Miah is on the star trail

I guess it's fair to say that not a lot of Kilcullen's adult population looks into 'The Den' on RTE 2 on most afternoons.

OK, for just one day, anyhow, maybe we should rethink that. The day, Tuesday next, 2 September. The time, 4.30pm. The slot, 'Star Search'.

That's when 10 year-old Miah Phelan-Sweeney will be taking a shot at something she's been preparing for since she was five. Maybe she didn't know it at the beginning, but with the level of musical talent she has developed, something like 'Star Search' was probably inevitable, sooner or later.

The competition brought 300 children for the initial auditions, and Miah has made it to the final 36. On Tuesday she'll be competing against two others to make it to the next level. Her performance won't be just a cover of some past or current favourite, but will be her own song, 'Ain't no Way'. And she'll be accompanying herself on the piano.

You know, that's not the easiest way to do a TV musical debut, but if she made it this far, she has to be good.

Miah and her family are living in Moone but all hail from Kilcullen, where her granny Mary Phelan will be among the fans watching on Tuesday. Her mum Paula is a musician and a music teacher and generally Miah's family background has had a lot of music.

"She works very hard at it," says Paula. "In addition to singing and piano, she also plays the violin and she's around Grade 5 level on both instruments. She gets up every morning at 6am to practice, before she goes to school."

Apart from the music, Miah has been writing a lot too. Since she was six or seven she has carried small hardback notebooks into which she wrote poems and songs, and now she has quite a lot of lyrics down. "She tinkers around the piano with them, and 'Ain't no Way' was one which she had recorded, which is what we sent in," says Paula.

Entries for the competition were called last May, and the first group were selected on the basis of recordings sent in. Then there was an audition for those remaining, and now the TV stage has begun. It's the third year of 'Star Search', but Miah and her family only heard about the call for entries a day before the closing date. They got the CD in just in time.

Getting this far requires something more than talent on its own. In Miah's case it is a very mature level of confidence in performance. She says herself that she doesn't get nervous just before a performance, but gets that out of the way the day before.

"On the day of a performance she's very focused," her mum notes. "She really means everything she's doing as she plays, and it shows."

Tuesday's segment has already been recorded, so no doubt Miah and her family will all be together watching, and hoping for a push to the next step.

That'll require the now ubiquitous phone vote. Which is why all of us in Kilcullen should drop whatever else we're doing and watch 'The Den' on Tuesday. And then get texting to vote her onwards.

Remember the time, 4.30pm. Dinner can wait.

Brian Byrne.

Golfers playing final

The Spout Golf Society is playing its second day in the finals of the Daily Star Competition today.

The opposing teams are from Kerry, Sligo and Laois. We wish them success.

Piping and drumming opportunity

Young people in County Kildare and surrounding areas now have an opportunity to join Lord Edward's Own Narraghmore Pipe Band.

Classes will be held at the Band Hall, Narraghmore at 7pm on Mondays, commencing 1 September and at the Day Care Centre, Kildare at 7pm on Tuesdays, commencing 2 September.

The band was founded in Narraghmore in 1916 and is well known for its participation in local and national events and in more recent years for its international activities.

For further information email mdassociates@eircom.net or phone 045 521190.

Poker nights

There's a Texas Hold 'Em Poker series running in The Hideout on Tuesday nights.

The competition has an estimated prize fund of €2,000 and the entry fee is €50 plus €10 registration.

The series is organised by www.jpoker.ie.

Kilcullen in the Dome

Donal Droney, son of Philomena Breslin and her husband, won the Escort of the Year title at the Rose of Tralee Festival last night. He works as an architectural technician and is an enthusiastic member of Naas Rugby Club.

Philomena, of course, is one of the Breslins of Brannockstown, and a professional singer. She said this morning that she's 'over the moon' about Donal's win.

Meanwhile, Kildare Rose Denise Healy is the daughter of Marlena Healy, a regular on the stage of Kilcullen's Town Hall Theatre as a member of Kilcullen Drama Group. Denise works as a planning consultant with ESB Telecoms.

Brian Byrne.

Thousands raised for Burma relief

While a final figure has yet to be tallied, the Diary understands that the recent World Vision party hosted in Brannockstown NS by Robert and Olive Dunlop has raised several thousand euros for flood relief in Burma.



A full report of the event appears on the Kilcullen page in this Wednesday's Kildare Nationalist.

In the meantime, this report in the International Herald Tribune sums up very well what conditions are like in the stricken area of the Irriwady Delta.

Brian Byrne.

Getting fit for winter

A new session of Fitness Classes, Aerobics and Body Conditioning will get underway in the Community Centre on Monday September 8.

Get fit, lose weight, look good for the winter. The sessions take place between 7-8pm each Monday and cost €7 a time.

More information from Geraldine at 087 9850883.

Marathon effort close to €20,000

The Diary has just received an update on the funds in from the Mini Marathon effort on behalf of the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund.

It has now reached €19,820 according to organiser Phena Bermingham, and though there is still some funding still to be collected when everyone is back from their summer holidays, a presentation of a cheque to PKRF founder James Nolan is planned for shortly.

Well done to all who supported the event.

Photo opportunities

If you notice people in Kilcullen snapping your picture, it might well be that your image will end up in the Lions-sponsored photographic competition currently in progress.

The project is part of a scheme to record modern Kilcullen for future generations, and will run through to the end of September.

There are a number of competition and project categories, and the interest of young people in taking part will be part of a 'blitz' by the organisers when the schools reopen in September.

Organiser Angela Murray-Hayden has also appealed for photos from ten, 20 or more years ago to fill back reference volumes, as part of the effort to build a 'photographic, social, architectural and environmental history of Kilcullen'.

Brian Byrne.

Make me an island

Most of the time, anyone living in the country with a very wet field would try and reclaim the land, filling and draining it to make it arable.



But Michael and Helen McDonnell, who live on the outskirts of Kilcullen, went the other direction, by turning the soggy section into a pond and an island.

And in the process, they have turned that little patch of their property into a wildlife and wildflower haven that they didn't quite expect.

"I always wanted a pond," says Michael, who with Helen has transformed over the last nine years the green field site where they built their home, by planting hundreds of trees of many varieties.

"This particular part of the land was always impassable for machinery, but a couple of years ago we had a dry August and I was able to get a machine in to make a path through it. We'd previously found that the drainage problem was because a tree had been blocking a culvert, so I cleared that. Then we dug out the pond and built an island in the middle of it."

Michael and Helen transplanted dozens of small trees which they had 'thinned' from other planting around their home, and hoped that over the coming years they could turn it into something of interest.

"But we were very surprised this year when a profusion of wild flowers came up, without us doing anything," Helen says. "I think it was because we disturbed the earth, and all the dormant seeds came to life."

The pond has also become an attraction for the local wildlife, which already includes badgers, hares, and a heron on the Corbally link of the canal which adjoins their property.

"A pair of wild ducks have already raised their first family at the pond," Helen says.

Both have always been interested in growing things, and using working with nature to make their presence blend with the natural landscape. They grow their own organic vegetables and fruit, and a chicken run keeps them supplied with free range eggs.



When planning their home, they proposed a reed bed for dealing with waste instead of the more common septic tank. "The planners were sceptical at the time, but we put it in anyhow," Michael says. "Now the Council brings out people regularly to show it to them."

Brian Byrne.

Heritage Week imminent

Just a reminder that National Heritage Week begins on Monday.

As the recent Dun Ailinne Interpretive Park dedication event was a joint venture between Kilcullen Heritage Group and Kilcullen Community Action, there will be no specific Kilcullen heritage event next week.

However, a list of events throughout the county is available here.

Takeaway reopens

The Macari Italian takeaway restaurant on Main Street reopened at the weekend, under new management. The business had been closed for several months.

The new proprietors are Patricia Macari and her husband Christian. Patricia's branch of the family already runs restaurants in Celbridge and in Fairview, Dublin.

The premises is on the site of the former Yankee Star restaurant, and was totally refurbished in early 2007 as an Italian takeaway.

Charlene stands in

After a period of dealing with floods and the general depression of an Irish 'summer', Charlie Dowling is taking a break from the travails of the White Horse Inn for a couple of weeks. But he's left the running of the popular hostelry in the capable hands of daughter Charlene.

Charlene recently qualified as an accountant.

The passing of Ann Berney

The Diary sadly records the untimely and unexpected death of Ann Berney, Rosetown, Athgarvan.

She will be very much missed by her loving parents Tom and Mary, and her children Ciara, Liam, Tara and Aoife, as well as her brothers Joe, Robert, Thomas and David and her sister Mary.

Ann was buried in in St Brigid's Cemetery, Kilcullen, on Wednesday, after Requiem Mass in Kilcullen Parish Church.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

(Apologies for the late notice, but your Editor was out of the country and unaware of the sad event.)

Concern about working students

Part-time working by second level students during the school year has a noticeable effect on their progress, according to the Deputy Principal of Cross & Passion College, Noel Clare.

He says it results in a higher level of non-attendance, and this can have particularly detrimental effects on subjects like Maths, the national failure rate of which has been a point of concern.

He says that since he started in teaching, the part-time working situation has become a much bigger factor in school absenteeism, especially after a weekend.

In the meantime, he is very happy with the overall results in the 2008 Leaving Certificate classes, which were given to the students last week.

"The students in general did very well in this year's Leaving Cert results, and most seemed to have achieved what they want," he said. "The English results stood out particularly well."

Brian Byrne.

(The full story on this issue is on the Kilcullen page of this week's Kildare Nationalist.)

Spout golfers

Don't forget the Spout pub's Golfing group are holding a Table Quiz in the pub on this Thursday evening, August 21.

It promises to be an event of great craic with the members of the star finalists in the Golfworks Societies 2008.

Ian Dillon at 087 6746072 is the man to take your bookings if you want to make a last-minute entry. It costs €40 for a table of four.

Altar servers

Kilcullen Parish is looking for new altar servers.

Fr Murphy has issued an invitation to boys and girls who have an interest in serving, and parents who are willing to offer themselves for supervision, to an information meeting in the Parish Church on Wednesday 10 September, at 8pm.

Great Mac & Norman day

There was yet another great turnout of tractor men and women, along with car and motorbike aficionados, and just generally anybody with an interest in transport and farm machinery, for the 2008 Mac & Norman Vintage Rally on Sunday.



We'll have a full report when they get to count all the money for the Irish Cancer Society, but in our usual way, you can have a look here at the start in Cannycourt.

Brian Byrne.

The passing of Paddy Brangan

The Diary records the death of Paddy Brangan, late of Conroy Park, Kilcullen.

In the years 1976-1978 Paddy built 500 ft of the slope-retaining limestone wall in The Valley. The amount of stone used was 400 tons. He also built the St Brigid's Grotto and the Pond with the Valley opening plaque at the town end of the park.



The work was a tremendous feat of skill and strength as he lifted and pushed the heavy stones into position before setting them into cement. Paddy also lowered the roadside wall bordering the valley from the church to the Jockey Stile to half its original height.

What you see and enjoy today in the Valley Park in Kilcullen 30 years later is the result of Paddy Brangan's skill and hard work.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Jim Collins.

Golf Classic postponed

The Parish Golf Classic which had been due to take place tomorrow, Monday, has been postponed.

The Curragh Golf Course is unplayable due to the recent inclement weather.

Forther information will be given later on new date.