Kilcullen pubs scored strongly in last night's presentations of Tidy Towns awards, while there was a strong sports element in the Community Awards,
writes Brian Byrne.
Presented every year by
Kilcullen Community Action/Tidy Towns, the event in the Town Hall brought an almost full house turnout to support those who make Kilcullen a better place to be.
At the reception before the awards were presented, the new
Kilcullentown.com website developed by
Gareth Landy was officially debuted, and rather than explain it, have a look yourselves.
MC for the evening was KCA member
Eoin Houlihan, who thanked everybody who had been involved with, or supported the activities of KCA through the last year.
In the Tidy Towns awards,
Castlemartin Estate won the
Brendan Dowling Cup for
Best Green Area.
The
Best Large Estate, awarded the
Gerry Kelly Trophy was
Laurel Wood.
And for being the
Best Small Estate,
St Brigid's Avenue was presented with the
Jim Roche Cup.
O'Connell's Bar won the
Best Business Premises, while
The Hideout (below) brought home the
Byrne Cup for the
Most Improved Business.
The Hillcrest premises of
Foto was given the
Best Window Display accolade.
In the
Kilcullen in Bloom awards,
Mary Masterson's McTernans won the
Flowers in Business category. The
Best Front Garden was won by
Mrs Smith of Yellow Bog with
Betty Barker taking second place.
Gareth Landy took first place in the
Hanging Basket section, with last year's winners
Mick and Hazel Spencer being runners up.
The Community Awards this year were divided into two spaces,
Achievement and
Community. The first presentations were made to
Kilcullen Boxing Club members
Feidhlim Behan and
Aodan Byrne for their national and international competition performances.
Canoeist
Ronan Foley was presented with an award for his achievements in winning gold and silver medals in European and world events in the past year, the latest in a growing tally of high level competition results.
The
Kilcullen GAA U14 Girls team and their mentors were commended for winning their
All Ireland Feile category this year and for their performances in previous
Feiles over recent years.
There was also an award for the
GAA Senior Ladies who were the first Kilcullen team to win the County Junior Championship, led by their captain
Aoife Molyneaux. They were described in the citations as part of a 'huge ladies football revolution' in Kilcullen.
The outstanding community service of
Christine Nugent and
Maureen Keogh during the 25 years of community childcare provision in Kilcullen was acknowledged with a Community Award.
An award for their contribution to community spirit and social inclusion was made to
Laura Quigley and
Lorraine Schwer for their 'Mothers and Others' training initiative that culminated in a match between the teams.
Kilcullen Figure Dancers are a very new and relatively small group in Kilcullen, but they were given an award for hard work and their positive start in performing at
Feiseanna.
KCA chairman
Ray Kelly took a little time towards the end of the evening to recall two recently deceased people who had in different ways contributed much to what makes Kilcullen what it is today.
One was
Margaret Lynch, who died after being in a nursing home for the past 15 years, but who was very involved in the
Kilcullen Amnesty International group in the mid-1980s, as well as having longtime involvements in the Credit Union and Kilcullen Drama Group.
He also commented on the recent passing of
Jim Collins, reminding those present of his consistent support for Kilcullen's voluntary activities over many decades as well as his particular involvement in the purchase, funding for, and development of the Valley Park, his legacy to modern Kilcullen.
Ray also presented his Chairman's Award to KCA member
Seamus McCoy, for his 'great company on litter picking' days, and for his example at the age of 84 to young people who might consider joining in the Tidy Town effort. He also noted the presentation of a
Tidy Towns Award to Seamus recently by
Kildare County Council.
Closing the evening,
Antoinette Buckley spoke about the upcoming Christmas Market in the Market Square. She thanked everyone who had made possible what is expected to be a highlight opening to the Christmas season.
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