Cliff Hanger

Great to turn on the TV and see our own Cliff Reid representing the town in the Shackleton expedition to the South Pole. Not happy with one “trip” Cliff then headed off to scale Kilimanjaro. Good man Cliff, you made us proud.

In the Green Corner

Of the Athy boxing delegation to the World Championship Eric Donovan is the only remaining combatant for a place in the Olympic games next year. Four Irish boxers are still in contention but our hopes still rest with Eric who competes again tomorrow (Wed).

New Town Clerk

Following the appointment of former Town Clerk Helen Dowling to the position of RAPID co-ordinator a new Town Clerk has now been appointed. Michelle Devine takes up office on Mon 19th November replacing the current Acting Town Clerk Maria Murphy-Ahearne. Ms Devine currently works in the Planning Section of Kildare County Council.

Coneyboro Residents

Well done to Coneyboro residents who have developed a website for the the Coneyboro Residents Association. Coneyboro are one of the new estates in the town are are fast developing as a community. While the modern technologies cannot replace human contact an active blog/site can help to develop an online community and keep us all in touch. Welcome to the town to all who are new and certainly welcome to our on-line community. Coneyboro can be found at www.freewebs.com/coneyboro

Fighting for Athy

Athy can take great pride in the performance to date of our boxers in the windy city of Chicago. While two of the St. Michael’s boxers have not had great success both Roy Sheahan and Eric Donovan are still in contention and contest their next round tomorrow – Sunday. Best of luck to the lads and we can all share in their achievement to date

New Shopping Mall

Athy could soon see a major shopping mall with office accommodation and apartments located at the centre of the town if plans lodged by developer and builder Michael Raggett are given the green light. The project is located behind what was known as Blanchfields shop – the roundabout on Leinster Street. The development will include a new street parallel to Leinster Street and multi storey car park.

What are the Council at?

As many people have asked me what the council do or say at their meetings I have created a blog http://www.councilmatters.blogspot.com/ which prints the minutes of council meetings. This is a record of discussion and decisions taken and the minutes can only be publicised when they have been passed by the following meeting. The agenda and motions for upcoming meetings are published here one week in advance of a Town Council meeting. Council meetings take place on the third Wed of every month at 7.30 pm and are open to the public

The Best of the West

Well done to Robert Redmond who tonight launched his book “ Achill Voices” with guests Min O’Cuiv and Deputy Jack Wall. The first run of the book sold out and this run seems to be heading in that direction also.

We’ve Seen the Light

Following a recent motion at Athy Town Council, the council offices and properties will now be installing CFL bulbs to conserve valuable resources. Tenants of the local authority will also be advised to do similarly and CFL bulbs are to be installed in new rental properties by the council – what change will you make?

MacKenna’s New Book

John MacKenna’s new collection of short stories, “The River Field”, will be launched by Joe Taylor (the voice of the Tribunal reenactments on Vincent Browne show and elsewhere) in Athy Heritage Centre, Friday Nov 9th at 8 p.m. All are welcome

Ars Gratia Artis

A public meeting on the planned Arts Centre takes place on Tue next, October 23rd at 8 pm in the offices of Athy Town Council at 8 pm. Anybody with an interest is welcome. This is an exciting opportunity for the town and opinions are appreciated. If you have never attended any of these meetings before please feel free to attend

Church of Ireland Hall

Work commenced last week on the new parish centre and community hall adjacent to St Michael’s Church on Offaly Street. This €2.4 million project it is hoped will benefit the whole community of Athy. As our population enlarges new community facilities are ever more needed

Tidier Town

Congratulations to Athy on increasing its score in the Tidy Town Competition from 217 in 2006 to 240 in 2007. The improvement is due to hard work and persistence. Anybody interested in lending a hand will be welcomed.

Run Tony Run

Tony O’Donoghue, Woodcourt House, Timolin is running the Dublin City Marathon for Guide Dogs for the Blind on 29th Oct. Tony would appreciate Sponsorship. It’s a lot easier to sponsor than to run the course

Boxers

Best wishes go to Ireland's Amateur Boxing team who leave today to compete in the World Championships in the coming days. Eleven Irish boxers compete in Chicago of which four are from the Athy St. Michael's Club Eric Donovan and Roy Sheahan. This is their bid for the Olympic Games and we wish them every success.
Later they will be joined by President of Irish Amateur Boxing Association Dom O’Rourke, also from Athy

Rob Redmond's New Book

Congratulations to Robert Redmond Athy's well known photographer, who is about to have his latest book “Achill Voices” launched by Minister Eamon O’Cuiv in the Filmbase Centre in Temple Bar on 24th Oct. The book is the culmination of 3 years work on and off the Island by Athy Photographer Robert Redmond it has already hit the national airwaves on RTE1 Nationwide which spent 3 days on the Island filming excerpts from the book with the author Robert Redmond and was broadcast in early September after which the book sold out. The replenishment stock will be in the country in the coming week.
"Achill Voices" is a book about the people on the Island of Achill today together with lavish Landscape Photography of the Island during early morning and late evening Robert Redmond captured the Island in winter and summer over the past 3 years. www.redmondphotography.ie

A Hero’s Return

Kilmead was alive with atmosphere and supporters for the return of Stephen Roche, The Olympic Champion who won two gold medals in Beijing. The world class hero will be the toast of several receptions over the coming days.

Year of Barrow Ends in Athy

The end of the Year of the Barrow was marked today with a rowing Head of River competition which appropriately was won by the Athy Rowing Club. The floating jetty was officially opened and now exists as a resource on the water to assist the development of a water industry in Athy. Boat owners or prospective owners should note that there is a very active branch of Inland Waterways (North Barrow) http://www.nbarrow.iwai.ie/ . If you have any problem contacting them let me know. Want to join the Rowing Club click the link on the right of this page or drop me a text. Well done to all.

Where there is Water

Athy will host the end of the Year of the Barrow in the coming weekend. Fri evening cheese and wine, Saturday entertainment for the family with amusements, funfair, art and photographic exhibition and a black tie ball in the Carlton Abbey. Sunday sees a rowing regatta at 10.30 and the handing over of the floating jetties at 6 pm to the town council and closing ceremony in Whites Castle. This year has seen Athy win Barrow Awards, host Triathlon and exploit rowing , fishing, raft racing, and much more. The lines of Kavanagh spring to mind “O commerate me where there is water”.
Athy is making great strides to capitalise on its natural amenity. Friends from our French twinned town of Grandvilliers will be present to help us celebrate our events. Details http://www.athybarrowfest.ie/

Lights, Camera, Action

The provision of a theatre for the town has long been the ambition of those involved in various dramatic, musical and artistic groups. It moved a step closer this week following a meeting of Athy Town Council where they have opted to explore a very generous offer of available premises. The Arts Sub Committee of the Council have been supporting this move for some time and plans are now afoot to make this a reality.

CCTV

Athy’s first organised CCTV scheme is about to come into operation. Located adjacent to the new swimming pool and in cooperation with the local community 6 CCTV cameras will add to the security of the area and act as a deterrent to petty crime and vandalism. As communities throughout the country become victim of ant-social behaviour the addition of 24 hour monitored cameras should help to encourage more social behaviour.

The Real Thing

The Real Thing

It is unfortunate that a recent bonus for Athy comes at the loss of another community. The loss of 250 jobs in Louth has meant that the Athy plant is in preparation for an employment expansion. The plant is located on the Industrial park on the Stradbally road (beside St Vincent’s Hospital)

Gold for Stephen

Congratulations to Stephen Roche, the 18 year old from Kilmead who has had great success in the Olympics in China. Stephen beat off stiff competition to win gold in the dressage section of the equestrian competition.

Community Smoke Alarms

A new scheme to achieve a situation where every household has at least two working alarms as quickly as possible was recently rolled out by Kildare County Council. The priority group for the receipt of the alarms has been identified as VULNERABLE PRIVATELY OWNED HOMES. The scheme will provide 500 alarms this year. Any members of community groups interested in following up on this can email athylive@rdaly.net and I will send you contact details

Youth Café

Athy Youth Café moves a step closer to completion with plans on display for Part 8 Planning Permission. The Youth Café will be located on Meeting Lane in the old Dispensary. The youth Café is the main focus of the Athy Action for Youth Committee which is a sub committee of Athy Town Council.

In the Chair

Current Chairperson (Cathaoirleach) of Athy Town Council is Cllr Seán Cunnane with Mary O’Sullivan Vice Chair (Leas Cathaoirleach). In all there are 9 Town Councillors and contact details are available at http://www.athytowncouncil.ie/ . Council meetings are held on the third Wed of every month (except August) and a new Cathaoirleach is elected annually in June.

Community Wardens

Athy town Council will shortly be officially announcing the appointment of two Community Wardens. These wardens will help build better communities by developing contacts with older and vulnerable people and act as a conduit back into the local authority on matters such as public lighting and activities in public parks. They will liaise with Gardaí, residents and Town Council in fighting anti-social and petty criminal behaviour.'

Free Concert

Peter Jackson (the blind pianist) will be in concert on Wed 10th October at 8 p.m. in St. Michael’s Church of Ireland, Carlow Road, Athy. All Welcome. Admission free.

One Way Streets

As an attempt to alleviate traffic congestion Athy Town Council will be implementing a one-way system on some of the side roads shortly. Most notable will be Chapel Lane (beside Madden Chemist) becoming one way (away from main Leinster St) . Also across the road from it Meeting Lane (beside Hyland Butcher) will be one way from Leinster St to Meeting Lane Car Park. Finally St John’s Lane (very narrow) will be one way – away from Duke Street.
These changes should help after their introduction. At any rate it is an attempt to address the current traffic congestion.

Shackleton Autumn School

The Seventh Shackleton Autumn School takes place Fri Oct 26 – Mon Oct 29. Event is opened by Kevin Myers who will deliver lecture on Fri night at 7. Details Athy Heritage Centre. http://www.athyheritagecentre-museum.ie/