We’re a bit late getting to this feature this month, but just in case any of you haven’t gotten around to buying the February Bridge, a must-read is the Nuala Collins interview with Mary Maguire, writes Brian Byrne. The three-page piece is not just a profile of one of our more vibrant elder ladies, but also a first-hand snapshot of Kilcullen’s social history over many decades. Read and savour, and realise that times were once a ton tougher than they seem even today.
But today also there is a certain air of optimism about, at least that’s what surfaced in the results of what the Bridge’s lead story is headlined as ’A Fascinating Survey’. An interesting insight into Kilcullen 2012, more detail is given inside the magazine. And there will be much more, in the Development Plan which has come from the survey (and which will be officially launched in the Library on 5 March).
The front page also highlights the recent All-Ireland win by the CPC Cadettes Basketball Team, and a happy winner of €13,000 by a Kilmeague man from a ticket sold by a Kilcullen AFC member in a Bunclody AFC draw (now, there’s a geographic mix).
Inside, there’s detail of the upcoming visit of the Eucharistic Congress Bell to the parish (Ash Wednesday, in two days’ time), the Mother to Mother Breastfeeding Group initiative by the Carer & Toddler Group, coverage of the retirement party for Paul Tyrrell as he left CPC after 15 years as principal, and the Talent Competition results from the Community Games event.
And in the difficult times that we’re living in, a letter of thanks from Charlie Talbot of the St Vincent de Paul is doubly heartening. In thanking those who supported their Christmas appeal, he notes that the donations and collections actually rose rather than fell in our current recession. “Yet, it is not so surprising in this community which has shown so many times and in so many ways that it is prepared to support good causes and look after its people,” he writes.
The magazine also reports on the €5,000 presented to the SVP by Kilcullen Lions, proceeds from their Christmas street collection.
Other stories include an account of how Camphill residents from the three communities in this locality meet each Monday morning for adult education. Some 60 in all, they are involved in golf, computers, and organising festivals. Meanwhile, Conor McMahon writes about his visit to Meitheal, the equivalent to An Tearman which has opened in Dunlavin.
Good news too in the report from the Table Quiz held in Bardons in aid of the Community Childcare project, a full house from across a wide cross-section of the community, which raised over €700. And the presentation of the latest cheque from the Mac & Norman’s Vintage Tractor Rally added €21,000 to the funds of the Irish Cancer Society.
Sean Landers, who paid a brief visit to the Diary while he was home for Christmas, writes of his return to Taiwan where he was made feel very welcome (his substitute teacher wasn’t liked, it seems). Another of Kilcullen’s Wild Geese is this writer’s brother Garreth, who was home recently from China and he has an article on ’Siberian Squirrels’ he observes in the currently very cold northern part of China where he teaches English.
In the Schools Reports section, the Brannoxtown NS slot is taken up this month with a profile of the school’s new principal, Dolores Burke. There’s a bright future for the school as its new two-storey building gradually rises.
And, as always, much more in pictures and words in the country’s longest-established community magazine. Worth every cent of its €2. Buy. Enjoy.
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The committee decided last Tuesday by a majority at their meeting to disband. Chairperson Nichola Kennedy says that the Responders only received two calls since last August, despite knowledge of several incidents of possible cardiac arrest in their area which were called in to 999 but were not automatically notified to the Responders by the Ambulance Service.
