It Says in The Bridge: Dec 08

'The Adoration of the Shepherds' by Jacopo Da Empoli is the very suitable picture reproduced on the cover of the Christmas 2008 Bridge Magazine, by kind permission from the National Gallery of Ireland. And a rare snowy picture of the Old Kilcullen Round Tower on the back of the special cover, by Pat Foley, is a seasonal reflection of early Christianity in Ireland.

The issue is, as always, packed with 'thanks for the year' advertisements from a wide variety of local businesses, clubs, and public representatives. As a guide to the facilities and services available in our own community, it is an issue worth hanging onto.

The inside of the cover is devoted to 'A Brief History of the Monastic Site at Old Kilcullen', originally published in The Bridge in 1972, and written by Brian Keyes and Sean Landers. Of more recent news value there's plenty of coverage of events since the last publication.

And lots of it is good news. The 'Miscellany on Sunday' has pictures and words aplenty, and this regular event in aid of the homeless of mid-Kildare has become another celebrated example of the generosity of ordinary people even in times of recession.

There's also photographic coverage of the Senior Citizens Party recently organised by the Kilcullen Scouts, the Cheese & Wine evening hosted by Kilcullen Lions in aid of the Jack & Jill Foundation, and the latest presentation to the Irish Cancer Society from the endeavours of Ann Sully and friends with the Vintage Rally.

There are a number of world class uplifiting stories about members of St Bridget's Pitch & Putt Club recorded also, and worth a read to see just how successful the hard-working members have made this club.

Thumbs up are given, too, to Nolans, who have been family butchers to the people of Kilcullen for generations, and who won a prestigious national retail stores competition.

We have the usual suspects rounding out their 2008, with Sean Landers flagging his Christmas homecoming amid reports of significant unrest in his current place of residence, Taiwan. It's not Sean's fault, thought ...

Billy Redmond muses towards 2009 with stories about his completion of the Dublin City Marathon, politics and medical cards, the proposed new Church Car Park and its related development, and why people shouldn't nudge him in from his preferred outside seat while at Mass.

There are the topical Christmas messages from the representatives of the various religious denominations in the parish, and I'll leave you to absorb these for yourselves.

And in sadness the Bridge also records the loss of Vincent O'Halloran this month, a gentle giant of a man who served Kilcullen in a number of ways, most visibly in Kilcullen Credit Union.

From this column, which tries to give a flavour of what is between the pages of Kilcullen's pre-eminent local publication, we wish all involved a very happy and peaceful Christmas season, and thank them also for their, as always, sterling efforts.

Brian Byrne.