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.
Physiotherapy Works has new Pilates Courses commencing Wednesday 1st June.
Intermediate/Improvers Level 6.00pm; Improvers Level 7.15pm; Beginners Level 8.30pm
The course duration is eight weeks and runs until Wednesday 20th July inclusive. The cost is €120
For enquiries please contact the PW office on Hillcrest.
The Drama Dynamics Summer Stage 2011 summer camp will take place this year from Monday 11 July to Friday 15 July.
Bookings are now being taken at a cost of €85 per place, with family discounts available.
The camp itself will be located in the Tennis Club, and the event includes performance in the Town Hall Theatre.
Sessions will be from 10am-2pm each day.
Places are limited. To book, contact Evelyn O'Sullivan on 087-64415054.
Kilcullen Flower & Garden Club had a very enjoyable outing recently to Terry Smyth's two-acre garden at Clonmore, Hacketstown.
The garden includes various themes including a Manhattan Roof Garden (patio), Moroccan style garden, a Japanese style garden, and large herbaceous borders.
Pictured are (front) Liz O'Brien, Loretto O'Toole, Pat Clarke and Terry Smyth; (middle) Stephanie McDonnell, Dolores Howard, Margaret Brennan, Billy Murphy; and (back) Miriam Keegan, Mary Shortt and Marie O'Leary.
The Diary has been informed of the death of Jim Cardiff, St Brigid's Avenue.
After reposing at his daughter Mary Dillon's residence, removal took place this morning to the Church of the Sacred Heart and St Brigid for Requiem Mass and his funeral took place afterwards to St Brigid's Cemetery, via his residence.
To Jim's family and friends we extend our condolences.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Due to the high numbers looking to enrol in Kilcullen Community Playgroup (Naomh Bríde) we are now enrolling for afternoon sessions for September 2011, writes Éilís Keogh. If you are interested in placing your child into our playschool please contact me on 087 2178217. If there is sufficient interest we will open in the afternoons for ECCE and fee paying children.
The afternoon session will run from 12-3pm Monday–Friday. Kilcullen Community Playgroup is situated opposite the All Weather Pitch (Beside the Community Centre).
If you would like your child to join our playgroup we would love to hear from you. You can telephone or call to see us anytime. These places are available for the ECCE scheme / fee paying. Please note there is a lot of interest in the playgroup for September 2011 and early booking is advisable.
The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme provides a free year of early childhood care and education for children of pre-school age. In general, children are eligible for the ECCE scheme if they are aged between 3 years 2 months and 4 years 7 months on 1 September of the year that they will be starting but an exception may be made for a child with a disability. Each child can avail of the scheme only once.
The fees for Naomh Bríde Community Playgroup, for children NOT eligible for the ECCE scheme are as follows:
5 days per week €200 per month
4 days per week €160 per month
3 days per week €120 per month
2 days per week €80 per month
Please note: There is a once-off enrolment fee of €40 applicable to all children joining our playgroup. This is to secure their place in playschool and it is returned to all ECCE children that attend for that year.
Our morning opening times are 8.45am-11.45am Monday to Friday. Our afternoon opening times are 12-3pm Monday to Friday.
We are holding our enrolment night for the children who will be joining our playgroup in September 2011. This will take place in our playschool (opposite the All Weather Pitch) on Thursday 9th June at 8pm. All parents of children who are attending playgroup in September should be there to enrol their child on this night.
A play well worth making time to see next month is 'Rosanna Nightwalker, The Wren of the Curragh', written by Brownstown author Martin Malone and directed by All-Ireland winning director Barbara Sheridan.
The play will be performed in the Moat Theatre on 14-18 June, and is based on the true historical lives of the 'Curragh Wrens', the women who lived amongst the furze bushes on The Curragh and made their living by offering their services to soldiers in the military camp.
The story is set in winter, 1863. Rosanna Doyle, hopeful of a happy future with her soldier lover Johnny, takes off to the Curragh camp to surprise him. But life still has some tough lessons for Rosanna to learn and she finds herself forced to join Bridget and the other ‘wren’ women.
Another, more distinguished, visitor is there that same winter; pressman Richard Tone has been commissioned by the great Charles Dickens to write about the women and he soon becomes engrossed in their lives.
Grounded in historical fact and based on his acclaimed radio play, Rosanna Nightwalker, and subsequent novel The Only Glow of the Day, Kildare writer Martin Malone has written a stage play of great power and tenderness which will be brought to life on the Moat stage.
Tickets €15 (€12 with concession, Students, OAPs etc) available from Moat theatre box office 045 88 30 30.
All is in place for the second Brannockstown Village Festival, and it promises to be even better than the inaugural one, with something for everyone in the programme, writes Brian Byrne.
The event will be held over the weekend of 10-12 June and starts on the Friday evening at 8pm with the opening of the Creative Arts and Photographic exhibitions in the Baptist Hall. A Poker Classic gets under way in the festival Marquee at Ger Markey's Stray Inn at 9pm.
On the Saturday the Art and Photographic exhibitions will be open for viewing until 2pm. A history talk on the Sallins/Tullow railway line which ran through Harristown and Moorhill will be given in the Baptist Church from 2pm, and will be followed at 3pm by a walk through Harristown and a tour of the house. The house tour will have strictly limited numbers and bookings need to be made through Lance O'Brien at 087 2376647 or email lance.obrien@teagasc.ie.
A Picnic in the church grounds begins at 4pm, with participants asked to bring their own food while tea and coffee will be served.
Dancing in the Festival marquee gets under way at 9pm, to the music of 'Solid Gold' from 10-1pm. Admission here is a snip at just €5.
On the Sunday, a series of GAA football matches for children gets proceedings going from 11am, and at 2.30pm there will be an exhibition of Irish Dancing in the marquee. This will be followed by a Family Quiz in the same location, at which the Art and Photography winners will be announced. The exhibitions will remain open until 6pm.
If any further information on any aspect of the Festival is required, contact Amanda Horan (086 8034910), Steve Schwer (087 2176069) or Lance O'Brien (087 2376647).
There will be a Planning Meeting for the upcoming Chriunniu Chriost in the Paris Centre on Monday next, 30 May.
It begins at 8pm and anyone who wants to help is welcome to come along.
The Parish Gathering itself will take place on Sunday 19 June from 2pm - 5pm.
"This year we've avoided having too many planning meetings, says Petra Conroy. "Monday's meeting will be the main planning session for all involved in any way in this year's gathering. At this stage we know what needs to be done but it's important to get everyone together once to make sure everything is in place for another memorable day in the life of the parish."
You can contact Petra at (087) 294 1003.
The Scoil Bhride Annual Family Fun Field Day takes place on Sunday 12 June between 2-4.30pm.
A great family day is planned. There will be a bouncy castle, a clown slide, Tombola, a book and music stall, hot food being served, popcorn, candyfloss and light refreshments aswell as lots more with fun and games for everyone.
All welcome - admission free.
To prepare for the visit of HM Queen Elizabeth last week, the damaged section of the Valley wall was finished just in time, writes Jim Collins. The local County Council work team did an excellent job, the result of which is a reinforced section of wall completed to high standard. Well done to all involved.
There is an interesting link in Irish history with this section of wall. In May 1921, exactly 90 years ago when our relationship with the British government was not good, an engagment took place involving the local RIC barracks. This account was written in The Bridge in 1976.
The Valley's role in the fight for Irish freedom
One such sniper engagement was on the Kilcullen RIC Barracks. The Barracks was situated between Brennan's hardware and The White Horse Inn. The attack took place in May 1921 at 11.30pm. The snipers were positioned on the roadway between Nolan's hayshed and the Jockey Stile. The sniping party used rifles, one of which was lent by Tom Doran — then owner of (now) Markey's pub, Milemill. In charge that night were Cmdt Willie Byrne, Ballysax; Paddy Brennan, Brownstown; Jim Collins, Kilcullen; Bill Clifford, Grangemore and Jim Byrne, Naas Rd, Kilcullen. During the lowering of the valley wall in 1976 a number of spent cartridges were found inside the wall at the point where the attack took place.
It's 49 years since John Joe Dowling was sent by his father from his native Mountmellick to help out a widowed aunt with her shop on Kilcullen's Main Street, writes Brian Byrne. It was to be for a short time while she got things together after her husband died.
"But I never went home," he said when he and his wife Noreen closed up their Kilcullen Flowers & Gifts shop last Saturday, for the last time. They plan to do some travelling, tend their small farm in Old Kilcullen, enjoy life a little more.
John Joe and Noreen — she's from Kilcullen, and a substantial part of why he never got back to Laois — literally have memories of some four generations of customers. And recollections of lots of change in both their own business and the town itself.
Brother Columba Jordan, son of Robert and Meadhbh Jordan who used to live in Kilcullen, was ordained a priest last week, writes Brian Byrne.
A member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal since 2001, he will be coming to work in Ireland. He will be stationed at the order's house in Derry.
He was ordained by Archbishop Timothy Dalton of New York at a ceremony in St Patrick's Cathedral. Father Jordan's celebratory Mass in Ireland is planned for Saturday, July 23 at St Joseph’s Church in Dublin at 4pm.
Our picture shows him at a family event in 2005.
A profile of Fr Jordan is published here in the Catholic New York newspaper.
There were 85 guests of the Kilcullen Lions Club at the annual Seniors Party held on Friday night in the Parish Centre.
A promise kept.
We were told that the traffic calming taken away for security reasons around the Queen's drive-through would be restored quickly. They're at it this morning.
Obama isn't coming through, then?
A selection of pics on the street from yesterday's Queen Elizabeth drive-through to and from Gilltown.
Dave Clancy held his own Tea Party yesterday while the Queen was passing through Kilcullen on her way to Gilltown. Pics by James Glynn.
The very clear shot of the Queen above was taken by James Glynn, while the one below is in from Henry Barrett.
Here are two more pictures of Queen Elizabeth II as she passed through Kilcullen.
They were taken by Lisa Kennedy, a 6th Year student at CPC. The first is the Queen on her way to Gilltown, the second as she was driven out of the town on the way to the motorway.
The Vincents shop in Kilcullen has a number of gymnastic costumes now in store, writes Valerie O'Brien.
They're reasonably priced, and if you have a need for something like this, call in and check them out.
Queen Elizabeth II waves to people in Kilcullen on her way to Gilltown Stud, in the reflection of the Tricolour on The Hideout. Eamonn and Clare Boyce had also put up fresh flowers in their hanging baskets for the occasion.
Security operations in Kilcullen for the drive through of the Queen got into top gear tonight, writes Brian Byrne, with the installation of crowd control barriers and the sealing off of the road from the bridge to the motorway from parking.
From tomorrow morning at around 8.15, drivers trying to access Kilcullen will be stopped at the motorway and only locals will be let through. The church car park will have to be cleared of cars by 9.30am, and no traffic will be allowed along the Curragh-Kilcullen Road or the Kilcullen-Gilltown Road afterwards.
TV news teams will be in town from early in the morning. Bardons Pub is closed until 4pm, but will serve evening food after that.
Council workers took away the flower boxes from the Cross & Passion gates tonight, after KCA members had planted them with flowers and had planned to varnish them in the early morning.
The high profile Garda presence in Kilcullen over recent days has impacted on the pub trade, according to one local publican. "People are afraid to drive in and have a drink," he told the Diary ruefully. "It has been a bit of a disaster, even people who used to come in for one on their way home from work have stopped."
Overall, though, the mood in town is positive, with the feeling that Queen Elizbeth II's visit is good for the country and a lift for morale on all fronts.
And things will get back to normal on Friday ...
Want to get an early start to watch the Queen pass trough Kilcullen tomorrow? Well, Eamonn Boyce is doing breakfast from early on, and it might well be your chance to get on Sky TV News.
"I was asked a couple of weeks ago if I could supply breakfast to a Sky team who will be here all day," Eamonn told the Diary tonight. "I told them that I could, of course. I'll be doing breakfast for anyone who wants it, and lunch too."
Meanwhile, Dave Clancy might have a cup of tea and his own home-baked treats for anyone passing up and down in the morning. You didn't know that Dave bakes? His hobby.
All the extra road works involving ramps removal and reinstatement and road surfacing by Kildare County Council, to do with the visit of Queen Elizabeth II, will not come from the Council's annual budget, writes Brian Byrne, but will be reimbursed by additional funding from central Government resources.
Cllr Ivan Keatley (FG) was given assurances on this matter by the Council's Director of Transportation, following a query prompted by the Diary.
"However, roadside verges work, such as grass cutting, flower planting and signage work, will come from the Council's annual budget as a lot of this work would have been carried out at a later date," Cllr Keatley added.
A number of concerns had been expressed to the Diary that the extra road works might have impinged on the Council's ability to deal with other needs through the rest of the year, but this will not be the case.
Kilcullen Community Playgroup is looking for people to come on board a fundraising sub-committee, following the launch of their fundraising campaign last Saturday.
Ideally the volunteers would be in a position to spare a couple of hours every fortnight, and/or be available for fundraising events.
There's a meeting of that sub-committee in Fallons on Thursday night, 19th 8pm.
Almost there ... the newly-repaired Valley wall is this afternoon awaiting the cappind to be poured. Great stuff, and all thanks to the visit of HM.
Meanwhile, to stop a rumour that has been going around town, the businesses at the crossroads and on the roads which the Queen will travel are being permitted to open on Thursday.
Eamonn Boyce said a lot of people thought he had been told to close, but there isn't any truth in that. Shelly Barbers will also be open, as will The Spout pub. Ellen's hairdressers is not opening, but that's through her own choice as a number of customers changed their appointments from Thursday because of parking restrictions and diversions. Nichola Kennedy Optometrists will be closed to the public for a Training Day.
Some of the younger members of Drama Dynamics are going for auditions to RTE on Thursday to be presenters for a new series of a TV show called Grubz Up.
"We wish Matthew, Joe, Fionn, Sean and Harry all the best," says Evelyn O'Sullivan, who runs Drama Dynamics. "It's a lovely show."
The show was inaugurated last September and is a cookery programme for small children. It screened on RTE 2 in the early afternoons under the RTEjr banner.
A presentatation on the history of New Abbey House is planned as the Kilcullen project for National Heritage Week, the last week in August, writes Brian Byrne.
It will be given by Colette Jordan, who in 2009 gave a similar talk on the Duchesses of Kildare in Carton House. She has since researched New Abbey.
At the Kilcullen Heritage Group's recent AGM it was also decided to push ahead with the provision in the Heritage Centre of an historical 'timeline' detailing key moments in the town's past, with illustrations.
It was also decided to look into the possibility of involving local voluntary groups in a heritage event, designed to highlight the role of the volunteer in the modern history of Kilcullen.
Some discussion was also given to the possibility of extending the activities of the Group to include Tourism.
The organisers of Kilcullen's fourth Kilcullen Parish Gathering, Chruinniu Chriost, are appealing for musicians to entertain people on the day.
The event is planned for 19 June and is an open invitation to all the people of Kilcullen, whether churchgoing or not, to come together in one place at one time to celebrate together.
Participants will gather in the Square in Kilcullen at 2pm, with Mass at 3pm behind Scoil Bhride, followed by entertainment and a picnic. As in previous years smaller groups will progress from the four ‘corners’ of the parish to the square where they will be welcomed by the people gathered there.
The first Holy Communion children will head the procession, carrying flowers to lay in front of the Altar.
Everyone is encouraged to bring a picnic which can be enjoyed after the Mass with some of our local talent.
An indoor venue is on standby in case of bad weather.
The Annual Classic and Vintage Rally in aid of Halverstown NS will take place on Sunday 29 May.
It is open to motorbikes, cars, tractors and all vintage cars and mobile machinery.
Registration costs €20 including refreshment on the day.
The event starts in Kilcullen Sports Complex at 12pm, with registration from 11am.
A real family day, there will be bric a brac stalls and a cake sale, as well as fun and games for children.
There was a measure of disappointment today when no flood was available for a Slalom event scheduled by Kilcullen Canoe Club, writes Brian Byrne.
"We were told right up to yesterday evening that there would be one," one of the club members told the Diary, "but this morning we heard from a fisherman that there wouldn't be, as there was a fishing competition scheduled for down the river. Somebody got their wires crossed."
A less challenging event was set up in the area below the bridge. Paddlers had come from as far as Donegal for the race. "If we had even known yesterday that there wouldn't be a flood, we could have cancelled," the Kilcullen spokesperson said. "It's very bad form."
Meantime, it seems that there may also be doubt about the availability of a flood from Phoulaphuca for next week's annual Ballymore to Kilcullen race. The Diary understands that the reservoir is at quite a low level for the time of year, as there hasn't been the usual amount of rain since Christmas.
There's a lot happening in town this morning in security preparations for the Queen's drive-through of Kilcullen next Thursday, writes Brian Byrne.
Gardai have been checking into all manholes and service access on the routes which she will take, and members of the Defence Force have been welding them shut once cleared.
The sewers have also been checked for anything untoward, but all that has been found so far are rats. "Lots of them, and big ones too," one of the people involved told the Diary.
Council workers are also busy: the traffic calming pedestrian crossing in front of Steve's Daybreak store has already been lifted, and those in front of Scoil Bhride are also in the process of being removed.
All will be restored on Friday next, we're told.
There was a short holdup yesterday at the northbound on-ramp on the Kilcullen junction of the M9, while members of the Defence Forces checked it as part of the security preparations for the Queen's visit.
Bookings are now being taken for the Stagecoach Summer Workshop which runs through 4-8 July.
The drama school is located in the Cross & Passion College.
The school in Kilcullen opened in September 2009 and many of the students have chosen to complete examinations with the Irish Board of Speech and Drama with great success.
"I believe that the format we provide helps to build children’s confidence and self esteem and not just skills in the arts, but skills for life," says Stagecoach Kildare principal Maryclare McMahon. "I am constantly amazed at the transformation of students during their time spent with us."
Stagecoach immerses participants in the three disciplines of Singing, Dancing and Drama and all teaching is by qualified teachers.
Class sizes are limited to 15 students and all activities are overseen by Mariclare.
This term there will be a demonstration of the students work for parents. Parents will receive a written report on their children's progress.
Further information from 045 484879.
Kilcullen's input into the recent Palestine Awareness Week was organised by seven Cross & Passion Transition Year students who are working to earn John Paul II Awards.
They took as their project last autumn the highlighting of the situation in Palestine, and in association with the SUAS Knitting Group are helping to provide aid to a maternity hospital in Bethlehem.
"The students have set up a Social Justice Group as part of their faith project associated with the awards," says Kilcullen's pastoral worker Hannah Evans. "They were encouraged by Trocaire, who provided them with a lot of information. They also thought it would be of interest to the parish as many parishioners have been out to the Holy Land in recent years."
Contact with the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem was made through local woman Miriam McDonnell, and a person directly involved with the hospital came and gave a talk to both the TY Year in CPC and the SUAS group.
The knitting group responded by making up 'baby packs' of clothing for the hospital, both for premature babies and for the outreach programme conducted by the hospital to families living in the desert areas of Palestine.
The operators of the outreach service have a very difficult time, because it can take three hours or more to get out through the checkpoints in the 10-metre wall which has been built around Bethlehem and other Palestinian areas by the Israeli authorities.
A day of awareness was conducted on a recent Sunday, beginning with a Mass, which included bringing up gifts which represented Palestine. In his homily, Fr Michael Murphy noted that the segregation wall 'ruins life' for very many people in Palestine, making their life 'very, very hard'. "Anything we can do to support the Palestinian people is very important, and Jesus himself was a Palestinian Jew."
The Mass was followed by refreshments and an exhibition of information about the current situation in Palestine. The SUAS group also displayed samples of the baby kits they have made.
"We're really trying to highlight the conflict in Palestine, to make local people more aware of it," says Daniel Murphy, one of the students. He says they found when they began the project that there was a very low level of awareness about the situation.
"I actually didn't know a lot about it myself apart from odd details, like when graffiti artist Banksy sprayed the wall," he says, adding that his group wants people to become more active in trying the persuade the Israelis to stop their blockade.
A petition calling for an end to US vetos in the UN on the Palestine situation was also available for signing, which it is hoped will be presented to President Obama when he visits Ireland next month.
"The students have also put together sets of information for all the teachers in the College who teach religion, with a view to them being used on an Awareness Day in CPC itself," says Hannah.
Pictured (top) are Kilcullen CPC students Daniel Murphy, Helena White, Katie Byrne, Libby Brady, Sinead Dempsey, and Daniel Brierton, at the Palestine Awareness Day they organised in Kilcullen; and (below) Hannah Evans, Kilcullen Pastoral Worker, with Nancy Fitzpatrick of the SUAS Knitting Group and some of the baby kits knitted by the group for babies in Bethlehem.
(NOTE: This piece originally appeared in the Kildare Nationalist. We normally post such stories the week following publication, but your editor forgot this one.)
For several years the local tidy towns people and local councillors, and concerned individuals have been trying to get Kildare County Council to repair the Valley wall on the Milemill Road, writes Brian Byrne, because it was both an eyesore and a potential danger to people in the park below.
The matter was also highlighted many times on the Diary.
Through all that time the answers have been 'no, we have no money'. And the wall just fell into continuous further dereliction.
The Diary understands that a member of KCA was asked if anything needed to be done in Kilcullen prior to the Queen's visit to Kildare next Thursday. He replied that it would be good to have the wall repaired.
Before he went home, there was a Council crew working on the project.
Thank you, Ma'am.
A new art exhibition is now in place in The Good Food Gallery.
It comprises work by Donard-based Bob Lynn, and there will be an official opening on Wednesday 18 May at 7.30pm.
The artist will say a few words about his work and an informal discussion will follow.
There was an enthusiastic turnout on Wednesday when Neven Maguire came to Nolans Butchers on behalf of the Craft Butchers of Ireland, giving tips on how to cook secondary cuts and signing copies of his latest book.
