"So, what was Kilcullen 700 all about?"
A question asked by someone during December who will remain nameless,
writes Brian Byrne. Someone who must be the only person in town who wasn't involved in some way or other.
Truth is, the celebrations of 700 years since the bridge was built that started the riverside settlement of today's Kilcullen wasn't just one thing. It was pretty well everything that happened in the town through last year. So in a way, because it wasn't one single event, maybe there's an excuse for
Kilcullen 700 not standing out in individual memories. We all just absorbed it as we travelled through 2019.
When you look at the year, the sheer variety in the
Kilcullen 700 tapestry is almost mind-boggling, trying to take it in as a piece. There was, of course, a committee. Its makeup was fluid, depending on what events were imminent. It was run by
Nessa Dunlea as chair with an almost military discipline aimed at keeping a wide variety of elements from becoming chaos. But once an event was decided, the group involved just got on with it, reporting in only often enough to let all know it was happening.
In advance of the year, logos for the celebration were designed, one by
Gareth Landy, the other by
Michal Uhruskis aka The Signmaker. Gareth's (above) became the 'signature' of
Kilcullen 700 across virtually every aspect of the celebration, while Michal's was the centrepiece for the bridge banners (top picture) and the commemorative plaques which were presented to various groups contributing to the year.
The first official use of Gareth's logo was on the
Kilcullen Photography Club's 2019 Calendar, their first such publication and the launch of which was the first official event for
Kilcullen 700. The logo subsequently became the theme focus for contributions by pupils of
St Joseph's NS Halverstown and
Scoil Bhride NS Kilcullen (posters below).
The celebration of
Halverstown NS's 60th anniversary was another incorporation into the
700, which included a
Celebration Run and a
Past Pupils Reunion Day. An inter-schools
quiz was another related event.
There was enough information about the plans in January for
Billy Redmond to pen a poem highlighting almost all of the events which subsequently did happen.
The first of a series of monthly local heritage talks was on the Gilltown-based
Borrowes family, given by Naas historian Ger McCarthy (above with Mary Orford and Nessa Dunlea). Subsequent talks included the story of
Castlemartin (Nessa Dunlea), the
history of trains in the area (Liam Kenny), the story of
Ernest Shackleton (Kevin Kenny), a history of
New Abbey House (Colette Jordan), the
Kilcullen Toll Road (Brian McCabe), the
Eustace family (Ger McCarthy), and a series of videos under the banner of
The River Liffey Stories, including a segment on the river at Kilcullen.
Another regular highlight that just grew and grew was the monthly
Memory Monday morning events organised by
Mary Orford and her
Meitheal of Memories team. Over the course of the year they discussed a variety of living stories from an earlier Kilcullen, as well as producing a fascinating range of documents and artefacts. They were all brought together in December in a roundup presentation in the theatre.
A combined
St Patrick's Day Parade and
Twinning of Kilcullen with the Normandy town of Saint-Contest was both colourful and moving, and a very inclusive event in the expanding
Kilcullen 700 calendar. On the same weekend, the
Valley Fairy Trail was launched (below).
The
1798 Rebellion as part of Kilcullen's heritage was celebrated by the local
Camphill Communities, whose members developed and performed a costumed presentation exploring what might have been in the minds of ordinary local people during that conflict. The pupils of
Scoil Bhride took on a similar theme, producing a play written about the local battle which featured the bridge on the Liffey.
One of the future-related contributions to the celebrations was the
planting of 700 trees beside the old Mass Path to New Abbey by representatives of local families. With the trees provided by the
Tree Council of Ireland, a book listing the names of families associated with the planting was later placed in the Heritage Centre. A
River of Tulips at the Naas Road end of town flowed into full colour during the spring and summer. Later, different sets of flowers kept it going through to the autumn.
Many cultural events marked the year of
700, notably
John McKenna's presentation of his 'The Mental' in Woodbine Books. There was also the
Arts Trail with contributions including paintings in varied media through photography, knitting, quilling, ceramics and clay art, from both professional and amateur artists, displayed in several locations through Kilcullen.
The 'yarn-bombing' of the bridge and square area by the
Suas Knitting Group was one of the most colourful aspects of
Kilcullen 700. The imagination of the knitters brightened up the June Bank Holiday weekend in great style, in what were in many ways the knitted stories of Kilcullen. On the same weekend, up to 150 pre-1988 cars found parking spaces in Kilcullen in a visit by the
Gordon Bennett Classic Car Run 2019. Among the drivers was Irish rally legend Rosemary Smith.
The Bloomsday opening of
Tony and Geraldine Gahan's gardens in aid of KWWSPCA went off very well, with brilliant music and being fortunate with the weather.
A very special event was the unveiling of a plaque to Kilcullen born
Frank Conroy, who was killed as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. The unveiling was by
Christy Moore, a longtime supporter of Conroy's cause.
Kilcullen Tennis Club held a special
Kilcullen 700 Mixed Doubles competition, and their special guest was
Pat Lynch of Logstown, one of the original club's founding members.
A competition sponsored by
Bank of Ireland in Kilcullen for
National Heritage Week prompted a superb range of 'Past Times' windows, tableaux, and live displays throughout the town. There were four winners —
Perfect Images,
Ger's Fruit and Veg,
Armelle's Kitchen, and
Kilcullen Drama Group (above with the judges) — but all of the contributions resurrected many memories of Kilcullen's people and past.
A
700 celebration of
Kilcullen's Olympics, Special Olympics, and Transplant athletes down the decades proved to be a quite amazing event organised by Kilcullen Community Centre. Special guests
Ronnie Delaney and
Michael Carruth provided gold medal backgrounds to the achievements.
Kilcullen GAA Club incorporated its own 130th anniversary celebrations into the
700 with, naturally, a
Black and White Ball in Keadeen Hotel.
Memories of growing up in Kilcullen were recalled in a memoir launch at Woodbine Books, where
Eithne Logan, née Brennan, recounted events, people, and the different times for a child in the 1950s. Another Woodbine event, not quite bookending the whole
Kilcullen 700 year, was the launch of the 2020
Kilcullen Photographic Club Calendar.
The actual final event of the celebrations was the symbolic
lighting of the tower at Old Kilcullen, where the original monastic community of Kilcullen was established. Followed by a 'lantern walk' down to Kilcullen and the subsequent switching on of special lights on the bridge, the 'Walk of Light' concluded a very special year with style and a substantial amount of emotion.
So, what was
Kilcullen 700 all about? All of the above, and more. More being the opportunity for all of us here to look back at where we came from. Now for 2020, perhaps the chance to look at where we're going from here?
(If I have left out any event associated with the celebrations of last year, apologies. Remind me and I'll rectify it — BB.)
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