Schoil Bhride publishers at Expo

An exercise in becoming authors and publishers provided a number of Scoil Bhride pupils with experience of another side of a business world, writes Brian Byrne. They spoke about their experience at the recent Expo 2017.

The Write-A-Book project was organised by the Kildare Education Centre, and the participating students were encouraged to think up a plot and characters for their books, unless they were doing stories based on fact. They also wrote and bound their books, which were put in display at the Expo.

James Deane said the process allowed them experience writing, editing and redrafting of their work. "We had to work to a deadline, which is good practice for us for later life," he said during a presentation at the Expo. "We also got a great sense of achievement when we saw our finished books."

School's CraftEd work shown at Expo 2017

The involvement of Sixth Class Scoil Bhride in the Crafts Council of Ireland CraftEd programme was detailed at the recent Kilcullen & Ballymore Expo 2017 organised by Bank of Ireland, writes Brian Byrne.

The presentation was made by Alex Byrne, Mia Brierton, Szymon Stepniak and Jordan Olivier, who outlined how textile artist Niki Collier showed the Class how to work with felt.

The Class members made a number of hats as a result of what they had learned from the tutoring. "Some of our hats didn't work out as we had originally designed them," Jordan noted. "But Niki explained that this often happens, and that often it is even for the best."

Expo grant goes to kidney fund

James Nolan accepting cheque from Jo McMahon, manager of BofI Kilcullen.

The €1,000 grant which is part of the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Town Expo initiative was given to the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund at Saturday's 2017 event, writes Brian Byrne.

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the charity, founder James Nolan recalled his own experience in receiving a donated kidney from his sister Catherine decades ago. Since then he has been committed to encouraging others to consider giving 'the gift of life' in organ donation.

"I'm asking you all to think of carrying an organ donor card, and to have the conversation about it with your family if you do decide to carry it," he said.

He thanked the Bank for the grant, and noted that this is a very special year for the PKRF, with the opening in September next of a brand new Renal Unit in Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin — the provision of the Unit has been aided by funds from the charity.

Other projects supported by the PKRF include an Art programme for dialysis patients in Dublin and Cork, a holiday home in Kerry with access to suitable dialysis facilities, and funding of a Newman Scholar in UCD specialising in renal health research.

Business and community discussed at Expo 2017

Building a restaurant business, providing telehealth advice, exporting luxury leather craft and the use of flowers to brighten up a community were the elements of the discussion session moderated by TV presenter Daithí Ó Sé at last Saturday’s Kilcullen & Ballymore Expo 2017, writes Brian Byrne.

Georgina O’Sullivan told how the Ballymore Inn food offering was developed from a soup and sandwiches base to the much appreciated restaurant it is today.

“There were always people coming in and asking where they could go to dinner locally,” she recalled. “So we started with basic food about 20 years ago. We didn’t do any great expensive research … our customers in the local community just kept asking us to ‘do a bit more’. To decide on the menus, I simply asked myself what would I like to have, what would my Dad like, and what our friends would like and so on.”

Also relating to Ballymore, Mary O’Brien, CEO of VideoDoc, outlined how her online GP consultation service was piloting an extension of the system through Sean Fogarty’s Post Office in the village, which doesn’t have a Health Centre. The option is part of ‘The Hub’ in the Post Office and shop, where a number of other services are provided.

“It’s really about giving people access to healthcare in a locality where there isn’t a doctor easily available,” she said, noting how the service was already linked with partners like VHI Healthcare and major hospitals. Doctors sign up to be on the panel for the link, which operates 8am-10pm six days a week. A patient who wants to seek advice for common ailments pays €30 for a live consultation by video. Ms O’Brien noted that the process of ‘seeing a doctor’ hasn’t changed much in a hundred years’ up to now.

Alan McCormack of Carve On, a premium leather craft business which was begun in Kill and moved to a larger Kilcullen premises last year, explained the background to the business, which exports a large proportion of of its products to America, mainland Europe, and the Middle East. Their range of leather covered notebooks, portfolios and bags are very much in demand as corporate gifts, as are the company’s golf accessories. He told Daithí Ó Sé that Brexit might be an issue, but because they have diverse markets, their business is unlikely to be too much affected.

Eoin Houlihan of Kilcullen Tidy Towns talked about how the original Kilcullen Flowers Project had attracted him to come and live in the town a few years ago. The scheme this year is being expanded as ‘Kilcullen in Bloom’.

“It’s not just good for business, it’s for everybody who lives in or visits the town,” he said. “This year we enlisted the help of a local floral designer to decide on the arrangements, and two local landscape and gardening companies have been contracted to provide and install the flowers. It’s all about making Kilcullen a great place to live and work in.”

Following the interview session, Daithí Ó Sé toured the stands at the Expo, gaining a very good insight into the variety and extent of enterprise and community in Kilcullen.

All the pictures from the day can be viewed here.

Bizworld project goes hi-vis

The concept of a reversible standard jacket which becomes a hi-vis jacket proved a winner for a Scoil Bhride Fifth Class team which took part in the Bizworld Ireland schools entrepreneurship programme sponsored by Bank of Ireland, writes Brian Byrne.

The team was one of several from the Class which pitched their ideas to a 'Dragon's Den' of judges, seeking a 'Bizzbucks' investment for a share of their 'company'.

At the Kilcullen & Ballymore Expo 2017, Lennon Wilson and Eddie O'Loughlin outlined how their team had developed their idea to a prototype stage under the guidance of Bank of Ireland mentors.

"Over the course of the two days we gained a great insight into the business world," Lennon said. "We participated in market research, marketing, prototype development, sales, distribution, and negotiation with potential investors."

Eddie described how the group had created a logo and slogan — 'High Fashion, High Visibility'. "We then conducted our research, and the response we received ... was very positive. From this we developed our prototype."

Lennon expressed special thanks to Eddie's mother on behalf of the team, for advising them on how to sew a hi-vis vest inside a North Face jacket.

The team were successful in getting the Bizzbucks investment from the 'Dragons'.

Wonderful entertainment at Expo 2017

There was a lot of excellent entertainment at yesterday’s Kilcullen/Ballymore Expo 2017 in Scoil Bhride, writes Brian Byrne.

Leah O’Sullivan played several times through the event, her harp expertise keeping a beautiful linking melody between the other events.

The Landers and Geraldine dancing schools also had members showing off their skills, some of them very high-flying indeed.

And, of course, the Kilcullen Gospel Choir belted it out, now under the direction of Lorraine Nolan. Even though just 18 of the 50-strong membership was able to make it for yesterday, they delivered a mighty sound, as the clip above shows.

All the pictures from the day can be viewed here.

Daithí was the man at today's Expo

TV presenter Daithí Ó Sé was a big hit at today’s Kilcullen/Ballymore Enterprise Town Expo 2017, writes Brian Byrne.

In addition to interviewing representatives of Kilcullen and Ballymore businesses, and Kilcullen Tidy Towns, he circulated through the Scoil Bhride assembly hall, meeting the various exhibitors.

Prizes were presented to Scoil Bhride students who took part in the Bank of Ireland sponsored Biz World school entrepreneur initiative, and medals to children who had taken part in demonstration GAA and Newbridge RFC under-age games. The CPC All-Ireland winning Girls Basketball Team were also represented.

We’ll be doing a full report later. In the meantime, all the pictures from today can be viewed here.

Expo 2017 is under way

Well, the Kilcullen/Ballymore Expo 2017 is under way in Scoil Bhride, writes Brian Byrne.

These early pictures will give you a flavour of what's to be seen. If you get a chance today drop down, open until 4pm. And there's free coffee courtesy of Paul Treacy.