Friday, November 09, 2018

Kilcullen Tidy Towns and Community Awards night

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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