It Says In The Bridge: Jan 09

As is to be expected, the first Bridge of 2009 looks back a lot at the end of last year. But one of the lead stories goes back much further, to many thousands of years ago. It's based on a report produced by Dr Susan Johnston about her work over recent summers on the ancient site of Dun Ailinne. Bottom line, it seems there really is more than meets the eye at the site.

Her investigations suggest there was a much more complex architecture than what had been discovered in the excavations of the 60s and 70s. Des Travers extracts some of the key details of her findings, and hopes that she gets funding and support to investigate further.

That front page also reports the success of the Soccer Club's second team recently, winning a league last conquered by the club in 1997.

Back to the more recent past again, and photographs retell a lot of Christmas tales. They include a presentation from the GAA to KCA towards the Christmas decoration of the square, the latest Credit Union Poster Competition winners, the gala opening night of 'A Christmas Cracker', and the presentation by the Lions of a cheque towards the New Abbey Cemetery Tarmacadam Fund.

There's coverage of Jeffrey Hovenden Keane's win in the RTE 'It's My Show' competition, and a Senior Citizens party hosted by the students of CPC. Junior classes at Scoil Bhride also feature in a spread of pictures taken while they performed their Christmas play ... photographer Pat Foley was certainly working hard over the festive season! He also got to cover the Carol Service held in the Parish Church by the children of Brannockstown and Halverstown national schools.

It is Community Games time again and there are pictures of the run-offs in the Draughts League to represent the town.

Sean Landers, home for the Christmas, records some of the difficulties in getting here from Taiwan, and also the familiar pre-Christmas scenes here in Kilcullen. In his historical article he recalls details of one of Cross & Passion Convents more illustrious past pupils, writer Maeve Brennan. In a later career with the 'New Yorker', she published stories like 'The Devil is in Us', which took inspiratiomn from her two years in Kilcullen's secondary school from 1929.

Billy Redmond goes 'Off the Cuff' on his usual wide range of topics. This time he muses about the fate of the 87 million euros at the centre of the recent Anglo Irish Bank scandal, the unfairness of comedians in their depiction of our current Taoiseach, a certain ennui about not being asked to play at a recent Senior Citizens party, waste depredation in the Church Car Park, and the seemingly insoluble problem of parking on the Church Road.

Finally, a look forward to a town organisation rooted 78 years in the past. Yes, 2009 is the 78th year of Kilcullen Drama Group, and as part of the celebration, they intend to produce Hugh Leonard's play 'A Life'.

We look forward to the party!

Brian Byrne.

A taste of fame

Jeffrey Hovenden Keane, the 13 year old who recently won the RTE ‘It’s My Show’ contest to find a young TV presenter, is getting ready to host an episode of ‘ICE’ on the station before the end of the month.

“I’m a bit apprehensive, but I’m looking forward to it because it’s a great chance for me,” the Calverstown youngster told the Diary. “You wouldn’t know where it might bring me in the future.”

And Jeffrey is already experiencing the first effects of fame. When he went back to school at Newbridge College last week he found himself the focus of a lot of attention from his classmates.

“And over Christmas, when the family in a hotel restaurant in Limerick, one of the waitresses asked was I that ‘famous boy from television’,” he grinned.

Jeffrey attends the local Talented Kids Performing Arts School and Agency, run by Maureen Ward. The school’s pupils have been placed in a number of TV series and even movies, including RTE’s ‘Fair City’.

Brian Byrne.

NOTE: You can read the full extent of Kilcullen involvement in TV and film in this week's Kildare Nationalist.

Art Group planning first exhibition

The prospect of running their first group art exhibition has the Kilcullen Art Group all business at the moment.

The event is being mounted in the Heritage Centre on the week before Easter, beginning Friday 4 April.

In addition to working on paintings for the exhibition, the group are also building their own stands, and indication that more exhibitions are likely in the future.

“We’re all looking forward to it,” says group leader Sabina Reddy, who founded the club three years ago. Membership ranges from 15-20 regulars, and the group meets every Tuesday night in the new Kilcullen Canoe Club premises. Their tutor is professional artist Clodagh Gale.

Badminton first for Kildare

Kildare Badminton Association held their first Kildare Graded Open in Kilcullen on January 3 and 4, 2009 attracting 126 players from all four provinces.



The tournament, organised by Sheila Smyth and Claire Flood, was a huge success and proved yet again that the counties have great venues and players who enjoy competition.

Singles, doubles and mixed competitions in all grades from Senior 1 to Class 6 were highly contested in the event at Kilcullen Community Complex.

Food, hot drinks and complimentary fruit was provided for the two days by committee members and proved very popular.

Matt Tobin from CMF Badminton Club celebrated his 70th Birthday and a surprise birthday cake and Kildare T-Shirt was presented to him by Sheila and Claire. A fantastic weekend of badminton was had by all and next year's Kildare Open is already in the calendar.

A special thanks to Breda Connolly, president of the Leinster Branch who travelled from Dublin to present over 80 trophies to all the winners and runners-up.

Thanks to everyone who entered and to the KBA Committee who work tirelessly for Kildare badminton.




Results as follows:

Senior 1

Mens Doubles

Winner: Paddy Burke & Kevin Corrigan
Runner-Up: Aubrey Cox & Martin O'Hanlon

Ladies Doubles

Winner: Claire Flood & Donna Kee
Runner-Up: Laura Hennessy & Clare Davidson

Mixed Doubles

Winner: John Curran & Laura Hennessy
Runner-Up: Paul Donnelly & Claire Flood


Senior 1/Class 1

Mens Singles

Winner: Seamus Halpin
Runner-Up: Brian Dignam


Ladies Singles

Winner: Donna Kee
Runner-Up: Aisling Chapman

Class 1

Mixed Doubles

Winner: Seamus Halpin & Darina Mangan
Runner-Up: Paddy Burke & Lavinia Proudfoot

Class 1/Class 2

Mens Doubles

Winner: Paul Ennis & John Maher
Runner-Up: Seamus Halpin & Neil O'Flaherty

Ladies Doubles

Winner: Michelle Hayes & Aisling Chapman
Runner-Up: Fiona Farrell & Leanne Kelly

Class 2/3

Mixed Doubles

Winner: Joe Byrne & Helen Donnelly
Runner-Up: Ronan Kevitt & Nicola Mountford

Class 3

Mens Singles

Winner: Robert Ingram
Runner-Up: Robert Power

Mens Doubles

Winner: Robert Ingram & Kieran O'Brien
Runner-Up: Jason Fahy & Robert Power

Class 4

Mens Singles

Winner: Seamus O'Flaherty
Runner-Up: Daniel Wynne

Ladies Doubles

Winner: Susan Kilcline & Paula Scully
Runner-Up: Michelle O'Toole & Caroline Sheedy

Mixed Doubles

Winner: Seamus O'Flaherty & Susan Kilcline
Runner-Up: Sean Pollard Jackson & Helen Rouse

Class 4/5

Mens Doubles

Winner: Patsy Nugent & Kieran Barber
Runner-Up: John Plant & Sean Pollard Jackson

Class 5

Mens Singles

Winner: Damien Molloy
Runner-Up: Gareth Hogan

Ladies Doubles

Winner: Helen & Rachel Rouse
Runner-Up: Pamela Kelly & Michelle O'Toole

Mixed Doubles

Winner: Tony Hennessy & Pamela Kelly
Runner-Up: Pat Stafford & Caroline Sheedy

Class 6

Mens Singles

Winner: Neil Hosey
Runner-Up: Ger Bissett

Mens Doubles

Winner: Ger Bissett & Keith Pearson
Runner-Up: Gareth Hogan & Adrian Doran

Ladies Doubles

Winner: Sinead Phelan & Ann Casey
Runner-Up: Muriel Downey & Nora Hogan

Mixed Doubles

Winner: Jason Elliott & Bernadette Stafford
Runner-Up: Eros Biasiolo & Karen O'Toole

Hilary Makin

New stock in Library

Kilcullen’s Library has just taken delivery of hundreds of new books, a bright spot in these otherwise recessionary times.



“There’s a saying that Libraries are used more during recessions, and I’ve certainly noticed that since about last November we’re getting more adults,” says Librarian Julie O’Donoghue.

She’s hoping also that more young adults will start using the facility this year, especially as a place for study. The Library, in the old Boys School building, was given a significant refurbishment recently, which followed the provision of an extension with storage space and toilets.

The systems have recently been computerised, which makes it much easier both to keep track of books and also to get ones particularly in demand from other parts of the County network.

A Kilcullen Year

Just a note to highlight the 2008 Review of Kilcullen which is in the current issue of the Kildare Nationalist.

You might like to have it as a reminder of how much happened here, and when it did.

Your Editor must declare an interest, as he writes the Kilcullen Page in the Kildare Nationalist every week.

Generous response to VdeP collection

There was a very generous response to the Kilcullen St Vincent de Paul Christmas Collection in the parish’s churches, with €4,163 contributed.

Of that, €3,218 was given at Kilcullen Parish Church, and the balance at Gormanstown Church.

Light the candles again

That time of year again, as we approach the fourth birthday of the Diary.

Though we seem to have reached a plateau in recent months, there was again a growth in readership during 2008. More than 103,000 visits to the site, with over 150,000 pages read. It's a lot of attention. Thank you, readers.

You tuned in from more than 130 countries, which makes us something of a United Nations. But with around two thirds accessing from Ireland itself -- and by logic, from the more or less direct locality -- the Diary is very much a facility for the community in Kilcullen itself.

That said, our town's expats in the US are the next most interested readers, followed closely by the UK. After a couple of European countries -- Germany has quite a few Kilcullenites -- it won't be any surprise that there's a good chunk of regular readership from Australia. It seems that every second home in Kilcullen has somebody in Ozland at any given time, your Editor's family included.

Why do they bother? I suppose, when you're far away, any regular link with home is nice. I often meet parents or siblings of our Wild Geese and they tell me that the outlanders often know more about what's happening here than do those they've left at home.

For those who look in from around here on a regular basis, we try to offer something new every day. But to be fair, it's a part-time and unpaid effort, and we increasingly find that time is indeed finite, and there are real physical limits to productivity. We'll keep on trying to push out this Internet envelope, though ... because it really is fascinating to this sexagenarian to be still learning new things.

The good thing is that, since we set up the Diary those some years ago, there are other local websites which have come on stream, catering for their own specialised interests here. In most cases, they don't take from what we're at, because we weren't there anyhow.

The Badminton Club, the GAA Club, are to the fore as exemplars, using the WWW in the best way possible, as regularly updated sites to let their members and followers know what's going on in a timely fashion.

The Parish is also getting in on the act, and the original static website is being developed to provide a more dynamic reporting of the Catholic interests in the locality. There's also a new Baptist congregation site which extends further the local spiritual ethos.

Also, Cross & Passion College has now got seriously onto the web, and is providing a regular news feed of the varied and often wonderful things that are happening in that youthful and vibrant part of our community.

Does all this begin to make the Diary look a little redundant? We don't believe so. Apart from the fact that we can direct you to news from these other interests, there are a number of segments out there which still haven't grasped the advantages of what we might call 'Kilcullen on the Net'.

So, approaching this latest birthday of the Diary (third week of January), we're saying 'watch this space'. Because this is the space where we'll try to keep making new things happen.

Otherwise we'd get bored ...

Brian Byrne.

'Talent' upcoming

The 'Kilcullen's Got Talent' event organised by Kilcullen Community Games is on in the Town Hall Theatre on Saturday 24 January.

Open to boys and girls aged under 14 on 31 July 2009, the competition runs from 10am-1pm.

The participants can be solo or group musicians, dancers and singers. There's also a category from the old days, solo recitation.

Registrations took place in mid-December, so the talent show is fully scheduled. Further information is available from Ann Quigley 087 77335176.

Badminton open for business

Kilcullen Badminton Club plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9pm to 11pm, at Kilcullen Community Sports Complex. The facility has four fully-equipped courts with changing and shower facilities.

The club welcomes new members from all age groups and all standards -- from beginners to league players.

Why not dust off your runners and get along there for a game?! Just turn up on a Tuesday or Thursday or feel free to contact the club to find out more.

Pilates classes

Evening classes in Pilates begin on Thursday 15 January at Martinstown, The Curragh.

Suitable for beginners, the movements tone up muscles throughout the body, and are recommeded for general body care as well as relaxation and destressing.

Further information from Gillian on 087 9491125, or email pilatesclass@yahoo.com

Fallons to host elders

Kilcullen's senior citizens are being entertained to a New Year party by Fallons on Thursday 13 January.

The event takes place at 3pm and Brian and staff look forward to meeting them there.

GAA prizewinners

Chris Harris, c/o Bardons, was the winner of the Monster Hamper first prize in the Kilcullen GAA Club's annual Christmas Draw.

Linda Price, also c/o Bardons, won the second prize of a turkey and ham, while a cake and bottle of whiskey was taken home for Christmas by Sinead Hamilton, on a ticket sold by Mark Brophy.

Other winners were Maurice Baxter of Kilcullen, Anne Birchall of Gilltown, Seamus Pembroke from Ballymore, and Tom McCarton of Conroy Park.

Late Christmas gift for AFC

Kilcullen AFC’s second team playing in the Kildare Junior Football League, won their League on Sunday.

This is a great achievement for the managers, Mark Farrell and Joey Dempsey and the team itself, who played some great football during the season. The team went unbeaten in the league and were only beaten once in the CUP. Well done also to Eoin Wheeler who, at 48, became the oldest and fittest player to win a League medal for the Club.

Early celebrations were held in O’Connells on Sunday, the Cup was presented by League Chairman Michael Casey.

Photos of Celebrations and presentation to follow.

The first team are still in with a chance of winning their League but it is out of their hands. They have to wait on the result of a match next weekend.

Who knows, we might be celebrating a Double …?

Ray Kelly.

Priests lock in

Attempted break-ins to the Parish House over the Christmas period have forced the priests living there to lock the outer doors of the building at night time.

It seems there were two attempts in the one night to enter the house, the first involving kicking at the back door into Fr Paddy Ryan's residence in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately, Fr Ryan was away at the time.

A further attempt was made at entry through the front door later towards morning, but failed when Fr Murphy got up to see what was going on.

As a result of the necessity to lock the outer doors, the only way of contacting the priests at night, for the moment, is by phone.

Back at the easel

Kilcullen Art Group are back together tomorrow night, Tuesday 6th January.

Our first Art Exhibition will be held over the weekend of 3rd, 4th, & 5th of April.

New members are welcome, please contact Sabina Reddy at 087 6807139.

Kilcullen winner of TV show

Thirteen-year-old Jeffrey Hovenden Keane, from Calverstown in Kilcullen, has won the RTE programme 'It's My Show'.



He's pictured above, second from the right, at the final.

The all Ireland search for a junior TV presenter saw Jeffrey made it to the final 25 contestants, then to the semi finals. There he won the title of 'Best Young Irish TV Presenter'.

The heats for the competition were shown throughout the Christmas holidays with the grand final being aired on 2 January.

Jeffrey has been a member of Talented Kids Performing Arts School and Agency in Kilcullen Community Centre for two years now.

Presented by Sinead Kennedy, 'It's My Show' gives a group of 25 youngsters the chance to prove they could be the next big thing in the world of tv presentation.

There were five heats with two winners from each show going forward to the semi-finals.

The prize for the winner is the chance to present 'ICE'. The 25 participants were mentored by presenter Caroline Morahan for the five heats. The judging panel for the semi-finals and the final were theatre and film director Peter Sheridan, and TV presenters Brian Dowling and Caroline Morahan.

Child Protection Statement published

Kilcullen Parish has issued a Child Protection Statement, based on the guidance provided in the document Our Children, Our Church, Child Protection Policies and Procedures for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

It details the Parish policy in relation to creating a safe environment for children and young people who participate in Parish activities.

The statement provides contact details for those in the Parish and the Diocese who have responsibility for child protection.

The Statement also outlines a Code of Conduct for clergy, staff and volunteers working with children and young people.

The full text of the document is available here.

Brian Byrne.

We wish you ...

New Year resolutions are hard work. For Kilcullen in 2009, let's have a wish list instead. Your Diary has a few of its own. Add to them, and let us know ... we don't subscribe to the superstition that a wish should be kept secret. Otherwise how can it be made come true?

We wish that all our readers and their families enjoy good health and reasonable expectations, because being a high-flying Celtic Tiger has truly proven to be no guarantee for long life or happiness.

We hope that the volunteer effort of Kilcullen Community Action is both recognised and augmented by the community which that group has most unstintingly served for many years.

Acknowledging the very positive input of Kildare County Council to the street cleaning programme in the last year, we would still like them to communicate with the people of Kilcullen before they implement such dross as the grotty reflective tape on the bollards (and arrogantly replacing it when the community showed actively what it thought of the idea). Y'know, sometimes it is good to admit one is wrong?

It would be nice if the parents of Kilcullen's (very minority) wayward young people took their offspring in hand and made them aware of the ancient concept of respect for where they live.

We would really like those who park their cars badly and illegally to consider the effects of their actions before they exit their vehicles.

Ah, yes ... while KCC's street cleaning crews are working hard to pick up the litter, wouldn't it be nice if we didn't drop it ourselves in the first place?

Finally, it happens that we have a good crew of An Garda in Kilcullen at the moment; let's appreciate what they do, and do what we can to make their jobs doable.

Here endeth the Diary lesson for the start of 2009. But feel free to add your own wishes for Kilcullen through the rest of the year.

Brian Byrne.

Farewell, 2008; welcome, 2009

So, was 2008 a year, or was it what?

Nationally and globally a roller coaster, and all downhill. Just look at any economic graph for the year and the shape is just that, the track of roller coaster cars in free-fall after the long slow winch to the top. Gravity always wins in the end.

In Kilcullen it was more local ups and downs, of course. And it has to be said that there were plenty of highs, a couple of them really good peaks resulting from community goodwill and unstinting effort.

For a full lookback that you can keep, check out the Kilcullen Page in the next issue of the Kildare Nationalist. For here, you can easily scroll back through the individual months of 2008 for memory jolts. But in case that’s too much trouble, here are a few of the best and the worst.

It was a year when we were all both Christians and Pagans, the former exemplified by the very successful Chriunniú Chríost parish Gathering. It reminded many of the regular ‘processions’ of their childhood, brought into the 21st century. The pictures on the Diary tell the tale of a religious spirit still strong in Kilcullen.

For the Pagan in us, the erection of the javelin sculpture at the new Dun Ailinne Interpretive Park was the culmination of literally years of effort, on an individual level by our local sculptor Noel Scullion and collectively by the Kilcullen Community Action group. For those of us there to witness the first Spring Equinox sun shining through the edifice was an experience which we can only imagine as akin to that in Newgrange.

Later in the year, the official dedication of the Interpretive Park was a wonderful occasion to bring back both memories and the people involved in the ‘digs’ on Dun Ailinne in the 1960s/1070s. Underscored by the premiere performance of the commissioned music from Liam O’Flynn, the whole weekend was yet again an example of a community celebrating itself and its heritage.

Those last were rare sunshine days in a summer of mainly wet weather, but Sol was also prepared to shine on yet another official dedication, the opening of the new Kilcullen Canoe Club premises. The result of some of the late Pat Dunlea’s vision in tandem with the willingness of the club members to think outside the box, the new place is a fitting headquarters for a club that resulted from yet another visionary, Paddy Maloney.

The work of the afore-mentioned KCA was also splashed out colourfully in the floral window-boxes which gloriously lifted the sodden summer spirit of Kilcullen, as well as the new Christmas lights which helped to keep the legions of doom and gloom at the town limits. In each case, an infrastructure has now been put in place from which to put out even better displays in coming years.

The Community Awards was another splendid occasion to stimulate positivity and mark appropriately the work of individuals and groups for the general good of Kilcullen.

And we must also note the continuing good works undertaken by many of those groups, as illustrated by the Lions, the Senior Citizens, the Womens Mini Marathoners, and too many others to list ... but we all know who they are.

Achievements by our young people during 2008 must also be noted, including the Green Flags won by both Scoil Bhride and Brannockstown NS. Both occasions were marked appropriately, and will without doubt bear great fruit as those young generations grow into an adult world where they can bring the environmental benefits they learned in the projects.

The students of CPC did their own community things too, including the entertainment of ‘The Boyfriend’ produced and performed by the Transition Year students. Those performers who remain in the locality are surely the new blood for the Kilcullen Drama Group, which gave us a 'cracker' of a Christmas entertainment.

Kildare County Council must also be thanked for the success of the new street cleaning team, which certainly made a big difference to the tidiness of the town and backed up the continuing efforts of the Tidy Towns stalwarts.

Business people who invested in improving their street premises, and those who set up new enterprises despite the prospect of recession, also showed their faith in a growing town. It isn’t easy out there, and Kilcullen no more than any other community needs a bedrock of business to remain viable. A new year resolution to support local fist won’t go astray for 2009.

Plaudits must also be noted for the general Kilcullen community, big-hearted as always in supporting the local fundraising of the many worthy causes which are aided by local citizens.

There’s much more to recall with fondness about 2008 in Kilcullen. Unfortunately there were a few downsides too. Petty crime and vandalism remained far too problematical, and we can only hope for improvement as those responsible mature. And although it has for some time been just a small employer, the closure of Renley Engineering’s facility in Kilcullen ended a 38-year story which began when the late Gay Warren met up with Paddy Nugent of Kilcullen Development Association in McTernans. But, sin scéal eile, as they say.

Finally, we lost people too, in the inevitable natural attrition of life. Among others whose passing we may have missed were Ben Atkinson, Stephanie Sheehan, Jim Dempsey, Carmel Kennedy, Kevin Enright, Dick Hendy, Sam Sloan, Ellen O'Leary, Doreen Mullen, Paul Byrne, Sheila Bathe, Jimmy Phillips, David and Claire Broughall, Dolly Lynch, Mary Conway, Paddy Brangan, Ann Berney, Bob Hutton Snr, Andy O'Connor, Lazerian Kelly, Declan Wall, Ronan Conway, and Vincent O'Halloran.

May they, and all other absent friends, remain alive in our memories.

Brian Byrne.