It Says in The Bridge: January '11

This month's Bridge notes a forthcoming major event in its own life, writes Brian Byrne. Next month it will complete its 40th year since it was founded. That's certainly going to be worth a little looking back, not least over some of the times when it nearly ceased to exist. But in an editorial piece, the people who run it today note the challenges ahead, in an increasingly digital era where printed media in general is in decline.

In that context, the editors are calling for fresh ideas, and suggest that the recession has given many people more time and they might be in a position to gather material or write for the publication. The monthly meeting of helpers takes place on Wednesday night next, in Fallons.

Meantime, Kilcullen's world goes on and the latest episodes are faithfully recorded in this first issue of 2011. A letter to the editor from the Kilcullen Community Carer & Toddler Group expresses 'extreme disappointment' at the news of the loss of the €600,000 grant for the Community Childcare Centre project. Lyn B Worrall writes that the matter raises many questions and says they must be answered on a community-wide basis.

Meanwhile, one of the recent successful projects for children gets on the front page, though on an unexpected negative. It seems that the Community Playground people who worked for five years to get their project going have now received a 'sting in the tail', on receipt of a bill of €5,500 in legal fees incurred in transferring ownership of the land involved from the Dublin Diocese.

A more uplifting report on the front page highlights the several Christmas parties which were organised for Kilcullen's older residents over the festive season, by the Scouts, the Senior Citizens Association, and by the students of CPC. Granny Aspell is pictured, approaching the age of 101 and a great advertisement for the bottle of Jameson she's holding! Pictures from the various parties are scattered liberally through this issue.

In the KCA Environment News page there are a number of updates on current projects, including the Ciorcal Gaeilge, the Convent Wall project and a note about repairs to the Valley wall which was further damaged when hit by slideaway vehicles during the cold snap. They also note how the weather impacted on the Christmas lights, most of which nevertheless did get lit.

The Drama Group takes some space to invite past members to rejoin and get involved again in an organisation which has its roots in the 1930s and over the decades has helped to develop the skills and promote the gifts of members, families and neighbours in the village.

A report and pictures of the Reunion organised by the CPC Class of 1990 takes up a couple of pages. It's interesting to note that much of the organisation of the event was done through Facebook, a facility that hadn't been invented when the girls involved left school.

In the congratulations department, let us echo the felicitations sent to Margaret and Jim Talbot, who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary recently. Congratulations also to the Scoil Bhride participants in the 'Intel Mini Scientist' competition, who investigated such matters as 'Engines', 'Does 10 minutes of exercise per day help you concentrate?', 'How do calculators work?', 'Gears', and 'Cornflour Suspension'.

(Wow, heavy stuff, and far more interesting than the kind of things we had to do when this writer was in that school age.)

Still on schools, we read that Brannoxtown NS has applied for planning permission for four new permanent classrooms. And back in Scoil Bhride, the Bridge records the retirement of Ann O'Mahony, who, it reports, made an 'enormous contribution' to the school and pupils over many years.

In features this month, Sean Landers almost has a monopoly from his contributions, beginning with a new series on 'Kilcullen Buildings and their Architects'. He also writes of his Christmas visit home from Taiwan, in which he managed to pack events in Kilcullen, Dublin, Dungarvan and Clare. A fictional piece involving 'Sherlock Holmes and the Unfortunate Business of the British Throne' is rather convoluted, but then that's Holmes for you.

In other articles, Dr Liz Cullen recalls some recent time spent in Calcutta, where she was reminded of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Billy Redmond has penned a poem about 'Kilcullen 2010', and also muses in 'Off the Cuff' about the delights of watching the local world go by from the vantage point of the Hideout corner.

And there's much more, of course. But if we detailed it all here, you wouldn't have to buy it. That would be a shame, because, as always in the past four decades, all Kilcullen life is found between the pages of The Bridge.