Book Launch

I was overwhelmed by the response to the book launch last Thursday. There was such a large attendance, I was afraid the library authorities might ban similar events from using their facilities again. Thanks to everybody who attended on the night. It was for me a memorable occasion made even more memorable by the people who came out in support. It all goes to prove that there is enormous interest in local history. This interest is growing all the time and in the case of Athy, no doubt indicates a growing sense of civic pride in the town which has taken a number of knocks over the years.

It was while looking through the book that I realised how many of the good people I had interviewed in the early years of Eye on the Past have passed away. Paddy Keenan, a delightful man, Brother Brett, a generous teacher and Sean MacFheorais, gaelic poet and brother of Joe Bermingham were some of the people who appeared in the early articles. Hester May, that wonderful old lady who had packed into her early life associations with the men and women who across the stage of Irish, Rebellion and Politics was another. Stephen Bolger and Tosh Doyle were two local men who lived into old age and shared with me their experiences of life in Athy of years gone by. So too did Mary Carr of Quarry Farm who lived for a while in the gate lodge of the house where I am now writing this piece. Jack MacKenna, father of John who launched the book last week was the subject of an Eye on the Past when he recounted for me many of the forgotten stories of Republican activity in South Kildare during the War of Independence. Jack Kelly, musician and Jack Murphy a worker from the halycon days of Duthie Larges spoke to me of the lives of the Athy people they grew up with and knew so many years ago. Michael Moore, shop keeper and bee enthusiast, provided me with another insight into the towns past with his detailed knowledge of the early years of the South Kildare Beekeepers Association. Finally there was Julia Mahon whom I did not interview but wrote about after she passed away. Julia was the touchstone for many local Athy people and embodying as she did so much of what it is that makes Athy not only a place in which we all live out our lives but also the place which embraces and nurtures our hopes and our ambitions. Athy is our place and as John MacKenna said in his eloquent and much appreciated launch address, “all lives are of consequence - and poverty and anonymity, a rural way of life or indeed a quietness does not amount to a lack of consequence”.

The first article in the new book was on the Sisters of Mercy and I was delighted to meet during the night of the launch several members of the local Sisters of Mercy Community. I suppose the word “community” is still appropriate despite the emergence from the Convent life of the Sisters of Mercy who now live within the community they served for so long. Sister Paul was not able to be at the launch and sent me a letter beforehand with her good wishes as did Sr. Dominic of St. Vincent’s. It’s quite extraordinary the affection with which the Sisters of Mercy are held by the local people but indeed it is quite understandable why it should be so. Lives devoted to the service of a local people over generations creates its own reservoir of gratitude and the people of Athy have never, and will never, forget the debt owed to the Sisters of Mercy.

For the second time, Noreen Ryan and Georgina O’Neill attended the book launch. On the first occasion, the doors of the Town Hall stoutly resisted their attempts to enter but neither Noreen or Georgina were to know that the launch first scheduled for last September had been postponed. It was good to see both of them back again in company with so many others of their generation whose love for and knowledge of the town and its people is founded on long lives spent in the South Kildare town on the Marches of Kildare.

Derek Tynan, son of the former owner of the Leinster Arms Hotel and now one of the leading Architects in this country was a surprise attender. His mother is living in Beechgrove and in the past kindly sent me on some details of a local involvement in the design of the badge for the Garda Siochana. The sharing of information is an essential element of piecing together the towns story and a recent example of that was the kind lady who brought to my attention the forgotten story of “The Knights of the Plough”. If you knew anything about this organisation founded by a local man nearly sixty years ago, I would welcome hearing from you. And incidentally, it was not J. J. Bergin the founder of the Ploughing Association who set up the Knights of the Plough.

During the Book Launch, an unexpected surprise was the presentation made by Tommy Keegan. I have to say that Tommy’s kind gesture was a remarkable display of friendship and generosity and one which I much appreciated. The Master of Ceremony for the night was a man who has taken over the mantle of the late M.G. Nolan and with whom I have shared many experiences over the last forty years. Frank English was himself the subject of an Eye on the Past in December 1993 when his colleagues on the local Urban Council celebrated his 26 years on that Council. Since then, he has clocked up another seven years making his tenure one which threatens to surpass the record of Thomas Plewman who was a Town Commissioner and later an Urban Councillor between 1866 and 1920. Only another 21 years to go Frank!. Frank’s kind words on the night were much appreciated and I particularly liked the story of the Athy man returning to Australia who asked for the Nationalist to be sent to them so they could read “Taaffe’s Article”.

Fiona and Liam Rainsford of Data Print deserve special thanks for their courteous help in bringing out the book. They have done a good job and I am particularly pleased that a local printer has been involved in producing this book of local reminiscences. Shaw’s sponsored the wine reception and as one of the oldest businesses in Athy, it was appropriate, yet generous of them to be associated with the venture in this way.

So many people helped in so many ways over the years that inevitably I could not hope to name all of them in this short piece. Suffice to say that I thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the Eye on the Past articles and to the subsequent book, Eye on Athy’s Past. I will leave the last word to John MacKenna, the local writer whose talents have earned him an audience beyond the confines of the County and whose eloquent speech at the Book Launch was as ever generous and kind.

“The lives recovered and recounted in the book are the lives of ordinary people. Sometimes that phrase is thrown around as though the ordinary couldn’t possibly be of significance. But as this book proves --- everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a sorrow to bear or a joy to celebrate”.

I hope that together we can continue to give voice to the lives of the local people for many years to come.

Eye on the Past - Book Launch

This column has been coming to you for over eight years. I can still vividly recall the occasion when Barbara Sheridan, then the Nationalist reporter for the Athy area, phoned me with an invitation to write a weekly article on local history for the Athy page. My immediate reaction was to demur, not I may say out of my false sense of modesty but rather out of concern at my ability to keep to the strict requirements of a weekly deadline. So it was that I left Barbara’s request unanswered for a few weeks, prompting a letter from her followed up by another phone call. Eventually almost three months after the initial request was made I agreed to try my hand at producing a weekly column for your local newspaper.

Preparing Eye on the Past each week has proved to be an enriching and rewarding experience. After all I had spent several years before then researching the history of my home town in the expectation, that this would result in a published work on the town of Athy. That research never seemed to end, every new line of enquiry leading to previously unknown elements of the towns story. Inevitably that same research was to form the basis for many of the articles produced in the Eye on Athy page. However, the need to get away from the sometimes impersonal detail which clouds the horizon of our local history prompted an appraisal of new elements of the towns social history. This, of course, led to a line of enquiry which sought to clarify and record the story of the men and women who worked, played, lived and died in our home town. This change in the course of my historical research was due entirely to the demands of a weekly column which, to be of interest to the readers had to be topical, and familiar, even commonplace, to the extent of making connections for the local readership.

I have enjoyed enormously the opportunity this has given me of accessing the local people whose stories and experiences form the backdrop against which Eye on the Past has been written. My thanks and gratitude must go to those kind people who have responded so openly to requests for interviews leaving themselves open to question and answer sessions which I trust have been enjoyable to all. I know that I certainly have enjoyed the company of those generous people who in most cases have been elderly and consequently of most interest to someone like myself looking for an insight into the past.

Many people have written to me over the years, and with every letter comes information to fill in the patchwork of the towns story or in some cases a request for help in locating details of a lost family history. Every interview, every letter and sometimes even the shortest conversation carried on at the kerbside unfolds a nugget of information which adds to the store of local knowledge of people and times past. To everyone involved in whatever capacity, I am extremely thankful and grateful for the help and assistance proffered.

All this by way of letting you know that after 424 Eyes on the Past, I have at last succumbed to the temptation to see my weekly jottings produced in a more permanent form than this weekly newspaper. On Thursday, 23rd November, the local Town Hall will be the venue for the launch of my book entitled “Eye on Athy’s Past” consisting of 99 weekly articles printed in the Kildare Nationalist between 1992 and 1994. The book will, I hope, meet the demand for a permanent record of elements of our town’s story.

I would like to extend an invitation to any of my readers, who will be free on Thursday night to come along to the Town Hall at 8.00pm. Even if the book does not live up to expectations, you are likely to enjoy meeting Castledermot born, but Athy-based fiction writer John MacKenna whose literary successes to date are numerous. John has kindly agreed to launch the book and if nothing else, his launching address is sure to be both interesting and dare I say, enjoyable.

Writing of interesting speeches reminds me of wise words recently spoken by Kildare County Manager Niall Bradley. You and I will take heart from what he says when he spoke of how “the bypass route will improve living and safety conditions for local residents and will also complement the urban renewal and heritage initiatives being promoted in the town. It will provide a major boost for local business and will help to secure the towns future as a market town and a tourist destination”.

Niall has in the past been a strong advocate of the Inner Relief Road for Athy [sorry Editor, that dreadful subject again] but his recently delivered speech as reported in last week’s edition of this Newspaper shows that he clearly has had a change of heart. The Inner Relief Road must now surely give way to the Outer Relief Road for the town which has been the centre of my Articles for the past eight years. One has to congratulate the County Manager for what must have been a very difficult decision for him following on his earlier acceptance of the 26 year old Inner Relief Road plan for Athy. Well done Niall, I always knew that any intelligent re-examination of the discredited plan prepared in the hair shirt days of the 1970’s would lead to a rethink on the relative merits of an Inner as against an Outer Relief Road.

What’s that you say Niall? Your remarks as reported in the Newspaper are correct, but not so far as Athy is concerned. Your references were made in the context of Kildare town and do not apply to Athy. Okay, I’m sorry Niall, I didn’t realise that the short distance between the ancient seat of St. Brigid and the monastery town of Athy was such as to make the elegantly stated and sensible benefits of traffic diversion non-transferable.

Well you live and learn, and mercifully I have learnt more than most over the past eight years from listening to these great Athy men and women who have shared their experiences with me. I promise not to mention the Inner Relief Road next Thursday ….. honest!