Birthday wishes to Margaret Gorman who recently celebrated her 21st birthday along with Mum Daphne who also celebrated a milestone birthday!

To M. H. who would knee cap me for mentioning a very ‘big birthday’ recently; however, I can wish her twin sister Angela a happy birthday and send greetings in turn, to Angela’s twin sister………

To T. G. who celebrates the big 40 this month; she’s a ‘lamb’ compared to M.H. but just in case, I better not give her name in full either………. Editor’s note – there are a shockin’ lot of women out there very sensitive about their age …..

Get well wishes to Gerry Cronin, Vincent Kavanagh, Ivan Grace and Sharon O’Donoghue

Well done to children from Little Scholars Playschool took part in the 'The Big Toddle' in aid of Barbados on the 17th May in the GAA grounds and raised €970.

Wedding bells
Congats and a long and happy life to Susan Darby and Geoffrey Elliot.



Your Local CDA – in a reverse header please – Frances, this can be moved elsewhere if necessary!!

The Ballymore Eustace Community Development Association Ltd (CDA) represents the residents of the village. The CDA is the umbrella organisation for Tidy Towns, Meals on Wheels, Punchestown Festival Committee, Friendship Club, Community Alert, Bingo, Ballymore Bugle and Hall Committee. It is the owner of the River Walk and Resource Centre. Bookings for the Resource Centre can be made by contacting Monica at 045-863363. An answering machine is in operation if the phone is not manned and all messages will be responded to. The CDA works to ensure the village grows in a sustainable and attractive manner; we have made submissions on the County Development Plan and will take a primary role in the Local Area Plan.
Any suggestions or comments welcome. Contact Fiona Breslin (Chairperson CDA), Honeysuckle House, Bishopsland, Ballymore Eustace

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Small box ad:
Childminder Required from September to look after a 3 year old girl. Monday to Friday 9.30 - 5.30
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Table Quiz in aid of NIALL MELLON TOWNSHIP TRUST. Local girls Denise Kelly and Janet Deegan will join the group next March to assist in building permanent homes in poverty stricken areas in South Africa, also rife with Aids. The girls are hosting a Table Quiz in The Thatch on Friday 25th July at 9pm sharp, tables €20 each and a raffle will be held also. All support welcome – if you didn’t make the quiz, please feel free to make a donation to Janet or Denise directly.
In Reverse print, please:
Rita, James and family of the late Patrick Monaghan wish to convey grateful appreciation for your support in their bereavement. Your kindness and sympathy will be remembered with affection and gratitude.


Ballymore-Eustace Community Games 2008

For the first time in a number of years Ballymore – Eustace entered a number of teams in the Kildare Community games Finals. It started at the beginning of the year with our young artists in the finals in Newbridge. Although we didn’t win any medals all of our artists were commended on the work. Under the guidance the excellent GAA coaches we also entered boys football and hurling teams both teams performed admirably and the competition was welcomed by the mentors.

Next on the agenda were the Swimming finals which were held in the county swimming pool in Athy. This was a historic occasion for Ballymore as we had never before sent a swim team to the finals. This was the first time that any of our young competitors had being involved in a swim Gala so by the end of the day for us to come home with one gold medal was a wonderful achievement. It was a proud day for the community to see Sean McClintock receive his Gold medal for the boys under 14 breaststroke and we wish him the best of luck in Monsey at the end of August this will also be an historic occasion as it will be the final time that the All-Ireland finals will be held in Mosney as it will be moving to its new home in Athlone next year. We had some very good swimmers on the day and every one of them did themselves proud and with a bit work next year might even be better.

The Ballymore team consisted of Katie Gilroy, Onnagh Deegan, Eve Maguire, Margret Hayden, Arron Deegan, Ciaran Kelleher, Daragh Kelleher, Niall O’Neill, Patrick Murphy, Niall O’Neill, Callum McClintock and Sean McClintock.
We then rolled onto the Athletics finals held in the Newbridge Athletics Ground on the 6th and 7th of June. The first night proved to be a great success. In our field events Maria Clarke came 2nd in the Girls U-14 long jump on just loosing out on a Gold medal. Ellen Carter competing in the U-12 Ball throw then came third. On the track although we didn’t win any medals all of our athletes competed brilliantly. The following athletes qualified for the county final of their respective events, Luke Maguire U-8 60m, Shane Barrett U-12 100m, Joanne Burke- Hayes and Holly Maguire in the girls U-14 800m. Probably our best result was having three of the nine finalists in the boys U-14 800m final Conor Davis, Robbie Boland and Tom Murphy, although none of them won medals it was a great achievement. It must also be noted that one hour before competing Shane Barrett played in the Football final for Ballymore and then went out and ran three very hard races in a very short time. Well done Shane. Amy Horan U-10 100m, Katie Gilroy U-8 60m and Mark Barrett U-10 200m also qualified for their respective semi-finals.


It was a great 2 days and I would like to congratulate all the boys and girls who didn’t qualify from their heats but all ran excellent races and with a bit more coaching next year we may boost our numbers in the finals.
This brought to an end the county finals for this year and we hope to compete in many more competitions next year. I would like to thank all people who helped us throughout the year and especially Scoil Mhuire and Ballymore GAA who let us use their facilities.
We will be holding our AGM shortly and hope to have a big attendance in order to further enhance our standing within the county. We will announce the date of the AGM in next month’s edition.


J Gilroy, July 2008

The Duck Race held on 29 June was a great success. The ducks preformed admirably with a Hudson Bros sponsored Mallard followed closely by a Teal owned by Owen Clarke getting the top prizes. Some notable non-duck entries that passed the finish line – wet and weary - were Paschal Thompson and Caolin Halpin Graham (fully clothed of course) and not forgetting the black “duck-catcher” dog. Thanks a million to Janet Deegan and Daybreak for organising the event and providing the 1400 ducks. Thanks to all the sellers and buyers for the great support. Thanks to Aaron, Oonagh and Gary Deegan for the Kayaks (it wasn’t easy chasing 1,400 duck back out of the water) and the other helpers on the day. Over €2300 was raised for the Juvenile GAA and Community Games. Winners were Hudson Bros – Bicycle, Owen Clarke -Newbridge Silverware, Judith Kelleher and Imelda McCormack – Vouchers and Christine Tobin, Mary Lannery, Kiera Eva Mooney and Aibhe H Graham – Wine.
Janet and staff formally christened the new Daybreak shop on 27/06/08. The party atmosphere was great with freebies galore for kids and adults alike and a visit from Mr. Tayto. Unfortunately he didn’t find love in Ballymore but a did get groped a few time as customers thought Steve was undercover!!! Spot prizes were given away with a fantastic Bike each going to John Cooke & Bernie Keogh.
“We have put significant investment into the shop again. Our prices wont be beaten now that we have the buying power of Musgraves - it wont take long for people to see we are the cheapest for groceries, and we also have quality take-out coffee, lottery tickets and quality deli products. We would like to thank all our customers for their continued support and would encourage people to shop local to ensure local services remain strong and local community endeavours can be supported”
Maire Drohan, outgoing chairperson of the Village Green Garden Club in Ballymore Eustace got a standing ovation on the return journey from this years outing to two very special gardens in Wexford. Maire did the research into gardens open to the public in Wexford and picked the Bay Garden at Camolin in Wexford and the Ballymore School house just a few miles beyond Camolin. And the unanimous verdict of everyone on the annual expedition was that she had picked two winners.

It would be difficult to imagine two such different gardens. Frances Macdonald is an internationally acclaimed plants woman who leads gardening tours all over the world and she and her husband Iain have created a wonderland at their roadside garden at Camolin. The garden is divided into a series of interlocking rooms, each reflecting different moods and colours and the visitor is led on a magical mystery tour of plants and trees in a wonderful fusion of idea and inspiration.
The magic of this garden is that the visitor is sent home feeling they could achieve a similar effect on a smaller scale as it is so unpretentious. Being greeted with homemade biscuits and cofrfee anhd tea started the day off in great style. A wonderful welcome awaits at he visitor to the Bay Trees where advice, information and plant names are handed out generously by the gracious owners.

Next stop was the Ballymore School House which is a completely different type of garden. This garden is the result of twenty years of intensive labour and planning to produce a Japanese Zen style garden with lots of imagination and style. Sylvia Mulcahy who is an interior designer by trade has created a wonderful retreat just off the N 11 with huge influence from the Japanese style of landscaping and planting..You couldn't get two gardens more different and it led to a very interesting and exciting day out..