It says in The Bridge: April 2011

A call for help and a couple of good news stories make up the front page of this months's Bridge, writes Brian Byrne, along with a nice seasonal picture of a pair of new lambs taken by Pat Foley.

The help call relates to the Community Games effort, struggling from a lack of volunteers despite doing a great deal to provide enjoyment and confidence building to Kilcullen's young people over many years. Very much worth consideration in giving some spare time to.

The brighter news on one hand is the story that two young people from Kilcullen will represent their counties at the All Ireland Enterprise Awards in Croke Park next week. Congratulations to both Jack O'Connor, now a student in Ballymahon, Longford, and Tara Haughton, a student at CPC.

The other positive is the news of the formation of a new working group to restart the campaign to get a full Community Childcare Centre in at the town.

The Editorial page muses on the Michael Lowry affair on the one side, pondering on what it means for us as a people; the 'You Say' side has a letter from Joseph Kelly continuing in the same vein the recent words published on the Community Centre. A five-point plan, published without the need for an FoI application.

Other news includes the fact that further street resurfacing is planned by Kildare County Council, and a note that with Ivan Keatley's accession to the former Council seat of Martin Heydon, Kilcullen has for the first time in its history direct local representation on KCC and Dail Eireann.

The Business Page notes the new tenancy at The Spout in the person of Tommy Dignam, who intends to maintain the pub's tradition of music; and the new Dresser Store opened by Brendan and Mairead Talbot, a business which got a nice kick-start with a piece on RTE's Nationwide the week before the store opened.

It is a particularly pictorial Bridge this month, with extensive coverage of matters including the Kilcullen Beavers Challenge Day at Castledermot, the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Kilcullen Set Dancers, as well as two artistic events - the 'Different Strokes' Art Exhibition from Adeline Poufong and Davitt Steed, and the presentation by Evelyn O'Sullivan's Teen Theatre of 'While the Lights were Out'. Another arts success story is detailed in the cinematic and TV exploits of young brothers Bradley and Rhys Burke, and there's also plenty of 'heads' from CPC's production of 'Fame'. No shortage of talent for the future in Kilcullen, just as the latest production from the town's Drama Group, 'Dancing at Lughnasa' gets under way.

Features are also strong this month, including from among the regulars Billy Redmond's musings on his 'bring home the relations' idea, and his ideas on tidy towns and litter. Billy pays tribute to those who help keep the town litter problem down, including the litter patrol set up in his own area.

A page from Patricia McNally of Calverstown details the advantages of 'detoxing'. Pastor Robert Dunlop counsels the optimism promulgated by St Paul in one of his letters, suggesting that it is apt for our current times. Sean Landers dabbles momentarily in optimism at the beginning of his latest letter from Taiwan, but slips away from it rather quickly in the face of interrupted water supplies and other mischief in his part of the world.

Two other features stand out, one is a piece from Noel Clare about Padraig Maloney and how a new home dialysis machine has lifted his lifestyle enormously. The other in musically uplifting, with John Martin Jnr giving us an account of his affair with bagpipes.

There's a lot of school news. The Naomh Bride Community Playgroup is looking forward to Easter. Scoil Bhride reports on visits from storyteller Pat Ryan and footballer Dermot Earley, while Halverstown NS gives an account of how they had 'mock' elections fever as well as their first school musical. Never left out of things, Brannoxtown NS had a visit from an RTE film crew (again!), this time for a programme on mother and daughter switching roles. CPC in the meantime welcomed former pupil Martin Heydon in his new role as a Messenger to the Assembly.

Some fiction this month from Karen Bourke, a member of the Camphill Community in Dunshane. Her 'The King of the Fairies' was inspired by her hearing the Irish tune of the same name.

Lots of sports news from the Community Games, Kilcullen Badminton Club, St Bridget's Pitch & Putt, the Canoe Club, and the AFC.

All stuff that has made the Bridge such an important part of Kilcullen life for some four decades.