When the Saint comes marching in...

'Saint' is first Kilcullen FreemanIt was a proper Kilcullen Gathering. One guy came home, and everybody turned out in McTernan's to give him a surprise party, writes Brian Byrne.

Donal St Leger didn't have an inkling of what was to happen when the Gilly Collins walked him through the door of the pub last night. Bernard Berney and Vivian Clarke, with a little help from James Healy and a lot of stories from friends of The Saint, some of whom had travelled far, made for one heck of a night.

He was made a Freeman of Kilcullen by Kilcullen's 'only' Lord Mayor, Michael 'Porky' Lambe.

Vivienne Clarke kicked off a 'This is Your Life' session with an outline of why Donal left Ireland in 1955 for New York, based on a conversation which he'd had with The Saint some time ago.

"I was four weeks from my Leaving, and I had a slight disagreement with the Principal of the Christian Brother School in Naas. The Principal won, and I was expelled, and three weeks later I was on the boat to America, because there was no place for a man of my skills in the Ireland of 1955. I had played football with the top players here, and I had danced with the best looking women in the province of Leinster, and it was time for Donal St Leger to find new fields to conquer."

Jim 'The Brad' Berney had also left Kilcullen at the same time, and was part of a crew building a bridge in the Yukon Territory in Western Canada. The two friends corresponded in the way of that time, by letter, and Jim was dead set on getting Donal up to the Territory, telling him that they got paid $50 an hour 'if you go high enough'.

"I tell you what, Brad," the 'Ledge' wrote back. "When I'm on on the front step of the house, I'm high enough up off the road."

While they remained on different sides of the continent both did come back to Ireland together in 1959, though Donal was to go back again, and settle in New Jersey after he met and married his late wife Virginia. They had two children, Brian and Kathleen. At last night's event, Jim Collins took up the story.

"He had come back with the 'high rollers' from the Yukon, but after a while he ran out of money and decided to go back to New York. Billy Hughes lent him the £30 for the fare. About ten years later I was telling Billy that I was going to New York and was going to look up St Leger. Billy said that when I did, I was to remind him that he still owed him the £30. So I did, and Donal told me to tell Billy that he had bought two bullocks with the money and put them out to graze, one for himself and one for Billy ... but Billy's one had died."

Jim recalled 1978 when the prize in Kilcullen's Lord Mayor elections fundraiser for The Valley was a trip to New York for the winner and his campaign manager. By the time the holiday happened, there were seven other Kilcullen people in the contingent, travelling at their own expense.

"Donal organised a minivan for us when we got to New York, and 3,000 miles later, after going up to Niagara Falls, then on to Toronto to meet Joe McKenna, back down to Boston to see some friends there, we finished off with a great party in Donal's home, with all the people in New York from around the Kilcullen and Naas area that the Saint knew."

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation by Kilcullen's 'Lord Mayor' Michael 'Porky' Lambe of a scroll making Donal St leger the first Freeman of Kilcullen. Bernard Berney then read out the Privileges and Duties of a Freeman.

"A Freeman of Kilcullen is entitled to express an opinion on any subject whatsoever, even though he doesn't have a bull's notion of what he is talking about.

"A Freeman is entitled to be served after closing hours in any pub within the boundaries of Kilcullen, without fear of prosecution or persecution.

"The privilege of drinking after hours is extended to any person drinking in the company of the Freeman who consistently buys out of turn.

"A Freeman is entitled to the grazing rights of two sheep on Nicholastown Green, subject to the agreement of Mickey Pender and Maurice Baxter.

"In the event of a Viking attack, the Freeman is entitled to climb up into the round tower of Old Kilcullen first ... even before the women and children.

"In the event of a dispute arising about whose turn it is to buy a round, it is the duty of the Freeman to insist that it is the turn of the wealthiest person in the company at the time ... but should it happen that the Freeman is the wealthiest man, then the round becomes the responsibility of the second wealthiest.

"If the Freeman is sitting on a full bus and a woman has to stand, it is the duty of the Freeman to persuade the man sitting beside him to get up and offer his seat to the lady."

Finally, having delivered the foregoing in his inimitable style, Bernard decreed that anyone who contests the awarding of this honour to Donal St Leger will be subject to the scorn of the people of Kilcullen, in perpetuity, and be labelled a nob.

"This honour is extended to Donal St Leger as an expression of the popular will of a considerable number of the working class, and a recognition of the popular will of the vast majority of the drinking class. The Freeman thus ennobled is pledged forever to uphold the glorious and salutary motto of our lovely town — 'Nil Illegitimi Carborundum', or, 'Don't let the the Bastards Grind you Down'."

Finally, a current Kilcullen GAA jersey was presented to Donal by club PRO Aidan Gleeson, in recognition of his own prowess as a footballer before he left for the USA. All agreed that it was just one of those great Kilcullen nights, the kind that will be talked about as long as there are Kilcullen people who get together.

You can listen to the occasion here. (Audio: 24'57")


Pics above by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary.