'Pretty in Pink' from St Joseph's

Plans are hotting up for a vey exciting night in Kilcullen Town Hall on Thursday 13 February. St Joseph's NS Halverstown will host 'Pretty in Pink' commencing at 7pm.

This fundraiser is a joint venture between the school and the Irish Cancer Society supporting Pink Ribbon breast cancer awareness. This is shaping up to be the best treat in town for the ladies in recent times. Doors open at 7pm to a reception of pink sparkles, bubbles, yummies, games, St Valentines fun and surprises.

Patrons will take their seats for the cinema screening of 'Pretty in Pink' at 8pm. Afterwards some lucky ladies will go home with beautifully selected raffle prizes to keep with the pink theme. Dress code is ... you guessed it, pink. Tickets retail at €20 and are available from St Joseph's NS (045)485374 or Bernard Berney's Pharmacy.

The annual Grandparents' Day celebrations were held at St Joseph's NS this week. The rain didn't stop the fun as young and old engaged in painting, crafts, science, knitting and games. Everybody gathered in the Junior room for singing, dancing and music. It was a joy to see both generations participate in both the singing and the dancing. Afterwards the grandparents retired for a high tea supplied and served by some parents.

Pictured above are pupils from St Joseph's NS who enjoyed a tour of the Britvic Ireland factory this week where they taste-tested some of the new summer range of soft drinks. Below is a scene from Grandparents Day at St Joseph's NS this week.

New Moat production is challenging

Naas actor Padraig Broe faces the biggest challenge of his career to date, writes Pat Keaveny of the Moat Club, when he takes on the title role in the Moat Club’s production of 'The Steward of Christendom' which opens for five nights at the Moat Theatre in Naas on Tuesday 18 February.

The Sebastian Barry play is the Moat’s entry into the All Ireland festival circuit for 2014 and after the ‘home’ run will be competing at drama festivals throughout the county with the aim of qualifying for the All Ireland finals in Athlone in May.

Directed by All Ireland award-winning director Barbara Sheridan, the play tells the story of Thomas Dunne, who was the Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police at the handover in of Dublin Castle to Michael Collins in 1922. Very loosely based on the life of the author’s great grandfather, the play is set in the county home in Baltinglass where an ageing and confused Thomas Dunne is trying to break free of history and of himself.

Barbara Sheridan says she was drawn to the play because of the way Sebastian Barry tells the story in a way that she describes as 'lyrical and profound, extremely funny and extraordinarily observant and above all hauntingly sad'. "I hope it will be memorable piece of theatre which will stay with the audience long after the final curtain," she says, adding that there are also lighter moments in the production.

Barbara is well known for directing plays that strike at the very core of people’s emotions. She directed 'By the Bog of Cats' by Marina Carr which won the All Ireland title for the Moat Club in 2000.

For Padraig Broe, who plays the challenging role of Thomas Dunne, it is 'an Everest of a part, but definitely extremely rewarding'. “It’s a terrific play and I hope that people who see it will cry a little and laugh a little and really enjoy it. The whole thing has been a very enjoyable and rewarding experience and hopefully that will come out in the performances in Naas and beyond."

Padraig has played many varied and demanding roles in his career with the Moat Club from Gar Private in 'Philadelphia Here I Come' to Oscar Wilde in 'Saint Oscar', but he says this is by far the most demanding and challenging to date.

Padraig is joined on stage by Anne Hurley and Eugene Delaney who play two attendants in the county home. Sarah Gallagher, Eilish Rafferty, Lisa Moorehead and John Lennon play his three daughters and son-in-law. Eoin Murphy is the recruit and David O’Carroll, Aidan Forde and Matthew Burke, three fabulous young actors/singers, share the part of Thomas’s son Willie.

The Naas performances are at the Moat Theatre at 8pm nightly from Tuesday 18 February to Saturday 22 February. Booking is at the Moat Theatre box office 045 883030 or online at www.moattheatre.com

The performance contains some nudity.

Roy's looking for more low places friends

Local environmental expert, musician par excellence, and gig manager extraordinaire Roy Thompson would be first to say he does have some friends in low places, but he'd be happy to have a lot more, writes Brian Byrne.

He's done the math to make the point, noting that Garth Brooks has sold out two dates in Croke Park, and the third is almost gone. All at €65.45 a pop.

"By my reckoning, thats about 240,000 punters, and a whole pile of money," he says. "Now, if anywhere between 0.01-0.02 percent of that number came and paid €12 for top acts at my regular gigs in Mick Murphy's Stage Inn in Ballymore Eustace, and Cunninghams Bar in Kildare Town, we'd have 24-48 punters in for every show. Thats a lot of petrol, dinners, B&Bs, strings and stuff for hard-pressed touring singer/songwriters. Maybe think about that for a moment, and think about attending your local live music venues, too. Not just the big marquee events. Is all!"

Can't add much more to that. If you didn't manage to get the tickets for GB in Croke Park, remember that you'll get five gigs in Roy's events for the same money ... and still have enough left over for a pint in one of them.

ED NOTE: The 'low places' mention here isn't derogatory — just that Roy's two venues are not nearly as high as the stands in Croke Park, and are arguably more comfortable, with a much more intimate sound.

Fun German event in CPC

Second Year students in CPC today had an opportunity to learn some new German words in a fun way, writes Brian Byrne.

The 'German Connects' event is organised by the German Embassy and the Goethe Institute in Dublin, and was led by Berlin-born teacher Miriam Hornauer.

There will be a full report in next Tuesday's Kildare Nationalist.

Feature on SUAS in Nationalist

Just a reminder that the SUAS Knitting Group is back in action on Tuesday mornings in Kilcullen Parish Centre, writes Brian Byrne.

If you want to find out more about their activities and how the group came about, there's a feature in this week's Kildare Nationalist, on the Kilcullen page.

Update on new glass recycling bank

There's a clarification on the Rehab Glass Recycling Bank which was installed in the Leinster Marts office car park last week, writes Brian Byrne. The bank was inadvertently placed at the bottom and mucky part of the site, but will be moved tomorrow morning to the originally agreed site inside the gate.

So please don't be put off by the current location, all will be well tomorrow.

There will also be a fingerpost sign to the bank, and proper 'Do & Don't' signage at the location. In a couple of months, when hopefully all will have worked out correctly with usage of the facility, Kildare County Council plans to erect a proper plinth and palisade fencing around it.

This is a good idea. Please do use it properly, and don't dump rubbish in or around it. Remember, this is private property, and the facility is being provided through the goodwill of Leinster Marts and the good offices of Kilcullen Lions.

Noeleen on new CD from Stardust

A new CD from 'Stardust', with which Kilcullen's postmistress Noeleen Eston is a vocalist, has required a second pressing since it was released a couple of weeks ago, writes Brian Byrne. And that's before its formal launch planned for next month.

The CD — 'Nobody's Darling but Mine' — has 11 tracks which range from the Nino Rosso instrumental 'Ilsilenzio' through the Merle Haggard-penned title track to Wath Murphy's composition, the old and very favourite 'Rose of Mooncoin'. Vocals are by Noeleen and Joe, and instrumentals are from Joe's keyboard.

Stardust is a long O'Neill musical family tradition from Athy, currently led by the popular Joe O'Neill. Joe's father, also Joe, was the leader of the Stardust Orchestra which performed at dance venues all over the country during the 1940s and 1950s, alongside the greats like Mick Del and Maurice Mulcahy. Joe Snr also founded the St Joseph's Boys Band and later the CBS Brass and Reed Orchestra. When he died in 1989, he left a large family of musicians to carry on the musical work.

Noeleen has been with the band for a couple of years since they first heard her sing at a family gathering. With Joe's brother Kevin, the duo regularly perform at venues like the Manor Hotel in Abbeyleix, Eire Og in Carlow, and Napper Tandy's in Stradbally. "We also do weddings, and any kind of parties and functions. And since Joe took early retirement from Kildare County Council, we do a lot of nursing homes entertainment during the week."

'Nobody's Darling but Mine' is the kind of album that triggers memories and nostalgia, and maybe it's the current dark days of winter that is partly responsible for making it so popular even before it is officially launched. This is the time of year when we all need to be cheered up with thoughts of good times and good music.

It was recorded at the Orion studio in Co Wicklow.

Scouts troop in for St Patrick Parade

Businesses and community organisations should be preparing their responses to Kilcullen Scouts who will this week be tramping the streets and facilities of the town to jizz up participation in the 2014 Patrick's Day Parade, writes Brian Byrne.

The 9th Kildare Troop says all systems are now in place for the event, the second of its kind and originally the brainchild of Emma Birchall who this year is operating in a consultancy capacity following the massive success of last year's inaugural event. Emma is doing her Leaving Cert this year, so can't take the very hands-on (and serious arm-twisting) role she had last year.

If you want to make it a little easier for the organisers this year, drop them a note on their Facebook page and let them know what your business or organisation is planning.

And if you need a little reminder of what last year's blast was like, here's the definitive pixlink.

Parish Lotto Draw

The numbers drawn in the Kilcullen & Gormanstown Parish Lotto on Tuesday 28th January 2014 were 6, 10, 11 and 28. There was no Jackpot winner and next week's main prize will be €5,400.

The winners of the €50 Open Draws were Kay Byrne (Promoter Wednesday Bridge Club), Catherine Mackey (George Allen), and Nuala Melia (Miriam McDonnell).

The winners of the Promoters Draws were Val Mc Ternan and Vivian Clarke, and the winner of the Draw for those in the Parish Centre on the night was Pat Clarke.

More on new recycling banks

Kildare County Council are delighted to announce that a new recycling facility for glass and cans is now in place, writes Dara Wyer, KCC Environment Awareness Officer at Kildare County Council.

The banks are at the Mart in the main car park (just at the gate). Users are requested to keep the site tidy and not leave any waste at the banks (including boxes and bags). CCTV is in operation and offenders will be prosecuted.

The banks are there due to the good will of Leinster Marts but will be removed if there is persistent dumping. The banks will be a great resource for people to easily recycle their glass bottles and jars as well as drinks cans.

The council would like to sincerely thank Leinster Marts and the Kilcullen Lions Club for their assistance in developing this facility.

Ready for the roof at KCCEC

If the weather gives it a chance, this will be a big week for the Kilcullen Community Childcare & Education Centre, as the roof trusses are in site and the new building should soon be covered in, writes Brian Byrne.

"In a couple of weeks we'll be in a whole different phase, with the roof on and the windows in," project manager Martin Murphy told the Diary today.

The project is going very well, and gives great heart to those in the Naomh Bhride prefabs next door to the site. The plastic sheeting covering their roofs tells its own story.

Local home care business expands to Carlow/Kildare

The owners of the Kilcullen-based Home Instead Senior Care franchise in Kildare have expanded their operation to Carlow and Kilkenny, writes Brian Byrne.

Enda and Amanda Bohan set up their home care office in Kilcullen four years ago, and the Kildare franchise has since provided service to some 400 seniors and their families.

The Carlow/Kilkenny office is located in Butler Court, Patrick Street, Kilkenny.

Badminton update

There are five matches to report on this week with the Kilcullen teams having some great success, unfortunately coupled with some disappointment witht two losses, one draw and two wins, writes Enda O'Neill, PRO of Kilcullen Badminton Club.

We start with our first match that was played on 21 January with the Ladies 2 team getting a hard earned draw in the DDL Division 7 match against St Raphaels of Dublin. The match got off to a promising start with both partnerships of Anna Marie Cunningham/Sarah Walshe and Jen Monaghan/Rachael Rouse winning their games in two sets. Unfortunately they could not build on the 2-0 start and lost both 3rd and 4th games in close 3 setters to draw the match 2-2.

Thursday 24 January saw the Ladies 3 and Men 4 playing in their respective DDC matches. Ladies 3 lost in a tight match to Ryston 3-1 and the Men also were defeated 3-1 in Beags Beo with the final game being decided on a tie breaker 24-22 — an agonising way to lose a cup tie. Hard luck to the ladies, Meave, Orla, Emer and Denise and to the lads Olivier, Keith, Kasi and Sudheer.

Now for the good news! A massive congrats to Mix 1 for making it to the Div 3 DDC after beating KADKA in Baldoyle in the Semi Final on Friday night last. The match started with captain Paddy Burke winning his singles match in two sets, Lynsey then went on to win her ladies singles also in two sets, putting them 2-0 up going into the doubles games. The men of Paddy and Gareth lost in a very tight game 2-1. This meant that KADKA were back in the match but the Ladies combination of Lynsey and Norrie ended any KADKA hopes of beating KBC when they won their game 2-1 in an exciting and close 3-setter. Well done to Paddy, Lynsey, Gareth and Norrie and good luck in the final which is being played in Baldoyle on Friday 7 February, it will be a great day out for the guys and the club regardless of what happens.

Finally on 26 January the Mix 2 team captained by Dave McClean beat St Josephs 4-0 in their DDL Division 3 match. This is a great start for Mix 2 and it gives them two wins out of two. Well done to Aoife, Caroline, Alastor and Dave.

Pictured above are the Div 3 Mix 1 finalists Gareth Hogan, Lynsey Walshe, Paddy Burke and Norrie Gilchrist.

Thoughtlessness of few closes cemetery gates

St Brigid's Cemetery during Cemetery Sunday.

The St Brigid's Cemetery gates have been locked on orders of Kildare County Council because of issues related to them being constantly left open, and of vehicles being driven on the paths between the graves, writes Brian Byrne.

The Council is exploring remedies, such as the possibility of erecting removable barriers to bar vehicular access to the paths and devising some method of ensuring the gates are closed when people leave.

"When people leave the gates open, animals could get in and damage the graves," caretaker John Brady told the Diary. "Cars being driven along pathways, only designed for pedestrians and maintenance work, can also do damage. They have also been driving on the grass, despite appeals not to. That has to be stopped."

Local people have become very annoyed since the gates were locked. Parking on the narrow road outside is limited, and elderly and infirm visitors have difficulty walking from the road to the graveyard. There's also concern that cars left out of view on the road might be broken into. John has been caretaker of the local cemeteries for decades, and understands the frustration.

"Graveyards are very important to people, and they need to be respected by everyone. I want to see this sorted out as much as anyone, but the Council has to be conscious of its liabilities too."

He says he has on occasions had to check the cemetery as many as nine times in a day, and still found the gate open, even late at night. "There's never that problem at the New Abbey Cemetery," he adds. "When people need to drive in, they open the gate, and they always seem to close it when they're finished."

He also dismissed suggestions that rubbish dumping was a reason for the closure. "There was a report made that someone was seen dumping, but we searched all around and found nothing."

While everyone's waiting for the Environment Department in the Council to come up with solutions, it's worth considering that maybe the simplest one is for people to show respect by not driving where they shouldn't, and closing the gate when they leave.

As it is, many are now being discommoded by the thoughtlessness of probably a very few.

New glass recycling facility in Kilcullen

A set of glass recycling bins has been located in Kilcullen following a request by Kilcullen Lions Club, writes Brian Byrne.

The bins were installed last week by Kildare County Council's Environment Department, with the cooperation of Leinster Marts, who permitted the installation on their property on the Curragh Road.

Access to the facility is through the gate that leads to the offices, NOT the Mart itself or the Garden Centre.

The Diary understands that the Council will place the bins on a plinth once they are sure that the location is the most suitable one on the site.

Be aware of Irish Water meter installation security advice

Irish Water has emphasised that water meter installers will never ask, or need to enter the homes of people where they are installing equipment, writes Brian Byrne.

As the largest current infrastructure project in the country, some 27,000 meters are being installed a month.

Irish Water says water meter installers will wear Irish Water branded clothing and will always carry ID. They will always identify who they are and who they are representing. They will always present their identity card, and their meter installers will NEVER ask to enter the person's home, nor will they ever request money from the householder.

Householders do not need to be at home while the meter box or water meter is being installed. If the householder is at home, the installers will knock on the door to let the householder know that they will be working outside — but there is no reason for the installers to cross the threshold of the home.

Customer communication packs are being delivered into the homes of all houses due to receive a meter box and/or water meter. These communications include a Safety Guide for the householder. If the household has not received this direct communication, there is no reason for any person claiming to be from the Irish Water Metering Programme to call to the premises

Art exhibition next week

An exhibition of oil paintings by artist Daisy Brennan will be held in Naas Library at Harbour View, Naas, between February 3-15.

The Kilcullen connection is that Daisy is the wife of Pat who works in the Vincents shop.

All welcome.

Cecil Day Lewis 2014 Awards

Entries are invited from all primary and secondary schools in County Kildare to enter the Annual Cecil Day Lewis Literary Awards.

The competition consists of students entering under the various sections, Short Story, Poetry and One Act Play (for secondary schools only). Students can submit one entry under each section if they wish.

The competition, organised by Athy Heritage Centre-Museum, celebrates the connection between the celebrated poet and the South Kildare area. CD Lewis was Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1951-1956. A talented and humorous man, he wrote in An Italian Visit, parodies on poets ranging from Hardy to Dylan Thomas. His autobiography was published in 1960 and in 1966, he was awarded Poet Laureate.

Trophies, Book tokens and Certificates are given to 1st, 2nd & 3rd in each category. We also award Highly Commended certificates. Closing date for entry no later than Tuesday 25th March 2014. This year’s award ceremony will take place Thursday evening 8th May 2014. Entry forms can be downloaded from the website www.athyheritagecentre-museum.ie or contact Athy Heritage Centre-Museum, Emily Square, Athy, Co. Kildare. Phone 059 8633075

Cecil Day-Lewis, born in 1904, was the son of a Church of Ireland Minister, then living in Ballinturbbert House, Athy, Co Kildare. He was educated in Sherburne School and then Wadham College, Oxford.

He was a schoolmaster until 1935 and during that time his restless intellect led him into writing detective fiction. He wrote under the pen name Nicholas Blake, introducing the detective Nigel Strangeways in A Question of Proof, which was followed by twenty popular and successful stories.

Given the political and social turmoil between the wars years, like many intellectuals of his day, he leaned more and more towards Marxism, joining the Communist party in 1936. He edited the Socialist Symposium The Mind in Chains, which took place in 1937.

His frequent broadcasts were a joy to him and he enjoyed giving recitals and lectures in schools and colleges. He sat on committees, judged awards, and his enthusiasm embraced children’s stories for radio and he wrote a number of books for children including the popular Poetry for You.

His pride in accomplishment and his craft in the writing of poetry and prose make him an excellent example for aspiring writers and Athy Heritage Centre-Museum are proud that these awards were established for poetry, short story and the one-act play. It is good to know that his talents survive in his sons Sean and Daniel and his daughter Tamasin, who spend considerable time in Ireland.

New Macra club proposed

New year, new Macra club in your area, writes Jacqueline Walsh. Are you interested in public speaking, sports, performing arts, travel, agriculture and becoming a volunteer in your community?

And most importantly, make new friends and add to your CV? Then contact Jacq Walsh 0877735659 or email jacquewalsh@gmail.com.

Lights design to be revisited

Bad weather caused some problems with the Christmas lights during the festive season, the latest meeting of Kilcullen Community Action heard, writes Brian Byrne.

During a discussion on the issue, Noel Clare said that in some instances, water had disrupted some of the electrical connections, and they'd had to be attend to a number of times.

It was also decided to revisit the design of the lights used on the bridge, as it was felt they weren't quite bright enough against the ambient street lighting in the area.

The battery powered LED system was designed and built by KCA as an experiment in both saving power costs and eliminating vandalism to the electricity lines previously used. Noel Clare said they wouldn't go back to the old system, as what they had this time was much more preferable to the previous system, which required a great deal of 'minding'.

Among the suggestions was to introduce reflectors into the design, so as to effectively double the lighting output. Celia Travers said the design was really nice, that brightness was the only problem.

Kieran Forde said they would revisit the design in the light of this first experience with the LED system.

It was noted that the storage of the new lights is now much easier, as it no longer involved cables that were attractive to thieves. In the last two years, the cabling had been stolen from storage, representing a cost of around €1,000 each time.

Older Persons grant reopens

Kildare County Council will be taking new applications for the Older Persons grant soon, writes Brian Byrne.

This was confirmed at the recent meeting of the Athy Local Area Committee meeting, and has been welcomed by Committee Chairman Cllr Ivan Keatley, who had put down a question to the Council on the matter.

The grant has not been open to new applicants for a number of years, but the Council says that a backlog of applications has now been cleared and new applications will be accepted.

A total of €1,819,830 has been allocated to Kildare County Council to support funding for home adaptions for older people, people with disabilities and people with mobility issues. Matching funds from Kildare County Council of over €400,000 bring the total available for grants to in excess of €2.2m.

KCA finances on track

The Leader Partnership funding for the Biodiversity Study commissioned by Kilcullen Community Action has now been received, and the bridging loan given by Kilcullen Credit Union has been paid off, the recent meeting of Kilcullen Community Action was told, writes Brian Byrne.

In a discussion on finances, treasurer Kieran Forde noted that Kildare County Council has also paid the fee to KCA for monitoring the playground.

Celia Travers said there had been a good response to the collection boxes located in a number of the business premises around town.

Kieran Forde said the funding for KCA is 'secure for the year' and that the organisation can meet all its running requirements for 2014 provided the regular income measures continue to perform as usual.

The passing of Sarah Kelly

The Diary has learned of the death of Sarah Kelly, nee Leigh, of Avondale Drive.

Sarah is reposing at her residence from 11 o'clock this morning, and prayers will be said there this evening at 8pm.

Her removal will take place on Friday morning at 10.30, arriving at the Church of Sacred Heart and St Brigid, Kilcullen, for Requiem Mass at 11pm.

Her funeral will be immediately afterwards to St Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge.

May she rest in peace.

KCC asked to repair playground fence

Kildare County Council is to be asked to urgently address the vandalism incident before Christmas during which a square was cut from the fencing around the Community Playground, writes Brian Byrne.

The matter came up at the recent meeting of Kilcullen Community Action, where Celia Travers noted that the resultant hole in the fence is 'jagged'. "Children will inevitably try to crawl through and they could cut themselves," she warned.

While KCA is contracted to monitor the playground, it has no responsibility for maintaining it beyond reporting problems and keeping it tidy. It was agreed that KCC would be contacted again to ensure that they fixed the fence problem, which would involve replacement of a complete section.

In a more general discussion on the playground, it was decided that the CES worker allocated to Kilcullen Tidy Towns would be tasked with checking the facility for litter on Wednesdays, to augment the KCA members' similar checks at weekends. This was in response to Esther Kiely's comment that it was not possible with the dark mornings for KCA members to check the playground before they went about their daily business.

A difficulty with rosters for checking the facility by KCA was also discussed, and resolved with a reminder that those next on the roster should be reminded by text message on the Sunday before their week of duty.

Basketball girls to play A Grade next year

The Girls Senior Basketball team of CPC were beaten yesterday in the All Ireland Senior B Final against Castleknock Community School, writes Noel Clare of CPC.

The match took place in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght and 500 supporters from Kilcullen travelled to support the home team.

The girls won the C Grade All Ireland two years ago and, having reached the final again this year they will play in the A Grade next year. The team coach is Eoin Wheeler.

Sports update

Hard luck to the Cross and Passion College Kilcullen Girls on losing their All-Ireland Basketball final to Castleknock yesterday, writes Aidan Gleeson of Kilcullen GAA, but well done on a fantastic achievement in getting there.

Best of luck to former Kilcullen Ladies football star Emma 'Dezzy' Doyle who is moving to London. She will be a big loss to sport in the town.

www.kilcullengaa.ie is back up and running, and has been updated with Sunday's club lotto. The jackpot didn't go, so is up to €4,300 next Sunday when the draw will take place in Bardons Kilcullen.

Finally, best of luck to Kildare GAA in the O'Byrne Cup Final against Meath on Sunday! The game is at 2pm in Newbridge and is live on TG4.

Kilcullen Lotto Draw

The numbers drawn in the Kilcullen & Gormanstown Parish Lotto Draw held on 21 January were 5, 11, 13 and 30. There was no Jackpot winner and next week's main prize will be €5,200.

The winners of the €50 Open Draws were Anne Lynch (Promoter: Wednesday Bridge Club), Peg Burke (Nora Hogan), and Sheila Colbert (Valerie McTernan). The winners of the €50 Promoters Draw were the Friday Bridge Club and Anne Brennan.

The winner of the draw for those there on the night was Fr Niall Mackey.

CPC basketball in All-Ireland

CPC girls basketball team warming up (faster than the speed of light?) before the All Ireland in the basketball arena in Tallaght. They're playing Castleknock. Photo Noel Clare.

Badminton update

KBC’s Mix 2 started the competitive week off with an away match in their Division 3, DDL against Newcastle which was played on Tuesday the 14th of January, writes Enda O'Neill of Kilcullen Badminton Club.

This highly competitive match was taken by Newcastle beating Kilcullen 3-1. KBC got off to a great start with the women pairing of Lynsey and Aoife beating the Newcastle ladies in two straight sets, unfortunately an ill captain Dave and Alastor couldn’t build on the ladies great win and they lost their mens in a close 3-set thriller.

The two mix partnerships of Aoife/Dave lost their game in three sets and Lynsey/Alastor also failled to get a win to secure two points. Luckily this is only their first League match so they have plenty of matches to make up ground. Hard luck to Dave and the team.

Wednesday 15th saw KBC’s unbeaten Mix 4 team away to An Caislain Nua in the DDC. This is where Oliver and his team tasted defeat for the first time in their campaign. Mix 4 got off to a great start winning both the Ladies singles and doubles, the scores were then evened with KBC Men lost both their singles and doubles matches. KBC lost the deciding mixed match giving An Caislain a hard earned victory. Hard luck to Meave, Nicole, Kasi and captain Olivier.

Two matches were played on Thursday the 16th, the first at home with Ladies 2 playing Tolka Rovers in the div 7 DDC. Tolka Rovers took the Match 3-0 with a game to spare, this result however cannot take away from the fact that the first two games went to very close 3 setters with Jen Monaghan.

Mix 1 were away to Old School in their division 3 DDl and managed to get an important 2-2 draw, well done Norrie, Caroline, Paddy and Gareth.

Mens 2 visited Eire Friends on Sunday 19th of January. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be the lad's day and they suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat, all is not lost however as they have two games in hand on league leaders Eire Friends and a game in hand on Lucan who sit above them in the table.

Finally the KBC Juveniles had a very successful weekend with Colin P Valroy winning the U17 Mens championship and Rachel Downey winning the U17 Ladies doubles. Also well done to Aoife Stafford who was runner up in the Ladies U17 Doubles final.

Books for Babies again

'Books for Babies' restarts in Kilcullen Community Library tomorrow, Tuesday 21 January.

The event includes stories, songs and rhymes for pre-school children (and their parents), and all are welcome.

The start time is 10.30am.

Park garden to be developed

Beginning development of the garden behind the lowered wall of the CPC grounds will be the primary project for Kilcullen Community Action in 2014, writes Brian Byrne.

This was decided at the most recent meeting of KCA, at which a suggestion that members should look at similar community gardens in their travels around the country was also agreed.

KCA chair Esther Kiely suggested that the project — a follow on from the organisation's lowering of the former convent's wall in association with the Cross & Passion College — should be done in stages if necessary. "Even if we got the area cleared this year, killing anything that needs killing when growth starts again, it will be a start," she said, adding that the rebuilding of a path around the garden can wait until funding is available.

Noel Clare said that he had already put in an application for a grant for the project, for which a basic plan has already been drawn up by a local landscape specialist. The application is to a private organisation which has put up a €1m fund, to which KCA was directed by Kildare County Council.

Great night of music

A full house in the Town Hall Theatre last night enjoyed an outstanding evening of music from local group Cathú (above) and Paul Durney with his band Fleadh from Germany (below). If you missed them, tough ... but you can hear them in Newbridge next week. More pictures here.

KCA funds St Patrick's Parade insurance

Kilcullen Community Action has agreed to fund the insurance for the second St Patrick's Day Parade in the town, which is being organised by Kilcullen Scouts, writes Brian Byrne.

The decision was made at the latest meeting of KCA, which was told that Martin Delahunt is the primary organiser for the event in 2014, with last year's originator and prime mover of the event Emma Birchall providing advice in a consulting capacity, as she is doing exams this year.

The insurance cost last year of €258 was paid by KCA. The organisation's chair, Esther Kiely, proposed underwriting the insurance again this year as 'well worthwhile' for the community.