to entertain those who come to donate to the World Vision effort in Burma.

Wild Geese flying home

Kilcullen residents from the 60s and 70s will be interested to know that Jim and Lucy Motherway plan a visit from Perth, Australia, during the second half of September.

Jim was an enthusiastic member of the Kilcullen Drama Group, and the Motherway family is still very active in drama in Perth, with the local Irish Theatre Players, founded in 1981. As well as contemporary Irish plays, the group puts on productions from the works of Synge, Lady Gregory, O’Casey, Friel and Hugh Leonard in addition to plays by such theatre luminaries as JB Keane, Dermot Bolger and Bernard Farrell.

Jim has produced plays in Perth which include 'The Playboy of the Western World', 'The Field', and 'Sharon's Grave', all of which he would be familiar with from his Kilcullen Drama Group days. He also still acts regularly.

His son Ivan and daughter Annie are also regular performers on the boards in Perth.

Jim, formerly an Army officer, also established a holiday business called Funtrek, where he led small groups of people on holidays to what were then exotic and hard-to-get-to places.

Brian Byrne.

Focus point for town heritage

If a newcomer to Kilcullen wants to get a sense of where the town came from, the Heritage Centre that was Kilcullen's Millennium project is usually their first port of call.



The airy building, which makes good use of glass and has superb views of the River Liffey, was actually originally conceived as a foyer area for the Town Hall Theatre which had been revamped in 1994.

But it very quickly evolved as a repositary for photographs and historical items collected over many years by the late Pat Dunlea, whose idea the facility was. He was an enthusiastic member of the Kilcullen Drama Group, which was the main user of the Theatre, and felt that a better use could be made of a garden area to the side of the building.



Subsequent to the official opening of the premises on Millennium Eve, Pat's own collection attracted other items owned by people in the locality, notably from the Pender Family as well as other families with long connections to the town.

Among the funding sources for the facility were the Department of the Heritage, Gaeltacht & the Islands, the Kilcullen Development Association, and private donations.

The Centre is open to the public every weekday morning and has been staffed under a FAS scheme since 2000.

Among the many items of interest is a genealogical explanation of the La Touche family, which was very important in the area in the 18th and 19th centuries.



There are also enlarged photographs relating to the early days of many Kilcullen sports and social organisations, including the Boxing Club, the GAA, and the Drama Group.



The proximity of Kilcullen to the Curragh Military Camp is also evident through quite a number of related artefacts. Booklets, advertisements, programmes and tickets for a wide variety of local events offer very local persepctives on daily life over decades in a much earlier Kilcullen.

An old film projector in the foyer recalls the years when Kilcullen Cinema was one of the most popular in the area, before the advent of television ended its glory days.

A photograph of actor Paul Newman with the projector is one of many which remind of visits to the Heritage Centre by prominent people.

Kilcullen Heritage Group chair Nessa Dunlea says there's no room for any more permanent exhibits, but the group organises an annual heritage event which provides opportunity for special short-term exhibitions.

"We began these with a commemoration on the 100th anniversary of the Gordon Bennett Race, which has strong local history," she says. "And most recently we had our dedication of the new Dun Ailinne Interpretive Park, which prompted a number of events in the Heritage Centre."

Nessa emphasises how important the FAS involvement has been to the success of the Centre as a viable and relevant entity.

"Having somebody there to be able to answer queries from visitors, and being open at regular times, is one reason why it works. Another is that the involvement of the Drama Group helps to subsidise the operation."

Current centre manager Kathy Flynn's FAS contract comes to an end in the middle of August. The position has been sanctioned for further funding and the Heritage Group are actively looking for a replacement for Kathy.



The Heritage Centre also acts as a focus for many other events in the town, and is regularly used as the location for functions such as book launches, musical and theatre productions, and events which include the presentation of the annual Community Awards by Kilcullen Community Action.

Kathy Flynn has catalogued the various artifacts, heirlooms and other items in the Centre, and it is hoped over coming years to develop a public-accessible computer database which will provide further information about each element in the collection.

"The important thing is that the Centre is fully a community resource, belonging to the people of Kilcullen," says Nessa Dunlea. "That was the vision of the original Town Hall built on the site in the early part of the 20th century, and one which we are continuing today."

Brian Byrne.

(This story first appeared on the Kilcullen page of the Kildare Nationalist.)

Library grounds upgrade

A major upgrade of the grounds of Kilcullen Library is now under way, taking advantage of the summer holidays.



The work includes the lifting all the old concrete around the former National School, as well as the grassy areas, and replacing it with cobble-lock paving.

The recently installed ramps will also be finished in the paving system.

The building -- which was originally built as a Boys National School 80 years ago -- and the wall around the property will be repaired and painted as part of the works.

A recent modular extension to the Library added toilets, a kitchen, and storage areas, and also made the premises wheelchair-accessible.

The Kilcullen Library service has been managed by Julie Donoghue for almost three decades.

Review: The Last Refuge

The Last Refuge. Chris Knopf. Detective mystery.

This is a gem. All the more so because it is an unexpected find. And a new detective who is an amateur but with a real and attractively flawed character.

Sam Acquillo is a retired engineer with a set of character difficulties which he medicates mostly with Absolut vodka. We know from the beginning, though, that his heart is not at the bottom of the bottle, and he'd be a good guy to have as a neighbour.

Thing is, his neighbour dies. Not that the old lady was a particularly good neighbour herself, but Sam had inherited his late father's looking out for her. And something about the way he found her didn't fit right in his engineering mind.

Let's not worry about the story or the plot, both of which are superbly crafted. Almost as well put together as the dialogue and the descriptive passages.

The test of a book's character is whether you feel you get to know them. Without having to be told everything. And knowing that you don't know it all, at all.

I got to know a chunk about Sam Acquilo, bit by bit. Quickly into the story I felt comfortable with him. And therefore lived his story as it developed.

A gem. And more Sam Acquilo stories are promised. Pity this is Knopf's first from the series and there's no back catalogue to delve into.

But I'll be watching the bookshelves.

Brian Byrne.

Punters beware!

On Wednesday, while walking down the Main Street, I was asked by a young lad to sponsor him for a sponsored walk arranged by Kilcullen Football club. He had a sponsorship card and I asked him if it was for the GAA club or the Soccer club -- he indicated the GAA under 13s.

I asked him his name and where he lived, his name was no problem but when he indicated that he lived in the estate below the bridge which he could not name I became suspicious ...

As I spoke to him I observed two other lads asking any person passing them on the street. They appeared to be getting plenty of names on their cards. But it all looked a bit fishy ...

A few minutes later the group of lads arrived into the shop I was in and again asked those present for sponsorship, which some locals gladly gave, as it appeared to be for the local football club.

Speaking to one of the people they indicated the lads had been on the street the day before collecting also.

I contacted a friend in the GAA and he indicated he had asked the same lads the previous day what club they were collecting for –- that day it was the Soccer club.

As I am involved in the soccer club and the friend in the GAA it appeared the lads were up to no good and using each club's name to deceive the Kilcullen public into giving them money under very false pretences.

The local Gardai were on the street at the time and a quick word in their ear had the lads picked up and brought off to the station. They were indeed up to no good and were from another local town. They received a dressing down from the Garda and the sponsorship cards and any funds collected were confiscated.

The funds will be distributed equally to the GAA and Soccer club.

All Clubs in the town have difficulty enough with raising funds without this type of scam. So beware – if you are not completely satisfied that a collector is bona fide then ask for some sort of identification or enquire what club they belong to and who their leader, coach, mentor is.

Ray Kelly.

Playground still on track

The various stakeholders in the Kilcullen Public Playground project have now exchanged letters clarifying their positions.

This follows a recent public meeting and follow-up meetings between representatives of Kildare County Council, the parish, Scoil Bhride and the Kilcullen Community Centre.

"The key to the whole process is the pledge from Kildare County Council that €200,000 is available in their budget to build the playground in 2009," a spokesperson for the Playground Committee says. "All stakeholders are optimistic that we will soon be able to finalise this worthwhile project, and KIlcullen will then finally have the safe, secure and enjoyable public space to play which is so important for a child's social development and well-being."

Brian Byrne.

Full house for book launch

There was a capacity audience last night for the launch of Jo Wardhaugh-Doyle's book, 'Labyrinth through the Elephant Grass' in Kilcullen's Town Hall Theatre.



Keynote speaker was Alan Dukes, and Jo read exerpts from her book as well as offering some insights into her life and how she got from Edinburgh to Kilcullen, via Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and the US.

We'll have a fuller report of the night later, but in the meantime, as usual, here are some picture memories of the event.

Brian Byrne.

Mull puts heart into MS funds

Kilcullen GAA stalwart John Mulhall has been involved with Multiple Sclerosis Ireland in one way or another for some 37 years.

This was because his late wife Teresa was an MS sufferer for almost three decades before she passed away in 2000.

Since his wife's death, 'Mull' has organised an annual concert to raise funds for the Kildare Branch of Multiple Sclerosis. And as he says, it's that time of year again. His eighth concert will be held in The Belfry at Toughers on August 22.

The headline band will again be Diarmuid O'Leary and The Bards, with tickets on sale at €25 bookable at 087 2256501.

John has reverted the name of the event to its original 'Teresa Mulhall Charity Night in aid of the Kildare Branch of Multiple Sclerosis' at the request of the Branch.

"Over the last eight years the people of Kilcullen have given me great support by making donations and buying tickets," he says. "Also by donating spot prizes, which are very much appreciated, and I'd also like to thank the great friends who row in with me to make the night as enjoyable and successful as it has been."

Tickets are on sale in the usual outlets in the town: The Spout, The Hideout, Bernard Berney's Chemist, as well as Top Twenty in Naas and Newbridge.

Brian Byrne.

Wild Geese on the wing

Aidan Gleeson and David 'Dotsy' Phelan are off today to Canada for a year.

They're starting in Toronto and 'see where it goes from there', according to Aidan, who has been managing the GAA website for some time.

"We'll send in reports to the 'Diary'," he promises ... though specifically only on the things 'our Mammies can read'.

We wish Kilcullen's latest Wild Geese well.

Exiting the Labyrinth

"I was 22 years old, and Idi Aman had just been ousted, and I thought that everything in Uganda would be OK."

And how wrong could Jo Wardhaugh have been? Not realising that the deposing of a despot in an African country was just a stage in ongoing violence, the newly-qualified nurse left Edinburgh in 1980 to do 'just a couple of years' with a volunteer missionary group.

It was to be the beginning of a 17 years journey through three African countries in which she saw horrible violence, worked with some of the most deprived people on the planet, and came out of it suffering the same level of post-traumatic stress disorder as soldiers on a battlefield.

Jo, who married Kilcullen man Matt Doyle almost five years ago, has now recorded her story in a book, 'Labyrinth through the Elephant Grass', which will be launched in Kilcullen's Town Hall Theatre tonight, Wednesday 6 August, at 7.30pm.

Landing in Uganda, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Jo was immediately posted to a hospital run by Italian and French doctors in Gulu, in the north of the country.

"I was immediately appointed nurse tutor, as the previous one had just left after an assassination attempt," she recalls wryly. "She was from Idi Amin's tribe, and there was a lot of tribal violence going on."

Her stint there was just two years, but against the background of another coup and 'elections' which brought in another president, Milton Obote, it was an experience that changed her utterly.

"We went through two hijackings, a lot of shootings, our compound being attacked, and the results of horrendous atrocities coming in to the hospital day after day." Jo recalls one day during the election when a group of soldiers burst into her classroom and marched all her students away at gunpoint to vote for Obote.

"From that point, everything changed for me. I became much more serious in myself. I had come from carefree girl with a hunky dory fun life to a place where it was all about life and death, with wondering who was going to survive a night and who wasn't."

One particularly violent incident, when a man was murdered right in front of her, is the core incident in Jo's book. "It drew me into myself. I ended up praying more, looking at life from a different angle. My early idealism actually became stronger."

At a crossroads about what to do with her life, and influenced by the work of a group of Irish Franciscan nuns in Kampala who were also in the middle of the bombings and shootings, she eventually joined the order.

"I went home to Scotland first, and found that I didn't fit in any more."

After doing a midwifery course in Drogheda, she returned to Africa. "At the time the Ethiopian famine was at its height, so I went out there amid all the horrors of a communist system that wouldn't admit there was a problem even when their people were dropping like flies in a meningitis epidemic."

Working as midwife and with under-five children was hard. "There was a lot of walking from clinic to clinic, there were a lot of maternal deaths, women bleeding to death in the ditches while trying to get to the clinics."

After three years of that, Jo got sick herself and was brought back to Ireland. She did a year-long spirituality course and then went back out to Africa, this time to Kenya, to city slums and street children and AIDS.

"I spent six months walking around, meeting eight-year-olds sniffing glue all day, and older drug addicts. I ended up starting a programme where they could tell their own stories in a group situation and in so doing come to a realisation that often they actually had choices in their lives."

Jo carried out that work for some four years, with positive results. But through it all she was conscious of a nagging 'pain' inside herself, which she couldn't figure out. On a renewal course in the US, she was able to finally pinpoint the reason.

"It was survivor guilt, over that man who was murdered in front of me all those years before in Uganda. And I saw then that so many missionaries suffered from similar post-traumatic stress disorder. We had deadened ourselves to cope, to keep going, while our vitality as development workers, as missionaries, was fading."

Although she did go back briefly to Africa, Jo finally left the religious life and came back to Ireland. "I left the order so that I could remain healthy, otherwise I knew I'd be going right back into the same thing again. I knew by then that trauma disconnects us from our family and our culture, and I realised that I couldn't go through that again. At a very dark time during my renewal course, I had made a sort of pact with the man whom I had seen being murdered, that I would survive -- in his memory, if you like."

Today she helps the Irish Missionary Union, facilitating workshops for returned missionaries, helping them 'debrief'. To tell their own stories as an aid to their own healing and revitalisation.

Writing 'Labyrinth through the Elephant Grass' was a healing experience. "It made me realise that not everything about my life in Africa was dark. I found humorous stories as I wrote. Maybe it is the kind of dark humour that you only find in those kind of situations."

The writing was its own journey, in which she found that there had been sometimes painful choices to make, but that there were choices which brought new life.

Brian Byrne.

Kathy retiring from Heritage Centre

Kathy Flynn is retiring from her position as the office manager in the Kilcullen Heritage Centre this month.



Kathy, who has been employed in the Centre under a FAS Scheme, has catalogued the various artefacts and other items which are on display in the premises, developed as Kilcullen's Millennium Project.

Chair of the Centre's Management Committee, Nessa Dunlea, has paid tribute both to Kathy's work and to the FAS programme for contributing to making the Heritage Centre a viable entity.

"These places just don't work unless they are open at regular times," she says. "Having somebody there to be able to answer queries from visitors is absolutely necessary."

The position has been sanctioned for further funding and the Heritage Group are actively looking for a replacement for Kathy.

A feature on the Kilcullen Heritage Centre will appear in this week's Kildare Nationalist, published tomorrow.

Brian Byrne.

Usk 'superdump' gets green light

An Bord Pleanala has decided in favour of the development by Greenstar Holdings Ltd of an engineered residual landfill at Usk.

The decision was on an oral hearing by the Planning Appeals Board, reopened following a successful judicial review of a previous one, on application by Usk & District Residents Association.

The development was first applied for by Greenstar in 2004, and rejected by a large majority of councillors. A subsequent appeal to ABP by the developers overturned this decision.

A new application was lodged by the developers last year.

Campaigners against the landfill are reported today to be "sickened" by the decision to pass the project, which was only revealed yesterday.

Usk & District Residents Association are said to have spent €300,000 in their campaign against the planning application.

Brian Byrne.

Looking Back: Opening of the motorway

While doing a much overdue 'spring clean' through the office recently, your Editor came across a number of pictures from the official opening of the Kilcullen Bypass (M9) fourteen years ago.

Funny how even in that short number of years, we now take for granted the road, and what it allowed to happen in the subsequent development of Kilcullen.

There are also some of the '100 Years' Festival which was held to mark the by-pass, which we'll show later.

Brian Byrne.

Paddling through memories

Paddy Maloney became interested in canoes because he had a family of six and 'didn't want to see them running around the roads every night'.



"The only other things we had were a boxing club and a tennis club, and they weren't interested," he recalls. "Then I thought that we have a fine river here, and maybe I could use that?"

Swimming and fishing were all that the river had been used for, but Paddy figured there was an opportunity for using boats of some kind. So he began construction of a canoe, in a store behind Jim Byrne's pub, The Hideout.

"I remember Jim Byrne Senior came up to have a look one day and he said it would never work. And in a way he was right, because when I finally launched it in the river it would capsize all the time."

The problem actually was simple. Paddy had put the seat high up and the craft with an occupant was top heavy. "Eventually I realised this and put the seat low in the boat and it worked fine."

He didn't realise it at the time, but this effort to keep his lads off the streets was the genesis of a Canoe Club which was to prove to be very competitive as the sport grew in Ireland, even to providing a several times Olympics paddler, Brendan O'Connell. Paddy was guest of honour at last weekend's dedication of the state of the art new clubhouse built by the developers of Market Square.

Now 88, he recalls how he built several more versions of the finally-successful boat, and organised the first of regular regattas along a stretch of the Liffey close to the town. "We had great times, with crowds lining the bank. We got 6d a head from them going in the gate."

Paddy was a carpenter by trade and his early constructions were made by stretching cloth over a light wood frame. "The cloth was ticking, used for covering mattresses, with a couple of good coats of oil splashed on it."

The 'clubhouse' for the embryo club was a lean-to of galvanised sheeting. Later they bought a piece of land from the late Joe McTernan and began a construction programme which eventually resulted in a safe storage area for boats and a slipway.

"One early club member was Jock Kelly, who worked on the Curragh and was a very good canoeist. He'd come along in the evenings with a couple of lads and they had their own boat which was called 'Katy Daly' after a popular song from the time."

Paddy was still into constructing boats, and had moved from ticking to canvas. But even with the stronger material, the craft were vulnerable to damage in the shallows.

"I decided to try and make one in fibreglass. I knew what I wanted, I knew I had the ability, but the material was the problem. So I went to Thompsons in Carlow, who were making pleasure boats for the American market from fibreglass, and they agreed to supply me."

The fibreglass-hulled boats which Paddy eventually put in the water in the early 60s were the first of their kind in Ireland. He considered making it a full-time business, but there really wasn't enough work to support him.

"It was very successful in its own way, but unfortunately I had to go back to work or leave my family hungry," he smiles.

Paddy was always curious and inventive, and after the canoes he took an interest in a completely different kind of vehicle which gave him a profile right across the country.

"I built a hovercraft. I used a lawnmower engine for power and a balloon underpinning. I remember one day I took it across to the Curragh and while I was driving it on the grass around Ballymany, a military jeep came up alongside me and pulled me over. These MPs with guns pointed surrounded me, very curious about this strange vehicle on their territory!"

The hovercraft could also ride on water, and in one of the early versions Paddy gathered a crowd as he drove it down Kilcullen's main street. "To get away from them I drove it into the water at the square and travelled on up the river," he remembers.

Paddy never lost his love for the river. For years after he'd taken a back seat in the club he would still be found paddling up and down the Liffey, often in the company of a pair of swans which he would feed on a regular basis.

He's very pleased with the new premises, about which the late Pat Dunlea consulted with him in the planning. "It is amazing, and with the floating dock it is state of art," he says, adding that with Kilcullen's recent development there is scope for a whole new era in the club's history.

Brian Byrne.

World Vision Garden Party

There's growing interest in the upcoming Garden Party being held on August 16 in aid of the World Vision charity.

The event will take place at La Touche Cottage in Brannockstown, home of retired Baptist pastor Robert Dunlop, who is retiring as chairman of the Irish branch of the charity.

The event will include music, poetry and drama from local entertainers. All are welcome and a voluntary donation of €10 will raise funds for the work of World Vision, which has been in Ireland for 25 years.

World Vision is currently working in 11 countries, and most recently came to prominence in the aftermath of the floods in Burma.

Brian Byrne.

The Diary: facts update

At the three and a half years point since the launch of the Kilcullen Diary, it seems a worthwhile time to look at some facts and figures relating to the service.

The current visitor rate has increased by 28 percent from this time last year, while the number of pages read has gone up by 37 percent. More than 89,000 pages were read in the last 12 months.

There are now in excess of 2,200 individual stories on the site, posted since 25 January 2005, under some 90 subject tags.

In all there were visitors from 123 countries during the past year, with the top 10 sources being Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Almost two-thirds of pages read were by visitors from within Ireland. A further quarter were read from the US/UK combined in close to equal measure.

On average, visitors spend a minute and a half on the site at a time, and four out of five leave after reading the current page. The busiest days are typically Mondays and Tuesdays, while the least busy are typically Saturday and Sunday. Seasonally, the least busy time is the Christmas Day to New Year Day period, while a very mild drop off is discernible during August.

There are over 4,600 photographs linked to the site, which have been viewed (specifically selected) a total of more than 37,000 times. Amongst these, there are 59 'sets' of photographs from particular events which are viewed as slide shows.

It is safe to say that virtually all visitors have a direct connection with Kilcullen, as the site content is of absolutely no interest to anyone else.

No charge is made for the Diary service, and there is no income from it.

Brian Byrne.

Dun Ailinne DVD

A DVD has been produced to commemorate the events of the recent Dun Ailinne dedication day for the Interpretive Park relating to the nearby ancient royal site.

The DVD covers the celebrations including the music in the square, the parade, the dedication of the sculpture, and the events and presentations which took place in the Heritage Centre and Town Hall Theatre.

It was commissioned by Kilcullen Community Action and was produced by Michelle Ryan Videography, which is based in Kilcullen.

Michelle studied Visual Communications in Waterford before transferring to NCAD, Ireland's leading Art college. She holds a Masters of Science in Multimedia Technology from UCC and has been teaching Multimedia in Adult Education since 2003. She offers a specialist wedding videography service.

The DVD will be distributed by KCA.

Brian Byrne.

Need for parish information: Survey

The need to provide better information on parish related activities to people in Kilcullen is one conclusion of a 'Listening Survey' which has recently published its report.

The survey was carried out by the Parish Pastoral Council last year, using a questionnaire initially and following up with a number of detailed direct interviews.

More than half of those interviewed had lived in Kilcullen for over 20 years, while a fifth have lived in the village between one and five years. A focus group of Transition Year students from Cross & Passion College was also involved.

The participants were asked about attitudes towards Irish society and life in Kilcullen, their attitudes towards the church and the clergy in general and locally, and towards Mass, faith and prayer.

Most respondents painted community life in Kilcullen in a positive light, although there was some negativity about the recent fast pace of development. Kilcullen was also described as a commuter town dependent on larger towns for employment and service facilities.

In a period of change, many participants said the Church no longer plays a 'superior' role in Irish communities, but it was suggested that it is now 'listening to its members' more.

In the context of ordination of women and the option of marriage in the Catholic priesthood, a sizeable number of those interviewed said they considered clergy life to be 'divorced' from the realities of parenthood, family and marriage.

Although recognising that priests are very busy, and declining in numbers, an overwhelming majority believe there is a need for priests of the parish to engage more with the community outside the context of Mass, such as by attending sports events and social functions and participating on committees.

On the other hand, most participants said the only times they felt the need to contact priests were related to sickness, baptisms, marriages and funerals.

Although a considerable number expressed little knowledge of the Parish Pastoral Council, two thirds of those in the survey said they were prepared to assist the PPC or any other group in addressing the needs of the community.

The full report will shortly be available on the Kilcullen Parish website.

Brian Byrne.