Category: Athea Page 1 of 3

Listowel, Athea and Brehon Laws

By listowelconnection

On October 15, 2024

In Athea, Listowel, Poem

“The trees are in their Autumn beauty.

The woodland paths are dry….”

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Sustainable Fashion at Listowel Races 2024

These are the Tidy Town volunteers who introduced this event which has become the Saturday highlight of race week. They turn up year after year to run this marvellous competition. It has evolved over the years from having some entries that looked like school projects to be a themed fashion competition to rival Friday’s best dressed lady’s event. Many of this year’s outfits would not have been out of place in the Friday competition.

Kathleen O’Flaherty always looks stylish.

This lady got a special prize for inventiveness.

Frances O’Keeffe was the winner of the first sustainable fashion competition at Listowel Races. Her daughter, Edel, won a few fashion prizes too.

The story of the outfit is part of the entertainment of this competition. Maria’s stories areaways the best. Maria Stack was wearing gloves and a hat gifted to her by her late friend, Mary O’Halloran. Mary was a great supporter of Listowel Races.

Tidy Town ladies and An Taisce judge are intrigued by the back stories.

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Something Old

This is the kind of old fashioned pram babies slept in in the 1900s. The net over the pram was to protect the infant from flies and wasps and to deter the cat from jumping in with the baby. There was usually a string of coloured rattles across the hood in view of the baby and nearly always a holy medal pinned somewhere.

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In Athea

The celtic mural in Athea celebrates Irishness in hundreds of symbols but it also celebrates local people and the enormous talent in the area.

This young flautist is like a snake charmer conjuring up shamrocks, birds, snakes and entwined celtic symbols.

What could be more Irish than a step dancing cailín?

A local young girl immortalised forever among the oak leaves in this impressive piece of wall art.

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Brehon Laws

Lately I came upon this treasure of a book in the IWA charity shop. It’s all about the Brehon Laws. These laws were passed on orally since the first centuryBC. They were written down for the first time in the 7th century AD and they were in use until the reign of Elizabeth 1 who replaced the old Brehon Laws with English common law.

The laws give us a great insight into how our ancestors lived.

The great assembly was usually held on Tara. The elders came together to discuss and, if necessary, amend the laws.

Music has always been part of Irish life. There was a hierarchy of musicians with the harpist having pride of place.

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A Fact

Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven. He patented it in 1945.

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Stags, Horses and Style

By listowelconnection

On October 7, 2024

In Athea, Listowel, Poem

Waiting in the long grass…Chris Grayson’s image of stags in The National Park before the commencement of the rut.

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Tackling a Horse

This photo of a workhorse in Jim Dunn’s great Athea mural led me to boast that I once could name every piece of tack on that horse. Mattie Lennon helped me out.

There is a winkers on the horses head and a bit in his mouth. The reins is attached to the bit.

Around the horse’s neck is the collar and hames. The reins goes through this.

On his back is the straddle and britchen.

If the horse was attached to a cart, a bellyband under the horse and attached to the shafts prevented the cart from tipping up.

The brass attached to the winkers was an optional piece of horse jewellery.

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Gortaglanna Memorial

I thought that the white commemorative steps on the roadside were the memorial to those who fell at Gortaglanna, but I was wrong. Kathleen Griffin sent us these pictures which she took on a rainy day in 2016 of the bigger monument. This memorial is in the field where the men died.

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There’s Always Hope

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Some of the local Style on Ladies Day at Listowel Races 2024

A gravity defying creating from milliner, Cathy Troth

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One for the Diary

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Signwriter at Work

Martin Chute was on his scaffold painting Listowel Garden Centre sign as I was going to Thyme Out for a cuppa and a chat.

Martin is used to immersing himself in his work and ignoring distractions.

But when he spots me, he is always willing to chat.

On this occasion he descended the ladder to pose with Barry McAuliffe and his son who are home on a visit from the U.S. Barry is one of my oldest internet friends, from the days when we were all on Boards.ie. He reminded me that he won Vincent’s nearly impossible quiz and he has the placemats to prove it.

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A Fact

Albert Einstein’s brain had a parietal lobe that was 15% larger than the average human brain

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Athea, Listowel and Abbeyfeale

By listowelconnection

On October 2, 2024

In Athea, Listowel, Listowel Races

Athea Footbridge

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Culture Night, Friday September 20 2024

Clíona and Aoife McKenna in The Square

Aoife in St. John’s for her first ever experience of a live performance

Mr. Bubbles was brilliant and held his young audience enthralled.

We met Sinead Bunyan and family in The Square

David Browne and Jimmy Hickey

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From the Schools Folklore Collection

School: Cnoc an Iubhair (C.)

Location: Kealid, Co. Kerry Teacher: Máire Ní Cheallacháin

A True Story

There lived in Carrueragh at one time a man by the name of Costello with his two children.

He lived in a farm out of which another family had been evicted by the Landlord Blacker Douglas.

The White Boys had determined to murder everybody that had anything to do with the Landlord and so they came to the house of the poor man who was a widower. They took him a little distance from the house and killed him.

The two children cried until they were hoarse and the hoarseness never left them.

As the man was dying his blood spattered on a stone beside him, and the stone is still there bearing the name of “The blood stained stone”.

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A Few Friday Racegoers

These three ladies should have been in the final shake up for Best dressed. Imelda Murphy, Faith Almond and Maria Stack all know a thing or two about styling, tailoring and millinery.

Niamh Kenny was accompanied by her lovely daughter. Niamh wore a hat in the shape of a quill as a nod to Listowel’s literary heritage.

This hat was chosen by the judges as the most creative headgear. It was created by Cathríona King of Galway.

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Legendary Football Teams

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Launch of Moments of Reflection

Me with Mary Fagan who was the special guest on the night

Me with my good friend, Margo Anglim

Miriam, who loves Listowel and comes back as often as she can. Dulce, who loves Listowel and has come to Listowel to live.

Robert and Eileen Bunyan

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Promoting my Book

I was in Abbeyfeale on a wet afternoon last week.

An Siopa Milseán is like taking a step back in time….lovely shop, lovely stuff, lovely people

If you live in Abbeyfeale and you’d like to buy a copy of Moments of Reflection, this is the shop for you.

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A Fact

Coffee consumed in large doses can be lethal. 10 grams or 100 cups in four hours can kill the average human being.

Health Warning; This fact was sourced in a book of trivia. Under no circumstances should anyone put this “fact” to the test.

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A Book Launch and a Schmozzle

By listowelconnection

On October 1, 2024

In Athea, Poem, Schools' Folklore

Finches at a feeder in Kanturk

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People at a Book Launch

Five of my six grandchildren

Robert and Eileen Bunyan with Paddy MacElligott and Helen Moylan

Clíona with Margo Spillane. Margo came all the way from Castlelyons in Co. Cork to support me on the big night. Such loyalty is much appreciated.

Anne Brosnan, Mary O’Connor, Marie Lucid and Pam Browne

John Kinsella shares a laugh with Mary McGrath and Mary Sobieralski

Cliona Cogan, Breeda Ahern, Carine Schweitzer, Bobby and Sean Cogan, Catherine Moylan and Dulce Lopez

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The Trials of the Golf Lesson

Talk about 100 things going through your head… I love John McAuliffe’s description of all the things he has to remember and all the things he is trying to ignore in this marvellous poem about a golf lesson on the links course in Ballybunion.

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Roly Chute, Legendary Coach and Painter

I met Roly out for the second of his daily walks. He is always willing to stop and chat.

Roly taught all of my children to play badminton and tennis. He gave selfless years and years to training the youngsters in the badminton club the skills of the game. Listowel owes him a lot.

A little known fact about Roly is that he is quite a skilled artist.

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Tupperware

Once upon a time every house had stacks of these plastic containers. We once learned that Queen Elizabeth kept her Corn Flakes in a Tupperware box.

Now the brand has fallen victim to its own success. Since its product is practically indestructible, sales have fallen off and the company is in trouble.

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Knockanure (from the Schools’ Folklore Collection)

Knockanure Church

The old cloisters at Knockanure Church were built in 1649. The chief man at the building of it was Father Moriarty of Castleisland.

There were five friars in it for years, the head brother was Brother James Keane.

There are two beautiful violin players buried in the old Abbey. They were drowned in the Gale on Saturday 11th June 1752. The place where they were drowned is called the Fiddlers’ Hole at a place called Tubber.

The friars lived about three quarters of a mile west of the Church at a place called Carrueragh. Father Mortimer OConner is also buried in this Church. He was born in the field that the church is built on. He died in Arda in 1781. The meaning of Knockanure is the hill of the Yew-Tree. Knockanure chapel was built in Father Sheehy’s time in 1865. The youngest Friar in Ireland at that time was Friar Toban.

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A Fact

A schnozzle is an event in a game of football or hurling. It falls somewhere on the spectrum between a few friendly thumps between friends and second degree assault.

A schnozzle can arise for a number of reasons that range from being 3 goals and 12 points down and 5 minutes left on the clock to someone enquiring into the marital status of your mother at the time of your birth.

A schmozzle must never be allowed to develop into an almighty schmozzle. This would include the subs bench, managing staff, an Maor Uisce, several members of the crowd and, if it is a Junior B hurling match, a collie cross barking.

(information for this fact from Ronan Moore’s book of Irishology.)

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I’m Back

By listowelconnection

On September 30, 2024

In Athea, Listowel

“There are decades when nothings happens and there are weeks when decades happen.” Lenin

Last week was one of those weeks in my little world.

Under the bridge in Athea, Co. Limerick

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You May Own a Dog but a Cat Owns You

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Remember Tiny Tears?

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People at a Book Launch

You’ll be seeing a lot of photos from the launch of Moments of Reflection here from now on. Feel free to move on.

Four Moylans and four Cogans in this photo as it was all shoulders to the wheel for the big night.

Three of the four marvellous musicians who entertained us…Mary Fagan, Paddy MacElligott, Mary Murphy and the fourth was the brilliant John Kinsella. He’ll be in photos before too long too.

My handsome grandson, Killian, reading a reflection

Róisín Darby at the microphone

Surprise attendees on the night were Michael and Sue OSullivan.

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From Wikipedia

The Valley of Knockanure is located at Gortaglanna

The Valley of Knockanure is the name of several ballads commemorating a murder by the Royal Irish Constabulary that occurred during the Irish War of Independence at Gortaglanna (Gortagleanna) near Knockanure, County Kerry, Ireland. The best-known of these was written by teacher and poet Bryan MacMahon (d. 1998) at the request of a local schoolmaster, Pádraig Ó Ceallacháin.[1]

Historical background

On 12 May 1921, a troop of Black and Tans were travelling out from Listowel towards Athea when they arrested four young unarmed men in Gortaglanna. Prior to this the barracks in Listowel had been burnt out and in retaliation the troops, who were under the influence of alcohol, decided to execute the young men. The first to be shot was Jerry Lyons. When this happened, Cornelius Dee decided, as he was going to be shot anyway, to make a run for it. He did, and almost immediately took a bullet in the thigh but managed to keep going. He ran for about three miles and survived. He was never recaptured but remained in hiding until the truce.[2] The other two men were shot on the spot. Today a memorial stands by the roadside where the three died.[1] A film about the events was made in 2009.

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At the Races

I went to the island on two days, Friday and Saturday. You’ll be sick of seeing photos of beautifully dressed people. Here are a few from Friday.

I took 3 photos in The Small Square on my way to the racecourse

Anne Marie O’Riordan was a having a cuppa with her lovely mom and cousin.

Beatrice and Eileen were sharing a table with Ballincollig visitors.

Poor Brenda is still hobbling but in good spirits as always.

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A Fact

In Ancient Sparta if a baby appeared weak at birth, they would leave them out in the elements overnight. If the baby survived, it would be taken back in and raised Spartan.

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