Forms for joining the Kilcullen Garda District Text Alert scheme are available from The Grocery in Calverstown, Kilcullen Garda Station, Kilcullen Credit Union, and scheme committee members. Please encourage neighbours and friends to join.
The Parish has issued an appeal for people with IT skills to help out with the Newsletter and the Parish Website.
A meeting will be held in the Parish Centre on Thursday at 8pm for those interested in helping.
"The time commitment involved would not be great if we had a team of people with the appropriate skills," says Fr Michael Murphy.
A new exhibition of paintings in the Good Food Gallery is guaranteed to raise a smile, because it shows everyday animals in a quirky and humourous way.
The paintings are by Liza Kavanagh of Martinstown, who says they represent a 'sort of seasonal diary' in visual terms.
"I see chickens every day, and guinea fowl and geese," she says. "These are all things I see while taking my children to school. My cat is in several paintings, because he's hilarious and I just feel the need to paint him."
A mother of two young children, she feels she gets much of her inspiration from them, and from her memories of childhood, including favourite nursery rhymes.
"My dad was a great story-teller, and I had a whole exhibition based on things like The Owl and the Pussycat, and Toy Soldiers. It was really bright and vivid and I wondered afterwards if I didn't have Evie and Jack, would I ever have done that?"
The exhibition runs through the next few weeks. Liza is pictured above on the left with Gaye Brabazon, and Sue Carey of the Good Food Gallery.
"Listen, it's just great!"
That was an almost-teenager on her phone, on the bridge at Kilcullen.
"It's just really good that we didn't have to go to another town for this."
That was a young mum to a friend as she pushed her buggy and its precious cargo through the throngs.
Both, along with many hundreds of others, were enjoying Kilcullen's first River festival.
Except that, actually, it wasn't. There are those of us who still remember the Canoe Club Regattas of the 60s, and the official opening of the Valley Park back in the '70s, when the river and its possibilities were exploited to their best.
But maybe we've forgotten the importance of the Liffey to Kilcullen in the intervening years. Though not everybody did. The late Pat Dunlea conceived and built developments which 'turned the town back to the river' as he said to me once.
However, that's another story. The Kilcullen River Festival 2010 is very much a tale of today, and after that a tomorrow where it will become an even more serious underpinning of Kilcullen's summers.
Here's a bottom line, but it won't end this report. The Festival was a success beyond everybody's expectations. Including those of the organisers, who included members of the Army and the local Garda who helped to make it a really special day.
"We hoped it would work, but this is way beyond what we thought it would be," says Brian Fallon, one of the group of Kilcullen businesspeople who put the project together. "We have something very successful to build on for coming years."
Putting numbers on how many came is difficult. But that the Market Square and its extended area, along with the full length of the bridge, were constantly full of adults and children, puts the figure in probably multiple thousands.
They were entertained in the river context by events that included the annual Kilcullen Lions Duck Race, which involved 600 of the plastic bath buddies being herded out of bankside traps by the expert boatpeople of Kilcullen Canoe Club so that they all had a decent chance of a finish at the bridge. The club also gave a demonstration of canoe polo, the first time it was done in Kilcullen.
There was also an inter-business Raft Race for which the entries were surprisingly well engineered and none actually sank. A military-devised exercise which involved taking 'fuel and ammunition' and 'wounded soldiers' across and back the Liffey took its toll on teams from The Hideout and Bardons. A tug of war in the river finished the river activities.
Back on the banks, the various restaurants and cafes of Kilcullen provided opportunities to taste elements of their menus. Suggesting the thought that Kilcullen could well become the 'Kinsale' of Leinster foodies.
For the record, these included The Hideout, Bardons, The Riverside, The Italian Kitchen, Fallons Cafe Bar & Restaurant, and The Good Food Gallery.
The Farm & Crafts tents at the back of the Market Square complex did steady business all day until it was time to close the show until next year.
The only disappointment was the final, and inevitably controversial, score in the Kildare v Down game, which was watched on a large screen in the square.
There were some initial concerns about weather, but on the afternoon the skies cleared to provide a glorious end to August for the many family groups who came along to enjoy the festivities that were, as far as this writer is concerned, as good as at any large summer festival on the European continent.
The whole event cost around €10,000 to mount, but it seriously put Kilcullen on the map in Kildare county festival terms, and highlighted what the growing Liffeyside town has to offer in many areas. The River Festival can take a deservedly proud place in a line of events going back to the Dan Donnelly An Tostal pageants of the 50s, the Regattas of the 60s, the Community Capers in the 70s, and all the smaller events which are a regular part of the living tapestry of Kilcullen.
And, what makes it that much sweeter is that the whole event was conceived and managed mostly by the 'new' business people of Kilcullen, showing that the future of the town is in very capable hands indeed. Well done, all. You did us proud.
Brian Byrne.
4.30pm: Well, if you could have and didn't come today, you missed one of the best days to end the summer. Kilcullen's first River Festival has been a mammoth success, as the pictures below - just some of what have been uploaded - must show.
Great congratulations are due to the organisers, who put a tremendous effort into the event, and it showed.
And it's not over yet!
(Lots more pictures up later.)
1pm: Most of the work is finished, despite some showers, and everybody's hoping for a great day - in the square and at Croke Park.
11am: Now the buzz is on, with everybody involved pulling together to get the show on the road.
7.30am: The morning of Kilcullen's River Festival day, and all is so very quiet ...
The Diary has learned of the death of Isobella Jameson Urquhart, formerly of New Abbey Stud, Kilcullen and lately of Craddockstown Nursing Home.
The widow of the late Ken Urquhart, Isobella's funeral service was held on Friday in Yellow Bog Church, after which she was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery.
She is fondly remembered by her daughter, grandsons, relatives and friends.
May she rest in peace.
Dave Clancy in conjunction with Dunleas of Kilcullen will be running a "Guess How Many Balloons are in the Car" competition this Sunday at the Festival.
Make sure you enter your guess on the day to be in with the chance to win a prize!
The last-minute work is being done for Sunday's Kilcullen River Festival.
Pictured this morning are Tara Lynham, Geri Dineen, and Col John Courtney going over some details.
Early on Sunday morning, August 1st, 45 people reported for duty together with Maintain Hope directors, Gerry O’Donoghue and Sue Riehn, at a very special little place about an hour from Nairobi in Kenya, writes Esther Reddy.
The previous day had been spent travelling to this destination – an orphanage on the outskirts of Ngong which is home to 172 children. The title orphanage is not used in this place, instead it is called Shelter. Here the children have a home, receive rehabilitation and an education.
The group of volunteers, many of whom are from or are working in Co Kildare, divided into three groups. One group had previously agreed to work exclusively with the children for the two weeks of the trip. A lot of preparation had gone into planning the activities, teaching and guidance which would be undertaken with the children. It would be a facet to the trip that would be physically and emotionally challenging, but our volunteers were up for it!
Work has commenced on repairing the roof of the Heritage Centre, which has suffered from some leaking problems in the last couple of years.
It is a fairly major operation, requiring the raising of the 'glasshouse' section so that the repairs can be made.
The deadline for the photo competition in conjunction with Animals First Veterinary Clinic is this Saturday August 28.
If you don't think that your photos will get to us in time, just email them to
info@animalsfirst.ie subject: photo competition.
Please put your contact details and the animal details in the email.
Animals First.
Kilcullen GAA face St Kevin's tonight in the O'Neill's summer football tournament.
The games is at home in Kilcullen at 7pm. The tournament has been created to keep club teams ticking over during Kildare's run in the All-Ireland championship.
In addition, most of the old poles are to be replaced with modern street slights as far as the church and Parish Centre.
The move will be welcomed by those who appreciate what Kildare County Council has already done with the new footpath on the road.
The Kilcullen Ladies Mini Marathon effort in aid of the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund is to present a cheque for more than €10,000 to the organisation's founder, James Nolan.
The presentation will take place in Kilcullen Parish Centre on 7 September at 8pm, and all are welcome.
All outstanding sponsorship may be left at the desk in Nolans Butchers, Kilcullen, marked 'Mini Marathon', or can be given directly to Phena Bermingham at 485232 or 087 9767531.
Kilcullen Credit Union is organising a Mad Hatter's Tea Party in the Credit Union Garden next Sunday, to coincide with the Kilcullen River Festival.
The theme will obviously be that particular element from the novel 'Alice in Wonderland', and there will be prizes for the best fancy dress costumes.
Refreshments will be provided, and attractions will include face-painting.
It was planned as a brief introductory chat, and then a walk around town looking at and talking about a number of heritage aspects of Kilcullen.
But the town's first contribution to National Heritage Week 2010 never left base last night, because those present were telling such interesting stories about the town over the last century or so.
The contributions will add much to the walk planned for Saturday afternoon as part of the overall Heritage Week presentation, because more is now known from last evening about the people aspects of that heritage.
Heritage Group chair Nessa Dunlea opened proceedings with a description of Kilcullen in 1910, a time when the village supported 33 shops and was substantially larger than Newbridge.
This might have been due partly to the fact that in the mid-1800s, Kilcullen was on the main road to Cork from Dublin, thanks to being the location of the key bridge south over the Liffey river for some five centuries.
After the introduction, continuing contributions from the audience made it clear that staying put was the preferable option to breaking up the party and going walkabout.
The stories were mostly personal, and included Jim Collins recalling his family's milling history; Brendan O'Connell's reminiscences of the bakery operated by his father; Joe Kelly on his family background as master tailors; and Jim Berney on the saddlery beginnings which resulted in his family name being the most respected in their craft in this country today.
Nuggets of new information were found, such as Peter Bardon's mention that the hotel which was run since his great-grandfather's time in the late 1800s was originally owned by a Dunne family. That triggered an immediate connection with the current filming of a documentary by TG4 about Daniel O'Connell's famous walk from Kilcullen to Mullaghmast, the location of 'The Liberator's famous 'Monster Meeting' locally on his Repeal of the Union campaign. It seems that O'Connell is on record as having visited 'Dunnes Hotel' at the time, but nobody knew where it was.
Other contributions came from John Brady on the history of the New Abbey Cemetery, from Noel Clare on the arrival and eventual departure of the Cross and Passion Sisters, and their legacy to Kilcullen; and Pat Lynch's recollections of the Ball Alley built in 1938.
These and other stories will be recalled on Saturday afternoon next, when the actual 'heritage walk' will start at 3pm from the Heritage Centre. Anyone with Kilcullen memories who wasn't there last night is very welcome to come along and say their pieces. If you just want to listen, and hear some of where today's Kilcullen came from, it's all free.
And if it all ends up in a pub, as it did for some last night, you might even hear some of the 'other' yarns that make up the fabric of the place you live.
Brian Byrne.
