Lions Club Book Fair and the closure of Bradbury's Bakery

I have been attending book fairs for many years and I have always enjoyed the experience. I never dreamed that Athy would become a book fair venue, but it has now become a favourite provincial town fair due to the initiative of Athy’s Lion’s Club. The club which has given us the Lion's Club book shop almost 16 years ago joined the book fair organisation three years ago. We have now held two book fairs a year since then, availing of the exceptional facilities in Athy’s Recreational Community Hall on the Kilkenny Road. Our next book fair takes place on Saturday, 4th October from 11am to 4pm. Insert logo: Of particular interest to Athy readers is the range of local publications which will be on sale at the book fair. These include Volumes 2, 3 and 4 of ‘Eye on Athy’s Past’, together with the following, all written by Frank Taaffe. CHRISTIAN BROTHERS ATHY 1861 – 1994 150 YEARS OF CARING – A HISTORY OF ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL, ATHY EYE ON ATHY’S PAST VOL. 2 EYE ON ATHY’S PAST VOL. 3 EYE ON ATHY’S PAST VOL. 4 ATHY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL ATHY GOLF CLUB 1906 – 2006 WHO FEARS TO SPEAK OF ’98 Athy Lion’s Club is the owner of the A.R.C.H. which was initially purchased many years ago by St. Michael’s Parish and the Lion’s Club. In recent years the parish gifted its share of the ownership to the Lion’s Club and the Club arranged for improvements to be carried out on the early 1960s dance hall which many of us will remember as Dreamland Ballroom. I hope to see a big crowd at the book fair on Saturday next. I just learned that Bradbury’s of Leinster Street will no longer operate a bakery which was started by the present owner’s father, Tom Bradbury, in 1938. The Bradbury cakes were very famous during my young days in Offaly Street. In 1988 the famous bakery, then located in a new factory on the Kildare Road, closed down. However, in late 1988 Johnny Bradbury and his wife Clare purchased the Bradbury business in Leinster Street and re-opened the baker there later that year. The closure of Bradbury’s bakery is a sad loss to Athy.