A Hop, Skip & A Jump Back To 1916

O’Hara & Finnerty are on the case

t’s pretty much a given that any project that involves Jennifer O’Hara is going to be a happy one.

And that was certainly in evidence on Tuesday evening over at Kilcoole Community Hall, where the Kilcoole Area Play Space volunteers met up with the Kilcoole Youth Group, as they put together the finishing touches to a rather groovy idea for the big Kilcoole Remembers 1916 festival coming up on June Bank Holiday.

With the campaign to get a playground in Kilcoole still ongoing – after last year’s premature, and heartbreaking, announcement that it was finally here – Jennifer and co. reckoned the upcoming festival would be a good opportunity to remind people of just how important play is when it comes to children’s development. And fun.

And so, in keeping with the leap back 100 years, they’ve come up with Féile Chluichí Sráide, a celebration of street games that will take place over the Kilcoole Remembers 1916 hooley as one of the many mini-festivals within a dirty big festival.

There’ll be all sorts of fun going on over the entire weekend, but this Street Games Festival looks particularly inspired. And inspired.

We caught up Jennifer and a fellow KAPS ringleaders, Jill Kenny Finnerty, on the lush and lovely grounds of Luisne – where much of the festival’s more interesting treats will be taking place – to talk history, hopskotch and happy kids…

Now, go learn your Kilcoole history here. Ya feck.