Raise Your Voice! New RTAI National Singing Group Concert!

RTAI National Social Choir Concert takes place on Saturday 22nd March.

Meeting at the Teachers Club, the ‘singing for fun session/concert’ will take place between there and nearby Dominican Church, St.Saviours.

The hard working group of singers of our Kildare branch have enjoyed meeting up to practise the songs in the Moat Theatre (auditorium!) Naas, followed of course by tea/coffee and chat.

Thank you to our Branch for support to hire the theatre.

Those of you who attended the Talk / Reading by author and playwright JohnMc Kenna in Naas Library on Monday 17 th February were treated to a very inspiring talk.

John Mc Kenna shared his literary journey with the group ; mentioning all the people who influenced his approach to writing reading extracts from his works and displaying his acting prowess as he gave us an insight into one of his characters in his play ‘ Mental’.

He created a very informal setting and all those attending felt at ease posing questions and interacting in a lively discussion with this very successful writer, a Kildare native.

Everyone enjoyed chatting while enjoying the refreshments and confectionery treats during the interval.

John certainly whetted the appetite of some of us to indulge in creative writing and forge ahead with confidence, using our own experiences and those of others.

John was very happy with the response to his Talk/ Reading and would be willing to oversee a creative writing workshop for those interested later in the year. Many thanks to you all who made the experience very worthwhile and enjoyable.

Regards Stephanie

From our flat walk organiser, (and intrepid weather forecaster!!!) Maura McAuliff:

We were blessed with the weather on Wednesday last for a lovely canal walk of nearly 14km in total, along the Grand Canal/Barrow Blueway.

 

 

 

We started with coffee and had a quick stop at the monument erected to Gerard Manley Hopkins who visited the town regularly as a nature escape from Dublin in the 1880s.

 

 

 

The canal walk is scenic and leads to Fisherstown Pub which is a picturesque, thatched gem. The inside is like a museum.

 

 

 

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One notable piece is the old “mangle” – who remembers feeding sheets and towels through one of those in your childhood?

 

 

 

Continue reading “February flat walk”

Message from our leader, Maura

Next Walk:
According to the forecast, the best day next week is Wednesday February 12th. So we will go with that.
Meeting Monasterevin at ALFINA cafe between 10:15 and 10:30. We will start walking at 11:00 sharp.
Route is along the canal from Monasterevin to Fisherstown; break for lunch there and then walk back again.
Alfina cafe is on the way into Monasterevin on the left hand side, just past those big derelict buildings on your right – delicious coffee etc. There is on-street parking just past the cafe and turn right. We will walk from there.
The walk is about 7km max one way. It’s perfectly flat with a good surface – runners are fine. Don’t let the distance put you off; we will have a good lunch break rest before walking back.
The owner of Fisherstown pub will open up specially for us – so we can use the toilets and get tea/coffee (compliments of RTA). Bring your own sandwich as he doesn’t do food.
The pub is well worth a visit – it’s like a museum! Alfina cafe will be expecting us – but the RTA will NOT be paying for whatever you have there!
Let me know if you plan to walk. As usual try to car pool. It’s about 35 minutes from Naas and very handy for those coming from Newbridge.