County Kildare News

Kindergarten Teacher needed for growing Kindergarten at the Kildare Steiner School, near Kilcullen. Current class full with waiting list and Teacher required to join current teacher and assistant in developing group further.

The ideal candidate would be a trained Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten teacher (or close to completion of same), enthusiastic, self-motivated and an ability to work well with other teachers.

The position would begin in January and ideally accommodate additional numbers in the kindergarten leading to two full kindergartens in next school year (September 2008).

Our Kindergarten is situated on our campus, which also includes a primary (lower) Waldorf school, in the lush countryside of County Kildare.

Applications or for further information:
Email: info@kildaresteinerschool.org
Web site: www.kildaresteinerschool.org
Tel: +353 (0) 45 401919
Mobile: +353 87 9796843

Holistic therapy using gentle body movement.

Niji Movement Therapy is a guided body movement training, geared toward releasing energy in the body for healing purposes.

Meditation techniques are employed to focus the generated energy to specific areas, facilitating healing of the body, mind and spirit.

Instruction may be in a group setting, or on an individual basis, as required.

Sessions are usually carried out on Saturday in

The Fairgreen Holistic Clinic,
Ivy House,
South Main Street, Naas.

For more details contact Annette and Ray:

email: adamwest@eircom.net

Phone: 086 8517528

Web: www.freewebs.com/nijimovementtherapy/

Kildare Community Network - www.kildare.ie - is a finalist in the Local Government, City and County Council Awards 2008.

The website has been shortlisted in the highly competitive category of the "Best Use of External Communications" Award.

The winners will be announced at the Citywest Hotel on the 19th January 2008 at an Awards Ceremony hosted by RTE presenter Sharon Ni Bheolain, which will also be televised by City Channel.

We wish to thank Kildare County Council for nominating the website for this prestigious award.

The Awards website is at www.lamaawards.org

A CD entitled "Kildare - Your Place, Your Heritage" was launched in the Kildare Education Centre December 12th 2007. 

The County Kildare Federation of Local History Groups officially launched the recently produced CD containing a series of five talks on local history written by members of the Federation and narrated by Mae Leonard on KFM radio. The CD was produced by the combined efforts of the Kildare Education Centre, KFM Radio and the County Kildare Federation of Local History Groups. The CD will be used in conjunction with the written texts and specially prepared work sheets to help teachers and students with the study of local history aspects of the Leaving Certificate history paper.

Further details contact:

Larry Breen, Tel. 045-897445, Mobile 087-1230210,

E-mail larrybreen8@eircom.net

Punchestown Festival 2008 is extended to five days running from Tuesday 22nd April to Saturday 26th April 2008.

A revised racing calendar for the week will see the addition of a € 220,000 handicap hurdle as the centrepiece on the new Festival Saturday. In addition the traditional charity race will be transferred from Friday to the Saturday and a number of new races have been added to the five day calendar.

Festival Saturday will also act as the concluding day of the Irish National Hunt season, providing the opportunity for the sport to celebrate the successes of the previous year.

At least two grade one races will be run on each day of the festival with a minimum of seven races each day and total prize money will increase to approximately € 2.8 million for the week.

The announcement means that over 100,000 race goers are expected to enjoy the thrills of championship racing during what has become one of Ireland’s most exciting sporting and social events.

The extension of the festival is expected to provide an € 18 million boost to the local economy which already benefits from a € 55 million spin off associated with the Punchestown Festival.

The Punchestown Festival has enjoyed tremendous success over the last few years; attendances have grown by 24% since 2004 with crowds thrilling to the performances of superstars like Moscow Flyer, Spotthedifference, Kicking King, War of Attrition and Brave Inca.

Last year’s festival saw an attendance of over 90,000 at the Kildare venue with The Festival Friday setting a record attendance of almost 33,000.

The Punchestown Festival has also enjoyed considerable commercial success with high profile sponsorships from companies like Kerrygold, Guinness, Menolly Group and ACCBank. It has grown to become Ireland’s biggest corporate hospitality event, attracting 25,000 corporate guests over the four days. Punchestown is currently in negotiations with a number of new sponsors for the 2008 festival.

Announcing the news, Dick O’Sullivan General Manager of Punchestown said, “Before making this decision we have carried out considerable research and consultation, we feel festival racing on Saturday will attract a significant new audience, we are particularly targeting those young working race goers who cannot take a day off during the week. It is an exciting time for Punchestown and we are convinced the five day festival will be an enormous success.”

3 Mar  - 6 Mar 2008

Riverbank Arts Centre

Time: 10am - 2pm

Tickets: €200

Do you want to know about stage lighting?

The stage lighting workshop is running workshops in lighting design and set up in July. It is designed with the beginner and novice in mind.

The length of the workshop is five days at four hours per day 10-2pm at €200 per person at the Riverbank Arts Centre.

Places are limited to six per class so book early to avoid disappointment.

For more information please contact the Riverbank on  045 448333.

The Kildare Art League

Life Drawing for Beginners

Wednesday 23 rd January 2008 for 10 weeks

Course Fee: €260 per term

Venue: Laney Community Hall, Brownstown.

Contact Micheal Rowley: 087 7534986

This course is suitable for all levels, including those building a portfolio for Art College.

Under the expert tuition of professional artist Michael Rowley, this exciting course explores a variety of techniques needed to successfully draw the human figure from life.

The Art League is the only dedicated life drawing school outside Dublin. Students on this course have exhibited professionally on numerous occasions over the last number of years and this trend is set to continue.

Joe Afolayan, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Trade Development Centre (TDC), Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar, Austria and 2007 Attendee of the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business at the University of Cambridge, UK will be facilitating a seminar and networking evening at the Athy Library, Athy, Co. Kildare on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 from 6pm. The theme of the evening seminar is The Business of Climate Change.

Climate change is among the greatest challenges of our time. When dealing with the sustainability issue of climate change, most individuals, corporations and governmental and non-governmental organizations tend to focus on environmental remedies of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, more use of renewable energy and the reversal of the decline of biodiversity. The purpose of this session is to focus on identifying business opportunities in the sustainability challenge of climate change.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Trade Development Centre (TDC) and for me personally,” said Afolayan. “I am highly honoured to share how Kildare organizations can extract sustainable value from climate change and to learn from the experience of others.”

This seminar - which will be of particular interest to various business groups in the surrounding region - will be held in Athy Library on Tuesday 18th December, beginning at 6 PM.

The Willow Art Group are launching their latest art
exhibition in Athy Library this coming Thursday, 13th December at 7
P.M.

This exhibition features work in a variety of art forms, including
acryllics, oils and glasswork.

All are welcome to attend the official launch.

The exhibition will run until Friday 21st December.

South Kildare Community Transport Initiative have this week launched a new bus service for rural areas of County Kildare.

The new services runs between Calverstown and Newbridge, serving Calverstown, Ballyshannon, Suncroft, The Cut Bush, Brownstown, the Curragh Camp and Newbridge.

Timetables are available on the SKCT website at www.skct.ie

Horse Racing Ireland and all its subsidiary companies have been brought under one roof at the heart of theThoroughbred County.

The company has moved to new headquarters at Ballymany, Newbridge. The new building will accommodate over 100 staff in an ideal location close to the Curragh racecourse and the offices of the Turf Club.

As well as being reponsible for the operation of a number of Irish racecourses, Horse Racing Ireland organises racing fixtures and promotion, and runs the Tote Ireland betting facility.

Following the huge success of last years calendar, Athy PhotographicSociety have recently launched this years calendar for 2008 entitled"Images of Athy".

They are hoping that the support they received for last years calendar will be repeated by the towns residents this year.

"The calendar has some wonderful images of the town and its environs taken by the club members and hopefully will be available in all of the local shops in the town from this week onwards so watch out for it.  "We are hoping that the town residents will buy it and give the club the same support that they gave to our 2007 Calendar" said Vincent O'Connor, the recently elected Chairman of the Society for 2008.

The Society meets at 8.30pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month at the Athy Community Development Project Centre on the Stradbally/Portlaoise Road. 

Details and information on their activities can be seen on their website as well as a preview of this years Calendar at www.athyphoto.com.

The Society members have been very active in the community in 2007 and are planning a full year of workshops and outings in 2008. New members are always welcome.

Genealogical Records for County Kildare are now available on the Irish Family History Foundation's Online Research Service.

The baptismal, birth, marriage and death records are now available to be searched online.

The website allows you to search an index of records for free, and pay to view detailed  records.

Kildare records can be viewed at kildare.brsgenealogy.com

The Irish Family History Foundation’s Genealogical Online Research System was launched in the Navan Centre, Armagh, on Friday, November 30th, 2007. The system was officially launched by the leaders of the four main churches in Ireland, whose records form the core of the database.

The Irish Family History Foundation with its cross-border network of local centres is the largest provider of professional family history research services in Ireland.  The IFHF operates on an all-island basis. 

Each county centre has a local computer database comprising various church records of baptisms, marriages & deaths; civil records of births, deaths & marriages; Griffith’s Valuation; Tithe Applotment Books; the 1901 & 1911 census records; gravestone inscriptions. 

Now that the bulk of the computerization of genealogical material has been completed by the county based genealogy centres, to further bring together the 40 million+ records as a searchable database online is a remarkable proposition.   Having created a searchable database of the information contained within the original sources it is now possible to offer the ability to anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world, to access and search for information on their ancestors across all the main Irish genealogical sources and to retire the original sources from general use. 

The Irish Family History Foundations website is at www.irish-roots.net

Sensational Kids is hosting an information evening about Sensory Processing Dysfunction in Hotel Keadeen on Monday 21st January 2008.

Time: 8.00pm

Speaker: Marie Louise Chapman, Senior Occupational Therapist.

All Welcome

Admission is free but places are limited so registration is advised. Register your attendance by emailing info@sensationalkids.ie

Sensational Kids is a registered charity, fundraising to open a children's occupational therapy & sensory integration centre.

They are dedicated to providing quality services for children with special needs, to assist them to reach their full potential, and maximise their independence and inclusion.

Learn more about the charity on their website at www.sensationalkids.ie  

The HSE has appealed to the public to stay away from Naas General Hospital if they have suffered from the Norovirus (Winter Vomiting Bug).

“We would urgently appeal to people who have been affected by vomiting and/or diarrhoea, or anyone who has had contact with persons with those symptoms, not to visit hospital until they have been symptom free for 72 hours. The bug is currently widespread in the community and people may unknowingly bring the bug into our hospitals when visiting sick relatives or friends. We already have cases in Bantry General, the Mercy and the South Infirmary Hospitals and other hospitals are currently taking the necessary precautions to prevent patients and staff being affected by the bug. Patient care is our priority and we would urge the public to help Hospital staff keep the virus at bay as it can further debilitate those who are already sick in hospital,” said a spokesperson for the HSE.

Congratulations to Claire Malone from Naas on her recent success in the Children’s Books Ireland, Design a Festival Bookmark Competition 10 years and under category. The Competition sees thousands of budding young artists from all over the Country compete for the chance to have their design printed up and used as the official competition bookmark the following year.

The standard of all entries this year was once again incredibly high and judge Niamh Sharkey (http://www.niamhsharkey.com) had a very tough time picking her favourites from each category. Commenting on the experience of judging, and on the particular qualities of the winning entries Niamh said:

"The quality of the entries was really impressive. It was such a difficult decision to choose the winners. I love the colours and the graphic nature of Claire’s bookmark. It is strong, direct and has huge appeal for both boys and girls. It will make a fabulous bookmark. Combining striking visual elements with a snappy catch-phrase Claire’s design is sure to look great when printed up into posters and bookmarks to promote the competition in 2008 Congratulations!"

Kildare County Council Library & Arts Service (www.kildare.ie ) facilitates the competition in Kildare through the branch library network. Winners are selected from branch libraries and two overall winners one, in the 10yrs and under category and one in the  11yrs and over category are chosen to represent Kildare in the national competition. Well Done to Josh Miller from Maynooth who was the winner in the older age category. Bookmarks with the winning designs will be available in your local library soon.

Children's Books Ireland is the national children's book organisation of Ireland.
The Children's Book Festival is a nationwide celebration of children's books and reading, which took place in libraries, schools, bookshops, and community arts centres all over the island of Ireland during October http://www.childrensbooksireland.com