Monday, October 05, 2015

It Says in The Bridge: Oct 2015

There's quite a fresh look about the latest issue of The Bridge, even though much of the new list of ideas for it hasn't yet been implemented, writes Brian Byrne. Part of it is even more colour, part is a better use of, and more clear, fonts. And a really important part is new writers.

Let's give them pride of place this time. So we have Pauline Geraghty who came to Kilcullen for a day trip 11 years ago with her husband and now they live here 'where everybody knows your name'. And there's Gerry Geraghty who writes about how a Naas music school changed his own musical direction.

There's Neil Markey, who muses on the digitally connected world and politics, with a particular focus on how all that might play out on our doorsteps for the next election. And from Africa, temporarily, Siobhra Behan, writes about what it's like to be at school in Iten, Kenya, where she and her family are spending a six-month adventure. Brian Walsh looks back at a summer in the local Camphill communities, deciding that 'it was indeed a good one'.

With the prospect of an election sooner rather than later, a new correspondent, 'Joseph Soapbox', has introduced himself to the pages of the magazine. And to local and national politicians. I'm not a fan of anonymous writing, but I can see why 'Joseph' might want to stay that way.

There's a new look to the sport section too, a bit of extra style to the layout and an editorial from local sports journalist Killian Whelan who has taken over the job of managing those pages.

The regulars are in place, with Billy Redmond still telling how he sees it to be, this time spending all his 'Off the Cuff' space on his own analysis of the refugee exodus. He's not impressed with a lot of the 'experts' on the matter, which won't be a surprise to Billy's regular readership.

Sean Landers is still reporting from his Kilcullen outpost in Taiwan, and he's very happy to be in a new digs that he doesn't have to share with bugs and little animals. But he does need to jettison a lot of junk that he has accumulated. On another page, Sean delves into Kilcullen Drama Group as it was in 1934, and a performance of 'Professor Tim' that caught the impressed attention of a correspondent of the 'Kildare Observer'. A 'sterling performance' is a description that the group continues to to achieve regularly to this day.

There are some one-offs this month, the report on the Tidy Towns for Kilcullen, Brannockstown and Calverstown make interesting reading for those communities. There's a centre spread on the pupils and staff of Scoil Bhride in its new and refurbished buildings. There are photos from the CPC Debs, and from the recent reunion of customers of the original Hideout.

Finally, in the Schools pages, a report about one of Kilcullen's happiest youngsters of the month. Sally Murphy, a member of the Scoil Bhride Mini 7s who won their Kildare county finals last year, played a half-time game in Croke Park on 20 September as a member of the Kerry Mini 7s team, in front of 82,000 people.

All that, and lots more, in the ever growing and improving Bridge.