A treasure trove of notes at heritage event
Kilcullen Heritage Centre's 'Share a Story, Make a Connection' event to mark Heritage Week 2018 turned up an amazing amount of material, writes Mary Orford.
They included photographs, Kilcullen Drama Group play programme, and a diary written by Mr James Kelly, The Square and currently owned by his granddaughter, Bernadette Burke.
Mr Kelly wrote about events in the town. While the physical diary dates from 1969, Mr Kelly wrote about events from the 1800s to the 1960s. It's a treasure trove of snippets of information in no particular order — the date the foundation stone of the parish church was laid, how to wire a plug, local marriages, land ownership, etc. It will take time to go through everything that Mr Kelly recorded.
Excepts from the diary show that Mr Kelly recorded the names of priests in the parish, including prior to when the current church was built.
He also notes the marriage of Gillian Byrne to Frank Becker in January 1975, the last wedding using a temporary altar following the removal of the altar rails in the church. Subsequent to that, he records the construction of the new altar, with work done by John Brady and his brother Jerry, and Peter O'Neill.
Thanks to Bernadette Burke for so kindly bringing it along to this morning's event.
The second session is in the Heritage Centre tomorrow, Thursday 23rd, from 7pm to 9pm.
Please come along and share your story of a letter, a photo, a map, a receipt, a medal, a treasured family item that has links to the town of Kilcullen.
Kilcullen Diary Policy on Photographs. Kilcullen Diary Privacy Policy.