Kilcullen Diary: Recent Episodes
The Kilcullen Diary Podcasts
Writer, photographer, broadcaster, editor of Kilcullen Diary daily updated news about Kilcullen, Co Kildare, Ireland.
Clodie Duclos didn’t grow up around animals in her native Normandy, apart from the family dog. And she’s the only one in her family who has made a career working with animals. “But my grandfather was always interested in horses, in hunting and also going to the races,” she recalls. "He raised racing pigeons too. So maybe it came from there." She smiles at the memories. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
It's a time of the year when reports of dogs worrying sheep make headlines, sometimes with very distressing photographs of animals which have been savaged. Behind such images is heartbreak for the farmers concerned, and a harrowing effect on up to 60 flocks in the Kildare West Wicklow area each year. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
The opportunity for Cross and Passion College Kilcullen students to speak in French and German with counterparts was a key part of a recent visit by student groups from Caen in Normandy and Krefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was facilitated by the EU Erasmus student mobility programme, to which CPC signed up last year. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Over the years, I have covered quite a few local authority meetings with deliberations on a wide variety of issues, but I never came across a discussion on what to do with a consignment of porter. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
When I came across a picture in a 44-years-old Image magazine, I was transported back in telephone time. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
The Bönickhausen Tower doesn't have the same ring to it as the Eiffel Tower, but the best known symbol of Paris could well have been just that, if its builder's family hadn't added the name of their local mountains to their surname when they emigrated from Germany. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On This Day: The president of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was overthrown on the 23rd of December 1989 after more than two decades as head of a state widely regarded as a dictatorship. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
This memoir is in my series In Those Days, written many years ago following the death of my mother, Monica Byrne. It's about a painting of her, created by the renowned Irish artist Sean O'Sullivan. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
To most of my generation, Julia Buckley was a somewhat forbidding figure, as we grew up in Kilcullen. To go in to buy a stamp, or a savings certificate, from 'Miss Buckley' was something of an adventure. As did most people in responsible positions appear to us children, she was a symbol of authority, just as much as were the teachers Miss Griffin and Paddy Byrne, or Guard Bradfield. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Charity Muthani is the ‘face’ of Maintain Hope, an Irish-based charity supporting disadvantaged children in Kenya. She is a living example to those who support the organisation of what can happen when their money or their time is invested in a child. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
'Mother' is one of my short stories. This was written while I contemplated the future of humankind as we push our planet inevitably to being uninhabitable. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Sometimes, no matter how badly you think of yourself as a person, no matter how much guilt keeps you in nightmares, there's someone out there to bring you through to a second chance. This podcast is in my series of short fiction, which I have been writing over many years. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
This podcast is one of a series of my short stories. It was written some time after a visit to the Chateau Cloux in Amboise, in the Loire region of France. The chateau is where the artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary. Image: Leonardo da Vinci by Francesco Melzi, public domain.
When The Book of Kildare was recently published as part of the celebrations of Brigid 1500, it marked the end of five years of work by artist and calligrapher Josephine Hardiman. It was also something which, after a lifetime of honing her art, had always been waiting for her to create. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
If you run the statistics, Kilcullen's canine pets are probably depositing over 74,000 kilos of poo every year, writes Brian Byrne. And if you walk around the town, actual empirical evidence shows not all of it is disposed of properly by some doggy owners.
Over the last three years Newbridge singer-songwriter Joan Healy has moved from her first public performances as a busker outside the Whitewater Shopping Centre to now arranging her own gigs. Some of her songs have been professionally recorded and can be heard on Spotify. And she is living two tandem lives, as a teacher and a singer, both of which she loves. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Alex Konieczka is an Irish-based environmental activist and the founder of Understory, which uses workshops and talks in communities, schools and other groups to encourage others to make a positive impact on the environment, biodiversity and climate. In this podcast she talks about her background and how she came to this vocation. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary Podcasts.
Back in the mid-1970s, people still hitched in Ireland. And those of us fortunate to be in cars frequently gave people lifts. For both parties it was something of a gamble. Of easy conversation, or not. Of possible personality clashes. Of committing to a distance or destination together that might prove to have been a mistake in as little as a minute or two into the drive. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Team Ireland for the 2023 UK Transplant & Dialysis Games taking place on the last weekend in July in Coventry, England, gathered in Kilcullen Community Centre for the official launch of their campaign. They were addressed by longtime transplant athlete and Kilcullen businessman James Nolan, who told them they were 'ambassadors for organ donation'. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
A century and a half before the movie Jurassic Park brought dinosaurs into their trendy blockbuster modern space, a woman born in poor circumstances in Dorset, England, was to become one of the foremost experts on many originals of the species. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Image: Portrait of Mary Anning in the Natural History Museum, London (artist unknown).
Next time you get an injection, for flu prevention or Covid booster, remember Dr Francis Rynd. And remember Margaret Cox who triggered his inventiveness. Even as you wince.
Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Image of Francis Rynd courtesy of Wellcome Trust via Wikimedia Commons.
Anyone born before 1977 won’t have had experience of being beaten by teachers in Ireland’s schools when corporal punishment was still part of a child's education. It took 60 years after we gained our independence before a patently barbaric practice inflicted on the children of our nation was outlawed, but such punishment was finally banned in 1982.
Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Dr John E Barker passed away at his home in Liffey Bank, Kilcullen, on 6 February 1927. Retired only a few years, he had had completed almost a half-century of public service when he left that position in 1924. According to his obituary, "he gave unstinted attention to his patients, rich and poor, and was forever remarkable for fidelity to duty, both in his public and private capacity as a doctor."
A singer songwriter from Kilcullen, Ireland, who is steadily forging a reputation in Spain credits much of her musical development to her music and drama teachers back here in her home town. Elle León Gallagher lives in Barcelona now, but was on a trip back to Ireland before Christmas to mark the launch of her first full album — 'Elle León, The Musical'. She was accompanied by her band, a group of friends from Barcelona with whom she has been making music for some time in venues around the Catalonian capital.Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
The kindness of humans is at the core of a trek by Dunlavin, County Wicklow, native Andy Howard as he begins an attempt to raise suicide awareness by making his way from London to Australia, without any money. As he makes his way on what he calls The Great Life Project he hopes to raise €100,000 which will be divided amongst suicide-related charities in Ireland, the UK and Australia. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.You can follow Andy's travels on his social media links: https://linktr.ee/andyhowardAndyhttps://youtube.com/@TheGreatLifeProjectAndyhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/SeekingHumanKind-Suicide-Prevention/AndyAndy Howardhttps://www.instagram.com/andyhoward213
Pisa in Italy is perhaps best known for its famous leaning tower, but it was also the birthplace of someone who leaned so far away from conventional wisdom in his day that he eventually was condemned by the Catholic Church to spend his last years under house arrest. A voice portrait of Galileo Galilei. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.Images: Justus Sustermans - Portrait of Galileo Galilei, 1636; Galileo spacecraft: NASA.
When students of Drama Dynamics School of Speech & Drama in Kilcullen brought presents to the school's owner last week, it was something more than a Christmas present for teacher. After 17 years, it was the last Drama Dynamics class as Evelyn O'Sullivan brought the curtain down on an era during which she had helped many children in the area — and adults too — to 'find their voice'.Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
A passion for good food and a pharmacy background of advising people on nutrition over 25 years were the ingredients that prompted Kilcullen woman Michelle Reddy to cook up her own nutrition and health consultancy. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
When several dozens of people joined in the recent inaugural Family Ramble organised by Two Mile House Biodiversity & Heritage Group, they were in very solid hands in terms of the speakers guiding them through their locality. Jesmond Harding of Butterfly Conservation Ireland provided an in-depth commentary of biodiversity in a landscape literally with its roots in the last Ice Age, and John O'Brien recounted the much more recent experience of the railway age in Harristown that began in the 1880s and ended in the 1950s. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
A sponsored climb up Lugnaquilla Mountain in Wicklow in November will help towards supporting more families and children to live and be educated in the community of Ngong in Kenya. The climb, on November 6th, is being organised by the Maintain Hope charity founded by Kilcullen resident Gerry O'Donoghue back in 2004. It's the inaugural of what he hopes will be a yearly event in the fundraising strategy of the charity. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Billy Schwer, of Luton, England, was three times Irish Juvenile Boxing Champion when he was still a schoolboy in the mid 1950s. When he came over to the recent Picnic on the Green organised by the Old Kilcullen Area Community Association, it was special because the event was being held just beside where he had been born 80 years ago. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Some time ago I was given a tape of a radio programme produced and presented in 1994 by Majella Duane for CKR Radio. The programme was one of a series, Home Front, produced by Majella where she talked with people in towns and villages in Carlow and Kildare to give a flavour of their communities.
For the programme, Majella talked with my brother Des, Simon Doyle, Miriam's father Matt Dunlea, my Uncle Tom, and myself. Sadly I'm the only one of the five participants still around, but it has been a pleasure to hear those voices again. For having kept the tape and lending it to me, my sincere thanks to Miriam McDonnell, founder of Curragh Lawns Nursing Home.
Kilcullen Diary Podcast produced by Brian Byrne.
One of the nature events in the Kilcullen area for National Heritage Week 2022 was a visit to Pollardstown Fen, a protected wetland area behind Newbridge in County Kildare. The event was hosted by the Kildare Branch of Birdwatch Ireland in association with the Irish Midlands Ringing Group. Produced by Brian Byrne.
An exhibition and heritage walk today in Ballyshannon was an eyeopener to many of the current residents of the village. Through photographs and words it traced back through a century and further the local happenings and places. One gem is a series of interviews with local people, on a short reel to reel tape made 40 years ago by the local branch of Macra na Thuaithe and kept by local woman Joan Dowling, who was one of the young people making the tape. Produced by Brian Byrne.
One of the early Kildare events for National Heritage Week 2022 was a presentation by conservation experts on the 15th century Tower House in the grounds of Moone Abbey House just outside the village of Moone. The Kilcullen Diary went along to find out more. Produced by Brian Byrne.
When the Covid lockdowns came, like many other catering-related businesses, Kalbarri Cookery School outside Kilcullen had to pivot to providing food for takeaway to keep things ticking over. They did this very successfully, working around a Saturday Bake Shop that operated every weekend. Now, founder and owner Siobhan Murphy is bringing the Kalbarri business back to school. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A new Cardiac Physiotherapy Clinic to be built at the Kilcullen Business Campus will allow owner Karen Cradock to increase staff and facilities for her existing operation there, and make services easier for clients to access from all over the country. Brian Byrne reports.
The inclusion of Dun Ailinne on the World Heritage Tentative List for Ireland is a step towards the ancient royal site gaining the world recognition it deserves, according to Dr Susan Johnston of George Washington University who has led archaeological investigations at Dun Ailinne since 2006. She has just returned to the US after the 2022 summer dig with archaeological students. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Paula Phelan had worked for 25 years in leadership and development with large organisations, but found that her career point had removed her from interaction with people. So she has established her own practice as a life coach. A People and Life podcast produced by Brian Byrne.
The song 'This Land is Your Land' was one of the anthems of the Civil Rights movement in the United States in the 1960s and is still today one of those compositions that never fails to lift the emotions. But the roots of the song, written and performed by musical legend Woody Guthrie, come from deep in the psyche and experiences of the composition's author, who through his life travelled the big highways and the dusty by-roads of his country during several turbulent periods in modern American history. Produced by Brian Byrne.
When Edward Flanagan was born in 1886 in Leabeg Co Roscommon — the eighth of eleven children — his parents John and Honoria would have had no idea that their new son would become known worldwide. But that's just what happened after his work as a priest with young troubled boys became an Oscar-winning movie, Boys Town, in 1938. Produced by Brian Byrne.
When National Bike Week came along recently it triggered some memories. Especially the bit about cycling to school. It reminded me of my first of many days cycling to school in Newbridge, from the tender age of eleven. For me, that first trip to the Patrician Brothers in Newbridge was freedom. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Big C Choir in Newbridge, which is comprised of cancer survivors and friends, celebrates its 10th year of fundraising with a concert in the Killashee House Hotel on 12 June 2022. We talk to the founder, Christina O'Connell, and a number of the choir members, to find out what makes it sing. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary. WATCH: The Big C Choir in rehearsal. https://youtu.be/5iHb0fn4ffU
This is an episode in my series Persons of Interest. In these days when the electronic keyboard is ubiquitous for writing, whether on a computer or a a tablet or a phone, it seems strange to recall the days of the humble typewriter. But I recall it well. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Image: George Blickensderfer's patent design.
This is the eighth and final episode in a series called The Accidental Pilgrim, recalling my thoughts during a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land, in 2007, led by Kilcullen's Parish Priest of the time, Fr Michael Murphy. In this episode, we attend the last mass of the pilgrimage, which rounded out a hectic four days in the Jerusalem area. Produced by Brian Byrne.
This is the seventh episode in a series called The Accidental Pilgrim, recalling my thoughts during a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land, in 2007. In this episode, I remember how we were introduced to the Children of the Holocaust. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Photo of Children's Memorial at Yad Vashem by Joshua Paquin, licensed by Creative Commons on Wikimedia.
Episode six in the Accidental Pilgrim series, recalling my thoughts during a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land in 2007, led by our then Parish Priest, Fr Michael Murphy. In this episode, how we do our best to get around the places in Jerusalem where Jesus spent the latter days of his life. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The fifth episode in the Accidental Pilgrim series, recalling a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land, in 2007. In this episode, we move on to Jerusalem, taking a detour on the way into the desert where the bushes grew that were fashioned into punishing crowns of thorns. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
This is the fourth episode in a series called The Accidental Pilgrim, recalling a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land, in 2007. In this episode, we consider a couple of miraculous events as we journey through the Fifth Gospel, the name given to the land where the Christian Gospel stories originated. Produced by Brian Byrne.
This is the third episode in a series called The Accidental Pilgrim, recalling my thoughts during a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land, in 2007. In this episode, I muse on 'The Jordan Effect', and then we move on to Mount Tabor, the place of the Transfiguration where Jesus is said to have revealed himself in his true Divinity to Peter, James and John. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The second episode in The Accidental Pilgrim series, recalling my thoughts during a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land in 2007. Sitting at a table on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, it was a scruffy kind of place really. A lot of litter. I had to wonder what kind of litter there was when Jesus walked these shores, looking for a fisher of men? Produced by Brian Byrne.
This is the first episode in a series called The Accidental Pilgrim, recalling my thoughts during a Kilcullen Parish pilgrimage to The Holy Land, in 2007. Even though I'm not a religious person, the trip still resonates after a decade and a half, for lots of reasons.
When Kilcullen's almost derelict cinema building became a project of the newly-formed Kilcullen Community Development Committee in November 1989, they probably didn't realise they were embarking on an endeavour that would take many years, and many headaches, to complete. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In January thirty years ago in Kilcullen, the pressure for a link road to the north end of the town from the new bypass was ‘intensifying’, according to local newspaper reports of the time. For some local businesses, it represented a fight for survival. Produced by Brian Byrne.
When two public meetings in the autumn of 1989 discussed the future of Kilcullen, one of the main issues was the need for an upgrade to the town's sewerage system. It was an issue which had been 'on the books for a long time' one local businessman had complained. And it was still quite a way from being solved. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The work of two Kilcullen Third Year students for their BT Young Scientists project could become a template for the HSE in communicating details about Covid-19, or anything else. Because their presentation on vaccine information devised by Emma Cremin and Charlotte Darby of Cross and Passion College has proved far more effective and comprehensible than those provided by the state body. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Much of the electricity used in our homes even in today’s age of renewable energy is produced with the help of an invention from 1884 by a County Offaly-educated engineer, Charles Parsons — a person of interest in the world’s ever-growing hunger for reliable energy. A Kilcullen Diary Podcast, produced by Brian Byrne.
The resurrection of a poem about Kilcullen published in the quarterly bulletin of Dominican College Newbridge in 1939 brought to light an eminent actor's connection with Kilcullen which most local people had never realised. The poem was written by a Third Year student in the college, Peter Dix. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The news business has become a vastly overcrowded sea where plankton just isn’t enough to feed the sharks, they continuously need something more substantial and juicy. Produced by Brian Byrne.
'Three Words for Goodbye' made me once again steal time from my other activities in order to keep reading it. At the same time not wanting to reach the end. Not because I knew there would be tears, rather that when you’re enjoying something, you don’t want it to finish. A review of the latest historical romance novel from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. Produced by Brian Byrne.
With the return of the Supervalu Tidy Towns Competition for 2021 following the event's cancellation last year because of the pandemic, the Kilcullen Tidy Towns effort is celebrating an 11-marks improvement over the 2019 performance.
Podcast produced by Brian Byrne.
A Fifth Year student from Cross and Passion College, Kilcullen, Ireland, who recently addressed a high-powered European Commission group on the mental health of young people, says he was very pleased to be able to speak up for his generation on what is 'such a large problem'. Produced by Brian Byrne.
It's exactly two years since the community of Ballyshannon began their campaign against the proposal to open a sand and gravel extraction quarry at a local farm called Racefield, which had been acquired by sand and concrete products giant Kilsaran. Kildare County Council refused the company permission, but An Bord Pleanala overturned that refusal. The community is now waiting to see if their request for a Judicial Review will be granted. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The annual Culture Night got back to some real live events this year and last evening in Kilcullen the sole contribution in town was organised by Dawn Behan of Woodbine Books. There was a small but very appreciative group in to hear Naas-based singer-songwriter Pete Kavanagh perform some of his songs, and talk about how they were brought to the recording studio and production. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Fully open again to visitors after the pandemic intermission, a visit or re-visit to Russborough House in Co Wicklow is well worth making today. With a significant amount of updating undertaken during the covid closure, there's now a completely new reception and shop area, an enhanced restaurant and cafe service, and much more to learn about the history and culture of the 'Big House' era, going back as far as the middle of the 18th century. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Kilcullen Community Action recently harvested its first honey from the two community hives which have been in operation over the last two years. The project by KCA's Pollinator and Biodiversity Group was initiated in 2019. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Giant's Causeway in County Antrim is a geological fact that triggered the tale of two giants, Finn MacCool and a rival across the sea in Scotland, Benandonner. The unusually-shaped columns of basalt rock were formed many millions of years ago in a river valley when the now island of Ireland was a part of a larger continental mass.
A Kilcullen Diary production by Brian Byrne, in association with Irish Car+Travel Magazine.
Located in the former Customs House of Limerick there's a compact gem of a museum that is the legacy of a family who loved art, archaeology, and design. John and Gertrude Hunt left their diverse and amazing personal collection in a trust so that it could be accessible to everyone in the generations which came after them. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In 1868, a Dublin businessman took over the lease on an acre of land and a mill at Mount Usher near Ashford, in Co Wicklow. Today the Mount Usher Gardens are spread over 20 acres and host some 5,000 species of plants and are a botanical treasure. A Kilcullen Diary production by Brian Byrne.
(This podcast is also available on Youtube with visuals. https://youtu.be/1KFNAeJDwTQ)
Proposals by Kildare County Council to raise the speed limits on two country roads outside Kilcullen are 'ridiculous' and 'insane' according to local reaction, and people fear that it will take a traffic death before common sense is applied. A Viewpoint piece produced by Brian Byrne.
The reaction to proposals for speed limit increases on two country roads near Kilcullen has been strongly critical. Produced by Brian Byrne.
We are now a largely urban society in Ireland. But most of us are just a couple or so generations from forebears who made their living on the land, or who worked for them. At the Irish Agricultural & Folk Life Museum in Johnstown Castle, outside Wexford, this heritage is clear. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Diary talks to Esther Reddy of Maintain Hope, at today's Coffee Morning fundraiser for the charity founded to help provide a better life for children and young people in Kenya. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The official launch of the revitalised Kilcullen Tennis Club, on 10 July 2021. Produced by Brian Byrne
Over the past seven years, Siobhan Murphy and her family have built up Kalbarri Cookery in Carnalway, near Kilcullen, starting as a school for cooking and evolving from there into an events location for families and their celebrations, for local corporate gigs and more. Then, on a Friday in March of last year, they had to change direction quickly when things came to a pandemic-induced stop. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Reviving memories from my late teens, with a visit to the Kennedy Homestead and John F Kennedy Memorial Park & Arboretum in County Wexford, Ireland. Produced by Brian Byrne.
This podcast is also available as a Youtube video with visuals - https://youtu.be/CFL0G4xYnSE
If you take the tour of the Teeling Distillery in Dublin's Liberties, you might be very lucky and have the family's patriarch, John Teeling, kick off the visit. Because when it comes to making whiskey in Ireland, there's probably no one who knows more about it. A Summer Cast podcast episode, produced by Brian Byrne.
Have you got a Mystery Trail in your town or village? If you have, it means that Pat and Karen Gillick have been there, setting up a murder mystery or a mission impossible as a way for you or anyone else to explore your place. A Summer Cast podcast episode, produced by Brian Byrne.
Skunk Cabbage doesn't sound like something you'd like to have on your dinner plate ... and indeed it certainly isn't. But it is an invasive plant species that has the potential to damage river systems. A pilot project on the Liffey by Kilcullen resident and ecologist Dr Jan Baars is working out a plan to deal with it. A Summer Cast podcast episode, produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Monday the 31st of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Richard Lovell Edgeworth, an inventor and educator before his time. Our Feature of the Day is a conversation with Fiona Billie Lawlor about her first novel, The Callow Land. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Friday the 28th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is the writer and producer James Plunkett, whose most famous work is the novel Strumpet City. Our Feature of the Day returns to the Marian Shrine at Knock and a final extract from my conversations with the late Monsignor James Horan. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Thursday the 27th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Robert Ripley, who invented the Believe it or Not cartoon series. Our Feature of the Day is on the Battle of Old Kilcullen, which was in progress during this week in 1798. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Wednesday the 26th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Martin Luther, the German priest who started the Reformation that gave the world Protestantism. Our Feature of the Day continues the proposed Dunnstown Energy Storage project, this time with the view from the developer's side. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Tuesday the 25th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Helen Blackburn, the Kerry-born woman who became a leader of women's rights in England in the latter 19th century. Our Feature of the Day is about concerns in Dunnstown over plans to locate a giant battery electricity storage system in the area. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Monday the 24th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Lys Assia, who sang the winning song in the first Eurovision Song Contest. Our Feature of the Day is some more recollections from a conversation with the late Tommy Byrne, on hors-drawn hearses and making ice-slides on the bridge. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Friday the 21st of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and a lifelong social justice campaigner. Our Feature of the Day is on concerns about the health of the River Liffey, with Simon Dann of the Kilcullen Trout and Salmon Anglers Association. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Thursday the 20th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Our Feature of the Day is on concerns about new speed limits proposed for the Kilcullen area, with contributions from Cllrs Tracey O'Dwyer and Chris Pender. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Wednesday the 19th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Anne Boleyn, who lost her head and changed religion in England. Our Feature of the Day is on the joys of growing your own food, as told by Sabina Reddy. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Tuesday the 18th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Pope John Paul II, the first pope to visit Ireland. Our Feature of the Day is the late Simon Doyle of Kilcullen, in conversation with Nuala Collins in 1996. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Monday the 17th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Maureen O'Sullivan, a Boyle-born actor famous for her Tarzan movies. Our Feature of the Day is a talk with Mario Corrigan, co-author of 'A Timeline of the War of Independence in County Kildare, 1919-1922'. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Friday the 14th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Richard Cantillon, an Irish-born banker who made a killing in the 18th century on a speculative investment 'bubble', and later disappeared. Our Feature of the Day is again with the late Canon James Horan, this time his thoughts on the apparent apparitions and miracles underpinning the Marian shrine. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Thursday the 13th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Arthur Sullivan, Victorian composer and collaborator in producing the most enduring comic operas. Our Feature of the Day is the late Canon James Horan reflecting on the building of the Basilica at Knock. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Wednesday the 12th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Florence Nightingale, the founder of nursing as a trained profession. Our Feature of the Day is on the Cross & Passion TY year musical presentation, Little Shop of Horrors. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national online news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Tuesday the 11th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Sean Lemass, described often as the father of modern Ireland. Our Feature of the Day is on Halverstown Cricket Club, celebrating 136 years in 2021. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Monday the 10th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Bert Weedon, who helped make the guitar the rock and roll weapon of choice. Our Feature of the Day is on summer eye care, with optometrist Nichola Kennedy. We also nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A playback of short excerpts from The Daily Cast during the past week. We hear recollections of traffic and transport in Kilcullen in the 20s and 30s, the ethos of the small rural school in Brannockstown, and how the annual Mac and Norman Rally is supported from far and wide. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Friday the 7th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Rachel Carson, American marine biologist, author, and environmentalist. Our Feature of the Day is another extract from my 1984 conversation with my late uncle Tommy Byrne, about cars, bicycles and trains and Kilcullen in his younger days. We also briefly nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Thursday the 6th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Robert O'Hara Burke, an Irish explorer who didn't do so well. Our Feature of the Day is about the hopes for a resumption of the Mac & Norman Rally in August, after last year's pandemic cancellation. As usual we also briefly nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Wednesday the 5th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Kate O'Brien, writer and feminist. Our Feature of the Day is about Brannoxtown Community National School's first three years, recalled by Principal Sarah Fitzpatrick. As usual we also briefly nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Tuesday the 4th of May 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Charles Williams, the Irish-born early war correspondent. Our Feature of the Day is on traffic and transport in Kilcullen in the 1930s, as remembered by the late Tommy Byrne. As usual we also briefly nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Friday the 30th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Eva Braun, the longtime companion of the man who started WW2. Our Feature of the Day is on the early days of Kilcullen Credit Union. As usual we also briefly nod at the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Thursday the 29th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Paul Cullen, a Kildare man who became a major force to be reckoned with in the church in Rome and in Ireland. Our Feature of the Day is on poetry, as it is Poetry Day Ireland 2021, and we talk with Kilcullen-born Daragh Byrne, these days being published in Oz and in his native country. As usual we also briefly nod at the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Wednesday the 28th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Oskar Schindler, a Nazi businessman who is credited with saving 1,200 Jews from death. We talk to Cliona Kelliher about progress with the Kilcullen Community 4 Climate Action, and Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer tells us how the planning and costs to restaurants and cafes offering outdoor dining is getting help in this second pandemic summer. As usual we also briefly nod at the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Tuesday the 27th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Mary Ward, one of Ireland's great nature scientists. Our Feature of the Day is with Shirley Kavanagh Hallion and how video chats have brought her Secret Kloset women's clothing shop global. As usual we also briefly nod at the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day on Monday the 26th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Duane Eddy, the twangy guitarist who influenced many of the rock and roll greats. Our Feature of the Day is with Dawn Behan of Woodbine Books, about an online launch this week of Fionn and the Fianna. We also briefly nod at the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Friday the 23rd of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland who died in battle on this day in 1014. Our Feature of the Day is with Gerard Miller on Kilcullen Tennis Club, where new courts open for action next week. We also briefly nod to the stories of the day in our local and national news outlets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day, on Thursday the 22nd of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Bernadette Devlin, Northern Ireland activist and politician, who made her maiden speech at Westminster on this day in 1969. Our Feature of the Day is with James Nolan and the effect of the pandemic on his key fundraising effort for supporting kidney patients. We continue our browse through the week's local newspapers, and take a quick check on the national stories of today. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day. It's Wednesday the 21st of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Charlotte Bronte, novelist and poet, born on this day in 1816. Our Feature of the Day is about gambling advertising and Senator Mark Wall's hopes to ban it. We continue our usual browsing through the local newspapers, and take a quick check on the national stories of today. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day. It's Tuesday the 20th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Dan Lowery, the man credited with bringing Music Hall to Dublin. Our Feature of the Day has Rani Grennell on the value of meditation and her plans to bring it to people by Zoom. We continue our usual browsing through the local newspapers, and take a quick check on the national stories of today. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day. It's Monday the 19th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Pierre Curie, one half of a marriage dedicated to the study of radioactivity. Our Feature of the Day has Cllr Chris Pender on the provision of cycling infrastructure in and between local towns. We continue our browsing through our local newspapers, and take a quick check on the national stories of today. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary, a podcast to start Kilcullen's day. It's Friday the 16th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is one Mary Isabel O'Brien, a rock and roll rose by another name. Our Feature of the Day is on Fallons of Kilcullen on a year of challenge and optimism for the future. We continue our browsing through our local newspapers, and take a quick check on the national stories of today. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary is a podcast where we spread our net close and wide and see what we can draw in. It's Thursday the 15th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is one Ray Kroc, who has left a legacy on every continent and in every city in the world. Our Feature of the Day is on Harristown House Language School where Noella Beaumont tells how her new business had to shift direction when Covid came. We continue our browsing through our local newspapers, and take a quick check on the national stories of today. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast on Kilcullen Diary is a podcast where we cast our net close and wide and see what we can draw in. It's Wednesday the 14th of April 2021. Today's Person of Interest is Ann Sullivan, who became famous for her teaching of deaf and blind girl Helen Keller. Our Feature of the Day is the Kildare West Wicklow SPCA. And we take our usual short look at local and national newspaper stories. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast from Kilcullen Diary is a podcast where we cast our net close and wide and see what we can draw in. It's Tuesday the 13th of April 2021. Our Feature of the Day is Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer on the need for biodiversity to be part of every conversation between local authorities and residents associations. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Daily Cast from Kilcullen Diary is a podcast where we cast our net close and wide and see what we can draw in. It's Monday the 12th of April 2021. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Michael Moran was born in Dublin's Liberties in the last decade of the 1700s. Blinded by illness from shortly after his birth, he was thus destined for a dark and dreary life, but on this day in 1846, as an established Dublin character, Zozimus, he passed away. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Morning Digest on Kilcullen Diary for Tuesday 30 March 2021. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Morning Digest on Kilcullen Diary on Monday 29 March 2021. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Morning Digest from Kilcullen Diary on Tuesday 23 March 2021. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A special recording by the singers of the Big C Choir, which includes a number of Kilcullen members, has turned out to be a fundraising success for cancer support far in excess of their expectations. Produced by Brian Byrne.
This was to be a podcast with our panel on our The Question series. Unfortunately, the recording of our conversation last evening failed, and I'm left only with my own recollections. I'll try and reconstruct some takeaways for you, so that it wasn't a total waste of our panellists' time. The question was, Where could Kilcullen be in five years' time? Produced by Brian Byrne.
Today is International Women's Day, and among the various local individual and groups events to mark this, students and teachers in Cross and Passion College are doing it in their own way, choosing to challenge stereotypical attitudes to women. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In this episode of 'The Question' series on Kilcullen Diary Podcasts, the panel gets together on Zoom to discusses the question, Is Social Media Polarising Society? Produced by Brian Byrne.
When I heard of the death of former RTE journalist and editor Mike Burns over the weekend, it brought back memories. In fact, I had only been thinking of him recently, wondering how he was. Now I know, at the age of 84, he has doorstepped his way into that great newsroom in the sky. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Photo: RTE.
A new Kilcullen Diary Podcast series begins tonight, The Question. And the first questions we considered were all related to Lockdown and its effects. Some personal views from the presenter and a local panel — Gerry O'Donoghue, Evelyn O'Sullivan, Cliona Kelliher, and Roy Thompson. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Good Friday was always a special day in the family pub, The Hideout. Being one of just two days in the year when the pubs in Ireland closed, it was when there was a chance to get things done that couldn't easily be managed during the rest of the year. While there were no customers, the place was always abuzz with activity. Produced by Brian Byrne.
What kind of will power does it take to decide to eliminate your tribe? To collectively cease to have children, and if one happens to be born that it be thrown from a cliff to its death? That's part of the tragedy of a tribe, the Diaguita, which lived in what is today northwestern Argentina in the 15th century. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Buonomini were established by a Dominican friar, Antonio Pierozzi, later St Anthony of Florence. 'Twelve Good Men' were chosen, two from each of Florence's administrative districts, to be the 'protectors of the shame-faced poor'. Their job, to collect from everyone who could afford to give, and to use the money to find and assist in secret those who needed it. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Kings and Clowns Drama Studio near Kilcullen has developed a new direction, as an English language tutoring school for people overseas. Owner Rani Grennell is working with clients in Brazil, Korea, Japan, Thailand, India, Kuwait, Nigeria, The Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The house was made of adobe mud, the land around it high altitude Bolivian desert. From all I'd seen in previous days, the owner likely eked out a very subsistence existence. But on a pole poking out of the roof I could see a photovoltaic solar panel. Produced by Brian Byrne.
I don't think I had ever met a concentration camp survivor before one day fourteen years ago, I got on a plane for a four-hour journey from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt. It didn't feel like four hours in the end, because my assigned seat happened to be beside a woman a decade or so older than I, one Sara Atzmon. We talked, and time just faded. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Image by Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada. The Hall of Names, Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.
My plan was that I'd rent a bike and take to Bilbao on wheels for the day. Instead, I ended up in a pub that Sunday afternoon. That wasn't as bad as it sounds. It was research, of course. On how the Bilbaoians spend their Sundays. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Tommy used to sell carpets. Then he opened a fastish-food place, concentrating on his ice-cream made on the premises. He called the place Tommy Two Scoops. The name stuck. On him as well as the business. He doesn’t mind. Tommy is good on marketing, and he knows good marketing happening when he sees it. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Bardon’s in my memory is a place where us Byrne kids’ best friends lived. Where we played together a lot, mostly whenever they weren’t playing at our house. It was the kind of scenario where the youngsters in families got to know each others’ homes intimately. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Staff and residents at Curragh Lawn Nursing Home are the first in this HSE region, if not the first nursing home in the country, to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In these pandemic days, it's maybe a good time to recall some of my travels, to give people ideas of where to go when travelling once again becomes part of our normal life. In this short episode, I'm reminded of a very small business that doesn't cater for the big market tourists. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1961 it was a New Year's Eve like none before. Ireland was celebrating with the launch of our own television service. Long before 7pm, the time scheduled for the opening, the front bar in The Hideout was full. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Images from RTE Archives.
Bang! It didn't sound like a shotgun. Besides, people didn't use shotguns in the middle of villages. And fireworks were illegal. I looked at my dad. "Carbide bombs," he said with a grin. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Jack Dempsey, who became known in American boxing circles as 'The Nonpareil' because he was most of his career unbeatable, was born on 15 December 1862 in Athgarvan on the edge of The Curragh in Kildare. However, he is all but forgotten in his home county as one of the greatest boxers of his time. Produced by Brian Byrne.
It was Terry Prone who told me that she used to get her best writing ideas while ironing. And that at the time she used to scribble down those thoughts on the white worktop in her kitchen, using a washable magic marker. The image has always stuck with me. Produced by Brian Byrne.
I was talking with someone recently about Glasnevin in Dublin in the 1950s, when milk was delivered then by a farmer from a churn on his cart, residents in the new houses coming out to have jugs filled. Milk supply in Kilcullen wasn't as advanced then. We collected it in lidded tin cans with skinny wire handles. They cut welts into our small children's hands by the time we brought them home from Tom Molloy's milking shed. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Photo: Irish Farmers Journal.
An episode in the Kilcullen Diary series In Those Days. This time remembering Norman Ross, a unique man and his business on the unique Valentia Island in Kerry. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In association with a Climate Action Event organised by the Kildare Public Participation Network for the weekend beginning Friday 27 November 2020, Kilcullen Diary has produced a short series of related podcasts. This episode looks at the opportunity which online markets give to local food producers, especially in achieving sustainability and access to local consumers. Hannah Fox of Neighbour Food Grangecon tells how the system works and some of the producers on the site give their views on the advantages to them and to their customers. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In association with a Climate Action Event organised by the Kildare Public Participation Network for the weekend beginning Friday 27 November 2020, Kilcullen Diary has produced a short series of related podcasts. This episode features the Kilcullen-based Passive Housing company owned by Matt Dooley and Mark Cooper. They talk about how the unique system based on polystyrene structural components was first introduced to Ireland, and how much it brings forward the whole concept of carbon-neutral buildings. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In association with a Climate Action Event organised by the Kildare Public Participation Network for the weekend beginning Friday 27 November 2020, Kilcullen Diary has produced a short series of related podcasts. This episode features Barry McMahon and Eamon Stack talking about their Narraghmore-based social enterprise, Range Therapy, which adds an extra battery to older short-range Nissan Leafs to bring them close to the range newer versions can travel between charges. Produced by Brian Byrne.
An Irish Car Magazine Podcast, in association with Kilcullen Diary. When I first saw the new Ford Kuga rolled out during a special ‘Go Electric’ event in Amsterdam last year, I liked what they’d done. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A remark from a friend about having to do an essay on broadcasting prompted me to some recollection about the evolution of Radio Eireann to Radio One from the time I was a young listener. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Part of the Eurospar store on Main Street was once a shop owned by two women whom I knew as my aunts Peg and Nora. They were actually my grandfather's sisters and the shop was the business which my great-grandfather came to in Kilcullen to help out with and which established him here. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1605, acting on a tip-off, soldiers for King James I in England searched the cellars under the House of Parliament in London and found a man leaving one of them. His name was Guy Fawkes, and in the room behind the searchers found barrels of gunpowder hidden under firewood and coal. Fawkes and a number of co-conspirators had planned to explode the gunpowder while Parliament was in session, attended by the King. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Picture: Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot (c. 1823), Henry Perronet Briggs
On Sunday 30 October 1938, the Mercury Theatre on the Air began a broadcast in New York of an adaptation from the HG Wells novel War of the Worlds, written 40 years before. It reportedly caused widespread panic across America. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A Kilcullen Community Action project to develop a Design Statement for the town will cost in excess of €20,000, the bulk of which would be paid for by a grant from the Kildare Leader Partnership. With the support of Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer, Cllr Rob Power last week committed €2,250 from his councillor's discretionary budget to cover the local contribution to the cost. He talks about planning for villages and towns like Kilcullen. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Dun Ailinne outside Kilcullen, Co Kildare in Ireland, is a place where people came together on regular occasions from the Iron Age until around the sixth century AD. First archaeological excavations were carried out by Dr Bernard Wailes from the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, further investigations have been directed by Dr Susan Johnston from the Department of Anthropology at George Washington University. She talks about unlocking the hill's secrets. Produced by Brian Byrne.
With the prospect of another period of severe restrictions due to coronavirus, some thoughts on where we are and where we're going. Produced by Brian Byrne.
When two Irishmen happened to meet in a bar in Gibraltar in the 1970s, they unexpectedly closed a circle around separate cinema and liquor licensing matters which had taken place in Kilcullen over more than two decades. Produced by Brian Byrne.
We're into what some call Level 3.5, others say 3.75 of the Covid restrictions in Ireland. There's a sense of going back towards the original lockdown in March. But a quick snapshot of opinion on the street in Kilcullen this morning suggests that people are in favour of going even further. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The overall take-up of electric cars in Ireland remains not just lower than political expectation, but also soft in terms of what ought to have been a bigger reality. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Wearing another hat, that of a motoring journalist for some 30 years, here's the first of what may be a series of automotive pieces. This time it's my review of the new Peugeot 208. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Kilcullen Diary on Sunday, where we take a quick look at the national and local news, and focus also on some of what we covered during the week on the Diary. Produced by Brian Byrne.
When the Cross and Passion sisters first came to Kilcullen they didn't have a wall. Indeed, they started only with a small donated house. The wall came with the building of the actual convent school that was to become the second landmark building in Kilcullen. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A new business recently launched in Kilcullen is faerly.ie, by Kilcullen residents James Byrne and Eoin Houlihan. The concept is to make available high quality personal care and daily-used household products which are sustainably produced and eliminating as far as possible plastics and chemicals. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Would the 19th century Irish pugilist Dan Donnelly be as well known today as he is, if his arm had not been taken off by the surgeon to whom grave-robbers took his body? Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1869, the first official postcards were issued, in Vienna by the Austro-Hungarian Post Office. By the end of the year, more than three million had been posted. In today's internet terms, that would be described as 'going viral'. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In these days of carefully metered and chilled beers, a pint of Guinness is a scientifically consistent joy for those who favour the black stuff. But it wasn't always that way. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Some years ago, an announcement about bringing in private contractors to try and deal with the chronic backlog in driver testing reminded me of my own first car driving licence. It was very different then. There were no driving tests, no provisional licences. You went into the local council office, paid out £1, and you were street legal. Produced by Brian Byrne.
There are memories in the grass in my back garden. Once it was part of a field. A field that 'grew' money, on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons. Not literally, of course. But at those times of the week, quite amazing sums of money changed hands in 'Mongrel Park', home of terrier racing in Ireland. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1976, the first Space Shuttle was unveiled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US. As an indication of the popular brand value of the TV Star Trek series, it was named Enterprise after the fictional starship. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The sign on the supermarket promised a 'new way of shopping' soon. It reminded me of how that particular shop once was, looking back in my mind's eye at my grandfather's hardware and drapery store on Kilcullen's main street. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On 8 September 1966, the first episode of Star Trek aired on American television. Though it only lasted for three seasons, it was the foundation for one of the most enduring science fiction television franchises. Produced by Brian Byrne.
It’s funny how you can still 'smell' memories. Like the mix of battery electrolyte and paraffin, a most distinctive odour that I can still smell in my mind today — the smells in the back of my grandfather's hardware store and 'radio days'. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The Irish Civil War only lasted eleven months, ending in May 1923, but it left a terrible legacy in death and economic destruction. The conflict is said to have cost up to £50m, in actually waging the war and in dealing with subsequent compensation claims. But it's the local claims which give an insight into the real money. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On the first morning back to Scoil Bhride since the March coronavirus lockdown, we talk to parents as they leave their children to the school. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Four Kilcullen area primary school principals talk about the imminent return to school for their pupils after a disrupted last term and rocky summer. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Shoeboxes were important to us youngsters growing up in Kilcullen in the early 1950s. For their original purpose they had no interest to us at all. It was what they could become. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Graphic by Don Davis, courtesy NASA and JPL.
On this day in 1922, a shot from a sniper at an ambush in County Cork killed Michael Collins, revolutionary, soldier and politician. Produced by Brian Byrne.
“At last more or less free. Am writing this two days after we were informed of the Armistice and we ceased our work in slavery, as it might have been called.” These were the opening words in a letter my Uncle Barney began to his aunts in Kilcullen, Peg and Nora, on the 17th of August 1945. The context was the surrender of Japan after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in WW2. Produced by Brian Byrne.
It was in the building at the back of the yard in the family pub, over which was the 'loft' where coffins were stored, and the Boxing Club had space for training and a ring to spar in. But to us children the 'factory' was the most curious and interesting place when it was in action. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On 15 August 1998, a man with a child on his shoulders posed for a photograph in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Shortly afterwards the car beside them exploded, killing 29 people and wounding hundreds. The man and child survived, the photographer did not. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Cllr Rob Power of the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District discusses how progress is being made, and might be further improved, on facilities for cycling in mid-Kildare. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The internet, social media, the now almost old fashioned newspapers, and ever-present TV chat shows, make becoming a celebrity, or instantly promoting a business, available to everybody. But back at the turn into the 1950s that wasn't at all the case. Produced by Brian Byrne.
An eight-minute film produced by three college friends and premiered recently on Youtube highlights the harassment regularly experienced by young women in Ireland's nightclub and dance scene. 'Guy' was produced by the Luna Collective, which comprises Rachel O'Sullivan from Kilcullen and her friends Ryan O'Donnell and Graham Butler Breen. In this episode they tell how the film was made. Podcast produced by Brian Byrne.
'Guy' can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/xtIzDwXdIlA
When Jim Collins gave me a printout of the 'Irish Motor Directory and Motor Annual 1914-1915', I remembered a red Indian. Nope, not a native American. Nor even a person from the sub-continent. It was a motorbike. I never saw it, but my grandad often talked about it. When I saw the registration number IO 91 in front of James J Byrne's name in the IMD, it kind of came to life. Produced by Brian Byrne.
(Photo by Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.)
On this day in 1975, an attack in County Down by members of the UVF paramilitaries left three members of the Miami Showband dead and two injured. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Photograph of Parnell Street memorial by UtDicitur, from Wikipedia via Creative Commons licence.
Writer Hazel Gaynor's latest book launches in Ireland on 6 August 2020, in advance of launches in the UK and America. Hazel's books have made it to the Best Seller lists of publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, and the Irish Times. Her latest, published by HarperCollins, is The Bird in The Bamboo Cage, based on the true story of a group of English and American schoolchildren and their teachers interned in China by the Japanese during World War II. She talks to the Diary about it. Produced by Brian Byrne.
That Was The Week, a reminder of some of the main news stories on Kilcullen Diary to the week ending Sunday 26 July 2020. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On Saturday 25th of July 2020, a new milestone was added to the history of motorsport in Ireland. More than a score of vintage and veteran cars completed the original 1903 Gordon Bennett course twice in a day, the first time that had been done since the actual seven laps race itself. Produced by Brian Byrne.
The first Kilcullen Saturday Market hosted at the Community Centre this morning was a busy affair. Lots of customers for those stalls which were kicking off what looks to have the potential of a very successful weekly event. It was opened by the presenter of Eco Eye, Duncan Stewart. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Thursday 19 April 1934 started as a quiet day in Naas, Co Kildare. But a putative Sheriff's Sale of seized cattle led to what were later described as 'Wild Scenes' and resulted in a series of court cases against local farmers for 'The Naas Cattle Drive'. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Photo: a clipping from the Daily Sketch shows the scene at an attempted sale of seized cattle at Dublin Cattle Market in the early 1930s. James J Byrne is the man in the hat at the top.
Hazel Gaynor's latest book, The Bird in the Bamboo Cage, will launch in Ireland on 6 August 2020. The novel is based on the true story of a group of mainly English children and their teachers, caught up in the Japanese invasion of part of China during the Pacific War. Once again, the author brings a story from history back to life for today's readers. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1938, a small monoplane landed at Baldonnel Aerodrome outside Dublin. The plane and the pilot were supposed to be in California, according to the flight plan he had filed before leaving an airfield in Brooklyn, New York. 'Wrong Way Corrigan' would become a long-lived catchphrase. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1799, an inscribed stone which had been uncovered in the wall of the Fort of St Julien at Rashid in the Nile Delta was brought to the attention of the French Army officer in charge of the fort. The discovery of the 'Rosetta Stone' was to lead to a re-understanding of an Egyptian hieroglyphic script which had effectively died out by the 4th century AD. Produced by Brian Byrne.
Photo Attribution: © Hans Hillewaert, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A look at some of the main stories covered on Kilcullen Diary to the week ending 12 July 2020. Produced by Brian Byrne.
In the early 1950s, from Naas to Shannon was a long way to go for a drink after hours ... unless you knew a friendly aviator. Written and produced by Brian Byrne.
A cycleway for Kilcullen Community Centre is being called for by Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer. Report by Brian Byrne.
That Was The Week - A look back at some of the main stories on the Kilcullen Diary for the week ending 5 July 2020. Produced by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup motor race took place on a route where my home town of Kilcullen in County Kildare was pivotal. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1908, an enormous explosion over the Tunguska River in sparsely populated east Siberia, flattened some 80 million trees over an area of more than 2,000 square kilometres. Generally believed to have been an air-burst of a meteoroid, it was the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A review of some of the main stories covered on Kilcullen Diary to the week ending Sunday 28 June 2020. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1914, a young Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sofia in Sarajevo. Those shots are widely considered to have been the spark that exploded World War 1. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
The Kilcullen Community Cntre has been closed for three months since the coronavirus restrictions were introduced. A week ago some outdoor activities began, and from next Monday the main Sports Hall and other parts of the building will be open for certain use. Centre manager Enda O'Neill talks about the precautions that have been taken. Produced by Brian Byrne.
For the last 17 years, a vintage tractor rally which started off small in Cannycourt, near Kilcullen, has raised a total of almost half a million euros for the Irish Cancer Society. This year it has to go virtual because of the coronavirus. Trish Sully tells about the plan. Produced by Brian Byrne.
A roundup of the main news on Kilcullen Diary for the week ending Sunday 21 June 2020. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
Some of the content: The return of the Kilcullen pump. The lighting of the bridge with candles for Pieta House. Summer camps, restaurants, sports clubs, and hairdressers reopening. The launch of Kilcullen Before our Time. Mac and Norman go virtual. Roy Thompson and another Facetime gig. The Bridge magazine resumes. The Kilcullen salute for Detective Gda Colm Harkin.
On this day in 1264, the first recorded session of an Irish Parliament sat in Castledermot, Co Kildare. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Some of the content: The event had been called to determine if the Archbishop Fulk de Sandeford had the rights to hold court and dispense justice. He was in contention with the then lord of Ireland, Prince Edward, son of Henry III.
The Castledermot Parliament is accepted as the original of a line of such institutions in this country from Norman times to the 19th century.
The south Kildare town was at the time an important centre in the Normans’ settlement of Ireland, as well having a strong religious presence.
Because the Irish government records dating back to the 12th century were destroyed in 1922 in a Civil War explosion at the Four Courts, there’s no official record remaining of that Castledermot meeting. But fortunately, the Archbishop de Sandeford had his own chronicler at the event, and this report ended up in the so-called Black Book of Christchurch.
The precise location of that first Parliament in Castledermot is not known. But a subsequent established Parliament House is said to have been built on the site now occupied by a pub in the town.
This is International Men's Health Week. Mick Osborne, a community support worker with the Kildare Leader Partnership, says there is an expectation that men should try to be like heroes and role models, but the reality is that the only person we can be is ourselves. He reminds us men that we need to take care of ourselves too, in all aspects of our health. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
On 16 June 1904, Dublin writer James Joyce walked out for the first time with Nora Barnacle, who became his life partner and eventually his wife. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Some of the content: Joyce's novel Ulysses, published in 1922, was set on the same date. The epic work describes a day in the life of one Leopold Bloom, as he walks around Dublin, and drives with friends in a carriage to a funeral.
Joyce and Nora went off to Europe not too long after they started going out. They ended up spending much of their life in Trieste in Italy, and later in Zurich.
The modern Bloomsday was started in 1954 by Dublin publican and artist John Ryan, along with the novelist Brian O’Nolan otherwise famous under his pseudonyms of Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen. They, with a group of other Dublin intellectuals and writers, hired a couple of horse-drawn cabs to make a pilgrimage along the Ulysses roads and stops.
Bloomsday is strongly celebrated in Hungary, in at least 17 major cities in the United States, in Trieste and Genoa in Italy, in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. You will also encounter sundry Leopolds and Mollys and Stephen Dedaluses today in New Zealand, Canada, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and France.
One year on, Paul Leighton talks about the progress of the Pollinator Project undertaken by Kilcullen Community Action. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On this day in 1862, Violet Florence Martin was born in Connemara, the youngest of 16 children to the landed Martin family in Ross. She was to become with Edith Somerville the author of many novels about Anglo Irish life, under the names Somerville and Ross. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Some of the content: Violet met up with a second cousin, Edith Somerville in 1886, and they subsequently became lifelong companions.
Three years later they published their first book, witten jointly, titled An Irish Cousin. Violet assumed a pseudonym, Martin Ross, combining her surname and the name of the family home. The two women thereafter wrote under the combined authorship of Somerville and Ross.
Over the next 25 years they published a total of 13 novels, all stories based in the Anglo-Irish life of the period.
Violet was also an active supporter of the suffragette movement, and was vice president of the Munster Women's Franchise League. She was also a contemporary of WB Yeats and Lady Gregory and friendly with both, though she disagreed on what she felt was a romantic representation by them of Irish peasantry.
Their last published work was In Mr Knox's Country in 1915, the year she died. She was buried in Castletownshend, where she and Edith had first met. Edith herself lived until the age of 91, passing away in 1949. She is buried alongside Violet.
The news this week that Evelyn O'Sullivan was going to close her studio on Hillcrest was probably a surprise to many. But it is just one example of the way Covid-19 has changed and continues to change the way we run our lives, and our businesses. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On this day in 1934, Donald Duck appeared in his first movie, The Wise Little Hen cartoon animation. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Image is used to visually identify Donald Duck in the infobox of the podcast Donald Duck under Fair Use of US copyright law..
A roundup of the main news of the week ending 7 June 2020 on Kilcullen Diary. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
Tomorrow, 8 June 2020, Woodbine Books reopens, in the easing of the coronavirus restrictions. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Kilcullen Librarian Julie O'Donoghue talks about how Kilcullen Community Library will be reopening on a limited service from Tuesday next, under the Phase 2 of the easing of the Covid-19 restrictions. Produced by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Shirley Kavanagh Hallion talks about the reopening of her Secret Kloset ladies boutique in Phase 2 of the reopening of Ireland's businesses beginning on Monday 8 June. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 5 June 1968, Robert F Kennedy was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
On 4 June 1913, the suffragette Emily Davison was hit by King George V’s horse Anmer, after she had walked onto the racetrack during the Epsom Derby. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 2 June 1989, China's leadership authorised the use of force to clear student protestors from Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
Photo by 蔡淑芳@sfchoi8964. Used under under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
A round up of the news of the week ending 31 May 2020 on Kilcullen Diary. Produced and Presented by Brian Byrne.
On 29 May 1953, Sherpa Tenzing and Edmund Hillary became the first people to reach the summit of Mt Everest. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 28 May 1936, mathematical genius Alan Turing submitted a paper that is the theoretical foundation for modern computing and computers. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Photo of memorial plaque released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
On this day in 1960, the last barge transporting Guinness on the Grand Canal left Dublin for Limerick. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 26 May 1927, Henry Ford drove the last original Model T built in America off the assembly line. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
On This Day in 1870, John O’Neill marched his men towards the top of Eccles Hill, as part of a Fenian Brotherhood ‘grand invasion’ of Canada that never happened. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
That Was The Week on Kilcullen Diary, 24 May 2020. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
During an interview in the mid-1980s, the late Paddy Nugent spoke about growing up in Kilcullen in the 1930s. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Aer Lingus was registered as an airline on 22 May 1936. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
Photo by Julian Herzog https://julianherzog.com/ licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
On this day two solo aviation records were set, by Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart separately, in 1927 and 1932. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 20 May 1891, Thomas Edison debuted his Kinetoscope moving pictures machine. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 19 May 1910 the Earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On This Day in 1897, Bram Stoker's novel Dracula was published. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
A look back at the news of the week on Kilcullen Diary, 17 May 2020. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
On this day in 1936, celebrated British aviator Amy Johnson completed her last record-breaking flight. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 14 May 1932, 100,000 people marched in New York City under the slogan 'We Want Beer'. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 13 May 1914, Joe Louis, heavyweight boxing champion of the world, was born. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 12 May 1949, the Soviets ended their blockade of Berlin, beaten by the Berlin Airlift. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
On 11 May 1924, the Daimler Motor Corporation and the Benz car company signed an agreement which would result in the making of the world's most well-known premium car brand, Mercedes-Benz. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
A look back at the news of the week on Kilcullen Diary, on Sunday 10 May 2020. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
The first glass of Coca-Cola was sold on 8 May 1886. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
(Photo of Real Thing ad by Bill Hathorn.)
On 7 May 1915, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland, with almost 1,200 casualties. Produced and Presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
The Channel Tunnel between Britain and France was opened on this day in 1994. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
The day astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne for Kilcullen Diary.
A look back at the news of the week on Kilcullen Diary. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
Frances Brennan from Old Kilcullen has worked in New York City for 25 years. She talks to Brian Byrne about what the city is like under coronavirus lockdown. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
Brian Byrne looks back at the week in Kilcullen ending 26 April 2020, as reported on the Kilcullen Diary.
David Byrne, co-owner with David Hogan of the Crean's Place restaurant business in Kilcullen, talks to the Kilcullen Diary about his longtime interest in food, and the mission for Crean's Place.
Two Kilcullen based companies recently got together to make protective masks to help in dealing with the coronavirus crisis, writes Brian Byrne
And in the last 10 days, Tara Equestrian and Carve On have made and distributed some 3,500 masks to front-line staff in a number of hospitals around the country, and even abroad. Reported by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary.
Maureen V Ward on her Talented Kids and MVW Agency winning the Best Talent Agency for all Ages in Leinster at the 2020 Business Enterprise Awards. Produced by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary.
Nichola Kennedy talks with the Kilcullen Diary SoundCloud. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne.
In 1993 I published a book of short stories under the pseudonym William Trapman. Among them was this one, 'Marching with the Saints'. At the time, it was one of the most popular in the collection. So sit back and let the pictures flow in your mind, and hear the music.
(Cover photo by Victor Freitas from Pexels.)
Gerry O'Donoghue, founder of the Maintain Hope charity which supports the Ngong Children's Home in Kenya, talks about the crisis at the home which the advent of coronavirus to the country has brought. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary SoundCloud.
A radio documentary produced in 1982 about the Kilcullen Capers shows of that year, which was unknowingly to be the last in a decade of such annual shows. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary Podcasts.
A talk with Dawn Behan, who established Woodbine Books in Kilcullen, Ireland, just three and a half years ago. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary SoundCloud.
Jim Crawford, new Manager of the Ireland Under-21 Mens Team, talks about the job and his playing career. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary SoundCloud.
Kilcullen's Roy Thompson talks about vegetable gardens, and coronavirus. Produced and presented by Brian Byrne/Kilcullen Diary SoundCloud.