You can’t miss the piers in Moone. They guard the road to Athy and the High Cross, a national monument that draws hundreds of visitors yearly.
Once the entrance to an estate, the piers have just been cleaned – the most recent project tackled by Moone’s Tidy Towns committee.
The parish hall has been renovated too, and a playground added to attract loads of children on summers’ evenings – all signs that the village is putting its best foot forward.
On the damp morning I visit, Tom Wall, fresh from checking the health of pheasants, is carrying briquettes for a customer of Moone’s post office and shop. His wife, Bernie, is at the till of the traditional premises that she inherited from her parents.
“The shop wouldn’t survive without the post office,” she says, “so it’s good to have it. Most people go to Carlow or Athy for the big shop but would come here for the small things, which is great.”
Trappist monks from nearby Bolton Abbey are customers too, in the village that boasts a church, parish hall, school, playground, post office and shop, a creativity centre (Croi Anu), two well-kept housing estates and a pub across the road, below the N9.
ALL YOU’D HAVE TO DO IS ASK
“The way we do it is, we don’t worry too much about winning competitions. We just do the few things around the community that might make Moone a better place to live,” Tom says, when I chat with him and committee members, John Carton and Peter Keane, in the parish hall.
That said, Moone came first in its category in Co Kildare in the 2015 Tidy Towns competition. There is a core committee of five members, they say.
“After that, we’d only ever want another half a dozen (helpers) but if you needed more they’d be there. All you’d have to do is ask. It’s that kind of community.”
While the village now only has an administrator rather than a parish priest, the parish hall is an important hub.
“It was a typical community hall,” John says. “Not much was done with it for 50 years but everything is up to standard now. We’ve cards, indoor bowls, school events, Go For Life games, a place for tea after funerals and a good meeting space as well.”
The inspiration for the renovation came when fundraising for a radio system for the church produced surplus money in 2010. Over the following five years, with help from the Moone Vintage Club and donations, the renovation was completed quickly. The new hall officially opened in July 2015.
History is evident in village signage too, with the birthplace of the explorer Shackleton recorded in a housing estate name while another sign highlights Moone as part of the route for the famous Gordon Bennett race in 1903.
Taking a tour, John proudly points out the two Harry Clarke windows in the church and, half a mile or so away, the Moone High Cross.
“It’s ninth century and in the grounds of a former abbey reputedly set up by St Colmcille,” he says. “Busloads of people come to see it.”
(The name Moone comes from the Irish Maen Colmcille which means Colmcille’s property).
MOONE LADIES’ CLUB
Women also play a strong part in the life of the village.
Noreen Kilrane is from Carlow but moved to Moone 11 years ago and has been very happy there, she says.
“Village life is really where it’s at as far as I’m concerned. You’ve a bit of both worlds. You’re not in the city and you’re not in the depths of the country either. You can walk anywhere you want to go for most things you need – the post office, the shop, the school, the church, the pub – they’re all close by.”
Being bypassed twice hasn’t been a bad thing for Moone, she believes.
“Traffic wise, Moone was manic in the past. Now it’s a quieter village altogether. I think it’s been a positive development.”
Noreen is involved with Moone Ladies’ club, set up eight years ago.
“We don’t have a committee. We just organise outings when we feel the need. While we do raise a bit of money for different causes (like cancer research and cleaning piers) we’re, first and foremost, a social club and that’s the way we want it to stay.”
Moone Ladies’ club began in response to women not having a social outlet in the village.
“A lot of people had moved down from Dublin and had no families around so there were a lot of women at home all day with small babies. It started off with a night out to play bowls and grew from there. A night out is more important than fundraising for a lot of people, but you have to get up and organise things like this for yourselves. They just don’t come to you,” she says.
COMMUNITY ALERT VERY ACTIVE
Security gets a lot of attention in Moone too and there is strong participation in the Community Alert Scheme.
“Being close to the motorway led to an increase in agri-thefts, particularly in the past couple of years, but the village is fighting back,” Peter Keane says.
“The Community Alert group is very active here now. Each worker has an area of say 20 houses to watch out for and we’ve 300 members who’d send a text in if they spotted anything suspicious.
“If a strange vehicle was observed, the worker would generally hop in the car and do a run down the road. It’s not to confront. Often the act of someone driving up and down the road is a deterrent. We’ve found that the burglary rate has gone down and even the call-in rate, so we feel that a lot of potential robberies have been foiled because someone has been keeping an eye.”
www.kildare.ie
www.facebook.com/Mooneladies
www.boltonabbey.ie
www.croianu.ie CL
TIPS
• Set up a ladies’ club to support young mothers.
• Build a playground as a summer resource.
• Renovate the parish hall to improve facilities/gathering place for community events.
• Seek support from your County Council to part fund projects.
• Improve the exterior appearance of the village, eg sandblasting piers.
• Be active in the community alert scheme.
SHARING OPTIONS