Scoil Bhride scores again in art competition

A Kilcullen streetscape of linked individual drawings has won Scoil Bhride their second county win in a national art competition focusing on disability, writes Brian Byrne. The achievement in the Junior category of the Someone Like Me competition organised by the National Disability Authority was again by the 2nd Class pupils under the direction of teacher Ms Walsh.

Through the drawings collage the children examined how, why and where disability is supported in Kilcullen, including in the Scoil Bhride ASD classes — Sonas — and by disabled parking in Kilcullen, and also in the local Bridge Camphill community. They also learned about athletes in the Paralympic Games and the Special Olympics. "We discussed learning difficulties such as Dyslexia and Dyspraxia and how they can be seen as a super-power," Ms Walsh added.

Scoil Bhride principal Sarah Fitzpatrick said the more than 3 metres long artwork was the result of 'out and about' exploration, and prompted lots of discussion about individual needs and disabilities. 

"Children’s wellbeing is closely linked with their sense of identity and belonging," she told the Diary. "Through the project, children deepened their connections to Kilcullen and our community and awareness of others all around us — their needs and how we support them. They focused on ways we make-up for challenges, through innovation in our environment such as the kerb cut for wheelchairs, or using an iPad for alternative and augmented communication for a student in Sonas."

On January 28th the children's county win will be judged  at Dublin Castle for the national overall prize. For more information, visit the National Disability Authority webpage for 'Someone Like Me’. 

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Corbally Kilcullen Newbridge Naas amenity - have your say

There are just two more days for the public to submit views on the potential of a Blueway along the Corbally Canal linked to a recreational amenity between Kilcullen and Newbridge along the Liffey, writes Brian Byrne. The concept is currently the subject of a feasibility study commissioned by Kildare County Council and supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development’s Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS).

The project, if developed, would offer both healthy lifestyle and tourism benefits in the areas of Naas, Newbridge, Athgarvan, and Kilcullen. The development of any proposal will take account of a broad range of considerations, including biodiversity and environmental quality.

Kildare County Council is seeking feedback from individuals who live, visit, or work in the areas, which can be submitted at the Corbally Canal & Liffey Corridor Enhancement – Public Survey site up to Thursday 2 January. 

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Funeral arrangements for Mischa Fekete

Mischa Fekete of Hillcrest Kilcullen, Co Kildare, aged 55, died in his home on Sunday 29 December 2024. He will be missed dearly by his loving partner Gese, his daughters Tara and Emer, his extended family at The Bridge, and his many friends in Kilcullen and beyond. 

Mischa will be reposing at The Bridge Camphill Community between 5pm and 8pm on Thursday 2 January in the Artaban Hall (Eircode R56 RW71). A funeral service will be held in the Artaban Hall on Friday 3 January at 11am, followed by a burial at St Brigid's Cemetery, Kilcullen. 

May Mischa rest in peace.

Family Flowers only please. If desired, donations can be made to the Kilcullen Drama Group.

Mischa Fekete - the gentle giant of Bridge Camphill

Mischa prior to the completion of the Nature Trail.

When Mischa Fekete first came in 1992 to what could be the Bridge Camphill Community home, it was just an empty field, writes Brian Byrne. Two decades later the former Nugent's Field had houses for the co-workers and those they cared for. Also a weavery. A community hall. An organic produce store. A coffee shop and resource centre. And lots of small farm animals — chickens, geese, pigs, turkeys, all part of an almost self-sufficient operation that become an important part of the heart of Kilcullen. 

The idea of setting up in Kilcullen itself was formed by members of the earlier Camphill Community at Dunshane, including Mischa's colleague the late Chris Hart. "We had a sort of vision that we'd like to do something in the town, interacting with the general public and becoming part of the wider community," Mischa told the Diary in one of his numerous interactions with us. "There was also the thought that with a small, less policy driven project, we could pioneer something, and that was very exciting." Exciting, and scary. Mischa recalled the early days of the An Tearmann cafe: "There were days when we might have maybe five customers, and we had to wonder was this making any sense?" But it did in the end.

At the launch of Brendan Reid's book with the author, along with Pauline Fagan and John Martin.

The core of his interest was to help the people for whom Camphill was established, especially those in the Bridge community, achieve their potential and their ambitions. One example, in 2010 he helped publish Living Communities - A Biography Of Sorts, written by Bridge Community member Brendan Reid. The same year he and the community had helped make come true the dream of an autistic resident, Colm, to spend six weeks in New York.

At the Difference Day in 2012 with Margaret O'Shea, Gabrielle Berney, John Martin, and Terri O'Sullivan.

In 2011, the Bridge Community was building a Nature Trail for the people of Kilcullen to enjoy. The project was completed the following year with the help of 250 volunteers, some 220 of whom were employees from financial services company Liberty Investments taking part in a voluntary Difference Day at the site. Officially opened on 28 August 2012, the trail was hailed by locals as 'a gift to the community'.

In 2013 Mischa was the point of contact for the Bridge Community's 21st anniversary event bringing back former co-workers from Israel, Germany, Spain, and a number of other European countries. At the time he reckoned some 400 volunteers had come through the Bridge down the 21 years. Among them was Amit Sha'al, an Israeli whose photographs documenting an 18-months stint in Kilcullen later became an internationally acclaimed exhibition.

As part of his leadership role in Bridge Camphill, Mischa promoted the community's involvement in the Patrick's Day parades of 2013 and 2014, where their St Patrick and the Snake was a popular component and won the Best Float Award in 2013. He was also the person-in-charge of the Bridge Community when they passed with flying colours their first inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in 2016. 

With Kevin Prendergast when accepting his Community Award in 2015.

The community celebrated their 25th anniversary in August 2017, and as director he thanked the people of Kilcullen for welcoming the group all those years ago. Two years before that, the 2015 presentation to Mischa of a Kilcullen Community Award had been a recognition for someone who had made 'a huge contribution' to Kilcullen over the previous two decades and more. Apart from his Camphill work, which had helped break down barriers between those with special needs and the other residents of Kilcullen, Mischa had been involved with many other aspects of the town and was 'a man of many talents and always willing to share those talents', as the Community Award citation noted.

Those talents were shared particularly in terms of his love of music and theatre. In 1997 he was the set designer for a youth drama group, Together Productions, presentation of Guys and Dolls. He turned the Kilcullen town hall stage into New York underworld with a casino, the hot box cabaret, and the sewers of the city against the skyline of skyscrapers and neon lights. Inventiveness was called for, using revolving flats for those different areas. The show, directed by the late Paddy Melia, ran for eight nights. Mischa also produced the one act fairy play written by David Crampton, Singing in the Wilderness (2005) performed by the Bridge Camphill Community. 

Mischa's involvement with Kilcullen Drama Group included directing many productions, among them A Christmas Carol (2005), the Christmas Cracker entertainment show (2008), Theft (2009), a December Variety Concert (2010) co-directed with the late Bernard Berney, Les Miserables (2012) — perhaps his crowning achievement managing more than 30 people on the stage, The Plough and the Stars (2017), and The Seafarer (2019), co-directed with Eilis Philips. He had also designed and led the building of the set for Dancing at Lughnasa in 2011.

Working on the set of A Christmas Carol.

A whiz with a computer, Mischa set up a blog in 2007 for the two Camphill communities at Dunshane and Kilcullen. His skills were also used by Kilcullen Drama Group in the design of highly-professional posters for their productions, such as that for A Life in 2009. Even though not well recently, he produced a brilliant poster for the November 2024 presentation of Calendar Girls.

Mischa's participation in Kilcullen life also included membership of Kilcullen Community Action, for which he served as treasurer in the mid-'naughties'. In 2012 he was an active member of the Steering Group developing the Kilcullen participation in the national Gathering 2013 initiative.

But most of all he was a loving family man to Gese, Emer and Tara. And, as comments from Kilcullen people on the sad news of his passing have indicated, he was regarded by many as a kind and gentle, beautiful gentleman, a gentle giant. Never a man to be concerned with legacy, he nevertheless has left a massive mark on the whole community of Kilcullen.

Rest in peace.

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Looking Back: Porter for the workhouse

Over the years, I have covered quite a few local authority meetings with deliberations on a wide variety of issues, but I never came across a discussion on what to do with a consignment of porter, writes Brian Byrne. That was a conundrum which took up some time at the weekly meeting of guardians of the Athy Union as reported in the Kildare Observer of 29 December 1883.

The Athy workhouse Master told the meeting that he had received ‘a lot’ of porter during the previous week from Castledermot, and he did not know what to do with it. When MJ Kavanagh asked if it was “for the use of the guardians or the inmates?”, the Master said he didn’t know, and confirmed that he hadn’t received any directions as to the distribution of the beverage.

It transpired that the Union’s clerk had met with his Castledermot Petty Sessions counterpart the previous week and discovered that the Magistrate’s court had confiscated the porter from a woman who had been operating an illegal shebeen. The magistrates had “made it over for the use of the Athy Infirmary”, which was part of the workhouse complex.

The woman in question was described as a ‘poor widow’, and it seems from the tone of the report that the guardians had some sympathy for her, though that didn’t last as the prospect of free booze became more clear. “I think we would be paying the magistrates a bad compliment if we gave her back the porter,” JW Dunne said. Noting also that to do so would be “encouraging illegitimate traffic.”

The Master said the porter was “first class.” To which MJ Kavanagh replied that if the porter was “fit for us”, to use it. “As to giving it back, I think it would be in very bad taste,” he added. It’s not clear from the report if he intended that as a pun, and anyway JW Dunne commented that to send it back would be “a regular farce.”

The Master was then directed to use the porter. Whether for the guardians, or inmates, was not specified.

Another beverage entirely, milk, was also discussed at the same meeting. In particular milk supplied to the workhouse. In a series of letters read out, it seems that one of the guardians who was not present had written directly to the Local Government Board in Dublin, asking them to instruct the Athy Union to re-advertise a tender for the milk supply. Major JR Keogh had suggested that the tender recently accepted had been in contravention of a relevant regulation. The letters made clear that the Local Government Board did not agree with his complaint, but the meeting expressed a level of disappointment that Major Keogh had taken the course he had rather than write to his fellow guardians about his concerns, with suitable notice. JW Dunne said the Major was acting in a ‘ridiculous’ manner, Robert McDonnell felt it was all wrong and that if Mr Keogh “does not choose to attend [the meetings] then he should not find fault with those who do.” Timothy Fennin suggested that the letter be marked ‘read’, and after a final comment from MJ Kavanagh that it was a great pity the board of guardians could not determine their own business in a “common-sense practical way”, the matter was dropped.

Other business of the meeting included an up to date statement of affairs at the institution, which had 312 ‘indoor’ paupers chargeable to the Union, of whom 220 were described as healthy, 84 were in the Infirmary, and there were 8 in the nearby Fever Hospital. The average weekly cost of looking after them was 4s 2d per person. The Master noted that among two who had died during the week was “a pauper named Foley” who had left behind £3 14s 1d, and he wondered if the cost of his maintenance should be deducted from this? Mr Foley had been an inmate in the house for two months, the meeting heard. The board instructed that the cost should indeed be reimbursed to the workhouse. There was no note of how the remaining 40s 7d of Mr Foley’s money would be disbursed, but we can hope that there was some needy relative waiting on the outside for their share of his estate.

Maybe the same relative might even have been given a few bottles of the Union’s porter windfall, to which presumably the late Mr Foley would have been entitled as an inmate of the Infirmary had he lived a little longer?

[EDITOR NOTE: After the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the Athy workhouse was redesignated as a County Home for the aged and infirm, chronic invalids, and expectant mothers. Since 2002 it has been St Vincent's geriatric hospital. A sculpture commemorating the Great Famine stands at the entrance.]

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The passing of Mischa Fekete

The Diary has learned, with a sadness that will be echoed across the community, of the death of Mischa Fekete. Mischa passed away early this morning. Further details will be published later.

To Mischa's family, his colleagues of the Bridge Camphill Community, and his very many friends in Kilcullen, we send our condolences.

Rest in peace.

Remembering absent friends

Photo by Irina Anastasiu.

At this time of the year we remember those from the parish, or with connections to Kilcullen, who have passed away during 2024. May they always be in the thoughts and memories of those to whom they were friends and loved ones. 

Charlie Doyle, Bro Liam Nolan (Hawaii), John Murphy, Josie Connolly, Eithne Fay, Pat Hickey, Timothy Clifford, Ethna Stapleton (London), Mary Clements, Pat Lynch, Jim Berney, Christina (Dina) Dillon, Jude Connellan, Patty Bagnell, Ethna Dempsey, James 'Shay' Conway (Craigavon), Colin Noel (Bierton, UK), Sadie Kenny, Josie Ivory, Cecilia Conway, Matthew Cahill, Shane Knott, Danny Delaney (Reading), Paddy Byrne, Celine Garvey, Anne Collins (London), Jimmy McGuirk, Ger Coleman, Sadie O'Leary, Tony O'Reilly, Ann Cully, Adam Wrobel, Annie Tidd, Ita Hughes, Tony McNamee, Patrick (Pat) Doran, Charlie Talbot, John Deegan, Josie Kenna, Martin O'Brien, Andy Clifford, Helen Birchall, Michael Ivory, Sr Joan Smith, Seamus Snell, Declan Dowdall, Christy Brennan, Ida Sutton, Billy Aspell, Finola Dunphy, David O'Connell, Siobhán Carroll, Dominic Farrell, Michael Walker, Cathal Morrin and Mischa Fekete.

Rest in peace.

Podcast: Person of Interest - Gustave Eiffel

The Bönickhausen Tower doesn't have the same ring to it as the Eiffel Tower, but the best known symbol of Paris could well have been just that, if its builder's family hadn't added the name of their local mountains to their surname when they emigrated from Germany. 

Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.

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GAA readies 2025 Ireland Lights Up and Every Step Counts

Kilcullen participants in last year's Ireland Lights Up.

The new Community Walkway will be in use for the 5th year of the Kilcullen GAA's participation in Ireland Lights Up and the Every Step Counts challenge with Irish Life, writes Brian Byrne.

The 7-week series of both gets under way at 7pm on Monday 6 January, and sign-up details for the challenge will be available soon. Last year Kilcullen GAA came third in the country in the Steps competition. On average, a hundred people took part in the weekly Lights Up.

Kilcullen GAA are also now part of the Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs initiative. This focuses on encouraging healthier lives physically, mentally and emotionally.

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And that was (some of) 2024!

It's only when you look back over the past 12 months that you get a sense of the enormous level of community activities in Kilcullen, writes Brian Byrne. So we have done just that for 2024, and what follows is a curated selection from the some 1,200 posts that were published on the Diary during the year.

JANUARY

The return of the St Patrick’s Day Parade, more support for local business, and improvement of local footpaths were all on the wish lists for Kilcullen in 2024 from a number of local people, responding to a query from the Diary. Bringing back the River Festival and construction of a greenway to Newbridge were also listed.

Upwards of 200 people turned out to the Kilcullen GAA Lights Up walk night which kicked off the 2024 series. That was more than double the first night turnout of 2023, probably in part due to the Operation Transformation link with local man Noel O'Connell leading the event. Plus the attraction of the TV cameras for OT rolling on the night.

Communities across Ireland are missing out on the failure to set up an all-island transport authority, according to a politics student from Kilcullen, John Healy, who led the development of a Young Fine Gael policy document on transport. 

The debut play of Anna Dunlea, Bridie's List, was performed in Kilcullen. A one-act, there were two performances on the evening, along with a sketch by longtime Kilcullen Drama Group members Dick Dunphy and Esther Reddy.

FEBRUARY

A group of Triumph classic car owners visited Kilcullen Town Hall & Heritage Centre and viewed a special screening of the documentary How Ireland Saved Motorsport, made by Bailey and Blake Productions in association with the Heritage Offices of Kildare, Carlow and Laois. 

The very good turnout for the Brigid 1500 Open Day at St Bridget's Pitch & Putt Club were presented with commemorative pens, St Brigid pins, and special score cards. 

MARCH

Kilcullen Community Action were given a grant towards the purchase of a sickle mower and bat detectors. The €1,215 grant was from Community Foundation Ireland in a tranche of funding to help with implementing Biodiversity Action Plans around the country. 

Our local best-selling author Hazel Gaynor got great news from Los Angeles when the narrator of the audiobook version of her The Last Lifeboat, Billie Fulford-Brown, took home the 2024 Audie Award for Best Fiction Narrator. 

The Bohemian Rock in Cross and Passion College was yet again an example of both the level of talent amongst the students, and the dedication of the Music Department staff in keeping the show going every year.

APRIL

Fundraising PJ days organised by the Talented Kids Performing Arts School raised €6,000 for the Clare's Wish charity, which helps to fulfil wishes for adults with terminal medical conditions.

Some inspirational quotes by famous sports people were painted on the concrete beams going into the Community Centre's sports hall. Inscribed by Niamh O'Connor they are there to hopefully inspire (or calm nerves!) local home teams 

A capacity audience in Kilcullen Library heard details of many Kilcullen men and women who took part in the fight for Ireland's freedom in three revolutionary periods. The talk by Kildare historian and author James Durney was based on local people described in his book Stand you now for Ireland's Cause. 

MAY

The inaugural JBforever27 Music Bursary was presented in Cross and Passion College to student Max Haughton. The bursary is in memory of former CPC student and talented musician Jeremy Burke, who passed away unexpectedly in Toronto, Canada, in January 2023. The cheque was presented by Jeremy's mother Louise, pictured here with finalists Sean Browne, Max Haughton, Grace O'Donnell, Josh Kelly, Patrick Carey Hyland, and Enda Byrne. Evie Sammon was unavoidably absent.

Planning permission was granted for a new showroom, offices and workshops to local Kia dealers Dunleas. The development will be on a site at Brownstown just beyond the Link Business Park on the Naas Road and the permission incorporates amended designs to a previously approved permission given in 2021.

JUNE

A drop-in Information Clinic about the Kilcullen Design Statement was held for those who would like to find out more about plans for its implementation. All were welcome to have a look and talk to Kilcullen Community Action members about the focus and reasons for the document. 

A break-in to the Coffee Hatch at Kilcullen Community Centre resulted in very little damage done, and the perpetrator only got a small cash float for the Coffee Hatch for his efforts.

With 23 tables, a Table Quiz in aid of the Kilcullen Gospel Choir Relay for Life Team was one of the busiest of the year. The winning team (above) at the event in Fallons comprised Ross Lloyd, Anna McLeod, Fergus Ryan and Pat Smythe. 

Kilcullen running legend Albert Keenan added another achievement to his ever growing athletics CV at the Naas Parkrun — his 100th parkrun. 

JULY

Esther Reddy retired as principal of St Brigid’s NS Ballysax after a teaching career spanning 35 years which included being principal at St Joseph's Halverstown and Brannoxtown NS. She is pictured with her daughters, Aisling and Bróna in Pat Foley's photo.

There was a strong turnout for the annual Open Day on Dun Ailinne, hosted on the site by archaeologists Dr Susan Johnston and Dr Suzanne Garrett, courtesy of the Thompson family owners of the land.

Affinity Plus Home Support celebrated their third birthday with a Coffee Morning in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. Pictured are (back) Grace Billington, Colette Beausang, Elaine O'Connor, and Jordan McCormack, and (front) Katie O'Connor and Sylvia Kennedy. 

A new sign was installed in the Valley Park near St Brigid's Well, with information about the saint, local biodiversity, and the well. The sign was part of the Kilcullen Community Action Brigid 1500 celebrations, and is dedicated to the memory of Jim Collins, whose vision and work made the park a reality.

There was generous support for the now annual Coffee Morning in the Dooley home at Whitehall Cottage, in aid of Maintain Hope. A special guest was Charity Muthoni, studying for a Masters in Social Work at Salford University in the UK, and is both a role model and an advocate for children back home like she once was.

Through the year, supporters of the Palestinian people held commuter time vigils on a number of motorway bridges, including Friday morning ones at Kilcullen. Pictured are Aoife Scott, Ray Kelly and Orla O'Neill.

Longtime Kilcullen GAA stalwart Billy Aspell was presented with a medal to mark his management of the 1971 team that won the Junior A Championship as well as the Murphy Cup, and Division 2 of the Senior League. The medal was presented by Johnny Doyle, Kildare and Allenwood footballing legend.

A member of Kilcullen Badminton Club and a Kilcullen businessman were both medal winners amongst the 65 medals won by Team Ireland at the 2024 European Transplant Sports Championships. Robbie England from Naas won silver in his singles Badminton event, and James Nolan took gold in the Golf team event with Mick Dwyer, and a silver in the individual.

AUGUST

In a wide-ranging look back through their 140 years family business history, Donal Brennan talked about weathering recessions and the people who have been part of the story of Brennans Hardware.

Ballyshannon has a ‘really beautiful rich rural biodiversity’, those attending the Ballyshannon Action Group AGM were told, in a short presentation about the completed Community Biodiversity Action Plan 2025-2029 which had been commissioned by the group from ecologist Dr Catherine O’Connell.

Norah Breslin was presented with the papal honour of the Benemerenti medal, for over 50 years of service in a range of ways to the parish of Kilcullen & Gormanstown, but especially her musical contributions with the Parish Choir. The presentation was made by Fr Gary Darby, and Norah was accompanied for the celebrations by her children, grandchildren and members of her extended family.

Some 200 people turned out for the annual Picnic on the Green, organised by the Old Kilcullen Area Residents Association. Fortunately for all, the weather stayed balmy and even when threatening clouds rolled in, the rain stayed away.

The Valley Park Fairy Trail family day organised by KCA was another community success with lots of fairies and princesses of all ages taking part in the fun of the afternoon.

There was once again a very big turnout of support for the Mac & Norman Vintage Rally. Tractors, trucks, bikes and vintage cars, buses and JCBs, all came through Brannockstown and Kilcullen before heading back to Cannycourt, where there was food and the charity auction. 

Marking National Heritage Week, Dr Michael O'Connell displayed in Kilcullen Heritage Centre his models of heritage areas and houses around Kilcullen and Naas. He also gave talks on the histories of Castlemartin and New Abbey.

Kilcullen Childcare Centre celebrated the 50th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the original Naomh Bhride playgroup. 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.

Vivian Clarke completed 40 years of trading in the menswear business he set up with his brother Brian in Newbridge. Brian retired more than decade ago.

SEPTEMBER

Two CPC Transition Year students had the week of their lives, on a careers introduction course with the Irish Air Corps. The week finished with a flight for Tara McCormack and Oisin Monks by helicopter from Baldonnell to the College, landing on the football ground. CPC TY coordinator Glenda Groome was also on the flight. 

Kilcullen's newest sports group debuted in the Community Centre, with an enthusiastic crew keeping four Pickleball courts busy. Most of those present for the Open Evening of Kilcullen Pickleball Panthers were new to the sport, which is a cross between tennis, badminton and table tennis, invented in 1965 in Seattle WA USA. 

Cleaning and restoration of the Fr Henry Flanagan sculpture at St Brigid's Well was largely completed. The project was a Brigid 1500 initiative by Kilcullen Community Action. The piece, St Brigid Feeding the Poor, was unveiled in 1977, commissioned by the then Kilcullen Community Council as part of the Valley park development. 

The Benemerenti Papal Medal was presented to Paddy Gilligan to mark 56 years of service to Kilcullen Parish. The presentation took place after a mass in Curragh Lawn nursing home, celebrated by parish priest Fr Gary Darby. 

An overnight camp at a site earmarked for a new Den for the 9th Kildare Kilcullen Scouts group had 42 scouts and 15 Leaders under canvas. The troop is now in its 47th year, and there's a wait list for membership. 

A very happy turnout of several generations celebrated the 50th anniversary of Conroy Park. There was music, food and refreshments, and no one worried about threatening rain that happily held off until the afternoon event finished. 

Local business people participated in a workshop, Peak Effective Trading Strategy for Quarter 4, held in Fallons, hosted by the Kilcullen Business Group in association with Kildare County Council's Enterprise, Tourism and Economic Development Team. It was conducted by leadership coach and business strategist Miriam Simon. 

An official raising of an Erasmus+ flag at Cross and Passion College marked what the Principal described as 'one of the most exciting things to happen in the College for many years'. The flag was raised by local TD and Minister of State Martin Heydon, in the presence of TY and 6th Year students, teaching staff involved in bringing the scheme to CPC, and Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer. Music was performed by very talented 5th Year students Dylan Labuschagne and Mikey Arthur. 

Dawn Behan and all the team at Woodbine Books celebrated the 8th anniversary of the opening of the shop. The enterprise has become one of Kilcullen's focal points, not just for those wishing to buy reading material but also socially for all things bookish and cultural. Dawn is pictured above with her sister Saoirse and mother Brigid.

OCTOBER

Presentations were made to John Kelly in McTernan's to mark his retirement from the Board of Works on the Curragh after 45 years. And of course, with Kellys involved, there was also music, lots of it. 

A number of pieces of street art commissioned by KCA were completed on utility boxes. They were painted by artist Cian Mekitarian who had already created similar pieces in Naas and Kildare. 

Kilcullen ceramic artist Lesley Kelly had some of her work chosen for the Made Local 2024 campaign event held in the Dublin Municipal Theatre at Smock Alley. Eighteen of Lesley's pieces were on display 

Pumpkin Patch Kildare 2024 was again held at Moortown organised by Amanda Lambe. New features included a cornfield maze, a dual slide, and more food truck options. There were also opportunities to meet up with farm animals and ponies, and enjoy the centrepiece pumpkin-picking enclosure itself. 

A cheque for €30,000 was handed over to a representative of the Irish Cancer Society by the Mac & Norman Rally organisers. The funds were the result of the event held in August that celebrated 22 years of the rally. 

The annual Narraghmore Pink Run raised €3,500, with some 250 entrants registered. The runners, walkers and family strollers were out in force to raise funds for Breast Cancer Ireland. 

Presentations and a debate for an Erasmus Days event held in Cross and Passion College, revealed strong skills among members of the CPC Debating Club in proposing and opposing a motion on Is it Beneficial to be an EU Citizen? All took place under the supervision of no less than the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, Seán Ó Fearghail TD. 

Photographs of the Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS were taken at Old Kilcullen by local dentist Raluca Dana Lica. The comet was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on 9 January 2023 and independently found by ATLAS South Africa on 22 February 2023. It passed at its nearest distance to the Sun on 27 September 2024, at a distance of 58 million kilometres.

The new walkway around the Kilcullen GAA Field of Dreams was completed and quickly adopted by exercise walkers, children on scooters, runners, and families out for a stroll in the fresh air. 

There was a packed house for the Open Mic Night in Woodbine Books, marking National Book Week, and a range of performers treated the full house to an eclectic mix of prose, poetry, and music. 

It was the end of a Main Street business era when Ger Peacocke closed the door on the shoe-making and repair shop that his late father Hugh established in the 1950s. Ger retired after 48 years on the last where his dad had also worked for 57 years.

NOVEMBER

An extra 16 marks for Kilcullen in the Supervalu Tidy Towns 2024 competition came from improvements right across the categories. They also gained the town a silver medal, to add to the bronze won last year. In adjoining communities, Brannockstown was awarded 308 marks, an advance of 13 on the 2023 performance, while Calverstown achieved 344 marks, improving by 11. 

At the close of a Kilcullen GAA Solothon fundraiser, 928km of solos were completed by a total of 404 participants. All team age groups took part, as did many club supporters and former club members, some of whom did their contributions in different parts of the world. 

A steady stream of people visited a public consultation on the Kilcullen Settlement Plan proposed for integration into the Kildare County Development Plan 2023-2029. The event was organised by Kildare County Council in Kilcullen Heritage Centre 

The Tess Lambe Bursary for 2024 was awarded to former student CPC student Hannah Lee Parnell, who is studying Biological, Biomedical and Biomolecular Science at UCD. It was presented by the person for whom it is named, past CPC and UCD student Professor Teresa Lambe, who co-designed the Oxford AstraZeneca covid vaccine programme.

A very appropriate Thanksgiving decorative theme was provided for the Kilcullen Community Awards held in Kilcullen Town Hall, due to the work of a group of CPC Transition Year students under the direction of Georga Dowling of the Food School TY module. A full-house audience commended those from the community who were presented with total of 12 awards, selected from public nominations. 

There was a deliberate circularity for the official opening of two new classrooms for pupils with autism at St Joseph's NS in Halverstown. It was 65 years to the day when the late Canon Furlong blessed the original school building prior to its opening the following day. 

Kilcullen Gospel Choir celebrated their 10th anniversary with two sold out concerts in Kilcullen Town Hall Theatre. The choir first started in 2014 with 20 members and it currently has just over 50 active participants. Audiences were treated to a wide range of songs ranging from U2 to some Gospel favourites. 

Smart new jackets were sponsored for the Kilcullen Community First Responders group by local security company GCS Alarms. The new hi-viz clothing was handed over during a group training session in Scoil Bhride. 

The CPC presentation of the Christmas Panto Aladdin, directed by Mary McLaughlin, was the first of its kind from the school, and a very successful performance by the TY students involved. 

An Tearmann cafe reopened after being shut since the onset of the pandemic. Now operated by David Hogan and his wife Salima, the enterprise is managed by Patsy Simion and a cheerful crew of kitchen, barista and floor staff.

The Kilcullen Drama Group's production of Calendar Girls was a sold out masterpiece of amateur drama. Directed by Eilis Philips, it deserves to go down as one of the best ever Kilcullen Drama Group presentations. 

The Irish Junior darts team in the DartAsylum JDC World Cup were beaten 4-1 by Holland in their semi-final in Gibraltar. It meant the Irish team were out of the medals this year, after winning a silver in their first ever final in 2023. Team member Jack Courtney made the last 16 of the Winmau Open, and topped his group in the knockout stages only to be eliminated in the later stages. 

With the second planting of trees around the new Kilcullen GAA Field of Dreams, some 4,500 saplings of native Irish trees had been put in place. It was again overseen by Catriona Taylor of Blessington Lakes Garden Centre, who advises on the 100 Million Trees Project which supplied the saplings

DECEMBER

The Old Kilcullen Christmas was a wonderfully atmospheric event, with even the heavy shower of rain at the beginning providing a rainbow on the hill. Local children got to post their letters to Santa in the restored post-box. 

The recipient of the inaugural Peggy Walker Childcare Bursary was Emma Woods, a second-year student at Maynooth University studying a BA in Early Childhood Teaching and Learning. The Bursary is in memory of the late Peggy Walker, a co-founder of the original Naomh Bhride playgroup in 1974 which subsequently evolved into KCCEC. 

Awards were presented to 13 participants in the Kilcullen Area Community Employment Scheme at a breakfast event hosted by St Bridget's Pitch & Putt Club on the Community Centre campus. 

A very appreciative audience enjoyed the debut performance by the new Camphill Choir, along with Naas Hospital Choir and tenor Patrick Hyland, in the Carols by Candlelight concert in Kilcullen Parish Church. 

With increasing governance requirements around elder care facilities, the voluntary committee which had been behind the Teach na nDaoine Senior Citizens Centre project recognised that it lacks the necessary expertise to manage it, after completing a €164,407 refurbishment, and handed the premises back to the HSE to do so. 

The weather wasn't great for Kilcullen's first Christmas Shopping Day, but a very full participation showed that the town's business community is now working very seriously together.

With up to 550 participants in the 2024 Run, Run Rudolph! Kilcullen GAA Christmas fundraiser offered something something for everyone from the serious runners to the morning strollers, and the sun shone for the whole thing. 

The planning website for a proposed 180-homes development at New Abbey Road went live. The developers are Oakway Homes.

The Nativities collection gathered by Ger and Lorraine Hegarty Kelly were once again assembled in Kilcullen Parish Centre. More than 200 scenes were on display, collected and donated from different countries all over the world. 

Some €450 was raised for the local St Vincent de Paul conference with a poetry and song session organised in Kilcullen Heritage Centre by Sean Corrigan and friends and was well attended. 

More than 600 children in Scoil Bhride took part in a Christmas Daidí na Nollag Dash around the school's running track. Many were dressed in some form of Christmas costume. The event gave them an opportunity to showcase their running skills developed through the term.

There was, of course, much more through the year, including local and general elections where respectively Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer and Deputy Martin Heydon retained their seats. But I hope we have brought back some memories of Kilcullen 2024. Happy 2025 upcoming.

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