The passing of John Christie

The Dairy has been informed of the death of John Christie, formerly of Rowan Terrace, Newbridge, and of Waterford.

Though he lived most of his life in Newbridge, he was born and raised at the family home in Nicholastown.

Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Thursday 1 February, at 11am in St Conleth's Church, Newbridge. Burial will be afterwards in St Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge.

May he rest in peace.

Talk on nutrition and well-being

Kilcullen GAA are hosting a talk on nutrition and well-being for 13-18 year old club members in the clubhouse, this Friday 2 February.

Things kick off at 7.45pm and the talk is being given by Tara Scully MSc, who specialises in Sports and Exercise Nutrition.

Tara has some excellent experience, with among others the Cork Minor Panel. It should be a very informative evening so do your best to get along to it.

Hot Rod Club AGM upcoming

The AGM of Ballyshannon Hot Rod Club will take place on Wednesday 7 February, writes Brian Byrne.

The location is the Eleson House pub in Kilmeague and things rev up at 8.30pm.

The committee asks that everyone who races should attend as there are a lot of new ideas to be discussed and there are changes to be made.

Parish Lotto Draw results

The numbers drawn in the Kilcullen and Gormanstown Parish Lotto Draw on Tuesday 30 January were 1, 3, 25 and 28. There was no Jackpot winner and next week's main prize will be €14,600.

The winners of the €50 Open Draws were Stephen McCormack (Promoter Breda McCormack), Dolores Jordan (New Abbey Bridge Club), and Tommy Lawlor (Kilcullen Credit Union).

The winners of the Promoters Draw were Breda McCormack and Miriam McDonnell, and the winner of the Draw for those in the Parish Centre on the night was Josie Connolly.

The Parish thanks all those who support the Lotto.

Local company helps flood plans

The current spells of heavy rain, with sodden fields and flooding in a number of parts of the country are in part being dealt with through work carried out by a local firm, writes Brian Byrne.

Murphy Surveys has a specialist Flood Survey Team — part of its Specialist Engineering Services department — which has carried out flood area investigations for many local authorities and national organisations in recent years, and the data collected is used to predict, control and prevent damage caused by flooding.

The company also has the capacity to monitor actual flood conditions using its unmanned aerial vehicles — drones — to provide real-time updates of flood extents, to aid effective management and flood response for emergency services.

Flood damage can also be quickly assessed afterwards by the surveyors and inspectors on properties, bridges, culverts, weirs, sluices and flood defences, and identify areas of river bank erosion, debris build-up and siltation.

Over the last 12 months, Murphy Surveys has carried out investigations for flood modelling purposes in Co Cork, Co Kildare, Co Dublin and Co Westmeath. Works were also carried out in Kilkenny, capturing property level details to record against known flood water levels.

First 2018 meetup of photo club

The first meeting of Kilcullen Photography Club for 2018 will take place on Thursday of this week, writes Brian Byrne.

It will be held in Fallons, starting at 7.30pm.

Anybody with an interest in photography is welcome to attend the meetup, at which plans for the coming year will be discussed.

Pressure mounts on Curragh Forum

A 'work programme' to deal with issues on the Curragh Plains has been established at a recent meeting of the Curragh Forum, writes Brian Byrne.

Deputy Martin Heydon FG says these include legislation, traffic, signage and parking issues, as well as illegal encampments, sheep grazing rights, and the ongoing land management and maintenance of the Curragh.

He was responding to a statement by the Minister of Defence Paul Keogh, that a meeting of the Forum had taken place on 12 January, the first in more than a year.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána, Kildare County Council, Curragh Racecourse Ltd, the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association and Horse Racing Ireland.

Deputy Heydon said that the meeting had been 'long overdue' and that 'more actions are required from the Forum in 2018.

"Progress has been made as the forum heard a new lands management team is to be put in place in 2018 to oversee all activities on the ground," the Deputy said. "This is something I have fought for over the past year and their duties will include litter, sheep branding, patrolling, monitoring users of lands, inspection of property boundaries, engagement with the public, and a proposed new role of engaging in education and outreach. A new environmental maintenance contract will also be sent to tender shortly."

Deputy Heydon said he will be working closely with Kildare County Council officials as they work in conjunction with Kildare Failte to produce a 'vision document' for the Plains.

Recently, Fianna Fail Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin called for a stepping up of efforts to reduce damage on the Curragh by unregulated driving and fly-tipping in the area.

She called for a designated car park to be provided for people who want to utilise the Curragh, 'a place of natural beauty' that must be preserved 'through proper usage'. Deputy O'Loughlin says the area should be designated as a National Park, adding that it meets all the criteria for national heritage status.

Meanwhile, Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy says the State is 'failing spectacularly' in its duty to protect the 'unique amenity' of the Curragh Plains.

She received support for her motion at Council last week asking that the Curragh Forum should meet with the local Municipal District, and she thanked the same councillors for 'calling out' the Forum for failing to meet even once in 2017 to address any of the issues of littering, illegal encampments, and over-grazing that are 'destroying' the amenity.

Kildare Chamber events for Healthy Ireland Week

Athy boxer Eric Donovan and international rugby guru Brent Pope are two speakers in Kildare events for Healthy Ireland Week, writes Brian Byrne.

The week commences on 12 March and the KIldare events are being hosted by the business organisation County Kildare Chamber.

Aimed at informing on a range of health and wellbeing issues, the talks are free for everybody to attend, but booking is advised.

The first, in Keadeen Hotel on Tuesday 13 March, has the theme 'Health is Wealth'. The speakers are athlete and performance coach Anna Geary, Brent Pope, and former Armagh All-Ireland player and motivational speaker Oisin McConville.

On Wednesday 14 March at Maynooth University, a 2pm event will feature guest speaker Philly McMahon, a five times All-Ireland winning team member with Dublin GAA and owner of the Bedo7 fitness club.

Irish boxing champion Eric Donovan will speak at a lunchtime event in the Clanard Court Hotel, Athy, on Thursday 15 March, starting at 12.30pm

A stress-relieving 'Healthy Mind, Healthy Life' workshop will be held at the Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth, on Friday 16 March, as part of the Chamber's monthly business network lunch. Mitch Bohan (Infinity Hot Yoga) and Melissa Curley (SocialBee) will be showing some stress relieving tips in the workplace.

More information and booking by emailing jennifer@countykildarechamber.ie.

Liam O Maonlai in the BAG tomorrow week

Delighted to announce that Liam O'Maonlaí will play in the the BAG in the intimate surroundings of Mick Murphy's Bar, writes Roy Thompson.

Best known as frontman with iconic Irish folk/rock outfit Hothouse Flowers, Liam O'Maonlai is one of Ireland's best loved songwriters and performers across many styles - folk; Rock; tradtional Sean Nós singing.

In addition to fronting the 'Flowers', Liam has recorded two solo albums - 'Rian' and 'To Be Touched' - as well as countless collaborations with other artistes at home, and around the world. Most recently, the band Ré, which, along with Liam, comprises Peter O'Toole, Cormac Begley, Eithne Ni Cathain (Inni K), and Maitiú O Casaide played a 17-consecutive date tour of churches around the country.

This will be a special night, and no mistake.

Doors will open at 8:30pm and patrons are advised to arrive early to avoid disappointment. Admission is €15, on the door.

New faces at Co Housing meeting

There were quite a number of new faces in the attendance of the second meeting of the Kilcullen Co Housing Group, held in Fallons last week, writes Brian Byrne.

Founding member James Brennan said it was a very encouraging turnout for the Group, which is working to acquire land in the Kilcullen area to establish an affordable housing community initiative.

Those present were addressed by John Moore of the Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, based in Bray, Co Wicklow, an Approved Housing Body which already has a major co-housing initiative under way in Dublin.

The Kilcullen group was formed to help middle income earners get on the property ladder in a fair and affordable way.The group had its inaugural meeting in November.

The schemes involves people with pre-approved mortgage facilities pooling their resources to build housing on plots of land, ideally acquired from a local authority. John Moore said his organisation is currently in discussion with a variety of local councils on behalf of groups similar to the Kilcullen Co Housing Group.

James Brennan said that an initial possibility of acquiring land in the Athgarvan area, suited for up to ten homes, had stalled. But he says the group is actively looking for other locations, both in Kilcullen and in the general area.

Pictured are John Moore, Riadhan McBride, James Brennan and Claire Kelly.

Full house for the Lions quiz

There was a full house in Fallons last night when the Diary got down to cover the Kilcullen Lions Club annual Table Quiz, writes Brian Byrne.

Judging by some of the perplexed expressions we found, there seems to have been some difficult questions, but everybody was enjoying themselves.

The winning team comprised Philip Lavelle, Ruth Lavelle, Orla O'Neill and Kieran Behan.

Second parking survey planned

A further survey of parking in Market Square will take place as part of developing a plan for the area, writes Brian Byrne.

There has already been a survey of parking there and on Main Street, carried out by Kilcullen Community Action with the help of students from Cross & Passion College. The new one will focus on hourly parking practices in the square itself.

KCA are currently in the process of analysing the first survey.

Meanwhile, work is ongoing with producing the redevelopment plan for the area, with a view to having one available for consideration before mid-year.

Wallet and money found

A wallet and a sum of money was found this morning near the Centra Shop on Hillcrest.

Call 086 3364779 if you think it is yours.

UPDATE: Owner found.

Miah is planning a jailbreak

Young Kilcullen woman Miah Phelan is planning a jailbreak during a weekend in March, writes Brian Byrne.

Nope, she's not locked up, but along with her friend and fellow UCC student Ellen O'Regan she will be taking part in the annual Amnesty International and St Vincent de Paul's challenge, Jailbreak 2018, where participating teams have 36 hours to reach a 'Destination X' somewhere in Europe, without spending any of their own money and raising as much as they can for the charities in the process.

The location of Destination X is only revealed over the weekend of the challenge on 10/11 March, in a series of clues released through social media. In previous years these locations have included the famous castle on Lake Bled in Slovenia, Krakow in Poland, and San Marino in Italy

Kicking things off, the pair have a GoFundMe appeal set up where friends, and particularly friends of hers and her family in Kilcullen, can help out.

Daughter of Paula and Mark, Miah has always been a strong achiever, and it's a pretty good bet that she and Ellen will make it to the 2018 Destination. At the moment Miah is studying Law in UCC. While a student in Cross & Passion College she participated in the AIB Build a Bank challenge with her team, Ca$hino Royale. She also captained the CPC hockey team which won a Leinster School Final, and was the first girl from outside south Dublin to captain the Inter Pro League Cup-winning U16 Leinster team, in 2013. She has played Irish Hockey League while a member of Old Alexandra in Dublin. Badminton is also one of her sports interests.

Music has also been a very important part of Miah's life, singing since she was five. In 2009 she won the RTE TV 'Star Search' on The Den children's TV programme with her own song 'Ain't No Way'. An accomplished pianist and violin player, she also plays guitar and writes and performs her own songs.

She recently began contributing articles to Stand.ie, an organisation which celebrates the power of ordinary people to change the world. Her piece was based on a talk with 'No Limbs, No Limits' campaigner Joanne O'Riordan.

Jailbreak is an international students fundraising initiative, the Irish version of which was started in 2013 by a number of student societies in TCD. Now it involves seven third-level colleges in Ireland, and participants have raised over €225,000 for the two charities since it began.