I missed the recent launch of the Sullivan
Brothers CD and to make amends I went out
immediately and bought the disc. The first time listening to their songs and I
listened to them all, I had mixed feelings, but their songs grew in appeal, at least that's what I found
after I had played the CD for the third time.
Its a wonderful achievement for a singer to put out a record in much the
same way as it is for an aspiring writer to publish a book. The Sullivan Brothers have achieved great
success over the last twelve months and who knows, the CD may bring them
further and even greater success into the future.
The last months of 2006 promise to bring a
veritable avalanche of books and CD launches, what with the Sullivan's musical
contribution soon to be followed by a CD of songs and stories relating to South
Kildare by Colm Walsh. Brian Hughes, I gather, is working on his
second CD and while I have no knowledge of when it will appear, I would hope it
will issue in time to catch the
Christmas market. Of course, the
recording daddy of them all, Jack L issued another CD a few months ago and like
his previous releases, it proved to be the work of an extraordinary musical
talent.
Local writers are also busy, what with Zoltan
Zinn Collis' book hitting the book shelves in September followed soon
afterwards by John MacKenna's latest contribution to the literary scene. In November, the local Golf Club will publish
its centenary history while the long awaited book on County Kildare in the
County History series will be launched before Christmas.
There are a lot of good things happening in and
around South Kildare and the local Town Hall will host a number of events
during October and November. The
Shackleton Autumn School kicks off on Friday evening, 27th and goes
on for the following three days with a variety of events including some
extremely interesting exhibitions with
lectures, drama and music. There
is literally something for everyone and every age over the October Bank Holiday
weekend in the Town Hall and the Heritage Centre.
And the following Wednesday, Zoltan Zinn Collis
will give a talk in the Town Hall. This
is an event not to be missed and comes soon after the launch of his book “Final
Witness – My journeyfrom the Holocaust to Ireland”. Three days later, the Heritage Centre will be
the venue for the official launch of John MacKenna's latest book, “Things you
should know”. Derek Mooney of radio and TV fame will launch the book which has
already been tipped for literary honours in 2007. John MacKenna is presently touring his play
“My Fathers Son”with The Mend and Makedo
Theatre Company which tour finishes in Mullingar this week. November is definitely MacKenna's month for on Sunday 12th hisOratorio, “Still and Distant Voices” which
he wrote some years ago to commemorate the involvement of local working men in
World War 1 will be performed in the Methodist Church in Woodstock Street. Music for the Oratorio was composed by
Mairead O'Flynn when she was a teacher
in Scoil Mhichil Naofa some years ago.
She is now Principal of the National School in Ballymore Eustace.
Interestingly, Jack L's father, Sean
Loughman and the golden voiced Jacinta O'Donnell are the singing stars of the
Oratorio, more details of which will be
given in next weeks Eye on the Past.
I got a letter from one of my Athy readers
concerning my piece on the River Barrow canoe trip with particular reference to
the railway bridge. You may recall that
I mentioned that the bridge built in
1919 as part of the railway extension to Wolfhill was the first prestressed
concrete bridge in Ireland. My
correspondent tells me that his father, who was a well known building
Contractor, claimed that “Coy” Moore's father mixed all the concrete for the
bridge using a hand turned mixer. Can
any other local confirm that story for me.
Another letter received this week was from a
woman in Fairview, Dublin whose mother worked for the Hannon's in Ardreigh
House in 1920. Her mother, who was from
Castledermot, started working for the Hannon's who previously lived at
Prumplestown, Castledermot when she was a month short of her fourteenth
birthday. The pay was one pound a month which Mrs. Hannon sent home to the
young girl's mother in Castledermot. The
charming letter gave an account of life in Ardreigh House eighty six years ago
and I smiled at the following reference which brought back memories of summer
evenings spent by me and my friends at Sunnyside in the late 1950's. “Entertainment for the girls who worked in
Ardreigh House consisted of walking out to Bray or into Athy. They seemed to know every shop worker who
ever worked there at the time and indeed, my mother bought her groceries for
two decades in Dublin from a man whom she had known when he served his time at
the grocery in Athy”.
When I read the letter, I was prompted to think
yet again of the treasures of memory and the life experiences which all of us
have garned for ourselves and which for the most part are destined never to be
shared with others. I have at various
times in the past raised the desirability of encouraging older people to record
their reminiscences of times past. There are some extraordinary stories to be learned, many extraordinary people with
tales to tell which, if not told will soon be lost forever. I know that the late Billy Kelly was engaged
on behalf of the library services of Kildare County Council in recording the
folk memories of people living in his area of South Kildare but how far that
project progressed, I cannot say. I do
know that last year Laois County Council through its Heritage Officer
instituted an oral history project with the intention of recording the reminiscences and the
experiences of the older generation. In
the mid 1930's the Folk Commission in conjunction with the primary schools
throughout Ireland organised a Folklore collection scheme, the results of
which now form a major part of the
holdings in the Department of Folklore in University College, Dublin. This was a scheme organised on a twenty six
county basis through the Folklore Commission and points the way as to how an oral history project
could be established nationally if we are ever to hope to reclaim the untapped
fields of enquiry dealing with the social life and labours of ordinary men and
women. Now that Heritage Officers have
been appointed by some County Councils, perhaps the Minister for the
Environment might consider ensuring that the Heritage function in each county
is directed so that a national scheme for recording oral history can be set up
under the aegis of the Department while using the Heritage Officers in each
County as the County organisers for the project.
Writing of the Minister reminds me that the
Relief Road Project for Athy has been the subject most often raised with me by
locals during the past week or so.
Everyone wants to know what is happening about a new road. It would seem that precious little
information is being given out by either Kildare County Council or the Town
Council. The latest information I have
is that housing developers at Gallowshill are required to build sections of the
outer relief road where it borders the
lands being developed for housing. As a
result, I am told that approximately 180 metres of the outer relief road has
been laid down and that further development of that road as far as the railway
crossing can be expected, but when I don't know. I welcome the current Town Council
Chairperson's invitation to the local people to make known their views on the
relief road measures.
It makes a huge change from the attitude of a
previous Council which when presented with a petition signed by more than 2,500
local people ignored the views expressed.
Indeed, the local people who attended the Council meeting to present the
petition were rather discourteously treated by some public representatives on
that Council. Democracy was not best
served that day in the Council Chamber. However, that is all water under the
bridge now, and given the current Town Council's continuing attempts to get Kildare County
Council to move on the relief road, we must be hopeful that the County Council,
which moved with amazing speed when dealing with the Inner Relief Road Project
in the lead up to the An Bord Pleanala oral hearing can bring the same energy
and commitment to putting an acceptable Relief Road in place for the town of
Athy.
The Sullivan Brothers CD “Keep Holding On”
which I mentioned at the top of this article was dedicated to the memory of
Mark Browne, a young man who died last year after a long battle against
illness. I did not know Mark personally but knew his parents and following his
funeral, I wrote some lines of appreciation for a young life so sadly
lost. A few weeks ago, his father Kieran
gave me a copy of a number of poems which he was inspired to write following
the loss of his only son who was dearly loved and greatly missed. Having read them and particularly one poem
entitled “Without Him”, I have to admit that I have seldom been moved so much
by words written on a page The poem
written by Kieran Browne following the
death of his only child is very evocative and a fine piece of writing and
reads:
My
past I have lost
My
past and my future
My
hoped for dreams gone forever
Gone
are the days I would never say never
No
shared enjoyment of Milligan and Co.
No
shared appreciation of symphonies and riffs
Of
images on celluloid
The
past to be viewed during the twilight years
No
man to man chats
No
disagreements on which players were prats
No
nuptials now
No
“Grandad” called out
Memories
of body and soul being tortured and broken
No
explanation at my bedside when it's my turn to die.
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