A guest-house home
When a new business opens up in a place where someone grew up, it prompts memories. Which is just what happened recently when the Good Food Gallery opened in Kilcullen.
Most of Pat's best-loved recollections are of lodgers who came to Kilcullen for work and needed somewhere to stay. Some, even many, eventually made their permanent homes in the Kilcullen area.
These include Dick Dunphy, who came in the 50s as an employee of the Dublin & District Milk Board, married locally, and today in his retirement is still a vibrant member of Kilcullen Drama Group. There was Austin Egan, who also married into Kilcullen and eventually established a local restaurant. Pat O'Donnell, who along with Dan Breslin set up an earthmoving business in Brannockstown. Brian Keyes, a junior teacher who later became the local NS Principal as well as an important Kilcullen historian. Tom Bryan, a big machine man who also managed to win the heart of Pat Coleman's sister Rita.
There are a host more of those who for shorter or longer times made their mark on Kilcullen, and whose names will for many people still alive today evoke a variety of personal memories. They include chemist Eugene Gilsenan, district nurse Mona O'Connor, Billy Hughes who became manager of Brennans Hardware, and commercial traveller Gerry Malone who stayed every Tuesday and Thursday night for more than two decades ... he was also the last official 'guest'.
The story of Alice Coleman's Guest House on Main Street is a lot more than can be retailed here. But much of it has been at least touched on in Pat Clarke's reminiscence in the Christmas issue of 'The Bridge'. If you really want to taste further an important part of what generated the Kilcullen of today, buy a copy while it is still available.
