Kilcullen Diary

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...

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 Br...

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 D...

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...

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'. The Kilcullen Diary spoke with a number of team me...

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...

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 B...