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

Category: Ballybunion Page 19 of 23

Historic Listowel, Maid of Erin and a Beauty with a Listowel Connection

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On October 13, 2021

In Ballybunion, Listowel

Ballybunion Kayaking Tours

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Armel Whyte spotted this one on Facebook

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Two Historic Listowel Buildings Changing Hands

This house on Church Street was once the home the Wilmot family. Séamus Wilmot went on to become registrar of The National University of Ireland. This house was also the home of the legendary Babe Joe Wilmot.

Correction: Martin Moore tells me that this was not the Wilmot home. It was further down the street. This was the home of sisters, Aggie and Peg Mulvihill. Apologies for misleading you.

The Central Hotel/ Maid of Erin was sold recently. The facade of this premises is one of the most iconic in Listowel. It features one of the best known and loved examples of the stucco work of Pat McAuliffe.

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Living the Champagne Lifestyle

Caitlin Carmody is the daughter of Kevin and Christina and granddaughter of Vincent and Kathleen.

Caitlin is studying Physical Therapy in the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois.

Caitlin is also a part time model and her recent photoshoot with photographer Roland Lim is featured in Imirage magazine.

Caitlin is the cover girl.

Here are just a few of the photos of this stunning beauty with a very strong Listowel connection.

Cover, Imirage October 2021

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Killarney Story with a Kanturk Connection

Killarney Today had this story about father and son, Pat and Luke O’Neill who each scored a goal for Killarney Celtic in a recent match.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and the tree once grew in Kanturk.

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Ballybunion, Pres. Basketball and 1970 Fleadh Committee

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On October 5, 2021

In Ballybunion, Festivals, Listowel, Poem, Schools

Illumination by Michael O’Connor

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From an Old Pres. Album

I can see a few faces I definitely know. Please help me to name them all.

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Poem from a Local Poet

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Concluding the Bryan MacMahon article from Shannonside Annual 1956

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Fleadh Cheoil Committee 1970

Betty Stack has given us all the names for this old photo. Thank you, Betty.

Front Row: Mairead Walsh, Eamon Hartnett, Jackie Walsh, Michael Dowling, Geraldine Hartnett, Joan Curtin, Maria O’Gorman
Middle Row:
Pat McAuliffe, Michael Stack, T. Dillon, Maureen Nolan, Betty Stack, Patricia Cronin, Helen Leahy, Peggy Gleeson, Patsy Kennedy, Jack Molyneaux, Christy Stack
Back Row: Ben Landy, PJ Kirby, ? , Mossie Molyneaux, Timmy Brosnan, Sean Broderick, Ian Nugent, Paul Nolan, Vincent O’Sullivan, Joe Gleeson, Peter O’Sullivan

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Kildare, St. John’s Wort and A Paen to Ballybunion and a Spud

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On October 4, 2021

In Ballybunion

This is the verger’s house in Kildare town.

Kildare Cathedral is still a working parish church and the verger still lives in the nearby grace and favour house

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Naas

I spent a morning in Naas during my recent trip. Naas is Kildare’s county town and the county is known as the short grass county.

This is an old well that gives it’s name to the nearby Well Street.

No one could tell me what this sculpture was all about but by all accounts its been there for years,

As in many towns, housing schemes are called after local heroes.

All over town, old bicycles were repurposed as decorations.

The fair green was part of the Historic trail.

I’ve told you here before about the Listowel phenomenon where the streets have one name in English and a totally different name in Irish.

They have this problem sorted in Naas…just call the street the same name in either language.

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Looks Like Santa will be bringing a Lot of Smart TVs this year

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Ballybunion fro Shannonside Annual 1956

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New Shop in Town

This new dress shop in located in Convent Street opposite Garvey’s Super Valu.

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Sand Art, The Races and Memories of a First Dance

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On September 22, 2021

In Ballybunion, Festivals, Listowel Races

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How it used to be

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Ballybunion Sand Art festival 2021

This is an intriuging and fascinating craft, drawing pictures in the sand. The annual festival in Ballybunion on the weekend of Sept 10 to 12th was as brilliant as ever. I took a few photos but Pixie O’Gorman and Wild Atlantic Way posted these much better ones on the internet.

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A Hawney Legacy

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This is Hawney Way in Ballybunion. If you walk down this passageway you will come to this lovely little children’s picnic area. It is laid out with tables, in the centre of each is a draughts or chess grid and benches.

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Some of the tables are sponsored by local people.

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Tidy Town’s Vintage Day

One of the highlights of Listowel Harvest Festival of Racing every year was Tidy Town’s upcycle, recycle vintage day. Below are some of the organising committee.

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Every year this competition turned up some fascinating stories. The outfits themselves were often stunning but the accompanying stories never failed to entertain us.

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Frances O’Keeffe and her daughter, Edel

Edel is wearing a dress her mother restyled from a dress given to her by her friend, Suzie Moore.

Suzie was a matron in a London hospital. The queen was due to visit and Suzie felt that she needed something special for this meeting with her majesty. She had a dress especially made.

When she retired to Listowel she brought the dress with her and she gave it to her friend Frances. She knew that Frances would appreciate the material she had chosen so carefully and paid so much for. Frances never found an opportunity to use the material over the years . When she heard of this up cycling event she knew that this was just the ticket for Suzie’s dress. She remodelled it to fit Edel. Edel wore it with the pill box hat her mother wore at her own wedding and the pearl encrusted bag she carried.

Mary O’Halloran and Maria Stack are great supporters of Listowel Races. They usually pull out all the stops for Ladies Day and Vintage Day.

One year, Maria carried this vintage bag that she had bought in a charity shop.

When she got the bag home she found inside the original price tag.

And she found a ticket to the Empire State Building. Surely this bag was bought by someone as part of her trousseau and she honeymooned in New York.

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A Listowel Dance in 1960

Philomena Moriarty kept this souvenir of her very first dance and she shared it on Facebook. The Super Ballroom was later rebranded as the Las Vegas.

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Listowel Poetry Town 2021

As part of the Poetry Town initiative, Listowel got its very own Poet Laureate, Dairena Ní Chinnéide.

Part of her job was to write a Listowel poem. Dairena was great value for money.. She wrote two.

Brilliant!

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Sea Swimming, Races and Bringing Home the Turf

By

On September 21, 2021

In Ballybunion, Listowel Races

Photo; Bridget O’Connor

Friday, Sept 10 2021 was International Suicide Awareness Day. Bridget’s picture above shows a troop of people who ventured into the sea at Ballybunion on that evening to show solidarity with those bereaved by suicide and to highlight the issue of treatable mental illness.

Pictured with Snámhaí Sásta, June Curtin, are local ladies, Billy Jo and Lelia O’Connor and Bridget McCarthy.

June brought some of her positivity calendars with her on the night. She is selling them in aid of Pieta, the suicide prevention charity.

Aoife Scott was in town for a concert as part of the Ballybunion Arts Festival at The Tinteán. She came and sang a song or two for the delighted swimmers.

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Listowel Races in Years Past

This man has been coming to the races and staying with Nora for over twenty years. I hope he got a ticket this year.

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Out of This World

This Ballybunion placename never ceases to amaze me.

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Bringing home the Turf

If I had been asked I would have said that this scene was earlier than the 1970s.

Donkeys and carts were ideal for bog work. The ground underfoot in the bog is soggy and unstable so it calls for a fairly light sure footed animal like this lovely ass.

Look at how the young man leading the donkey was dressed for his day in the bog. In the early years of the 20th century in Ireland there was no such thing as casual clothes. Athleisure is a very recent fashion. We had good clothes and old clothes. this man is in his old clothes, i.e. a suit that used to be his Sunday suit but was now relegated to everyday wear. It kind of looks like a suit he may have inherited from someone bigger than himself. Hand me downs were common too. Suits often were passed down through the family until they were no longer wearable.

I bet his v neck is hand knitted. All jumpers were hand knitted one time, until Ben Dunne brought us cheap clothes and it no longer made sense to knit something you could buy more cheaply. Of course it didn’t last as long but that mattered little when it was so cheap and did not entail hard work.

Along with the turf, this scene will soon be unfamiliar to all but the oldest of us.

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Poetry Town

We’ve exchanged our Social distancing stencils for Poetry Town ones.

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