2010: A year to remember

It was a year which began and ended with snow, but 2010 had many other highlights for Kilcullen, recalls Brian Byrne.

In January, the local Community Games effort was rescued as the necessary number of volunteers were recruited at the last minute. That was to the delight of the children, as well as organiser Anne Quigley.

On an equally positive note, local fundraising to help those left homeless and jobless after the Haiti earthquake raised many thousands of euro, showing that even as our own recession bit harder, there remained the traditional Irish consideration for others in distress.

It was a good start to the year for the children of Brannoxtown NS when their project on Rocks, Soils & Erosion in the BT Young Scientists Exhibition won its Primary Schools category.

In February, there was a very special Happy Birthday to Granny 'Bridgie' Aspell, who achieved the milestone of a hundred years.

At a younger end of the age scale, CPC students Ellie McMahon and Kevin McMahon (no relation) blew the audience away when playing the support act to veteran singer Luka Bloom at a 'Live by The Liffey' concert.

In March, the number of accidents at a new junction built as part of the M8 extension resulted in a campaign by local residents and councillors which took the best part of the rest of 2010 to finally get a commitment from the NRA and Kildare County Council to rectify the situation.

The 2010 production by Cross & Passion Transition Year students, of 'Grease', was a sellout success. And Kilcullen Drama Group's production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane was equally so, with chilling performances by Siobhan Murphy and Eilis Phillips, and a serious and gentle presentation of the Pato character by Roy Thompson. The group celebrated its 80th year in 2010.

In April, three training dialysis machines were handed over to Beaumont Hospital by the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund. Set up by local businessman James Nolan, a kidney transplant recipient, the fund is helped locally each year by a charity race at Punchestown Racing Festival as well as a group of Kilcullen area women who participate in the Flora Womens Mini Marathon. Funds raised since it was inaugurated two decades ago amount to more than €1.1 million.

In April he Kildare Steiner School community planted 1,500 native Irish saplings at the school in Gormanstown, outside Kilcullen. The trees came courtesy of an anonymous Canadian donor and included oak, willow, beech, holly, cherry and other fruit trees.

In May, a wreath-laying party in the Garden of Remembrance, Plunkett Barracks, included local man Billy Redmond. It was the 50th anniversary commemoration ceremony of the first battalion to serve in the Congo in 1960.

The annual Chruinniu Chriost parish gathering was told by Bishop Eamonn Walsh that if there is going to be a strong faith in the 'new beginning' in the church, it will be in the home and in the culture of the community.

The well-known local artifact, Dan Donnelly's Arm, went on show at Croke Park as part of an exhibition of Fighting Irishmen which previously was shown in New York, Boston, and the Irish-American Folk Museum in Omagh. Donnelly's arm has been in the ownership of the Byrne family for nearly six decades.

In June, Kilcullen again hosted a key part of the FBD Insurance Ras cycle race, the start of the last day of the competition. There was a disappointing turnout to the event, which saddened Kilcullen Cycling Club chairman Liam Walker.

On the other hand, there was a good attendance to the official launch of 'It Takes a Village', a parents/children resource publication by the Carer & Toddler Group. Produced in conjunction with The Bridge community magazine, it is to be the basis of a developing project.

In July Brannockstown's inaugural Village Festival provided a weekend of music, art and discussion. It is a template for an annual affair.

A gold medal that Katie Berney of Kilcullen took in the u/15 Girls 200m at the 2010 All Ireland Track and Field showed that the Community Games effort is so well worth while.

A farewell event for Fr Paddy Ryan brought many tributes to a man who interacted strongly with Kilcullen in a short time. He was presented with a framed photograph of the tower at Old Kilcullen.

In August the biggest event was the first Kilcullen River Festival, organised by a group of local business people and which brought thousands to the town. The organisers said they now have something very successful to build on for coming years.

September was a big month for Colm, an autistic resident at the Bridge Camphill Community. Thanks to fundraising by his friends, and a number of individual donations, he realised a life's ambition to visit New York, The Big Apple. It was facilitated by the Triform Camphill Community in upstate New York, who looked after Colm for six weeks.

In October, Kilcullen Badminton Club international star Claire Flood realised her own dream when she established her own Badminton Academy in Kilcullen. The facility will help bring young badminton players to international match standard.

A knitted tapestry presented to Kilcullen Parish Centre marked the first anniversary of the Suas Knitting Group. The tapestry is a representation of a church stained glass window.

At the annual Community Awards Night organised by Kilcullen Community Action, the tables were turned on KCA itself when the organisation was presented with a surprise award. Sabina Reddy expressed the appreciation of the community for all the work KCA does.

After many years of campaigning, the Kilcullen Community Playground project finally broke ground, and several members of the organising group celebrated with a glass of bubbly on the still-muddy site.

November saw a number of productions organised by Kilcullen Drama Group and friends, the most memorable of which was a presentation by travelling community actor Michael Collins of his one-act play 'Mobile'. The group itself performed 'Two for a Girl', a play that tells the story of one traveller woman's experience in her journey through life.

With nobody expecting it, the first snow of the winter fell on December 1, and from there on it was a month of postponements and cancellations of many community and commercial events. These included Kilcullen Drama Group's Christmas productions, which, however, were well worth going to when they did get on the stage. 'Operation Christ Child', from the younger members of the group, was particularly an absolute gem and beautifully played.

All in all, a year to remember fondly when all the nation around us was crumbling.

(This roundup of 2010 was originally published in the Kildare Nationalist.)