Kilcullen News Update

CPC students at UN event in Poland ... Voting opens for 2025 Kilcullen Community Awards ... KWWSPCA Dog Walk at Kerdiffstown ... Badminton Club Quiz Night ... Drama Group AGM ...

Reporting since 2025 from a Village Grown Bigger. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.

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CPC students participating in Model UN event in Poland

Images: CPC.

Six CPC students are taking part in a Model United Nations Conference this week in Toruń, Poland, writes Brian Byrne. CPC is the only Irish representation at the ToMUN event, among over 250 participants from 18 schools in several countries.

It's the 10th ToMUN, and the theme of the main conference is Understanding the Roots of Polarisation to Achieve Harmony. At yesterday's opening ceremony, Irish Ambassador to Poland Patrick Haughey highlighted the importance of Model United Nations events in building unity, teamwork and cooperation. He said he hoped the new generation would create a more inclusive and collaborative future.

At MUN events, participants take the role of delegates from different countries in discussions in various UN committees. The CPC students at ToMUN are Ruth Moloney (UNICEF) representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, James Meehan (Human Rights Council) representing Bulgaria, Eleanor Steed (HRC) representing the United Kingdom, Jan Keating (WHO) representing Kenya, Ella Doyle (WHO) representing Germany, and Michalina Nikelewska (UN Women) representing Ethiopia. They are accompanied by CPC teachers Niamh Thorpe and Fiona Murphy.

The students have been preparing for the event in recent weeks at the new CPC MUN Club, formed as an after-school activity in September, under the direction of Ms Thorpe. The Erasmus+ programme, with which CPC became involved last year, has facilitated their attendance at ToMUN. 

The three-day meeting includes various sessions of the relevant committees, and culminates on Saturday afternoon with a General Assembly Plenary Session. The participants also have an opportunity to tour Toruń.

The United Nations supports Model UN simulations by building and maintaining strong links between the UN and Model UN participants. It shares first-hand knowledge about the work of the UN at Model UN conferences and guides organisers to create accurate and authentic simulations.

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KWWSPCA Dog Walk on Saturday

A Dog Walk has been organised for tomorrow, Saturday 4 October, at Kerdiffstown Park, Naas, by the Kildare and West Wicklow SPCA. It begins at 11am and will last for about three-quarters of an hour. 

A number of the animal charity's rescue dogs will take part, and all dog owners are invited to join in.

Parking is free, and there is no charge to join the walk, but there will be a raffle, and donations are always welcome. Call 087 6803295 if you need any more information. All dogs must be kept on leads.

Kerdiffstown Park is just outside Naas, behind Johnstown Garden Centre. It was opened a year ago and is a popular place for dog walking and community events.

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Badminton Quiz Night

Kilcullen Badminton Club is organising a fundraising Quiz Night for Friday 10 October, in O'Connell's Bar.

The event starts at 8pm, and all are welcome to bring a team.

The fee is €40 for a table of four, and there will also be a raffle on the night for some great prizes.

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Drama Group AGM

A reminder that the AGM of Kilcullen Drama Group is being held TONIGHT, Friday 3 October.

The venue is the Heritage Centre, and the curtain rises at 7.30pm.

Anyone interested in any aspect of local drama is welcome.

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Voting opens for Kilcullen Community Awards 2025

Voting for the Kilcullen Community Awards 2025 is now open, writes Brian Byrne. There are seven categories in this year's event, organised by KCA, which will be held on Thursday, 8 November, in the Town Hall.

They are Best Landscape and Green Space, Best Wildlife Friendly Estate, Best Biodiversity Impact, Business of the Year, Excellence in Sports, Youth Award, Best Community Arts Project, and a Special Award.

Nominations can be made online at this link or by emailing kilcullencommunityaction@gmail.com. In each category, voters should explain why they think the nominees deserve the award.

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Big motorcycle racing weekend for Dowling Property

A big weekend lies ahead for a local company, Dowling Property, which sponsors Irish and international motorcycle road racer Kevin Keyes, participating in one of the sport's biggest races this weekend, the Bennetts BSB International Race at Oulton Park in Cheshire. The BSB is now into its 38th year of championship racing, and this is a rare opportunity to compete against some of the sport's biggest names in this one-off, international race.

Kevin has had his best road racing season of his career so far in 2025, winning a prestigious award at the Isle of Man TT Races, RST Isle of Man TT's Star of Tomorrow Award, where a previous winner was Davey Todd, now one of the top motorcycle racers in the world, so not bad company for Kevin to be in.

The BSB race is the last event of the year for him, so he's hoping to have some success with the Rathangan-based Daracore Racing Team,  owned by Brian and Keith Farrell, for whom Kevin rides. 

John J Dowling of Dowling Property is himself a motorbike and road racing fanatic. "We are delighted to be involved as Kevin's sponsor, as not only is he fast and brings home the trophies, but he's a pure gentleman and a credit to the sport and his family. We've had a great year of travel with him and the Daracore Race Team to The North West 200 in Co Antrim, The Isle of Man TTs, and now off to Cheshire. It's such an exciting time, and we wish the Daracore Racing Team the best, as we know the hard work behind the scenes."

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Kilcullen News Update

French students in CPC ... Halverstown CC's Awards Night ... Woodbine Books October programme ... GAA Jackpot won ... Fishing season closed ... 

Reporting since 2005 from a Village Grown Bigger. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.

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French students and Kilcullen heritage

Images: CPC.

A group of French students from Chaumont, near Dijon, were shown different elements of Kilcullen's ancient heritage while on an Erasmus exchange to Cross and Passion College, writes Brian Byrne.

Local families hosted them, and Noel Clare outlined the histories of Old Kilcullen and Dun Ailinne during a hectic week for the group, which included attending lessons and working on projects about Irish literary figures. They also participated in the recent Careers Fair and Open Night at CPC.

External events included a visit to Causey Farm, where they experienced brown bread making, céilí dancing and bog jumping. A final day in Kildare town was spent exploring the Cathedral, learning about St Brigid through a VR experience, and enjoying a guided heritage walk.

A group of CPC students will go on a reciprocal visit to Chaumont later this year.

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Halverstown end of season awards

Well over 100 people attended Halverstown Cricket Club’s first-ever awards ceremony, at Piper’s Hill College, Naas. Player of the Year had until now been done on a team-by-team basis, but this was a celebration of all the players in the club — boys, girls, youths, adults. Cricket Ireland sent along two Irish international cricketers for the presentations: Liam McCarthy, who made his debut against the West Indies this year, and Christina Coulter-Reilly, the Irish Women’s wicketkeeper, who, incidentally, scored the winning run against England last year.  

“This is Halverstown’s 140th year, and it is wonderful to see it so strong after so many years. The oldest cricket club outside Dublin is thriving”, said Des Drumm, Chairman. Des paid tribute to John Threadgold, the previous Chairman, and the Beaumont family, who have long hosted the club on their beautiful Harristown estate.  

Stuart Conroy, Secretary, noted that with five youth and three adult teams (not including the two T20 cup teams!), as well as summer camps and training sessions, it has been a very busy year, but there has been enormous help from the parents and the youth coaches, as well as the Executive.  Medals were presented to all the Under 11s, whilst the Under 13s and 15s received certificates, before the awards were made for the Players of the Year:  Boys Under 13: Arun Chidambaram; Girls Under 13: Lily Richardson; Boys Under 15: Shamikh Khan; Girls Under 15: Michaela Langford.

The captains of each of the adult teams gave a summary of the season before Liam and Christina awarded the Players of the Year to: Halverstown Oaks: Kevin Hodson; Halverstown 2: Avanish Patel; Halverstown 1: Paolo Rosa. 

It was a particularly successful year for Halverstown 2 under the captaincy of Jim Hodgson, winning nine of 12 games and gaining promotion as runners-up. It was tougher for Halverstown 1, but skipper Andy Wordley was pleased with the effort, finishing 5th out of eight teams in Division 12. The Oaks are less concerned with winning but are core to the ethos of the club, playing the game in the right spirit for enjoyment and bringing through players for the league teams. Captain Ger O’Shea mentioned in particular that they had entertained three touring teams from Wales and England this year. 

Des Drumm wrapped up proceedings by presenting a bouquet to Kim Langford, who had been inspirational in her commitment to the club, and a special award to Stuart Conroy, “Super Secretary”, for his incredible work ethic, and Des reminded people that Stuart had already received a national award from Cricket Ireland as “Activator of the Year” for his work with youth cricket. 2025 was, indeed, a full-on year but with much to celebrate. 

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Busy October for Woodbine Books

The list of contributors for the Woodbine Books Open Mic Night on 22 October is building quickly. It's still open to anyone who'd like to perform some reading or music; call Dawn.

The night is just one of a packed month for the bookshop, with other events, both daytime and evening, including book club meetings for children, young adults, and adults. The Warhammer Juvenile Group is popular, and there's another board game night on Thursday, the 9th. The Club Gaeilge is on the morning of Monday the 8th, and there's a Golden Ticket promotion on Saturday the 11th, for audiobook credits.

Full programme below.

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GAA Lotto Jackpot won

Grace Mallon won the weekly Kilcullen GAA Lotto Jackpot on Monday evening. The prize had reached €2,300.

The numbers drawn were 11, 12, 21 and 27, and Nick Egan sold the winning ticket.

The next Draw will be on Monday, 6 October, with the Jackpot reset to €1,000. You can play online (over-18 only) at this link. 

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Angling season closes

The 2025 fishing season on the Liffey has ended, and the Kilcullen Trout & Salmon Angler Club's waters are now closed for all fishing.

The club asks members and non-members alike to respect the closed waters and not fish.

With heavy floods and poor hatchs of fly, the fish need some peace as they prepare to spawn and recover. 

The club thanks all members and landowners for their continued support in allowing the club access to their land.

The river will reopen for fishing on March 1st 2026.

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Kilcullen News Update

Jack brings gold to The Spout ... Scouts mark 25 years in Den ... Shamrocks seek support for Christmas Draw ... Ivan Yates to MC Kildare Business Expo ... Beekeeping Course open for applications ... KARE highlights access issues ... Workshops on dealing with cyberbullying ... Lotto Draw results ... 

Reporting since 2005 from a Village Grown Bigger. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.

 

Jack brings gold to The Spout

Photo: The Spout.

Some of his supporters in The Spout got the opportunity last evening to congratulate Jack Courtney on his World Cup Darts gold medal, following the return of the Irish team from Seoul, South Korea, writes Brian Byrne. CPC student Jack won the medal in the youth pairs with Tipperary team-mate Aidan O'Hara, who also won a silver in the youth singles.

Photo: INDO.

The team arrived back at Dublin Airport yesterday morning, where the Irish National Darts Organisation welcomed them home. The Ladies team of Denise Cassidy, Aoife McCormick, Katie Sheldon, and Robyn Byrne also won gold, beating Australia in their final.

A full celebration night in The Spout will be held in the very near future. CPC has also congratulated Jack and Aidan on a wonderful achievement. 

Scout troop marks 25 years in Community Centre

The 9th Kildare Kilcullen Scout Troop marked 25 years in its Den at Kilcullen Community Centre yesterday, writes Brian Byrne. The Den was officially opened on 30 September 2000 by Kitty Reade.

The Troop was set up in September 1978, initially located in the Tennis Club, and was in several temporary premises until it got its first purpose-built Den. 

Through the decades, the group has contributed to the community in many ways. To note just a few, it has hosted parties for Kilcullen's seniors, and raised funds for many good causes — including aid for the families who lost their homes in the Millfield Manor fire of 2015. 

In 2013, under the direction of then Venture scout Emma Birchall — a Cub of the Year in 2006 — the troop organised Kilcullen's first St Patrick's Day Parade. 

Shamrocks seek support for Christmas Draw

The South Kildare Shamrocks will be holding a Christmas Draw to raise funds for the club, and it is seeking donations of prizes or services for that, writes Brian Byrne. The club, an amalgamation of hurling players in Kilcullen, Two Mile House and Athgarvan GAA clubs, was founded in 2022.

The club now has age groups from Academy to Minor hurlers, and now needs funds to cover game fees, team kits and training equipment. Until now, these costs have been covered by a few parents making donations.

Anyone who can help support the Christmas Draw can email the Shamrocks at southkildareshamrocks@gmail.com. Or call Paul on 087 2593437.

Ivan Yates to MC Business Expo

Broadcaster, businessman and former politician Ivan Yates is to be the MC for the County Kildare Business Expo being held on Tuesday next, 7 October, writes Brian Byrne. The event, organised by County Kildare Chamber, is at the Curragh Racecourse, beginning at 3pm.

Mr Yates will lead three panel discussions on the day. These will be about financial support for growth, navigating the current challenges for business, and how AI will shape the business landscape.

The Business Expo is free to attend and is an opportunity to meet local businesses exhibiting at the show. 

Applications open for beekeeping course

The South Kildare Beekeepers are now accepting applicants to next year's beekeeping course, which will be held in Athy and starts in February 2026 through to April with lectures.

The course will continue from May through to August, with practical visits to the association's bee hives, and will finish with Honey Extraction in August 2026.

A fee of €65 for the course includes membership of the association for 2026. 

Kare highlights access issues

Hopefully, this will not be a downtown Kilcullen issue for people in wheelchairs and with other disabilities for much longer, writes Brian Byrne. The photo was taken by a Kare group who highlighted similar issues in Newbridge for MakeWayDay.

This particular section should be sorted by new works beginning later this month, which will include a new, sweeping, granite path starting at the River Cafe and continuing down to Fire Stop.

Expected to take up to 16 weeks, the work will include a proper junction coming out of Market Square. 

CPC workshops on dealing with cyberbullying

Workshops on dealing with Cyberbullying are being provided to 1st and 2nd Year students in Cross and Passion College on Tuesday and Wednesday next, 7/8 October. Parents wishing their children to participate can indicate so by paying a small fee on the school app.

As part of this initiative, a meeting for parents will be held on Tuesday evening. 

More details from the college office.