Kilcullen 700 presentation to Library

Nessa Dunlea has made a presentation to Julie O’Donohue of Kilcullen Community Library to mark the Library's contribution to Kilcullen 700, writes Brian Byrne.

The presentation was not only for their recent Heritage Week exhibit but for various other presentations held in the Library during the year.

Among these was the 'The Curse of Emigration' musical event produced by Frank Morrow and friends.

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Final heritage winner presentation

The remaining presentation to the winners of the Kilcullen 700/Heritage Week competition was made this afternoon to Sharon's Perfect Image, writes Brian Byrne.

The salon's display of nostalgic memorabilia garnered them one of the four €250 prizes in the Bank of Ireland Kilcullen sponsored competition.

The business joined Armelle's Kitchen, Ger's Fruit & Veg, and Kilcullen Drama Group in the winners' group.

Pictured are Sharon McDonnell of Sharon's Perfect Image, with Tom Shaw of Bank of Ireland Kilcullen, and Sharon's mother Ann Clarke, from whose home most of the memorabilia in the display came.

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Kilcullen 700/Heritage Week Competition winners

Kilcullen Drama Group's Joan Clarke, John Martin, and Eilis Phillips, with Nessa Dunlea of Kilcullen 700.

The winners in the Kilcullen 700/Heritage Week competition sponsored by Bank of Ireland Kilcullen were Perfect Images, Ger's Fruit and Veg, Armelle's Kitchen, and Kilcullen Drama Group, writes Brian Byrne. Each received €250 from the Bank, and the cheques were presented by Nessa Dunlea, chair of the Kilcullen 700 Committee.

The judges were Lucina Russell, Arts Officer from Kildare County Council; and Clodagh Hughes, East Midlands Area Manager for Bank of Ireland.

Special Commendations were awarded to Kilcullen Community Library for the display on inclusion and diversity of woman in the workforce; and to Scoil Bhride for involvement of youth in the town's heritage during its 700th anniversary celebrations.

Brennan's Hardware and The Final Furlong were also commended for their family and heritage displays.

(Note: There was no representative available from Perfect Images for their presentation, which will be made tomorrow.)

Armelle Siomboing with Nessa Dunlea.

Nessa Dunlea presents the prize to Ger Wixted of Ger's Fruit and Veg.

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Nolan's join the nostalgia trail

Back from a few days working away, I see more windows on Main Street have joined in the Kilcullen 700/Heritage Week 2019 effort, writes Brian Byrne.

These are a few parts from the Nolan's Butchers display, with photos, clippings, and some other memorabilia that reflect the growth of the business down the generations.

Judging takes place through today in the Competition, sponsored by Bank of Ireland.

All the Diary's coverage of the entries can be visited here. (Apologies to those we haven't reached yet.)



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Map of Kilcullen's Heritage Week displays

A copy of the map can be downloaded here.

There are entries for the Kilcullen 700/Heritage Week Competition at 17 locations in town, writes Brian Byrne. The independent judges will be evaluating all of them through Saturday to select which will win the four €250 prizes sponsored by Bank of Ireland Kilcullen.

The locations are Perfect Images Hair & Beauty, Secret Kloset, Foto, Berney Bros Saddlery, Brennan's Hardware, Woodbine Books, The Powder Room, the Heritage Centre, An Tearmann, Ger's Fruit & Veg, The Final Furlong Cafe, Berney's Chemist, Nolan's Butchers, Armelle's Kitchen, Nichola Kennedy Optometrist, Kilcullen Community Centre, and Kilcullen Community Library.

Apart from the judges, it's a great opportunity for residents to see how many of the town's businesses and organisations have an interesting history, either of the families and other people involved with them, or how the entities evolved down the decades.

The map above was produced by Sean Sourke for the Kilcullen Heritage Group.

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More memories from the Brennan family

Some more family heritage has been added to the displays in Brennans Hardware, writes Brian Byrne.

They include some work by Mary, wife of Alfie Brennan, who came to Cross and Passion Convent in the early 1940s to teach Domestic Science.

Included are some samples of her handwork in tapestry, embroidery, and candlewick. There are also books related to her teaching work, and her prize certificate for passing the Senior Oxford, as Mary Troy, in Paignton.

We like the title of one of the books, 'How to Live 365 Days a Year'. That one was well worth teaching from, we'll bet ...

Some nice exhibits of passing the time with chess and cards too.

(Apologies to anyone whose efforts for the Kilcullen 700 Heritage Week Competition that we may not have gotten around to ... time and places got in the way. But best of luck to all in the judging on Saturday.) 

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Packed programme at heritage evening

The days of films in Kilcullen Town Hall were recalled last night as just one item in a comprehensive programme of features for Heritage Week 2019, writes Brian Byrne.

Maurice O'Mahony gave a succinct but illuminating recollection of the time when the Town Hall Cinema was acknowledged as one of the best cinemas in the county, getting top films almost as soon as did the Dublin theatres.

The talk, centred around the old projector that is one of the exhibits in the Heritage Centre, was the opening one in a number of presentations during the evening on a varied palette of Kilcullen history and heritage. Maurice touched on some of the blockbusters that brought cinema goers from all over the county to Kilcullen, including 'The Guns of Navarone'. He also remembered the visit of actor Paul Newman to the theatre while he was staying at Castlemartin, after which Brendan O'Connell ferried him back to the then O'Reilly home by canoe.

Pat Kelly provided his recollections of his family's forge in the square, bringing to life the 'ring' of the hot metal being beaten into shape on an anvil. His memories of a once-common trade are a treasure trove of history of both family and a Kilcullen over several generations.

David O'Brien talked about the history and development of Kilcullen Boxing Club through the second half of the 20th century, moving eventually from its training base in the loft behind the Hideout to a purpose built hall behind market square, and after the millennium eventually getting a brand new headquarters on the Community Centre Campus.

With Dan Donnelly's arm being on display in Kilcullen for the first time, in the Heritage Centre for this week, courtesy of Josephine Byrne, your editor provided a brief overview of its history and how it came to be in Kilcullen since the early 1950s.

Some detail on the history of Kilcullen Drama Group was given by Philomena Breslin, beginning with its earliest days in the Carlow Stables which were located on what is now Nicholastown Green. Following that, everyone present was invited into the theatre, to view a set of three short videos on Old Kilcullen, the bridges of Kilcullen, and the Donnelly and Cooper pageants of the early 1950s.

The evening concluded with a number of short excerpts from plays which had been staged through the years by Kilcullen Drama Group members. These were presented by Joan Clarke, Dick Dunphy, Fergal Sloan, John Martin and Vivian Clarke.

Other attractions of the evening included demonstrations of typical games played by children in the times before digital toys, by members of the Youth Drama Group; and a display of artwork produced by the pupils of Scoil Bhride as their contribution to the Kilcullen 700 celebrations.

Finishing the programme, Nessa Dunlea of the Kilcullen Heritage Group thanked all who had taken part in the preparations and the presentations, and also the audience who had come to enjoy the event. She outlined some of the future occasions related to the Kilcullen 700 activities, which will conclude in December with a symbolic floodlighting of the tower of Old Kilcullen, followed by the switching on of lights on the bridge. These will be carried out by the oldest and youngest members of the community respectively.

She reminded all that the next Kilcullen event of this Heritage Week is at 7.30pm on Thursday, with a presentation by local singers and storytellers in the Library about emigration.


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Heritage Week from Brennan's Hardware, and the Community Centre

A quick catch-up on heritage displays, this time with Brennan's Hardware window which highlights family and business backgrounds through many decades of the 20th century, writes Brian Byrne.

The aerial photograph is particularly fascinating, as it shows many buildings and a few businesses which are no longer in existence.

The Denis Brennan land and auctioneering business is recalled by advertisements in 1918, and a note on the family lineage that followed his death that same year puts things into today's perspective. What I didn't know was that the family were, like mine, also in the funeral undertaking business, evidenced by the invoice from 1945.

The pictures here are courtesy of Mary Brennan.

Over in the Community Centre there are presentations from the files of the Centre itself, including contemporary newspaper reports from its opening in 1982.

Sets of streetscapes and portraits by PJ Lydon are also triggers for memory.

Also in the Conroy Room are displays from the Pitch & Putt Club, the Kilcullen Scouts, the Kilcullen Badminton Club, and probably more since I was down there on Sunday.

For anyone who is recently moved into Kilcullen, this week is an excellent one to find out much about where they have come to. It is their heritage now, too.

Heritage Week 2019 runs until the weekend, and a number of businesses and organisations have signed up to provide a display for the Kilcullen 700 competition, the prizes for which are sponsored by Bank of Ireland, Kilcullen. The links below are to some of the other entries so far covered on the Diary.

A Main Street walk of nostalgia.

A steamer trunk's story in Secret Kloset.

Music, games and books in Woodbine's Heritage Week window.

More beautiful memory pieces in Sharon's Perfect Image. 

Ger's Fruit and Veg brings memories back. 

Julie's tableau of 50s home memory. 

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Photography and sweet delights on nostalgia trail

The exhibits for Kilcullen's effort for National Heritage Week have now reached flood proportions, and the Diary is hard put to keep up, writes Brian Byrne.

The latest we have looked at includes the Foto shop on Hillcrest, where Edward O'Mahony has assembled photographic memorabilia which has poked at my own memories.

Looking at the rolls of film, I fancied I could almost smell again the developer and fixer I used for some 25 years in my own darkroom, before my photographic world went digital.

Old cameras, magazines, and some examples of early portraiture are all just the thing to put many of us back into photographic Past Times.

Back at my end of town, Kenny and Armelle have also baked a little nostalgia into their window. "I didn't have much old in my attic, since my family home is back in France," Armelle says. "But we managed to put this together."

The child's tea set on the chequered picnic cloth is devised from icing, along with miniature baked slices of bread. There are a couple of vintage pastry books, including one specialising in delectable from Vienna. And a few naturally Parisian touches.

As I write, I hear that Berneys Chemist will have a display inside the shop, and in the Kilcullen Community Centre an Exhibition will take place upstairs in the Connolly Room by some of the local Clubs detailing their memories and their heritage. This expo will take place during opening hours.

Also, don't forget the official Kilcullen 700 Heritage Week event in the Heritage Centre at 8pm on Monday night. Lots to see and enjoy.

Heritage Week 2019 runs from this weekend all through next week, and a number of businesses and organisations have signed up to provide a display for the Kilcullen 700 competition, the prizes for which are sponsored by Bank of Ireland, Kilcullen. The links below are to some of the other entries so far covered on the Diary.

A Main Street walk of nostalgia.

A steamer trunk's story in Secret Kloset.

Music, games and books in Woodbine's Heritage Week window.

More beautiful memory pieces in Sharon's Perfect Image. 

Ger's Fruit and Veg brings memories back. 

Julie's tableau of 50s home memory. 

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