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 2025 Page 1 of 3

A school Tour and a Birthday

By

On January 31, 2025

In Listowel, Personal, Schools' Folklore

St. Brigid window in St. John’s church, Ballybunion

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St. Brigid of Kildare

St. Brigid mural on a wall in Kildare town

According to tradition Saint Brigid was born in Faughart, Co Louth, where there is a shrine and a holy well dedicated to her. The Saint found a convent in Kildare in 470 that has now grown into a cathedral city. There are the remains of a small oratory known as Saint Brigid’s fire temple, where a small eternal flame was kept alight for centuries in remembrance of her. She is one of Ireland’s patron Saints and known as Mother of the Gael. She is said to be buried along with St Colm Cille and St Patrick in Downpatrick. Throughout Ireland there are many wells dedicated to St Brigid. 

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Growing up in 1970’s Listowel

More memories and photographs from Carmel Hanrahan…

Do you remember the Lartigue Little Theatre?  No stage and the seats were on a steep incline.  I visited the Writers’ Museum on a recent visit and was surprised to find that nobody seemed to know about it.  That is, until a lady of my own vintage came in and remembered it.  Where I now live, they have a Theatre which is of a similar design.  Mind you, the cast don’t come out with tea and biscuits for the audience at interval time as they once did in the Lartigue.

We had a Youth Club which was held on Friday night.  I think the venue was the Sluagh Hall.  Every now and then we had a disco there and that was a highlight.  Dominic Scanlon usually provided the music being DJ (there’s a term no longer used) as he was probably one of the few of us with a comprehensive record collection.  I seem to remember there were parents on duty at these to chaperone us.  A bit like the “Ballroom of Romance” if you remember that film.  Seamus G, I know you’ll read this, I don’t remember you in connection with the Youth Club. We must have split into different groupings by then.  

December 28th was the date set in stone for the Student’s Dance/Ball.  Held in the Listowel Arms Hotel and the only proper dance for years.  My sister dressed quite formally for the first one she attended but I think it rapidly became more casual after that.  I certainly don’t remember dressing up a lot for it.  Later, we occasionally went by bus to Glin on Saturday Nights for a showband-type dance that was held there.  My memory is of an over-crowded, sweaty, marquee with little or no facilities.  But, I imagine we wouldn’t have complained too much at the time.   Who organised those buses I wonder?  Of course, there was also the Central in Ballybunion where we went for discos in the late 1970’s.  Possibly only during the summer months.  That was also the venue for our Leaving Cert Results night out.  What a motley crew we were.  

School tour, to Killarney (Lady’s View).  Left to right: Bottom Row; Catherine Lynch, Christina Caffrey, Catherine Sullivan, Violet Nolan and Linda McKenna.   Top row; Dana Mulvihill, Carmel Hanrahan, Sr. Edmund, Jacqueline Quill, Sr. Therese, and Denise Mulvihill

One of myself and dad sometime in the early 1980’s.  The dog arrived very shortly after I left.  I was so upset as a child when we lost “Sooty” our dog that dad swore there would never be a dog in the house again while I was there.

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A Special Birthday

Four of my six grandchildren have birthdays in January. so last Sunday we had a combined celebration for them.

Sean and Killian, no longer boyeens, now grown men, are nineteen.

Aisling turned 18. Róisín is 16.

Róisín and one of her friends from the yard.

When Aisling was born her uncle Bobby and Aunt Carine lived in France. Every baby in France has a comforter which they call a doudou so they sent one to Aisling. It became her favourite toy. It was carried everywhere, on trips to Kerry and Dublin and on holidays abroad. It filled the role of a faithful friend and confidante over the years. But at 18 it is now the worst for wear.

Carine decided to buy a new one for Aisling’s 18th birthday. But this particular squirrel is a discontinued line, replaced years ago by the more popular teddies and rabbits. There was none to be got anywhere.

Not to be defeated, Carine put out a call on a website that sells old and discontinued items and there she found a second hand but little used one.

When Aisling opened her birthday present on Sunday she was overcome with emotion. It was like meeting a long lost child. It reminded her of how handsome and cuddly Doudou looked all those years ago.

Here are the two boys, Doudous mark 1 and 2, memory banks to treasure for ever.

Best birthday present ever!

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A Fact

Popeye appeared as a comic strip for the first time in 1929.

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St. Brigid

By

On January 30, 2025

In Listowel

Chris Grayson’s great hare photo

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St. Brigid of Ireland

St. Brigid window in St. John’s church, Tralee

In preparation for her feast day, you may like to make a St. Brigid’s cross

Here are some simple instructions I found on the internet so you can make your own cross.

If you fail to make your own they are selling them in aid of Ard Chúram in Thyme Out Café.

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Listowel in 1970s

as remembered by Carmel Hanrahan

…You could even bring something home from the clothes shops on “appro” (approval).  Can you imagine it happening now?!  McKenna’s had a great system for payment that I never saw anywhere else.  Though I believe Cleary’s in Dublin had a similar system.  The bill and your money were placed into metal containers which then went whizzing across the shop on wires to an office – which looked like a pulpit – and your change and receipt were returned the same way.  They also had a builder’s yard in one of the back ways – around where Mr. Price is now.  Back ways, now there’s a thing…  I don’t think I’ve ever been in another town where the back ways were such a significant size.  Almost like hidden pathways to everywhere.  We used them for our walk to school, though we weren’t supposed to.  Probably because they weren’t as developed as they now are and were merely back entrances for the town’s businesses and houses with very little foot traffic.  There was the Bacon Stores on Church Street, owned by Toddy O’Connor where ham and bacon hung from the ceiling and there were barrels of salted meat.  He also sold eggs and butter.  The butter was cut from a very large block and he used butter pats to shape it.  He also had trays of drisheen on the counter along with trays of crubeens.

The Harrington’s lived at the Garda Station, Geraldine was in our class at school but, as is the way, they moved to another location.  The Lenehan’s lived at the Railway Station.  Joseph and Therese, and were there other siblings?  I met Joseph in Heuston Station once when I was returning for my father’s funeral.  Trains obviously in his blood. 

(to be continued)

Carmel sent this photo of a group of supporters at a Listowel Celtic match. She says

Here’s an interesting one.  We went to support Listowel Celtic football team – the photo is from 1977.  I’m not going to try to name people.  I see a few who are immediately recognisable including my lifelong friend, Kerry McAuliffe and Tommy Moore standing next to her.  Niamh Long is there and so Is Isabel Carmody.

Can you name a few more? Maybe Listowel Celtic have a team photo from that day.

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I Never Knew This!

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William Street Children

Photo and caption from John Keane on Facebook

This photo of six young William Street, Listowel men was taken in the early 1970s by Stephen Keane-Stack of Lower William Street. From left standing: Jerry Sexton, David Carroll, Willie Sexton and Billy Keane Sitting from left: Jim Keane and Gerard Beechinor. Thank you to another William Street native, William Carroll for the image which is from his late mother, Betty Carroll’s (nee Keane-Stack) collection. 

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A Fact

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan was written in 1673 and has never been out of print. Bunyan wrote the story while he was in prison for preaching without a licence.

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Down Memory Lane

By

On January 29, 2025

In Listowel

Mural in the grounds of St. John’s church Tralee

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Remember This?

This busmen’s hut used to be in the middle of Patrick Street

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Down Memory Lane with Carmel

The next instalment of Carmel Hanrahan’s reminiscences and photos…

The 1970’s seemed to bring a number of returning American families.  Mary Scanlon and her many brothers moved in further up Cahirdown and was “double first cousins” with a family on Church Street.  I had never heard of that before.  The Reagans moved in across the road in one of the new estates and there was a returning family which ran one of the bars on Market Street.

We had a few people join us in Secondary School from England too.  One was a girl called Mary Salmon and another was a Brigette (I think that’s how she spelled it)??  I want to say she came from London but could be wrong.  She was a breath of fresh air for us, telling amusing stories about school in England, teaching us to do the Charleston and in third or fifth year wanting to sing “Hey Big Spender” for the Christmas Concert.  We all thought this was a brilliant choice but Sr. Eithne had apoplexy and when she calmed down had a fit.  Needless to say, the show went ahead but without that particular song.  I think she might have closed the school down in preference to allowing that performance.  

The 1970’s brought with them a modernisation of many facets of life.  Listowel had a lot of wonderful shops which are now lost to memory.  The Fancy Warehouse where we bought all our knitting and haberdashery (what a lovely word) supplies. Carroll’s Drapery Store on William Street, with its magnificent wooden floor, counter with brass ruler attached, glass display cases and those wonderful fabrics. I can still bring to mind the magical atmosphere of Micheál Flavin’s book shop, I could have spent hours in there.  I still have the dictionary I chose in there in third class – because I liked the word etymological on the cover. We got our school supplies there “on account” as was done in most shops.  We also got Bunty and Tammy comics/magazines there.  Do you remember the Christmas Annual of the various comics?  Seamus next door used to get a copy of the Beano.  I think he lost out there, as, while we read the Beano too, I don’t think Bunty held much interest for him.

(More tomorrow)

Left to Right: Helena Doyle, Marie Keane, Marie Dowling (Kneeling) and Káitlín O’Connor

Left to Right: Catherine Lynch, Isabel Carmody and Catherine Corridan in the Primary playground

Left to Right: Eileen Keane, Katsi Kenelly, Marie Keane and Denise Mulvihill

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Expand your Vocabulary

I was surprised to see that I know a few of these.

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A Fact

Up untikl 1959 it was illegal in Britain not to celebrate Bonfire Night.

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New Year, Old Memories

By

On January 28, 2025

In Poem

Photo: Bridie Murphy in Newcastlewest with an infra red camera

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God be with the Days

I don’t know the year.

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Schooldays in the 1960s and 70s

Carmel Hanrahan remembers.

…My dad and Tom O’Halloran were great friends and worked at the same job of Agricultural Inspector.  They golfed together in Ballybunion and later played Pitch and Putt in Listowel.  My dad tried to get me interested in Pitch and Putt but, no, I didn’t get it.  Couldn’t see the point – apologies to all golfers!  Bridge was another thing, again, no….  I imagine his thinking was to have some skills for later social life.  Thankfully, my work and social life depended on neither Golf nor Bridge.  We spent quite a few Sunday afternoons at the Banna Beach Hotel with the O’Halloran clan and then the fight was on to get into the back of Tom’s VW Beetle for the return journey.

School photos were taken annually.  I’m fairly certain that Xavier McAuliffe was the photographer but I’m open to correction here.  Heads up parents……. those sweet youngsters are perfectly capable of manipulating events to suit their own end.  Generally, class photographs were taken as a group at the railings in the play ground with the relevant nun standing at the side.  However, our infant’s class (called Babies Class) and senior infants’ photos were taken individually and only siblings could be in the same photo.  Hilda Fitzell and myself, having convinced the photographer that we were sisters had ours taken together.  Here’s the proof.  You have been warned.

Carmel and Hilda

Carmel with her real sister, Mary, taken around the same time. This occasion was Joanna O’Donnell’s birthday party, circa 1967.

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As January Draws to a Close

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A Fact

Tigers are the only predators who prey on adult bears.

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Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful

By

On January 27, 2025

In Listowel

Robin in Glenbeigh ;Photo: Chris Grayson

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More Reminiscences

Carmel Hanrahan has taken another stroll down Memory Lane. I will bring you some more of her memories this week.

Thank you, Carmel, on behalf of all followers of Listowel Connection.

And thank you, Judy MacMahon who started it all with this.

Did we really have better Summers back in the day, or is that nostalgia taking hold?

It seems the weather was more consistent. School holidays arrived and we never gave a thought to the possibility of rain.  We didn’t seem to experience the current extremes, except of course, for that blissful heatwave in 1976.  Then we spent our time hanging out in the Cows Lawn and more specifically in the tennis courts.  Long hot days spent in Ballybunion and by then we were old enough to go on our own either on the bus if we had money but more often just walking out on the Ballybunion Road and thumbing (do you remember thumbing?).

Easter tended to bring the finer weather with it and was the catalyst for a change from the heavy tights of winter to knee socks then later (perhaps May) ankle socks and best of all sandals with no socks.  Always Clarks shoes and sandals from the shop on the corner of Market Street and William Street.  Brown lace ups for winter and strappy sandals for the summer.  What was the name of that shop?  The exception was white shoes for First Communion.  I wore mine until I just couldn’t fit my feet in any more.

When did we fit in our Holiday jobs?  I know we worked but don’t remember a job impinging on leisure activities.  I had a job for two Summers and Race Week in the Spinning Wheel Restaurant in the Small Square, which was where there is now a shoe shop.  Kathleen and John Scanlon owned it and I learned some cooking skills there.  One of them being how to gut a trout through its gills!  I got to be quite good and quick at this but it was very hard on your hands – a bit like tearing your hands on sewing needles. Making light fluffy omelettes was another skill I acquired and I remember showing Sadie Fitzmaurice how John Scanlon made them.  Of course, the ultimate holiday job was working on the Island during Race Week.  I once had a job on the turn-stiles and made (for the time) loads of money.

Further up Cahirdown, beyond the railway bridge and Hilliard’s, there was a group of houses commonly referred to as the Soldier’s Cottages.  Does anybody know the history of why they were called this?  We just assimilate these things as youngsters and never query the why.

Below is a photo of Carmel and some school friends

Left to right: Denise Mulvihill, Marie Keane, Carmel Hanrahan, Katsi Kenelly and Kyra Walshe.  Taken in the garden at the front of the convent according to the back of the photo.

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Taking a Leaf out of Trump’s Playbook

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Storm Éowyn

The storm that hit our coast in the early morning of January 24 2025 was the worst ever experienced in Ireland.

These pictures shared online by Kerry’s Eye give you a small glimpse of the destruction it caused.

Doon Road, Ballybunion

The remains of someone’s caravan wrapped around a pole in Ballybunion

Power lines down in Ballyduff

Banna

Listowel to Ballybunion Road

The big sign at the entrance to Farranfore Business Park

Tralee

Tralee

Just a small taste of the destruction that was caused. Thousands left without power and water.

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Some Weather Rhymes from a 1951 schoolbook

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A Fact

In 1963 the first cat in space was a moggy named Felicette.

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