Smiling faces reflect ethos of Kilcullen childcare
“It’s all about the smiling faces,” Kilcullen Childcare Centre manager Emma McEvoy told those attending the 50th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the original Naomh Bhride playgroup, writes Brian Byrne. “We have a happy place to come to every day, thanks to the wonderful children and the wonderful staff team who come here to work every day.”
Since the current Kilcullen Community Childcare and Education Centre was opened in 2014, the staff numbers have grown to 19 and there are some 220 children registered for the various services offered. “KCCEC is a great success story, and it is important that we have a day like this to mark that,” Emma McEvoy continued, thanking the Board of Management for their support, and for giving the staff opportunities to bring new ideas to their work. An upcoming ‘forest school’ outdoor facility is the next project planned.
She also paid tribute to those in the Kilcullen community who volunteer to help with chores like cutting the grass and provide other supports. “This Centre will continue to grow because of the people who work alongside us.”
That sentiment was echoed by Iseult O’Donoghue from the BOM, who noted that over the decades of the playgroup, there had been ‘some fantastic achievements and some very trying times’. “But every time we have gone to the community to say we need help, everyone has responded in a positive way,” she said. “The amount of goodwill that the project has had from the very start, from 1974 onwards, has been amazing, and we are very lucky to have benefited from that.”
Recalling the particular difficulties when grant funding was lost in 2010 due to lease issues, she said the project had then seemed ‘dead in the water’. “The idea of having a dedicated building and a full service, including a breakfast club and after-school facilities, then seemed unfeasible. But the ground had literally been prepared by so many in the community — women mostly — who had worked tirelessly since 1974 right up to ten or 12 years ago when this had become more of a reality. We were standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Presentations of bouquets were made to Emma as the 'captain of the ship' ("we are so so lucky to have a fantastic manager"), to Iseult for her longtime contributions as a BOM member (“she is part of that Kilcullen spirit that we all love”), to Orla O’Neill for her professional expertise in the re-ignition of the project (“without her tenacity we would not be in this building or in this marquee today”), to Christine Nugent for being 'the backbone' of the playgroup for 25 years ("meeting and greeting the 3- and 4-year olds for all those years, she's a rock star when they now meet her on the street"), and to Niamh Headon, daughter of Peggy Walker who co-founded the Naomh Bhride playgroup with Maureen Keogh.
On behalf of the Board of Management, chairperson Sinead Forde thanked everyone for coming to the celebration. "It's hard to believe the playgroup is 50 years old," she said. "This is our way of saying 'thank you' to the community."Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy
