Happy New Year

Phena Bermingham tells us that the 'Miscellany' fund has now reached €4,019 ... and it is still open for further donations.

Happy New Year, everyone. The Diary will be back to normal next week.

Happy Christmas, all

As we're all pretty busy getting this close to Christmas, the Diary will fit into our usual practice of going into idle mode over the festive period. If any Wild Geese out there want to say a few words to their people at home, we'll post them.

Otherwise, your Editor wishes everybody a peaceful and happy Christmas, and thank you to all those who contributed to the Diary over the last year, whether as provider of news and pictures, or, indeed, as loyal and plentiful readers, without whom there would be no reason for doing it.

'Miscellany' closes towards €4K

Phena Bermingham tells us that the fundraising from the 'Miscellany on Sunday' in aid of the Michael Garry House hostel for the homeless as reached €3,951 ... and more is coming.

Well done, all concerned.

Conroy Park alight for Christmas

Without a doubt, the efforts of Conroy Park residents must have the best collective Christmas lights displays in town.

Games guys (and gals) have talent

The Kilcullen Community Games group are organising a talent show for 24 January, in the Town Hall Theatre.

The event will run from 11am-1pm and will include modern and Irish dancing, for groups and solo performers. There will also be solo and group musical acts as well as solo and group singing.

Registration for the show took place last week. If anybody wants further information, they should contact Anne Quigley on 087 7733576.

Santa sleighing in

The Bridge Community is getting its sleigh in shape for a visit by Santa and Mrs Claus to Kilcullen next week.



Depending on weather conditions and flying time from that magic place where the Clauses live, expect them in Kilcullen at around 4.30pm Monday.

Christmas coffee morning

A very pleasant morning was had by all to the special Christmas version of the regular Thursday Coffee Morning organised by Petra Conroy and Olivia Keaveney-James in the Parish Centre.



Mince pies, Yule logs, muffins, sausages and other goodies abounded. For this morning, the Senior Citizens regular get-together on Tuesday mornings, run by Michael and Nancy Fitzpatrick, joined up with Petra and Olivia's effort.

You can look in on the event here.

Christmas Services in Kilcullen

Kilcullen Parish Church

Sunday 21 December
Saturday: Vigil Mass at 7.30pm & Carol Service
Sunday: 9am & 11am

Monday 22 December: Parish Celebration of The Sacrament of Penance in preparation for Christmas 2007 at 7.30pm

Wednesday 24 December: Christmas Eve Mass 9.30am. Confessions 10am to 12 noon & 2pm to 4pm.

Masses for Christmas
Christmas Eve: 9pm - Carols from 8.30pm.
Christmas Day: 9am, 10am (Family Mass), 11am & 12 noon. No Evening Mass.


Gormanstown Church

Mass Christmas Eve at midnight. Carols from 11.30pm
No Mass Christmas Day in Gormanstown.

Friday 26 December and Saturday 27 December: Mass at 11am.

Sunday 28 December: Kilcullen - Saturday Vigil at 7.30pm; Sunday 9am & 11am; Gormanstown - 10am.

Monday 29 December to Saturday 3 January: Mass each day at 11am.

Thursday 1 January 2008 World Day of Peace: Mass at 11am.

Tuesday 6 January: The Epiphany of the Lord, Monday Vigil at 7.30pm. Tuesday masses 9am & 11am. No Mass in Gormanstown on Tuesday 6th January.


Church of Ireland

Christmas Day: Holy Communion, St Patrick's, Carnalway, 10am. Holy Communion, St John's Kilcullen, 10am.


Brannockstown Baptist Church

Christmas Day Family service 11am.

Tarmacadam laid

Tarmacadam has now been laid to finish the roadway from the main Milemill Road to New Abbey graveyard.



This follows a very successful fundraising effort which has to date raised €13,900.

A balance of €5,950 is needed, and an envelope collection is under way in the parish to make up the shortfall.

Funds raised so far have come through a significant donation to the project from New Abbey Stud, support from Kilcullen Lions Club and Kilcullen Drama Group, and a Table Quiz.

Lions Club appeal

Kilcullen Lions Club Annual Collection in aid of St Vincent de Paul will take place on Saturday 20th and Tuesday 23rd December outside local shops.

Your support would be very much appreciated. If anyone is interested in helping out with the collection please contact Kevin on 086 7948115.

Fair will part-fund whiteboards

There was a very generous response to Scoil Bhride’s Christmas Fair last week, from which the funds will go towards the purchase of interactive whiteboards for the school.

“It was very well attended, and those who came were very generous in buying both tickets for the raffle and the Christmas items on sale,” says the school’s Principal, Maurice O’Mahony.

“We always have extra funding needs for school resources throughout the year, and the Parents Association work hard to help out. They have already raised considerable funds for a number of whiteboards, and the Fair proceeds will be going to this fund.”

The school has one whiteboard on trial at the moment, and it is envisaged that two will be bought in the coming weeks.

The Fair was organised by the Parents Association, currently chaired by Olivia Byrne.

Catriona goes with the birds

Just in case her friends here at home are wondering, Catriona Byrne is flying high in Australia at the moment, during her latest bout of travelling.



The picture above shows her after a hang-gliding session at Byron Bay. Her earlier, 'bird's eye', view is below.

Parish Draw results

The winner of the top prize of €12,000 in the 2008 Parish Draw is Coleman Ryan, from Castlemartin Lodge.



The draw took place this evening in the Kilcullen Parish Centre, and the second prize of €1,500 was won by Petra Conroy of Moanbane Park.

Bill and Aileen Mullins from Sunnyhill won the €500 third prize.

The remaining prizes of €100 each were won by Eileen Tougher of Hillsborough, Newbridge; Tom Coleman, Ballybrittas, Portlaoise; Brendan McMahon, Yellow Bog; John Archbold and Breda Kelly, Conroy Park; and Jack and Susan Curley of Gormanstown.

The total receipts were in excess of €30,000 (pending final recount). After deduction of the prize fund and expenses, the balance goes to parish funds.

Parish priest Fr Michael Murphy thanked the dedicated people involved in organising the draw, particularly the ticket sellers, and finally those who had 'parted' with a hundred euros each for the tickets. He is pictured above with Valerie Ryan, whose husband bought the winning ticket.

Brian Byrne.

Yellow Bog Carols

There was a very good attendance for the Carol Service held yesterday afternoon in St John's Church, Yellow Bog.




The service was conducted by Mr John Hillis.

Concerns about Sunnyhill traffic

Although speed limits were reduced on the Sunnyhill Road in the last changes, the residents of homes and estates are still very concerned about the accident rate.

The situation was underlined again recently when an SUV lost control on the Athy side of the motorway bridge at the ESB substation and went over the crash barriers.

“Luckily the trees sown on the incline stopped the vehicle from rolling down the slope to the lane 20 feet below,” says local man Brendan Duffy.

The Gardai were on the scene quickly and removed the vehicle, and the barriers have been repaired since.

“But this is another example of a lucky escape on the same 100 metre stretch of road where four entrances have been destroyed,” Brendan says. “Although lower speed limits have been introduced, driver attitudes haven’t changed and another death is inevitable.”

Brian Byrne.

It Says in The Bridge: Dec 08

'The Adoration of the Shepherds' by Jacopo Da Empoli is the very suitable picture reproduced on the cover of the Christmas 2008 Bridge Magazine, by kind permission from the National Gallery of Ireland. And a rare snowy picture of the Old Kilcullen Round Tower on the back of the special cover, by Pat Foley, is a seasonal reflection of early Christianity in Ireland.

The issue is, as always, packed with 'thanks for the year' advertisements from a wide variety of local businesses, clubs, and public representatives. As a guide to the facilities and services available in our own community, it is an issue worth hanging onto.

The inside of the cover is devoted to 'A Brief History of the Monastic Site at Old Kilcullen', originally published in The Bridge in 1972, and written by Brian Keyes and Sean Landers. Of more recent news value there's plenty of coverage of events since the last publication.

And lots of it is good news. The 'Miscellany on Sunday' has pictures and words aplenty, and this regular event in aid of the homeless of mid-Kildare has become another celebrated example of the generosity of ordinary people even in times of recession.

There's also photographic coverage of the Senior Citizens Party recently organised by the Kilcullen Scouts, the Cheese & Wine evening hosted by Kilcullen Lions in aid of the Jack & Jill Foundation, and the latest presentation to the Irish Cancer Society from the endeavours of Ann Sully and friends with the Vintage Rally.

There are a number of world class uplifiting stories about members of St Bridget's Pitch & Putt Club recorded also, and worth a read to see just how successful the hard-working members have made this club.

Thumbs up are given, too, to Nolans, who have been family butchers to the people of Kilcullen for generations, and who won a prestigious national retail stores competition.

We have the usual suspects rounding out their 2008, with Sean Landers flagging his Christmas homecoming amid reports of significant unrest in his current place of residence, Taiwan. It's not Sean's fault, thought ...

Billy Redmond muses towards 2009 with stories about his completion of the Dublin City Marathon, politics and medical cards, the proposed new Church Car Park and its related development, and why people shouldn't nudge him in from his preferred outside seat while at Mass.

There are the topical Christmas messages from the representatives of the various religious denominations in the parish, and I'll leave you to absorb these for yourselves.

And in sadness the Bridge also records the loss of Vincent O'Halloran this month, a gentle giant of a man who served Kilcullen in a number of ways, most visibly in Kilcullen Credit Union.

From this column, which tries to give a flavour of what is between the pages of Kilcullen's pre-eminent local publication, we wish all involved a very happy and peaceful Christmas season, and thank them also for their, as always, sterling efforts.

Brian Byrne.

Last chance for Parish Draw

Just a reminder that time is running out for getting a ticket in the Parish Draw, taking place on Monday night. Tickets are €100 and the first prize is €12,000.

Renley is closing

The Renley Engineering operation in Kilcullen is to close after 38 years, according to recently published reports. It currently employs five people.

Renley was set up by the late Gay Warren, who left his engineering job in Unidare Ltd in Finglas in 1970 to set up his own business.

With the help of Kilcullen Development Association, who supplied the building behind what is now the King Koil factory, Gay set up Renley Engineering with a start-up local workforce of 10 men. This was great news for Kilcullen, as at that time Renley was the one of the first industries in the town to employ men.

Renley Engineering Works manufactured lamp standards, transformer boxes, switch gear and other electrical items to supply under contract to the ESB. At one stage, Renley employed over 60 people.

Renley's main operations base has been for many years in Walkinstown, Dublin. During the 90s the company tried to close the Kilcullen operation on the basis that there wasn't space for expansion. This caused local business interests to persuade Kildare County Council to buy land at Knockbounce for a new Business Park, which recently opened. Ironically, Renley decided subsequently not to move into the park.

Brian Byrne.

Poster Competition presentations

Prizes were presented to the winners of the Kilcullen Credit Union Poster Competition 2008 last Monday night.



The individual presentations by KCU chairman Pat Stafford can be seen here.

Busy Santa

Santa was a busy man in Kilcullen last weekend. Apart from officially switching on Kilcullen's lights, he found time the next day to meet the young people who might have missed him the evening before.



They queued up in the Christmas Shop in Bernard Berney's Chemist to meet the great man (no, not Bernard this time!), and some took the opportunity to give him extra copies of their letters.