'Kilcullen Gathering' raises steam

A lively meeting last night organised by Kilcullen 2017 resulted in a flood of ideas and the formation of a Steering Group for a Kilcullen Gathering 2013, writes Brian Byrne.

The meeting in the Credit Union Building brought together representatives from a variety of community and sports organisations in the town, to discuss how best Kilcullen could take part in the national Gathering 2013 initiative.

A broad-based discussion raised suggestions ranging from a revival of the Carnival of the 1950s, through organising a St Patrick's Day Parade, to running a highlight period in August culminating in the Kilcullen River Festival.

While much of the talk through the evening rotated about August events, which would coincidentally include celebrations around the 21st anniversary of the arrival of the Bridge Camphill Community, there were cautions that trying to compress everything into a short defined period could exclude people who wanted to come home but who didn't have flexible holiday options.

Mischa Fekete of Bridge Camphill also expressed concerns that it might turn out 'like Culture Night' when there were too many things on at once that people wanted to go to.

Roy Thompson said the Kilcullen input should be 'spread through the year'. "Maybe shuffle some regular events by different groups so that there would be something going on, say, every three weeks."

Emma Birchall of the Venture Scouts said her group had already decided to try and organise a St Patrick's Day Parade. She noted that in her Transition Year in CPC her class had identified up to 30 organisations in the town. "And we didn't have all of them, but if we got even half of those to the Parade, it'd be great."

Esther Kiely of Kilcullen Community Action said anything going on in Kilcullen during 2013 could be organised under the 'Gathering' banner.

Roy Thompson suggested that every organisation in town should identify its own 'target audience' to attract connections home from abroad.

The advantages of a key period in August were spelled out too. Noel Clare suggested that the 'real success' would be if as many as possible Kilcullen emigrants could be 'home together'. "There are people who left here in the 80s, for instance, who never get to see each other any more. So if there was a specific 2-week event, it would be facilitating people to meet up."

Esther Kiely said there was an opportunity to develop interest if a 'flyer' could be produced that would advertise the Kilcullen Gathering 2013 enclosed with the Christmas cards local people would be sending to their relatives and friends living abroad. "But we'd need to have that ready in November," she warned.

Other ideas included the setting up of a website calendar of events and a Facebook page devoted to the local iniative.

The Steering Group is Mischa Fekete, Roy Thompson, JJ Warren, Emma Birchall, Esther Kiely, Eilis Phillips, a person to be nominated by Jennifer Shortt of Kilcullen GAA, and a member of the business community to be nominated by Nichola Kennedy.

The Group will meet on Tuesday November 6 in the Bridge Camphill Hall.