Kinnegad Notes

The senior citizens annual parish outing takes place to Trim, Old bridge, and Navan on the 16th July. The cost is €30. Those who wish to travel on the 16th need to contact 9375629 or 9374337 before the 9th July. This is always a great day out and everyone is welcome.Shopping busKillucan Area Services are now running a door to door weekly shopping bus on Thursday mornings primarily for older people. The cost is €4 for adults and €2 for students with under 7"s free. While the scheme cannot accept the free travel pass yet they hope to in the near future. The bus leaves Rathwire Hall at 9:30 am to arrive for the 10 am Kinnegad Dublin bus. The shopping bus then leaves Kinnegad via Rathwire, Killucan, Coralstown and Riverstown to go to Lidl, The Town Centre and Tesco in Mullingar. Anyone interested in this service should book their seats through Ita Copley, Transport Organiser, in Rathwire Hall on 0872845510 or 0449374725.Pride of PlaceThere will be a special planning meeting on Monday the 7th July at 8 pm in Serenity House in relation to the Pride of Place competition. Kinnegad will be representing Westmeath in the National Pride of Place Competition with judging due to take place on the 22nd July. Anyone who would like their group to take part please contact 0876430783 for more information. All sporting, social and community groups in Kinnegad are asked to send a representative to the meeting so the representation on the day is as wide as possible.Huge Kinnegad Contingent Witness Westmeath HeartbreakA series of buses from Kinnegad descended on Dublin on Sunday for the Westmeath v Dublin showdown at Croke Park. Buses left from Donnelly"s of Kinnegad, Brian Coyne"s and the Hilamar Hotel, the Westmeath team sponsor. Other buses left from Coralstown Kinnegad GAA club carrying dozens of underage players, parents and mentors. It was a wonderful occasion and despite a very spirited display Westmeath came up agonisingly close on the day. Good luck to the team in the qualifiers and well done to all who arranged such strong Kinnegad support on the day.Note from Kinnegad Tidy TownsJudging is ongoing for the Tidy Towns competition. Kinnegad can be visited at any time now and may already have been done, although hopefully not yet. The committee would like to thank all those who have supported them so far in the competition by either donating their time/efforts and also those who continually maintain the exterior of their premises along the main street and approach roads. Hopefully Kinnegad will receive additional marks this year in lieu of this and the additional works carried out.However, despite the committee early requests highlighting the areas mentioned last year requiring attention, it is disappointing to still see some of these areas not attended to at this stage and it looks like the area will be deducted marks for the same again. The upcoming Price of Place event will also be taking place soon (mid July) so as only one of four areas taking part in Westmeath, it would be great to see a real concerted community effort to show Kinnegad in as good a light as possible.A meeting has been requested with the new technician in charge of all derelict sites/unoccupied buildings for the country (just recently hired in Westmeath County Council). He met with the committee two weeks ago and in is in the process at the moment of contacting all owners to maintain these sites/buildings to an appropriate standard as they are currently dragging down the look of the town.It is hoped to see some positive results in the near future on this and the committee will continue to follow up. Following the recent fire in the old Tannery, this was again highlighted by us to the Council as a health and safety issue and something which was waiting to happen with the increasing amount of anti social behaviour in Kinnegad. As a temporary immediate measure, the site has been cleaned out and a fence mounted to stop entry but further work is planned in the near future.A further incident which occurred this weekend and which was very disappointing for us was the vandalism of the newly mounted water pump feature at the entrance to the People"s Park.The pump was only moved a week ago to this site from the front of Rooney"s garage where it was also vandalised (pump handle broken) in the past year. The committee had only just received local support in mounting it again, fixing the handle and repainted it when the handle was again broken and removed this weekend.This has been reported to the guards and the committee will be contacting the Superintendent in Mullingar about extra community policing this year as the level of anti social behaviour alone in the town so far this year has increased dramatically with already incidents of damage to machinery at the school, fire in the Tannery, increase in graffiti (incl. the children"s playground), littering and now damage to the pump.However, this will not deter the work of our committee as unlike those who vandalise (who never have to pay for this damage, it is always left for others to pick up the pieces) they will continue making our contribution in making Kinnegad a better place in which to live.'Cairdeas Summer CampCairdeas summer camp this year runs from Monday 30th June to Thursday 10th July.  The camp caters from children from 3yrs to 10yrs.  Each week there will be a variety of activities including indoor and outdoor games, arts and crafts, Teddy Bears Picnic, T-Shirt Painting and much more.  Further information and application forms from the centre, Phone 044 9379346Midlands ArtsSummer classes at Midlands Arts in the Old National School include full days of Life-drawing classes which will be held on some Saturdays over the Summer: phone 0449348887 for further information. The following will continue over the Summer: Mondays 7-10 pm: Irish Set Dancing with Jim Monaghan Wednesdays 10-12 am: Kindermusik for Parents and toddlers (free) Wednesday 11th June 8.15-9 pm: Circuit Training Classes - 7 weeks - ph: 086/3714170 to book. Anyone interested in any classes in the Arts should contact Shane Brennan, Arts Education Officer (for the Midlands) to book a place on 086/1734626.Kinnegad Parish NewsFriday is First Friday with Mass at 8.30 am and 8 pm in Kinnegad, 9 am in Clonard and 10 am in Coralstown. There will be exposition throughout the day with Mass being offered for the parish list for dead. The theme of this First Friday is 'A sense of vocation in the year of vocation'. Mapping work is currently taking place in Clonard cemetery and vehicles are now restricted on the pathways in the cemetery. Cemetery Sundays are at 2.30 pm in Clonard on the 27th July at 2.30 p.m., and in Coralstown on the 17th August at 2.30 p.m. There will also be prayers said on the evening of the 17th August at 6 pm in Hardwood and as 7 p.m. in Clonfad. The parish office is at 044-9375117; leave a message through the message mail, or alternatively contact the Parochial House on 9379170. This number can be used to book a Mass by leaving the name of the person or family to be prayed for and the date as well as your own phone number. Baptisms are at 5pm on the first Saturday of the month and at 1:15 on the 3rd Sunday with the Pre-Baptism meeting in the parish office on the last Wednesday of the month at 8:30 p.m.Padre Pio MassThe Padre Pio Mass is on Wednesday the 2nd July at 7.30 p.m. in Rochfortbridge church.PilgrimagesThere is now a pilgrimage planned to Medjugordje on the 21st of September for 7 days as a cost of €649. Information from Pat and Phil on 016281436. There is a five day pilgrimage to San Giovanni on the 28th September. Contact Paddy O"Brien on 0862571645. There is a Nobber Pilgrimage to Rome and San Giovanni including an audience with the Holy Father amid a visit to the tomb of Padre Pio from the 5th to the 12th of August. Contact 0579355050 (mornings only).Serenity HouseThe Tuesday Night socials are on again at Serenity House from 7.30 pm to 10.30 p.m. and continue on alternative Tuesday nights. The next night is the 8th July. The library is now open every Thursday in Serenity House from 2 until 4 p.m. Go For Life Classes are back on Mondays from 10.30 am to 12.30 Anyone who wants to avail of free transport to and from Serenity House to any of the social nights please phone 9375629 or 9374186Kinnegad Notes Looking for Local News and EventsKinnegad Notes would love to publish any of the major events in your family. If you would like to send pictures or details of any births, marriages, anniversaries, birthdays, special achievements or upcoming events just send them to leno@indigo.ie As always if you have any general notices from yourself or your club or organisation that you would like published in the Kinnegad Notes please phone Denis Leonard at 087-643-0783 or email leno@indigo.ie before Sunday evenings.