Bradys do the Gathering thing

The Gathering is still going on, at national, local, and individual family level, writes Brian Byrne.

And the latest part of it that the Diary had an experience of was meeting Noel and James Brady last night in Bardons in the company of their parents Anna Mae and John Brady.

Gather on, guys.

Gathering Music festival planned

A Kilcullen Gathering Music Festival is planned for Friday 20 September in O'Connells Bar.

The event will be in the upstairs Function Room, and begins at 9pm.

Musicians, singers and storytellers are all welcome. Contact Billy on 087 6311177.

Thanks for the 'Memories' Gathering

Memories of Main Street Families: A Gathering - Sunday 18th August 2013.

We would like to thank everyone who turned up to this special event and helped in any way. We have a great community in our town and, although a lot of our families are dispersed now, we discovered that it was just like yesterday since we last met. Whether you came from New Zealand, Bangkok, China, England, all over Ireland or from Kilcullen to join us on the day, we want you to know that you made the afternoon special by coming to the Town Hall and sharing your fond memories and precious photos with us.

We hope to produce a commemorative booklet to mark the occasion which, hopefully, will be available in time for Christmas so that our memories can be shared with the next generation.

Nessa Dunlea & Mary Orford.

Thanks for the 'Memories'

A splendid afternoonJust a quick thank you on behalf of Sylvia and myself to Nessa Dunlea and Mary Orford for the splendid afternoon they organised for Kilcullen Street memories last Sunday afternoon, writes Irene McDonnell.

The many familiar faces brought together, gave us treasured stories to recall and a lot of laughs to share.

For me it felt very much like 'home' and the lovely afternoon tea was reminiscent of those famous birthday parties we all so happily recall in our youth.

For all of you who put so much effort to organise this, may we say thank you. The afternoon will stay a treasured memory for many of us who, though far away, always carry a part of Kilcullen in our hearts.

ED: Sylvia and Irene are pictured above on the left and right, with Niall McDonnell and Nessa Dunlea.

Winners of 'Memories of Main Street' Quiz

Meals from 'Memories'We had two prize winners for our quiz at yesterday's Gathering 'Memories of Main Street' event, writes Mary Orford.

Breda Lambe, Kilcullen, won a voucher for Sunday lunch for two people at Fallons Bar and Café, and Marie Coffey (née McHugh) won a voucher for a meal for four people in Il Fico Restaurant.

Congratulations to both winners and thanks to everyone who entered the competition. Thanks to both Il Fico and Fallons for the donation of the prizes.

Great afternoon of 'Memories'

A feast of memories and memorabiliaThe 'Memories of Main Street' event in the Heritage Centre this afternoon was an absolute success, writes Brian Byrne.

Organised by Nuala Egan, Nessa Dunlea and Mary Orford, it brought out over 100 people to view photographs, albums, memorabilia, and hear personal memories from a range of people whose families lived on Main Street.





We'll try and get around to a longer report later, but in the meantime, here are pictures.

Mitchell Family Gathering last night

A fine time was had by all at the Mitchell Family Gathering held in Fallons last night.



There were up to 40 family members there from home and abroad. The event was organised by Anne from England with help from Dermot at the Kilcullen end. More pictures here.

Bridge Gathering will celebrate 21 years

Achievement beyond dreamsWhen the Bridge Camphill Community bought 'Nugents Field' and the Kilcullen Main Street buildings attached which had been a home and a forge, nobody could have dreamed how it would be today, writes Brian Byrne.

But 21 years later, it is a 'village within a village', with a campus that includes homes for the residents and co-workers, a weavery, workshops, a cafe, a complete farm with animals and organic vegetables growing, and a nature trail.

The changes will be enthusiastically discussed when some 35 former co-workers come back to the Community tomorrow, Tuesday 13 August, for a 21st birthday reunion. The actual anniversary is on the Friday of this week, a day which will be marked by music, drama, a big birthday cake and a party which promises to rival any held in Kilcullen for generations.

"It's all coming together nicely," says Bridge Camphill's Mischa Fekete, who is the primary point of contact for the event, although organising it is very much in the Community's tradition of team effort. "We are very grateful to the people of Kilcullen who have individually provided us with accommodation for our guests, so we don't have to set up a tent village. Indeed, many of those providing beds have thanked us for giving the opportunity to be a part of the celebrations."

Those attending are coming from as far away as Israel, Germany, Spain, and a number of other European countries. In addition, many people who can't come have taken the opportunity to touch base with the place where they had worked, for shorter or longer periods over the past two decades.

The programme for the 6-day event includes a number of artistic and craft activities. These include the participation of a couple of French artists who will create a mosaic on the recently-built Community Hall and also direct repairs to the Sun Mosaic visible from the bridge which was damaged a couple of years ago in the harsh weather. "We have to thank Kildare County Council, whose Arts in Health Programme gave us a grant to help with these."

In the afternoons the participants will help with some physical projects, including landscaping work on parts of the Nature Trail which was completed last year. "We are considering a small drama presentation on one of the evenings, and on the Thursday evening we will look at photographs together of how Bridge Camphill developed over the years. Apart from our own collections here, many people have emailed in their own photographs, so reminiscing over these will be very nice. We'll also have a late night video session watching the presentations of 'Oliver' and 'Fiddler on the Roof' which we put on in the early 2000s.

"It will be a sharing of the milestones, and the living history of what has happened here. Our people with special needs will also be a part of that, and we hope that for many of them it will trigger memories too." The culmination of the evening will be a 'candle light coming together' in a spiral that represents the journey taken in the 21 years.

Mischa reckons about 400 volunteers have come to work at Bridge Camphill down through the years. They spend between a few months to a year at the Community, and many of them have stayed in touch since they left.

The idea of setting up in Kilcullen itself was formed by members of the Camphill Community at Dunshane some miles outside the village. "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. 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 recalls the early days of the An Tearmann cafe set up in the Main Street building. "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, and An Tearmann today is not just one of the busiest coffee shops in town, but has become a focus for the whole community of Kilcullen and beyond. If you want to meet somebody, it's the first place anyone thinks of.

Looking at the overall landscape of the Bridge Campus today, it's a fascinating thought that every single tree, every plant, every building has been put there by the Community. "When you walk around it, from that perspective it is quite incredible what has been achieved. Also, when I look at how our people with special needs have developed over that time, how many of them have matured and grown up and have taken responsibility in so many different ways, I think it is a privilege to have walked with them on that way, and been allowed experience what has become a deep connectedness with these people."

This article was first published on the Kilcullen Page of the Kildare Nationalist.

Matt home from Australia on visit

Back from Australia for a visit is Matt Hughes (second from the left), unexpectedly met up with at the Kildare Village yesterday.

Matt is staying with his brother Michael on this leg of the trip, prior to a visit to France next week.

He works with an Apple Computer reseller in Sydney, and says he checks in regularly to the Diary to keep in touch with where he was raised.

In a brief chat he recalled when he worked in The Hideout in the mid 1970s, when your editor was managing the pub.

Nice to see the wild geese coming back now and again.

Pictured with Matt and Michael are Una Doyle and Ita Brennan.

Good response to 'Memories' day plan

Building a day of rememberingA number of photographs and other memorabilia have been made available to the organisers of the 'Memories of Main Street' heritage event next month, writes Brian Byrne.

According to Mary Orford, there has already been a good response to appeals for the loan of materials for the August 18 event, which will be the Kilcullen contribution to National Heritage Week.

A rolling slide show of the materials will be part of the afternoon in the Kilcullen Heritage Centre, but the main attraction will be chatting with and swapping stories from former residents of Main Street and their families.

The event will also provide a recorded resource for future generations of what it was like to live on Kilcullen's Main Street through from as far back as the 1940s.

Anybody who wants to provide material should in the first instance contact Kilcullen Heritage Centre, open every weekday morning. Photos and documents will be scanned and copied and returned to their owners.

JJ Whelan here for the GAA Gathering

The GAA Gathering gets under way today at 2pm. Fun for all the family.Among the visitors from San Francisco to Kilcullen this weekend is JJ Whelan, a patriarch of the Irish community in the Golden Gate city, who left Kilcullen in the early 1950s, writes Brian Byrne. He's pictured above with local dance teacher Jennifer Landers, at an event last evening in the Heritage Centre.

JJ has two grandsons playing in the Maurice O'Mahony Gathering Cup game, and told the Diary that he couldn't not come back to his home town for that.

He was at the Midsummer Night's Gathering of the County Kildare Federation of History Groups last night in the Heritage Centre, partly by accident because he had slipped across from Fallons to see photographs of himself and contemporaries when he was involved in boxing and football here before he emigrated. He was able to contribute some memories of his own to the evening, and was later presented with a copy of 'On the One Road', James Durney's history of unrest in Kildare 1913-1994.

JJ Whelan, Nessa Dunlea, and author James Durney.

JJ was heavily involved in GAA activities in San Francisco from 1960 on, and also shared his late wife Vera's passion for the Irish Dancing scene. He received a special award last year for his contribution to that area across the United States over 50 years.

His daughters Sharon and Sheila are also very involved in dancing, and have won North American Irish dancing championships. They set up their own dance academy, the Whelan Academy of Irish Dance, in San Francisco in 1995. Three years ago they joined with Patricia Kennelly, to form the Whelan-Kennelly Academy.

Vera Whelan was a native of Ballyshannon, Co Kildare. She passed away in 2008.

Full programme for GAA Gathering Day

Big fun day plannedAn international game between San Francisco and Kilcullen, a Tug O War, and a presentation to the iconic 1976 'Rags' team are just some of the events which will make the Kilcullen GAA Gathering on 22 June a day to remember, writes Brian Byrne.

Preparations for the event on Saturday 22 June are well in hand, and no less than 60 people associated with the Club have dedicated responsibilities to help make the event run smoothly.

The group from San Francisco will be using their game for the inaugural Maurice O'Mahony Cup as the final test before taking part in the All Ireland Feile event in Derry.

The 75-strong group, including players and family members, will have toured a number of GAA heartland clubs prior to coming to Kilcullen.

The Gathering kicks off at 2pm with a number of Girls football competitions, followed at 3pm by the Boys events. The SF/Kilcullen game is timed for a 4pm throw in.

There's a whole Field Day theme to the afternoon, with the Tug O War between a number of areas in and around Kilcullen, food and drink stands, and childrens activities including Bouncy Castle, Penalty Taking and more. There will also be face-painters in attendance.

KFM will also broadcast from the Club grounds.

The day will finish with the presentation of the Cup in The Hideout, with food for the teams and a supervised Teenage Disco in the new Schoolhouse Function Room in the pub.

A great Parade made a great Day

Well, what can we say? A fabulous event. Great floats, great turnout to participate and to watch. Lots of colour, sound, music, movement. Laughter and smiles galore.

And all down to one fifth year CPC student and Venture Scout, Emma Birchall, pictured above with Kieran Forde of KCA and Mischa Fekete of The Bridge Camphill, which won the Best Float Award. Her idea, her planning with her fellow scouts, and her determination to make it work.

"Should have had one years ago," someone said. Yes, we should. But nobody said 'let's do it'. Until Emma did at an early meeting on how Kilcullen might do stuff for The Gathering. And in the true tradition of those sticking their head above the parapet having to do things themselves, she did it.

She tries to keep in the background. But she's not allowed do that today. Well done, Emma. You played a blinder. Now, we're stuck with having to follow it up next year. And there's a challenge ...

We have lots of pics to give a flavour of a great day out. The usual slideshow, from setting up until the end, and here's a direct link for those who want to scroll through them on their iPhone.

Watch out particularly for  'Bridgie' Aspell, our 103-years-old Supergran, who was the Grand Marshall for the first of what will definitely become an annual event. Also Danú the wolfhound, who brought owner Sabina Reddy out for the day. And floats representing groups and businesses from Kilcullen and further afield.

At one point during the staging before takeoff, we all thought that everybody in Kilcullen was actually in the parade, and there wouldn't be anyone to watch downtown. But there was no need to worry, there were crowds at the reviewing stand outside Bank of Ireland, and all the way up to the traffic lights, where things finished up with a number of music and dancing acts in the CPC grounds. They included the Wolfe Tone Brass & Reed Band from Ballymore, who were terrific. As were our own home-grown groups who followed on until mid-afternoon.

Another call for photographs

We have mentioned before the quest for photographs of Kilcullen families and places to use in a special 'Gathering' website, aimed at giving Kilcullen's 'wild geese' a focus on home.

There has been a degree of response, but not as much as the Diary has hoped for, and we're making a further appeal for material that could become a very important part of Kilcullen's heritage legacy.

It's quite simple. Contact me, Brian Byrne, at my email or phone +353 86 8267104. Let me know what you have in your family picture albums, in Kilcullen or abroad, that you figure might be of interest to this project. I'll get back in touch, arrange a time to meet (or talk on Skype) and, locally, scan the pictures and hopefully, talk about their content.

All originals will be immediately returned to their owners. All stories will become part of the heritage riches of Kilcullen. A fair trade?

Scouts get parade in gear

The 9th Kildare Kilcullen Scout Troop are in the process of contacting all local businesses and social organisations with a view to having them participate in Kilcullen's first St Patrick's Day Parade.

They have asked that in case any of the above have inadvertantly not been contacted, perhaps they can get in touch directly.

The event is being organised as part of the Gathering 2013 and it's hoped it will act as one of the focuses of Kilcullen for those living abroad who might be considering coming home this year.

The organisers can be contacted on their special Facebook Page. All ideas welcome.

Gathering a photo collection

An online collection of old photographs of Kilcullen and Kilcullen people is being established as part of the community's input to the Kilcullen Gathering 2013 programme, writes Brian Byrne.

Individuals and organisations are to be asked to provide photographs, which will be scanned and returned immediately to their owners.

It is hoped that the initiative will also encourage descendants of Kilcullen people living abroad to send home pictures from their own family archives for inclusion in the collection.

Apart from the online collection, a series of hard copy exhibitions from the photographs could be shown in suitable venues in the greater Kilcullen area during 2013.

Anyone with photographs to contribute to the project should contact editor of the Kilcullen Diary Brian Byrne, email or phone/text +353 86 8267104. All photographs will be returned within a few days.

The picture here, as an example, is one taken by your editor of the late Tommy Wallace, who worked for many years with Berney Bros Saddlery. I took it during the early 1980s, when he was working in Limerick.

Parade plan moving ahead

Businesses will be canvassed during the Christmas holidays by Kilcullen's Venture Scouts to ask for their participation in the St Patrick's Day Parade being organised by the Scouts, writes Brian Byrne.

Emma Birchall told the recent meeting of the Kilcullen Gathering 2013 Steering Group that letters had been prepared and would be delivered to businesses and other local organisations during the schools Christmas holiday break.

The meeting was told that KCA had undertaken to cover the event under its insurance if no direct insurance was available at reasonable cost. Other insurance avenues were also being explored with the insurance company sponsoring the national Gathering event, and with Kildare County Council.

In tandem with proposals for an extended Spring Solstice event and the following Easter Sunday weekend, the Parade will open three weeks of local events which anybody home for the spring holidays can enjoy. The programme might also encourage Kilcullen 'wild geese' to plan homecoming holidays around the period.

A summer event organised by Kilcullen GAA and a series of August events already being organised means that Kilcullen is putting in place a strong involvement in the Gathering Ireland 2013 initiative.

Solstice music weekend

The possibility of a special weekend of traditional Irish music during the Spring Solstice is being explored by the Steering Group of the Kilcullen Gathering 2013, writes Brian Byrne.

The suggestion was developed at a meeting of the Group this week, the idea being that it would be part of an extended celebration of the Solstice which would include a commemoration of the late Dr Bernard Wailes.

Dr Wailes conducted the archaeological excavations on Dun Ailinne in the 1960s and 1970s, which confirmed the importance of the ancient Royal site as a place of gathering for celebration and spiritual events. He died recently, but had been back to Kilcullen for the dedication of the Dun Ailinne Interpretive Park in 2008.

The musical event is envisaged around a reprise of the special piece of music written by piper Liam O'Flynn for that occasion, 'Dun Ailinne and the Clann March'. It was commissioned by Kilcullen Community Action, who developed the Interpretive Park, and was sponsored by Sir Anthony and Lady O'Reilly of Castlemartin Stud.

At the Kilcullen Gathering 2013 meeting, Roy Thompson undertook to organise the musical weekend, planned for 23 March. The hope is that it might also bring back to Kilcullen some notable local traditional musicans who have gone to live elsewhere.

GAA confirm Gathering event with SF team

Kilcullen GAA have invited a team of U/14 players from San Francisco to come and play for the Kilcullen Gathering Cup in July, writes Brian Byrne.

The US team has already agreed to come, and their families also, and the event on the 22nd of the month will also have a team from Northern Ireland and from Leinster in the tournament.

There will also be a social event on the evening at which medals will be presented.

Kilcullen GAA will handle the catering, co-ordination, logistics, officials, parking and policing of the event.

This is the latest confirmed event in the Kilcullen Gathering 2013 initiative, which will also include the 125th Anniversary celebrations of Cross & Passion College in February, a St Patrick's Day Parade organised by Kilcullen Venture Scouts, and celebrations in August by the Bridge Camphill Community and an extended River Festival.

A special postcard is available FREE in Kilcullen shops for people to send to their family members and friends abroad, with details of how they can monitor the growing list of events and perhaps come home for a holiday based around one of them.

'Gathering' postcard available

A postcard will be available free in a number of shops and other locations in Kilcullen from this weekend which people can send to family members living abroad, suggesting they might come home for a holiday in 2013.

It's part of the Gathering Kilcullen 2013 initiative, and incorporates the iconic Dun Ailinne sculpture which was a KCA project of some years ago and is now one of the signature facets of Kilcullen.

The postcard provides the address of the Kilcullen Gathering 2013 Facebook page, and encourages the town's 'wild geese' to look in and see what's being planned during the year.