Animation studio saved by its own film artwork »P2
After vandalism, Holy Spirit School is set ablaze »P3
Marble magic is the Secret to safe future
Brave firemen save school after arson attack
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 12 2011
Kilkenny ReporterN
EW
S
ENGINE GIG IS UP EVERYONE’S ALLEY Irene Walsh and Mary Rhatigan enjoying the free Engine Alley gig in the Set Theatre. Happy Birthday to Canice and Eamonn!
Pic: Pat Moore PHOTO
T: 056 7795051 E: [email protected]
2 NEWS KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
Hospital enforcestotal visitor ban Secret of Kells magic
AISLING [email protected]
Firm’s servers saved by film artwork
Secret of success:Cartoon Saloon’s server room was
saved from water damage by the original paper
drawings for The Secret of
Kells animation (above and
left), saving the company from ‘certain
closure’
Main Pics: Pat Moore
NEWS 312 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
Alert firemen blaze a trail to save school
The School of the Holy Spirit, Kilkenny on Friday evening. Firefighters brought the blaze under control after vandals had set the building alight
Pic: Pat Moore
JIMMY [email protected]
4 NEWS KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
Smashing local couple in New Year romance
Worry to wonder for EdwinaTen jobs lost as Toni & Guy cuts Kilkenny ties
JIMMY [email protected]
Overheads have been blamed for the closure
Congratulations to Edwina
Grace and Ken McGuire on
their New Year engagement
Pics: Pat Moore
NEWS 512 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
NEWS 6 KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
Mike Kelly, Fr McGrath Centre Board of Management, Michael Shine, volunteer, Karin Todd, staff and Shane Geraghty, volunteer
Pic: Pat Moore
Glimmer of hope for charityAISLING HURLEY
7NEWS12 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
Life changing loss for Marie leads to Leinster win and whole new outlook
We’re losing the battle of the bulge
AISLING [email protected]
Mum of two, Marie Dooley dropped four dress sizes in four months
Pics: Pat Moore
8 NEWS KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
Take the transformative walk towards a new you
Champagne reception for Marble man’s album launch
RTE’sKathryn Thomas
Mark Anthony McGrath and (clockwise from top): Cara Nissen and Tara Neary; Mick McGrath and Liz Nolan and Shirley and Michael Lanigan at the launch
Pics: Pat Moore
AISLING [email protected]
NEWS 912 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
Leading light: Mary makes final six for national award
SEAN [email protected]
Chartered accountant does city proud
Government announces funding for Silaire Wood
Minister Mary White
Mary Brennan is
in line for a national
leadership award
&CommentOpinion
F H
We will pay the price if we don’t clean up
WHEN YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, THERE ARE ONLY THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD EVER
DO ABOUT IT: ADMIT IT, LEARN FROM IT,
AND DO NOTREPEAT IT
— Paul Bryant
“THE MAN WAS SELLING
PAINTINGS. IN THE WORDS OF MY FRIEND, THE SALESMAN WAS QUITE AN
AMIABLE BLOKE, VERY CHATTY, A WARM PERSONALITY AND
CERTAINLY A MAN WHO KNEW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SURVIVAL KIT AND A COUCH
POTATO. HE WAS, MY PAL OFFERED, A GENTLEMEN
WHO, UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, WOULD WIN
YOUR HEART, AND, AS A RESULT, YOUR POCKET... THEN REALITY
HIT. HOW MUCH? THE PERTINENT QUESTION HAD TO BE ASKED
Small tale that paints a true picture of 2011
“
JIMMY RHATIGAN
DOWN MEMORY LANE 1112 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
As old friends met up over the festive season, talk inevitably turned to memories of childhood holidays spent in the shadow of WWII
SEAN HURLEY
Just who did he think he was kidding?
ARationing
Fire Quenching TurfBlackouts
Rationing (above and inset below) and the other privations of war did not mean an end to Christmas for a generation of kids; American B-17 bombers that may have been part of the huge formation seen flying over Kilkenny during the US build-up for D-Day — the Normandy landings
i i ( b d
PROFILE 12 KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
BRIGHTSPARK
IT’S A long way from Kilkenny to Doha, in the heart of Qatar. But the journey has sparked a new life for electrician Paul Bateman who has swapped the cold of Kilkenny for the sizzling sun as the recession began to bite. Paul returns to Qatar next month after Christmas at home. But while the oil-rich desert country provides an opportunity for him to rebuild his life, he will never purchase a one-way ticket, as he cherishes the company of his family and friends
I
JIMMY RHATIGAN
PROFILE 1312 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
BORN 07/12/63LIVES Ardilea, Castlecomer RoadBROTHER ChrisDAUGHTERS Sarah, Cliona, CatherineSON Seán
CIGARETTES Ten a dayALCOHOL Guinness BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT My children
Paul Bateman relaxing during his Christmas
break in Kilkenny (main); enjoying a drink with a
Qatari friend; the Qatar Soccer Stadium and Emir of
Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Main pic: Pat Moore
QATAR IS A MARVELLOUS PLACE. THERE AREN’T MANY IRISH THERE,
BUT THAT MAY CHANGE AS OUR PEOPLE REALISE THE NUMBER OF
JOBS OUT HERE
“
FACTFILE PAUL BATEMAN
ARTS & ENTS 14 KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
TOP
TEN
132
5
AT Jeutonic Bridal Wear on St Kieran’s Street, every bride is special. Personal attention and customer service are two of Jeutonic’s top priorities so you can be sure of receiving the best possible care while in their capable hands.
Their gowns are tailored to fit so that every woman looks and feels beautiful on their big day.
In – house designer Caroline, who owns and runs Jeutonic, graduated from the Grafton Academy of Dress Design. With an invaluable 17 years
experience in the industry, Caroline and her professional team provide a very extensive and personal service.
All fittings are done in-house by trained staff to ensure that every gown fits the bride or bridesmaid perfectly.
They are a one-stop bridal shop with bridal gowns, bridesmaids’ gowns, flower girl dresses, evening wear and a wide range of accessories including veils, tiaras, jewellery and shoes.
BUTLER’S Inn, Main Street, Urlingford is a much renowned family-run bar and restaurant. With two chefs in the family, food is very important to them.
The premises is a handsome old-style traditional pub with plenty of warm wooden features. Situated
beside the River Goule it allows customers the opportunity to enjoy a few drinks or some food while sitting by the fountain, while children watch and feed the ducks.
Food is served all day in both the bar and restaurant. Popular items off the full and varied menu include T-bone steak, Penne pasta and toasted special with salad and
fries. All meat served is Irish produced
and sourced locally as much as possible.
Family friendly, the venue offers baby changing facilities, high chairs and wheelchair access.
There is also a nice-sized smoking area and a cosy open fire.
DOPE in the Age of Innocence by Damien Enright begins when he, his wife and two children arrive in Ibiza in 1960. There they find a handful of down-at-heel Bohemians leading wild, hedonistic lives.
He and his wife get involved; their marriage quickly breaks down and he spends two heartbroken years in London before returning to Ibiza with a new partner and another child.
They take LSD and inspired by dreams of a brave new world cross to the remote island of Formentera to lead ‘alternative’ lives.
Enright then makes a hair-raising trek to Turkey to find hashish for the group. Things go badly wrong and he find himself a fugitive.
SCROOGE - the Stingiest Man In Town opens at The Watergate Theatre today (Monday). The show was postponed in December due to unfavourable weather conditions.
Scrooge is a heart warming family tale with stunning sets and costumes and is the perfect show for all the family to enjoy together. It includes some of Charles Dickens’ favourite characters including Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, The Ghost of Christmas Present, Past and Future, Mrs
Dibler and Tiny Tim.The show makes a return to the
Watergate after a hugely successful sell-out production in 2004. Scrooge marks the 40th production by the Watergate Theatre since 1993.
A cast of 50 will take part in the week long production which is directed by Mary Cradock.
Tickets from €12.50 are available from The Watergate Theatre, 056 7761674 or visit www.watergate theatre.com for online bookings.
IN Love and Other Drugs Anne Hathaway portrays Maggie, an alluring free spirit who won’t let anything, including a formidable challenge, tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales.
Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.
Directed by Edward Zwick, ‘Love and Other Drugs’ also stars Oliver Platt and Hank Azaria
Movie of the week
Book of the week
Pub of the week
4
Shop of the week
Theatre of the week
ARTS & ENTS 1512 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
Top ten 687
10
SPRINGHILL Court Hotel on the Waterford Road has a wonderful package available for this coming Friday February 4. For €99pps you get to see a Brendan Grace show, enjoy an early bird meal, an overnight stay, a full Irish breakfast, full use of their leisure facilities, free parking and free internet access.
The hotel’s Claddagh Restaurant also enjoys an excellent reputation among locals and visitors to Kilkenny.
An experienced team of chefs offer imaginative cuisine with a touch of old world charm ensuring meals that are not to be forgotten. Both Table D’Hote and A la Carte menus are available.
The restaurant is a member of Kilkenny’s Good Food Circle and Bord Bia’s Feile Bia programme guaranteeing local Irish suppliers.
Lunch is served in the Claddagh Restaurant each Sunday from 12.30pm to 3pm. It also opens on other days on a request basis.
ANCIENT amphibians, fossils and a Carboniferous swamp scene are all features of The Footprints in Coal exhibition at Castlecomer Discovery Park.
It is a fascinating 45 minute tour through Castlecomer’s past and includes an interactive multimedia display that takes you on a journey through time.
Starting with the formation of the coal 300 million years ago, it skips forward and travels through more than 300 years of coal mining
history to the pit closures in 1969. Through the use of life-sized
reconstructions of prehistoric animals and plants, video clips, fossils and rock specimens, prehistoric life in the coal swamps is brought to life.
Then, life-sized and scale models of the mines, displays of artifacts, information panels and video interviews with ex-miners and the families of those associated with the mines bring to life more than 300 years of coal mining history.
JOHN Spillane plays the Red Door Theatre at the Bridgebrook Arms in Thomastown on Friday. Proceeds from the gig will go to the Thomastown Community Kindergarten. John Spillane won the best folk/ trad category twice at the Meteor Awards and is is noted for his magical stage performances.
He has toured the country and the world spreading joy with a mix of harmonious tunes, entertaining stories and poetic lyrics. In 2009, he was awarded the Irish Music
Association (USA) ‘Top Solo Performer in Concert’.
The Kindergarten operates under the Steiner method — a type of education that works for all children, irrespective of academic ability, class, ethnicity or religion. and addresses academic, physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
Simon Fagan will play support on the night. Tickets at €15 are available from The Bridgebrook Arms or from Thomastown Kindergarten 056 77 54666.
LONGTIME Kilkenny favourite, Simon Fagan, plays Upstairs at the Hole In The Wall, High Street at 8pm on Saturday night. Support will be from Little Black Wren. Simon is not your typical Irish singer songwriter. Most of his songs are groove driven and he tends to write songs with big arrangements. He also has an American sound and uses elements of gospel and folk with acoustic rock.
He’s been compared to Ryan
Adams, Ray Lamontagne and Paolo Nutini.
Kilkenny based Little Black Wren is the solo and collaborative project of songwriter and singer Kairen Waloch. She is currently working with guitarist and long term collaborator from her days with Muse Motel, Kevin Bruce and keyboardist Roxanne Burchartz.
Admission is €5 and only a limited number of seats are available so you are advised to get there early to avoid disappointment.
IF you are looking for something to do with the kids this coming Sunday then you should consider taking a short trip down the road to Rathdowney Shopping Outlet in Co Laois.
With plenty of shops to choose from including Reebok, Pavers, Mountain Warehouse, Coloroll, Carphone Warehouse and Dunnes Stores you won’t be short of places to browse.
The outlet is also home to Tearways – an indoor centre
which features over 6,000 sq ft of the latest in purpose-built play
equipment, specially designed for great fun and maximum safety.
Slides, tunnels, bridges, ball pools, activity towers and a Tiny Tearaways section with an enlarged and totally separate toddler area, make this a great way for children to spend the day while you shop in comfort.
And if all that shopping gets too much you can always stop off for a coffee and a muffin at BB’s before heading home
Something for Sunday
Restaurant of the week
9
Exhibition of the week
Gig of the week
Fundraiser of the week
ARTS & ENTS 16 KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011
Andrew Maxwell to play Dempsey’s
A different window on the world, Dempsey’s Bar, Friday 8pm
Monday 10ScroogeWatergate @ 8pm After DarkMatt the Miller’s @ 10pm Tuesday 11ScroogeWatergate @ 8pm Cellar Sessions Matt the Miller’s @ 8.30pm The KilkennysParis Texas @ 9pm Kiwi PaddyThe Field @ 9pm Wednesday 12Scrooge Watergate @ 8pm Des BishopThe Set @ 8pm Movie NiteBilly Byrne’s @ 8.30pm Open Mic NiteRyan’s @ 9pm Thursday 13ScroogeWatergate @ 8pm David McSavage The Set @ 8pm Pete Fagan and BandMatt the Miller’s @ 10pm Na FiannaLanigan’s @ 9pm
River Valley BandRyan’s @ 9pm Friday 14ScroogeWatergate @ 8pm The Three TenorsThe Set @ 8pm Divil the BitLanigan’s @ 9pm Saturday 15Scrooge, Watergate Theatre @ 8pm Johnny Pumfrey - JazzPembroke Hotel @ 8.30pm Simon Fagan and Little Black WrenHole In The Wall @ 8pm Sunday 16Scrooge Watergate Theatre @ 3pm The O’Dwyer BrothersKyteler’s Inn @ 6pm The KilkennysLanigan’s @ 6pm The BarfliesThe Pumphouse @ 9pm Monday 17The BriarsThe Field @ 9pm
JANUARY10—17
Gig Guidewith Ciara Gilbert
It’s the great Bard’s work, but not as we know it
ARTS & ENTS 1712 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
FILM Never Let Me GoDirector Mark Romanek
NEVER Let Me Go captures the torture of youth with all
its bittersweet romance and betrayal. It will also re-affirm your belief in life while making you realize the horror of losing it.
It is essentially a love triangle between Danny, Ruth and Kathy H who all go to the strange boarding school Halisham lorded over by Charlotte Rampling’s cool gaze.
Their early trysts have terrible consequences for them later as they separate and when their tragic existences inevitably meet again. To give anything more away would ruin this subtle tale which drip feeds the audience with just enough information to keep it riveted until the scenario is revealed fully in this classy shocker.
The film is directed by Mark Romanek who helmed several important music videos for Nine Inch Nails,
Johnny Cash and Jay Z as well as making his debut with the impressive ‘One Hour Photo’. Here he brings the same empathy and style to the raw material of Kazuo Ishiguro’s heartbreaking novel. The screenplay by Alex Garland cleverly omits several parts of the book and leaves it more time for the music, photography
and most importantly the performances to fill these moments.
The central character is Kathy H in the adaptation and as played by Carey Mulligan she forms the sympathetic heart of the movie. Her beautifully clipped voice narrates the film but it is her expressive face which really holds the
audience in its spell. The casting of her younger
self is spot-on as well - she carries the same level of emotion as well as matching her cherubic features. Andrew Garfield, who will soon play Spiderman, proves his astonishing performance in ‘Boy A’ wasn’t a once off. He plays the damaged Danny with a vulnerability
as well as a knock about charm. Keira Knightley will be a surprise to many- her skeletal features are used for nastier purpose here and it really suits her to play a less likeable character.
Romanek, an American director captures England with an alien’s eye and many telling details. The washed out look of boarding
schools, roadside cafes and seaside resorts is depicted wonderfully here.
Though similar in set-up to the Harry Potter franchise this is the polar opposite of that chocolate box fantasy world. The banal and the ordinary are what he wants to make pretty here and through an equally fantastic prism make you appreciate the brevity of our mortality and the purpose of love. The mysterious and the terrible have not been mixed so perfectly in cinema since Peter Weir’s ‘Picnic At Hanging Rock’.
It is in the end a very moving story that will stay with you for a long time afterward. The meditative and the thrilling are brought together in this tender love story which is also a detective tale of sorts as you try to piece together what is happening.
I would advice you however to see it as soon as possible before word of mouth spoils the central twist. Watch out too for Brendan Gleeson’s son Domhnall who really makes a mark in one of the keys scenes.
-BY DARRAGH BYRNE
ARTS & ENTS KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011 18
Future’s Deviously bright
It’s risque in Kilmoganny
The great ‘Can’t Pay Won’t Pay’. The first of the group’s upcoming productions, Scratcher (inset left)
Pat Moore
1912 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER CLASSIFIED
20 KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011MOTORS
BRICKS, MORTAR & MOTORS 2112 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
T
Barry Pender Motors, Dublin Road, Kilkenny 056 776 5777
FORD’S NEW MPV HOSTS A GALAXY OF STARSOllie Walsh discovers Ford’s brilliantly engineered Galaxy, from Barry Pender Motors Kilkenny, is ahead of the pack
FORD GALAXYPRICES €39,445 - €51,000 OTR
Ford PowerShift State-of-the-art six-speed automatic transmission with unique double clutch
Blind Spot Information SystemVisual aid that warns if a vehicle enters blindspot
KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011MOTORS 22
MOTORS 2312 01 2011 KILKENNY REPORTER
SPORT KILKENNY REPORTER 12 01 2011 24
Getting fit and healthy? Give it a tri KBowl spring league start
Kilkenny Triathlon Committee members Thomas Kinsella, Aidan Brennan and Raymond Lonergan are welcoming new members to the club