Kilkenny Federation
About the Federation
The Kilkenny Federation of ICA was founded in 1912. Our Guilds span a large area of our County from north to south and many Guilds play a very active and important role in our villages and parishes throughout the county.
Kilkenny Federation has been involved in ICA from its earliest days with our Ballyragget Guild having has its first meeting under the auspice of the women`s institute in 1912. It gave us great pleasure to be part of the long history of our Association and made our involvement in the 100 year Centenary celebrations very special for us within our County.
Kilkenny is also famous for its culture. It is home of the cats laugh festival and Kilkenny Arts Week which are always much supported events. It boasts probably one of the most instantly recognisable castles in Ireland, Butler Castle which is situated on its beautiful grounds overlooking the River Nore in the heart of the City. It would also be safe to say that Kilkenny is the home of Hurling with the entire county buzzing in the lead up to the All-Ireland Senior Hurling finals and Kilkenny has won many All-Ireland titles. Kilkenny has many beautiful scenic villages and walks throughout the county and many of them are well worth a visit on your Sunday afternoon trips or for a nice relaxing weekend away.
Our members always play an active part in entering competitions across many spectrums of crafts and within our county we are very proud to have ICA qualified teachers, national competition winners and also Kilkenny held the 1st National Presidency of the new millennium from 2000-2003 with Breda Raggett from Sevenhouses flying the flag for Kilkenny as our National ICA President of that time. Also from our Federation, Shirley Power from Owning Guild served as National Secretary from 2015-2018.
Our current Federation President is Liz Dermody from Ballyragget Guild.
If you are interested in joining or setting up a Guild in the Kilkenny area, please contact Liz Dermody 0879349729, who will put you in touch with a Guild that shares your interests and hobbies.
Federation Activities
Both Guild and Federation activities include art & crafts, community development work and county representation at national level within many of our National Voluntary Organisations.
For the winter months we hold classes within the disciplines of Crochet, Beaded Jewellery, Photography, Gingham Embroidery (also known as chicken scratching) and Sugarcraft. Classes are open to all with preference being given to ICA members depending on availability so it is always advisable to book early.