Series of events mark jubilee of Kells Church

A jubilee concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of St Colmcille's Church, Kells will be presented by the Kells Musical and Dramatic Society next week as part of a series of events to mark the landmark anniversary. An evening of inspirational music is promised with special guests, Matthew Gilsenan of the Celtic Tenors, Simon Casey of 'You're a Star' fame, Fr Ray Kelly, Helen Gilsenan, Ann Galligan and the Kells Musical and Dramatic Society, in St Colmcille's Church on Wednesday next, 28th July at 8pm. Admission at €12 is by ticket only and tickets are available from McEntee's, New Market Street at (046) 924 0116 or Brian Curran's Castle Street shop at (046) 924 7957. As well as celebrating St Colmcille's Church's jubilee, it is also a fundraiser for the society's forthcoming production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' in October. The jubilee celebrations continue with a parish mission, conducted by the Redemptorists from Saturday 25th September, and will close on Saturday 2nd October, with a jubilee party in the Headfort Arms Hotel. Bishop Michael Smith will celebrate the Jubilee Mass in October. There are also proposals to stage a jubilee photographic exhibition in the church during October with the theme, 'A Stroll Down Memory Lane'. The committee involved is inviting parishioners to loan photographs taken at the church after ceremonies over the past fifty years, or earlier, if possible to the exhibition. To protect against theft, only copies of original snaps will be displayed. Photos loaned, which can be left at McEntee's, Newmarket Street, should have a name and address and year the photo was taken on the reverse side, to ensure a safe return. Photos can also be emailed to info@kellsparish.ie. The jubilee celebrations have been ongoing all year and included a series of three talks including one by John Lonergan, retired governor of Mountjoy Prison on 'Social Justice' and a talk by Bobby Smith, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist on 'Alcohol, Drugs and Teenagers'. The third talk was by Garreth Phelan the HSE's resource officer for mental health and suicide prevention on 'Suicide Awareness'. The Kells Drama Group performed the Passion Play on Good Friday, there was a special mass for Leaving Certificate students in May and the Dublin Choral Foundation, including the Lassus Scholars, sang at mass on 15th May. St Colmcille's Church was dedicated on 23rd October 1960 by Most Reverend John Kyne, the then Bishop of Meath. The building cost £108,000 and the architect was WH Byrne and Company of Suffolk Street, Dublin. Planning for the new church began in 1935 when Monsignor McCullen began a special building fund. The church underwent substantial refurbishment in 2005 and was rededicated on 24th September that year.