Kilcullen News Update

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Glider lands on Hundred Acres

A reader sent in this picture of a glider having made an unscheduled landing today on the Hundred Acres field in Gilltown. The pilot is said to be safe.

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Kilcullen Family Practice on RTE News

The Kilcullen Family Practice featured  on the RTE TV News this evening in a story about the rollout of vaccines against Covid-19.

Dr Deirdre Collins was interviewed on the segment and showed the facilities in the practice for handling and administering the vaccines.

It is expected that vaccine rollout for those over 70 will begin as scheduled in the week beginning 15 February.

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In this week's Kildare Nationalist

Just in case you missed it, my lead story on the Kilcullen page in the Kildare Nationalist this week is Roy Thompson's thoughts on his vegetable garden, and lessons we might hopefully take from coronavirus, writes Brian Byrne.

I also highlighted Dermot Mitchell's super photo of sunrise over Moanbane, and the Teddy Bear distancing message from Cnoc na Greine.

Buy your local newspaper. It's NEVER fake news.

Beat the Virus: Stay At Home. 

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Stop. Think. Check.

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels.

Three short words, but a they're the important part of a short guide to being media smart, available from the National Youth Council of Ireland, writes Brian Byrne.

Be Media Smart is aimed at helping all readers of social media to take a closer look at what they're being fed on their screens. The NYCI is involved because young people are possibly the most heavily invested in the fast-churning tide of today's information and entertainment media.

But it's a guide for everyone. Which is why the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the Media Literacy Ireland group which it facilitates are partners with the youth group in Be Media Smart.

The guide is simple, just four double-spaced pages. As a longtime journalist I'd urge everyone reading this blog to download it and read it. Even with half a century of this work gone through dozens of my typewriters and keyboards, it was a useful reminder of what I should always do myself. What I hope I always do.

Stop. Think. Check.

Read it.

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Kilcullen's spread in Kildare Nationalist

Just in case you missed this week's Kildare Nationalist, the Kilcullen pages feature strongly, writes Brian Byrne.

This week there are some CPC Debs family pics, a report on the recent Old Kilcullen Picnic, and an extensive lookaround at many of the displays which have been produced in the town for National Heritage Week.

Also, my car review in this one is the Ford Mondeo Hybrid.

There's still time to pick one up before the next edition replaces this on on Tuesday.

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Full report on Kilcullen's awards night in Nationalist

Just in case you missed last week's Tidy Town & Community Awards Night, the Kildare Nationalist out today gave me a big spread for them, writes Brian Byrne.

Also, for those of you interested in the possibility of buying an electric car, my review in the paper this week is the Renault Zoe with the new extended range battery.

Worth picking up.

Grid Link Information Office is officially opened

Information Office in Market SquareThe Grid Link Information Office in Kilcullen was officially opened last evening with the attendance of the Mayor of Kildare, Michael Spike Nolan, writes Brian Byrne.

Also there was Cllr Ivan Keatley from Kilcullen, and Cllr Paddy Kennedy from Newbridge.

The Office is located in the Market Square building, on the second floor. Access is possible by the lift in the premises as well as the stairs.

It will be open every Monday afternoon to provide information on the Grid Link Project, a €500 million investment that will see the construction of a new power line linking Dunstown (near Kilcullen) with Knockraha in Co Cork via Great Island in Co Wexford and will ensure future electrical power needs are met in the south and east of Ireland.

Pictured at last night's event are Ronan Greely, EirGrid, Cllr Ivan Keatley, and John Lowry, Grid Link Project Manager.

The list of possible routes for the link will be made public in September as part of an intensive public consultation programme linked to the project.

When the Saint comes marching in...

'Saint' is first Kilcullen FreemanIt was a proper Kilcullen Gathering. One guy came home, and everybody turned out in McTernan's to give him a surprise party, writes Brian Byrne.

Donal St Leger didn't have an inkling of what was to happen when the Gilly Collins walked him through the door of the pub last night. Bernard Berney and Vivian Clarke, with a little help from James Healy and a lot of stories from friends of The Saint, some of whom had travelled far, made for one heck of a night.

He was made a Freeman of Kilcullen by Kilcullen's 'only' Lord Mayor, Michael 'Porky' Lambe.

Vivienne Clarke kicked off a 'This is Your Life' session with an outline of why Donal left Ireland in 1955 for New York, based on a conversation which he'd had with The Saint some time ago.

"I was four weeks from my Leaving, and I had a slight disagreement with the Principal of the Christian Brother School in Naas. The Principal won, and I was expelled, and three weeks later I was on the boat to America, because there was no place for a man of my skills in the Ireland of 1955. I had played football with the top players here, and I had danced with the best looking women in the province of Leinster, and it was time for Donal St Leger to find new fields to conquer."

Jim 'The Brad' Berney had also left Kilcullen at the same time, and was part of a crew building a bridge in the Yukon Territory in Western Canada. The two friends corresponded in the way of that time, by letter, and Jim was dead set on getting Donal up to the Territory, telling him that they got paid $50 an hour 'if you go high enough'.

"I tell you what, Brad," the 'Ledge' wrote back. "When I'm on on the front step of the house, I'm high enough up off the road."

While they remained on different sides of the continent both did come back to Ireland together in 1959, though Donal was to go back again, and settle in New Jersey after he met and married his late wife Virginia. They had two children, Brian and Kathleen. At last night's event, Jim Collins took up the story.

"He had come back with the 'high rollers' from the Yukon, but after a while he ran out of money and decided to go back to New York. Billy Hughes lent him the £30 for the fare. About ten years later I was telling Billy that I was going to New York and was going to look up St Leger. Billy said that when I did, I was to remind him that he still owed him the £30. So I did, and Donal told me to tell Billy that he had bought two bullocks with the money and put them out to graze, one for himself and one for Billy ... but Billy's one had died."

Jim recalled 1978 when the prize in Kilcullen's Lord Mayor elections fundraiser for The Valley was a trip to New York for the winner and his campaign manager. By the time the holiday happened, there were seven other Kilcullen people in the contingent, travelling at their own expense.

"Donal organised a minivan for us when we got to New York, and 3,000 miles later, after going up to Niagara Falls, then on to Toronto to meet Joe McKenna, back down to Boston to see some friends there, we finished off with a great party in Donal's home, with all the people in New York from around the Kilcullen and Naas area that the Saint knew."

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation by Kilcullen's 'Lord Mayor' Michael 'Porky' Lambe of a scroll making Donal St leger the first Freeman of Kilcullen. Bernard Berney then read out the Privileges and Duties of a Freeman.

"A Freeman of Kilcullen is entitled to express an opinion on any subject whatsoever, even though he doesn't have a bull's notion of what he is talking about.

"A Freeman is entitled to be served after closing hours in any pub within the boundaries of Kilcullen, without fear of prosecution or persecution.

"The privilege of drinking after hours is extended to any person drinking in the company of the Freeman who consistently buys out of turn.

"A Freeman is entitled to the grazing rights of two sheep on Nicholastown Green, subject to the agreement of Mickey Pender and Maurice Baxter.

"In the event of a Viking attack, the Freeman is entitled to climb up into the round tower of Old Kilcullen first ... even before the women and children.

"In the event of a dispute arising about whose turn it is to buy a round, it is the duty of the Freeman to insist that it is the turn of the wealthiest person in the company at the time ... but should it happen that the Freeman is the wealthiest man, then the round becomes the responsibility of the second wealthiest.

"If the Freeman is sitting on a full bus and a woman has to stand, it is the duty of the Freeman to persuade the man sitting beside him to get up and offer his seat to the lady."

Finally, having delivered the foregoing in his inimitable style, Bernard decreed that anyone who contests the awarding of this honour to Donal St Leger will be subject to the scorn of the people of Kilcullen, in perpetuity, and be labelled a nob.

"This honour is extended to Donal St Leger as an expression of the popular will of a considerable number of the working class, and a recognition of the popular will of the vast majority of the drinking class. The Freeman thus ennobled is pledged forever to uphold the glorious and salutary motto of our lovely town — 'Nil Illegitimi Carborundum', or, 'Don't let the the Bastards Grind you Down'."

Finally, a current Kilcullen GAA jersey was presented to Donal by club PRO Aidan Gleeson, in recognition of his own prowess as a footballer before he left for the USA. All agreed that it was just one of those great Kilcullen nights, the kind that will be talked about as long as there are Kilcullen people who get together.

You can listen to the occasion here. (Audio: 24'57")


Pics above by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary.

Pedestrian gate request for Monday Council meeting

Move on gate requestThe Area Engineer for Kilcullen will report on Monday on a proposal that the pedestrian gate at Thompsons Cross be altered to allow for buggy and bicycle use, writes Brian Byrne.

The move was requested by Cllr Ivan Keatley after local people highlighted the difficulty presented by the existing gate, put in place when the junction at the R448/R418 was realigned.

The Engineer will give a verbal report to the Area Meeting on Monday morning.

The Diary story on the matter is here.

(Want to show your support for the idea? Make a comment here.)

Launch of book on Naas Town Hall

There was a strong Kilcullen representation at last night's launch in Naas of Mick Mulvey's book, From Castle Keep to Council Chamber — The Story of Naas Town Hall. Above are Sean and Mary Keogh and below, Nessa Dunlea with historian and author James Durney and his wife Caroline.

Department rejects Leader financing of Childcare centre

Just as it was finally being carried across the line, the Kilcullen Childcare & Education Centre project has been dealt a nasty foul by the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government, writes Brian Byrne.

Centre project in crisisAfter a two-year marathon by the volunteer directors of the project, and the staff of the 30 years old Naomh Bhride Community Playgroup, access to a key part of the required funding programme has been unexpectedly rejected by the Department. Even though the project had been approved in principle by the main funders, the County Kildare Leader Partnership, late last year. It was fully approved by the Board of CKLP in April.

In what the project's champions see as a 'backtrack' by the Department's EU Rural Development section, the project was rejected as 'ineligible' yesterday because it related to childcare. This despite the fact that the same body provided grant aid last year for the provision of a Project Manager to further the Centre, an application then clearly presented as a childcare project.

The Centre concept has received widespread support of the greater Kilcullen Community, and a substantial part of the required €450,000 was raised locally.

Devastated promoters of the project, which would eventually become a vital Resource Centre for the growing and relatively young families of Kilcullen have vowed not to accept the Departmental refusal, and are planning a number of events to highlight the idiocy of the move against the background of state and institutional neglect of children revealed in recent times.

A public meeting is being organised for next week, on Wednesday 19th June in the Heritage Centre, to detail the position and kick off a determined campaign to reverse the Department's decision. It is open to appeal, and to judicial review if necessary.

Kilcullen Community Childcare & Education Centre Ltd has employed a solicitor to develop the appeal and any further legal action that might be required.

Naomh Bhride Community Childcare caters for some 25 families, and is currently operating in prefab premises which have not been fit for purpose for some years.

Gathering at the Vincents Shop

Just in case you haven't noticed it, the Vincents Shop has a special window on the theme of The Gathering, writes Brian Byrne. It's for a competition amongst Vincents shops nationwide.

It's well worth taking a closer look at the details, which will bring back a lot of memories for many, and the whole arrangement does put into a new perspective the emigration that became such a part of the ethos of being Irish.

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.

Big interest in 'Bloomsday at Castlemartin'

Extra seats availableThe 'Bloomsday at Castlemartin' event next Sunday, June 16, has proven to be very popular, according to Maintain Hope's Gerry O'Donoghue.

"We have been able to secure extra seating accommodation, and there are still tickets available," he told the Diary yesterday. "It would make a great Father's Day present for some."

The event is an afternoon of John McCormack favourites, with tenor Philip Scott and the performance begins at 3.30pm.

All proceeds are in aid of Maintain Hope. Tickets €20 are bookable through Berney's Pharmacy Kilcullen 045 481497.

KWWSPCA Coffee Morning on Thursday

Collection for animal charityThe local Street Collection for the Kildare West Wicklow SPCA takes place in Kilcullen on Thursday, 13 June.

There will on the same day be a Coffee Morning on in the Heritage Centre for the funds of the organisation, from 10am-2pm.

It will include a bring and buy sale of bric-a-brac, books, cakes and other items.

Call for Main Street memories

Event will be voices and pictures on the pastKilcullen Heritage Group is to hold a 'Memories of Main Street Families' gathering event in August as its contribution to National Heritage Week, writes Brian Byrne.

The event on Sunday 18 August will include a display of family memorabilia and photographs from families who lived on Main Street through the decades before Kilcullen began its expansion to its current size.

And although few actual families live on the street now, the organisers have already put together a list of more than 90 such families who still have people living either elsewhere in Kilcullen itself or further afield, even abroad.

"We're hoping that a representative number will either come along on the day and talk about their families' experiences growing up on Main Street, or send in their stories," says Nessa Dunlea of the Heritage Group, who is organising it along with Mary Orford.

Both of them come from Main Street families — Nessa is an O'Connell and her family operated a shop and a bakery on Lower Main Street. The Orfords operated a pub and a grocery shop.

"In advance of the event, we're issuing an appeal to the families to let us have the loan of appropriate memorabilia," Mary says. "These can include photographs, letters, invoices — many of the families were in business in the town."

Ideally, the exhibition that will come from such memorabilia will use copies and scans of whatever was sent in, so that the originals can be given back immediately.

"The first point of contact for this should be the Heritage Centre, which is open every morning," Nessa says. "We'll have copying and scanning facilities to make sure that there's no danger of losing irreplaceable mementoes."

For the purposes of the exercise, Main Street is being taken as from the entrance to Sunbury (beside the Garda Station) to Hillside as far as the McTernan home on the Dublin Road.

The event in the Heritage Centre will be videographed and the stories told recorded, which will provide an invaluable heritage and historical resource for the future.

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

Summer Flowers programme begins

Another sign of summer — Joe O'Connor and Wayne Aspell putting up the flower baskets on the bridge today.

The tubs have been planted, and the window boxes are scheduled to go up from Monday.

Donations are still needed to help cover the cost.

Collection and sponsored walk this weekend for Alzheimer Care Unit

Josie's on the march againToday, 8th June, there will be a collection in Kilcullen for Le Chéile Alzheimer Care Unit, St Vincent's Hospital, Athy, writes Mary Orford, and tomorrow, Sunday June 9th, Josie Connolly has organised a sponsored walk, leaving The Stray Inn (Markey's) at 3pm, arriving at O'Connell's at 4pm where light refreshments will be served.

There has long been a link between St Vincent's Hospital and Kilcullen and people have been generous to a fault each year for Josie's collection and sponsored walk.

Monies raised in Kilcullen in the past have helped towards the purchase of special equipment such as beds, an accessible bus and gardening polytunnels, all of which add to the quality of life of the residents.

Josie would be grateful for any support she receives this weekend — whether it's a donation to one of the collectors or joining in the sponsored walk.

New school for Crookstown welcomed

Part of €100m programmeCrookstown is to get a new school in a new€100m Government programme which will see 28 new schools around the country.

The move has been welcomed by Kildare South TD Martin Heydon, who is a past pupil of Crookstown NS.

“The granting of planning permission for this new school last September and the subsequent funding for a rising sewage main from the Department of the Environment this year all gave impetus to the project,” he says. "A lot of work has been put in by many hardworking people including  principal Nuala Costello and the Board of Management led by their dedicated chair David O'Grady."

The 28 schools are in addition to the 275 major school building projects announced in March 2012 under the Government's Five Year Plan. They were approved last week by Cabinet as part of the Investment for Jobs.