My father, Paddy Kilroy was one of the first residents of Mount Merrion, which was a new estate and one of the first residential developments in suburban Dublin.

Born in Athlone in 1908, Paddy moved to Dublin in 1928. Four years later, in 1932, he established his correspondence college, later to be called Kilroy’s College. It was an instant success, and in 2012 will be celebrating its 80th birthday.

In 1937 Paddy married Donegal born Mary Smyth, a student at UCD, based then at Earlsfort Terrace, now home to our National Concert Hall. Their wedding was at Westland Row Catholic Church.. Later that year they moved into 61 The Rise, and in 1944 they crossed the road to 58 The Rise, raised five children, and here Paddy would henceforth live out his life.

While the College progressed, Paddy developed an abiding interest in photography, and in particular moving film or cine, which was novel for the amateur in those days. Golf also became a passion, and he joined Elm Park, where he was to become Captain and later President of the club. He could play too, winning the prestigious Brady Cup in 1954 and the Captain’s Prize in 1966.

From 1941 he began to make home movies based around and about Mt Merrion. I was with him often on these walks through the woods of Mount Merrion, out to the fields beyond the woods, where there were wild deer and many other animals, in acres of open fields.Those fields are now the roads of deerpark, north avenue, mather road, callary road, wilson road etc. He would take movie film of this countryside which is what it was, and on we’d stroll until we reached roebuck road. Then would follow a narrow road by Mt. Anville, rambling on to the village of Goatsown where a ‘bona fide’ pub offered refreshments! (Dear Reader – ask your grandparents what a ‘bona fide pub was!)

It’s all such a long time ago now. Around that time also, he began to make an annual home movie on events at Elm Park Golf Club. Members enjoyed watching their swings and putts in ‘The Elm Park Story’ which was screened for all the members in the clubhouse for years. This genuine enthusiasm of men and women enjoying watching themselves on the ‘silver screen’ gave Paddy a fund raising idea for his parish years later.

When the decision was taken to build the new church in Mount Merrion, committees were formed. One committee decided to locate the new church on the pasture land beside the existing chapel, where incidentally this writer was an altar boy at the time.

Paddy Kilroy joined the Fundraising Committee. His business acumen helped with ideas on raising money for the proposed new church of St Therese. Many meetings were held in homes and in the church hall and it was decided that an annual carnival, fair or fete to bring everybody together was the best way to get started in the fund raising campaign. They decided to call it the Mount Merrion Annual FETE

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The Annual Fete became the social event of the year. I recall names like Kevin Harrington, Terry Spillane, Pat Cullen, Dan Nicholl, Donie Keane, Jack Baumann, and many more to be sure, who worked so hard in those days to build the parish we have today. Then there were the priests who were the founding fathers of the new parish, with names such as Fr Ryan,Dunne, Deery, Howett, Dargan, Fehily, Rogers, are men I remember, the dedicated parish priests and curates of those days and regular visitors to 58 The Rise for afternoon tea.

Fetes were held initially on the grounds where the church now proudly stands. When work began on the foundation the fete moved to green fields in Stillorgan. However, a fete alone would not built the new church. New ideas were needed and soon there followed Gymkanas and Horse Shows which were held where the Radisson Hotel now stands.

Then there were Whist Drives in the Gresham Hotel and Concerts in the church hall. What fun the concerts were without the distraction of televison. The compere was Kevin Hilton of The Close, along with Eamon Ceannt of the same road on piano. Thomas’s Road provided Noel Byrne to entertain us. You can still get Noel’s autograph when he calls to Adrian for his paper these days! But there were many more who took to the stage at the Mount Merrion Concert. More funds were raised and an unexpected benefit was that these concerts became a ‘nursery’ for some who later found careers in theatre and film.

As the funds were gathered and the building of the Church got under way, my father began to think that with his thousands of feet of movie film of Mount Merrion since 1941 and with the almost daily film he was taking of the building of the church perhaps here was a significant fund raising idea here – to make a film about the birth of a new parish, with sound and music, advertise and sell tickets and show it to the public.

By now Paddy Kilroy was an experienced film maker, and his short films at the golf club had been quite a success with the members. He believed a full length feature film with sound and music could be a commercial success. He told me years later ‘It worked for many reasons but most especially because our audience were the stars of the show’!

And that is how ‘A Parish was Born’ a full length movie film came to be. The film shows the building of the church from foundation to completion. From the cutting of the granite stones in the Wicklow mountains, to film of Sean Keating, as he completes the finishing touches to his wonderful portrait of St Therese in the church. Then of course we had George Collie, the distinguished artist whose portraits of President DeValera and Archbishop McQuaid were to hang years later in our National Gallery. He was commissioned for the Stations of the Cross. This was, and indeed is today, unique movie film footage, and an historical record of these to be famous artists actually at work at their craft in the early days of their respective careers.

After the Church was opened in 1956, the film was edited, sound and music was added for public performances. I have clear memories of my father working away in his study in 58 The Rise, cutting and splicing hundreds of feet of film until he was satisfied the work was done. Finally, his film was made and meanwhile his wife Mary had thought of a title - ‘a parish is born.’

‘A Parish is Born’ ‘premiered’ in the church hall with great success, and showings followed all over Dublin for many years raising much needed funds for the Church of St Threrese. The highlight each year was the annual showing at the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street, which was the hotel in the Dublin of the 1950’s. It was an event on the social calendar of the life and times of the people of the parish.

Paddy Kilroy was then invited to join another new Committee to found a Parish Council, and I think he was the first Chairman.

The years went by, the 60’s arrived, and in 1961 John Kennedy was installed as the first Irish-American President of the United States, and north Ireland was becoming a concern with much political and religious unrest.

Paddy Kilroy became a member of his last committee. The objective, this time for a change, was not fund raising, but rather to create a Golf Society with a difference. Their idea was to bring together the two religious persuasions in Mount Merrion. Canon Hipwell of Foster Avenue Church was an enthusiastic member of that Committee, and so too was the recently deceased Jack Deignan. Together, with others, they founded ‘The Mount Merrion Ecumenical Golf Society’ had their first Outing at Elm Park Golf Club, and it is still going strong after over forty years.

Today in 2011 Mount Merrion is an active and thriving parish with priests and parishioners carrying on the traditions of our first residents to whom we owe a permanent debt of gratitude for their great work and self-belief in the early days.

My father, Paddy Kilroy, died in 1979 and I know my brother and sisters are proud of him and of the contribution he made to the development and establishment of the new Parish of Mount Merrion.