Listowel Connection

This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

Month: January 2020 Page 4 of 5

Droimeann, John Paul 2 graveyard and Ard Chúram

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On January 13, 2020

In Uncategorized





January 6 2020 as a lady shelters from a shower under Listowel’s Christmas tree




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Remembering our Dead at Christmas Time



Last week I went to St. John Paul 2 graveyard

I thought it was time to remove the Christmas wreath from Jim’s grave.

When I got there I saw that people were not taking them away and indeed there were very few graves that didn’t have a Christmas tribute to the lost loved one.

As I walked through the cemetery, photographing the lovely floral tributes, I realised that this is a relatively new graveyard and I knew many of the people buried there. Because so many of the dead here have relatives still living locally their memory is very much alive.

People who are buried here are people that I was on committees with, my neighbours and friends and even some of my past pupils.

Particularly poignant are the graves of children who didn’t live to enjoy too many Santa visits.

The variety and colour of the wreaths was testament to the love and respect still held for the people buried here. The cemetery is beautifully maintained, a credit to all who look after it so well.





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A Shíoda na mBó  (O silk of the kine)


The photo and caption is from Seán Mac an tSíthigh on Twitter


An endangered breed of cow known as Droimeann has just been granted Native Rare Irish Breed status. Only 243 females and 23 males left in Ireland. Status is a huge boost to efforts to preserve them. The name comes from ‘droim-fionn’ (white back) the distinctive stripe along backbone.

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Ring of Kerry Cycle




Calling all cyclists, your help is needed for this great cause.

Padre Pio glove in Castleisland, Diaries and Making Hay

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On January 10, 2020

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Mount Brandon yesterday


Photo Credit: Con Lane

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A Listowel Doorway


Door at Tankers Bar, Upper William Street in January 2020

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Castleisland in the News


( photos from Rte on Facebook)

Fr. Mossy Brick, parish priest of Castleisland has a special devotion to Padre Pio. He has brought that devotion with him from parish to parish in his ministry. He installed the below shrine in Castleisland before Christmas . On January 7 over 1000 people gathered into the church for mass and a blessing with a mitten worn by the saint.



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The Demise of the Diary


“I never travel without my diary,” said Oscar Wilde. “One should always have something sensational to read on the train.”

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Ag Sabhailt an Fhéir



Una Hayes’ photo shows the Hayes family taking a break from haymaking at Tannavalla, Listowel.

James Lynch on a hay raker in Knockanure in the 1950s

Make hay while the sun shines, goes the old saying. For many years in Ireland haymaking scenes like these were part of every summer.

It was not always so. There is no word in the Irish language for hay, just a word for grass that is also used for hay. Ag baint an fhéir = cutting the hay.

In fact, there are four different words in old Irish for grass, bruimsean for grass with creeping roots, cuiseog or traithnín for grass with a wiry stem, raithleadh for spiky grass and fear seasglar she sedge type grass.

I learned all this from a lovely calendar my granddaughter gave me for Christmas. I also learned that we didn’t make hay in Ireland until the Vikings introduced it. The winters were mild and cattle numbers lower so there was always enough winter grass for them.

Old RTE Guide, Larry Gogan, The Far East and Mike the Pies

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On January 9, 2020

In Uncategorized

Listowel Castle



Winter 2019


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Old RTE Guide

The very first RTE Guide 1962

Back then we had one channel for a few hours every day and when a programme was gone it was gone, no catch up, no recording or player. Programmes were in back and white. We thought we were made up.

Photo from The Journal

Take a quick trip down memory lane with me…Charles Mitchell, Don Cockburn, Wanderly Wagon, The Fugitive, Rawhide, Living with Lucy, The Cosby Family, Quicksilver, continuity announcers, Film board of Canada cartoon fillers, Is dona linn an briseadh seo, Nighthawks, Seven Days etc.etc.etc.

This week we lost Larry Gogan. Larry never appeared much on TV but he was a voice from my childhood.

Recently we’ve lost Gay Burne, Brendan Grace, Marian Finucane and now Larry. It feels very much like the end of an era.

Marty Whelan, Larry’s friend, shared this old photo of 2fm DJs. I recognise Larry, Marty, Philip King (front right ) and Gerry Ryan but I dont recognise the 2 in the cars at the back.

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Magazines in Schools

My talk of The Imeldist has opened the floodgates of memory for many. While I’m yet to find someone who remembers The Imeldist people tell me that they remember The Far East, The Africa and The Messenger (which I think is still going strong).

Anyone keep any of these?

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Mike the Pies on January 9 2020

I don’t think Martin got the opportunity to do any more painting over Christmas but I’ll keep you posted if there are any changes.



Knocknagoshel, a Bike Park for Tralee and The Imeldist

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On January 8, 2020

In Uncategorized


Listowel Arms Hotel at Christmas 2019



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Knocknagoshel

I was back in Knocknagoshel after Christmas. I asked Kieran in the shop why,  when they made those souvenir fridge magnet signs, they made them of a dirty signpost.

He told me that it is not actually dirt on the sign. It’s an effect of weathering that makes them look like that. “If you go up to the graveyard,” he said, “You’ll see what I mean.”

So I did just that and, sure enough, the sign at the cemetery looks just like that.

Knocknagoshel cemetery is in a lovely location on a hilltop overlooking the rolling hills of North Kerry. Here it is.



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More on The Imeldist


Research on line found that the Imeldist had some famous contributors over the years. I found the cv of the artist, Louise Béhal Price online in an ad for an exhibition of her work last April in a US town called DeKalb

Through My Eyes,” an exhibition of paintings by Rochelle artist Louise Béhal Price, will be featured from April 1 through 27 at The Art Box in DeKalb.

Born and raised in Ireland and educated by the Sisters of Mercy, Louise Béhal had always been interested in art because of her great natural talent. She won local awards, and several of her pieces were published in The Imeldist, a widely distributed Catholic publication.

At 16, she moved to Spain and enrolled in the San Jordi School of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, graduating with a bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in painting, and a master’s degree in art education. She taught English as a second language in Bilbao, Spain, and continued to paint until she met her husband, Tom Price, who was in the Peace Corps.They moved to Ireland, where Louise ran a business matching Spanish students to Irish homes to learn English. After a few years, the business sold and she and her family moved to the U.S. Béhal Price continued to make art while raising her three children, entering and winning prizes in local competitions. As an adjunct professor she temporarily taught painting and life drawing at Kishwaukee College.

Dedicating herself to painting and drawing in her home studio, Béhal Price takes in commission work for landscapes and portraitures in oil paint and charcoal. As time allows, she shows her work locally and attends a drawing group with professor emeritus Louis Mustari and other local artists.

The paintings of Béhal Price reflect a mystique – a certain light and color that can only be attributed to Ireland. She will capture a serene image of a countryside, centuries old castles and mills by rivers and ponds framed with greenery enriched by the currents of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.

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Bike Park for Tralee



Radio Kerry reported that plans are being made too develop an urban bike park in Tralee 

Duagh, Little Women, The Imeldist and a new song

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On January 7, 2020

In Uncategorized



Parish Church, Duagh, Co, Kerry



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Australia!






Photo Credit; Taneka Bishop


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Remember The Imeldist



I am still anxious to find anyone who kept one of these or better still someone who wrote for this mini magazine.

I have done a bit of digging and I found that the booklet was first published in 1921 by Fr. Finbarr Ryan O.P. who was then the prior of St. Mary’s,  Popes Quay, in Cork.

I found a few old copies for sale on eBay and other auction sites.








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Little Women


The film, Little Women is the one to see these days.  Saoirse Ronan in the role of Jo is being lauded as as triumph and she is tipped for an Oscar.

This has led to speculation on social media as to how Louisa May Alcott may have felt were she to know about this piece of casting. 

The following piece is being shared widely online.

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Foley’s Field by John McGrath and Neil Brosnan




Foley’s Field

Written by John McGrath and Neil Brosnan, September 2019 and sung by Neil at John B’s, Listowel, January 2020

Never did what I was told. I dug the field but not for gold,

Though long ago my father told me how.‘Forget the cows,’ the old man said, ‘to make it pay, plant trees instead,
This boggy ground is far too poor to plough.’
But land, like poetry, draws you back, to write a line and leave your track.
Dry summers gave a glimpse of buried store.
I dug where mighty trees had grown, where cows had grazed and crops were sown
And men had thrived two thousand years before.

‘Too poor to plough,’ my father said, ‘Forget the cows, plant trees instead.

Plant trees and then sit back and watch them grow.’

But I was wilful, I was bold, and far too smart to heed the old,

With much to learn and still too young to know.

Golden roots of deal I found, and as I raised them from the ground

I filled each space with fine and fertile soil.

Now the grass grows sweet and green, the finest sward you’ve ever seen,

A rich reward for all those years of toil.

‘Plant trees, my son,’ the old man said, but I dug deep for trees long dead

And found the gold of myth and ancient lore.

Now I sit beside the fire. I watch the bog-deal blazing higher

And drink a toast to all who’ve dug before. 

‘Too poor to plough,’ my father said ‘Forget the cows, plant trees instead.

Plant trees and then sit back and watch them grow.’

But I was wilful, I was bold, and far too smart to heed the old,

With much to learn and still too young to know.

John McGrath

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Road Closure

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