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: Festivals Page 7 of 18

Singers and Fundraisers

Library Road in May 2023

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Annual North Kerry M.S. Busking Day

On Friday May 19 2023, Main Street came alive with music. The concert was in aid of an association very close to my heart. I apologise that I can’t include some clips of the great music here but video clips just take up too much of my precious storage space. I have pictures though.

This is a group of morning collectors and musicians. A new crew took over in the afternoon. Some of the morning people were involved in the afternoon as well.

I’ll include a few more tomorrow.

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Mizen2Malin

This epic cycle fundraiser in aid of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind paused in town on Monday May 22 2023.

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Alice Curtayne

This is Alice Curtayne’s panel in Kerry Writers’ Museum. She is the only female writer among the great men of letters.

Alice was actually an extraordinary lady, writing on lots of subjects, many of them religious in nature. She has written on Dante (She lived for a time in Milan in the 1920s) St. Brigid (She lived in Kildare too) and she has written one novel, House of Cards which her family think is largely biographical. She wrote many articles for newspapers and periodicals like the Capuchin Annual.

She was born in Tralee. Her father was a coach furnisher and he had his business in what is now Benners Hotel.

She lectured in America before settling down and marrying a farmer whom she met when he wrote her a fan letter.

Her husband, Stephen Rynne was a romantic. They married in Tarbert on Valentine’s Day. In their garden in Prosperous, Stephen planted snowdrops in a formation which every Spring spelled out Alice.

Alice passed away in 1981. She is under appreciated even in her native Kerry. Her grandson, Niall, is doing much to bring knowledge of her to a wider audience. Some of her books have been republished by an American publisher. I bought the one on St. Brigid. I’ll review it here at a later date.

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Listowel Writers’ Week, Opening Night 2023

What links these two places to opening night 2023?

Special guest on Opening Night will be acclaimed singer /songwriter Jack O’Rourke.

Jack is a storyteller in song. He was fascinated by the story of Michael O’Connor as told to him by Aiden on one of his visits to Mike the Pies.

He wrote this song

Opera on the Top Floor

Michael O’Connor, uncle of Aiden, was an extraordinary man. He was a talented artist, a collector of posters, an opera lover and a book lover. He was also a very private person. His family left his apartment over the pub very much as he left it. A visit to this place of music, art and literature inspired O’Rourke to write the song.

“…And that opera on the top floor
No one knows, it’s under lock and key
The needle hits the vinyl, I’m away on the wind
Every secret needs a sanctuary.”

I hope he sings it for us on Opening Night.

Another treat in store for us at this year’s Writers’ Week is a chance to see some of Michael O’Connor’s great collection of international graphic art in Mike the Pies.

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I Love Paul Galvin

Maybe not Paul himself. I don’t know him but I love, love, love his book.

People who know me here know that I love a good anecdote or story and I love random facts. Paul’s book is full of these. I’ve only dipped into it so far. I’ve only just got it.

Who knew?

Spear throwing! sword fighting!

If, like me you love these little stories, Paul Galvin has lots of them in his great book. He is a great researcher and a great story teller.

Do come along to hear him in

The Listowel Arms at 3.00p.m. on Saturday June 3 2023

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Dolly Day

DollyDay fundraiser for Comfort for Chemo and the Kerry Hospice was launched in Quanes Bar, Blennerville on Thursday evening.

Dolly Day in Listowel is on June 24 2023 and it promises to be a good one. The lady herself has been invited to attend and she is checking her calendar.

You can be part of the fun by buying your wig online Here

There are a few instructions laid down by the Guinness Book of Records people about how you should be dressed. Nothing major.

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Catching Up with Friends

I met my old friend, Dolores O’Connor in The Flying Saucer on Monday. She was enjoying a hot chocolate with her sister, Eileen. When they see me with my camera they know that I will connect them with their family in the US and England. Great Listowel people and supporters of this blog.

I had a great chat with my lovely friends, Liz and Jim Dunn, in Thyme Out café yesterday. Liz is going to be our hostess at Opening Night of Listowel Writers’ Week on May 31st. No better woman for the job.

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Localisms

When I came to Listowel first I found local people had quite a few phrases we didn’t use over the border in my part of the country.

“Will you walk to town or will you carry the car?” asked a new friend.

The image this conjured up came back to me when I read Brian Bilston’s amusing poem:

you took
the last bus home

i still don’t know
how you got it through the door

but you’re always doing amazing stuff

like the time
when you caught that train

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A Fact

The English language syllable “ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence includes all eight.

A tough dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully.

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Memories from 1974 and Looking Forward to 2023

Millenium Arch in May 2023

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How it used to look

This is the remains of the first arch in 2016, It was damaged in a big storm. You will notice the the new designer didn’t bother with the things that looked like very big ball bearing between the arch and the pillars.

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Wolfgang and Anita Mertens

in John B. Keane’s Bar, May 16th 2023

This is the house from which Maria wrote to Wolfgang.

Here are 2 letters Wolfgang kept as souvenirs of his visit to Writers Week in 1974. The first is from Maria Coffey who was, I think, writing on behalf of Writers Week and one from Bryan MacMahon with whom he had a long correspondence. Wolfgang was writing his thesis on his work.

Anita and Wolfgang can’t remember where they stayed which is surprising because they remember a lot about their trip.

On their last night they saw a production of The Honey Spike by the Carrick- on-Siur Drama Group and they were enthralled by it.

Wolfgang in his library has almost all of MacMahon’s published works, in English and some in translation as well.

While we were at the MacMahon statue we met Maggie and Mac Donald who were just returning from a visit to Kerry Writers’ Museum.

Brían MacMahon took time out of his busy day to welcome the German visitors. He told them a few stories about his famous grandfather and generally charmed them with his wit and friendliness.

We met Liz Dunn who gave them a brochure for this year’s Writers’ Week. Wolfgang promises to send me his 1974 programme.

We called to the Garden of Europe on the way home from town.

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A 1980 Visitor

Hello Mary.

I came upon your blog while searching for “Irish Horse Caravans”.

I was a young soldier in the US Army on leave in 1980 when I hitchhiked/walked through Ireland.

I have a photo in this email, which I think may possibly be in Adare or very close to it. I was wondering if you perhaps recognize this image and the signs for the roads they reference and could tell me where this may have been.

Regards from the US, Marietta, GA
Bob Jewell

Is Bob correct? Is that Adare? I think so.

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Kevins

Is your name Kevin or Caoimhín?

If the answer is yes, the place for you to be is this Listowel pub on Friday June 2 in the late evening.

The first annual gathering of people called Kevin in Kevin’s is happening there.

The back story; Stephen Connolly, curator of this year’s Writers’ Week programme was, by chance, in Kevin’s on the late owner, Kevin Broderick’s, birthday and he happened to sit beside a man called Kevin. This sparked this idea; Why not have a gathering of people called Kevin in a pub called Kevin’s during Writers’ Week.

BTW you can come too if your name is not Kevin.

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On the Prowl with Camera

I was in The Square on Saturday May 20 2023

I met the lovely and very talented Eileen Sheehan as she went into Kerry Writers’ Museum to facilitate a poetry workshop.

I had a lovely chat with friends, Brian and May Griffin and Mary and Seán Comerford.

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Serendipity

The meaning of the word, good luck in finding valuable things unintentionally, refers to the fairy tale characters who were always making discoveries through chance. You can thank serendipity if you find a pencil at an empty desk just as you walk into an exam and realize that you forgot yours.

I have so often experienced serendipity at Listowel Writers Week. I have gone to a book launch by someone I had never heard of and find the writer or subject so fascinating that I can’t wait to read the book.

Let me point you in the direction of a few opportunities for serendipity coming up for us in Listowel.

I have never read either of these authors but it looks like lots of people have and loved them.

Friday June2 in The Listowel Arms

This handsome dude is well known to everyone in Kerry. As well as being one of Kerry’s all time great footballers, he is also a clothes designer and now an author.

Confession here; I considered buying this book at Christmas and dismissed it without knowing what it was about. I presumed wrongly that it was the story of how a footballer turned into a fashion designer.

I should have looked more closely and, if only to honour my weaver ancestors, I should have bought it. It’s not too late to make up for lost time.

Join me in Listowel Arms on Saturday at 3.00

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I Love this One

Published in The Irish Times on Saturday May 20 2023.

I have a god daughter who I can just imagine spending her old age (which is a long way off yet) reminiscing about horses.

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A Fact

A typical lightening bolt is two miles long.

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Shedding some Light

This substantial premises on William Street is for sale

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The light of other days

This lovely little old oil lamp may have lighted a lady’s way to bed or provided light enough to read a child a bedtime story. This lamp was much safer than a candle and provided more constant light for longer.

Many will recognise that this looks like a bicycle lamp or an old fashioned flashlamp. This particular lamp is a policeman’s lamp and its beam is directed downwards.

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A Gorgeous poem about a Not so Gorgeous Plant

Paul Muldoon who translated this poem will be in town for Writers’ Week in a few week’s time.

I had never heard the word greidhlic before. Then I didn’t know what samphire was either.

Samphire photo from the internet

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A Visitor who feels at Home

Stephen Rynne is a Celtic Art scholar and the acknowledged expert on the work of Listowel illuminator and calligrapher, Michael O’Connor. His interest in O’Connor’s work brought him to Listowel and once here, he was enchanted by the celtic artwork all around him. He was fascinated to find on further study so many extraordinary local artists working or dabbling in the area of celtic art. Pat MacAuliffe, Paddy Fitzgibbon, Tony O’Callaghan, Micheál Kelliher, Eileen Moylan and more creating in different media but all well rooted in the celtic tradition.

Stephen with one of Listowel’s landmarks on his recent visit to town.

I was telling Stephen about Listowel’s connection to the O’Rahilly family. In one of those ‘you couldn’t make it up’ moments, Stephen revealed that his family is connected to the O’Rahilly family.

Listowel owes a debt of gratitude to Stephen for elevating the work of Michael O’Connor, for diligently researching and tracking down the whereabouts of some of the more elusive artworks. Stephen has donated many of the O’Connor pieces to Kerry Writers Museum where we will all get to see them very soon.

Why had we never heard off Michael O’Connor until recently?

Answer: Because we had no Stephen Rynne.

Some of O’Connor’s most magnificent pieces were commissioned and created as gifts for prestigious people. These then lay in archives in places like The Vatican, JKF Library, family archive of the President of Israel, in President Eamon de Valera’s archive etc etc. Stephen has literally discovered O’Connor and has tracked down and even in some cases photographed some of these exceptional works. The next part of his mission is to bring as many as possible back to Michael O’Connor’s birthplace, Listowel.

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A Fact

The man who invented false eyelashes missed a trick. American film director, D W Griffith was making an epic film, Intolerance, back in 1916. He wanted actress Sheena Owen to have eyelashes that brushed her cheeks. A wigmaker wove human hair through gauze and gummed the fake eyelashes to poor Sheena’s eyelids. The film was critically acclaimed but it left Griffith with huge debts.

He should have patented the eyelashes.

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Old Days, Old Ways

William Street 2023

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Turf Cutting Time 2023

Photo: Ita Hannon

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Bringing a dead loved one to life in a poem is such a cathartic experience.

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Bastables

Bastables were our great grannies ovens. They were suspended on a crane over the open turf fire and the families’ meals were cooked on them. Bastable cooking skills were passed down from generation to generation. The round bottomed pot was for boiling. Potatoes and other vegetables were cooked in this. Sometimes it just boiled water for various tasks. There was a kettle for the tea (no one had coffee) but boiled water was needed for mixing food for animals and certain washing tasks.

The flat bottomed bastable was for roasting and baking. A skilled bastable chef could roast a chicken to perfection, she could cook a stew or even a loaf of soda bread. The cook adjusted the heat by placing burning sods of turf (gríosach) on the lid.

How far we have some with our microwaves and air fryers! If our great grandmothers saw an induction hob at work, they woiuld be gobsmacked.

This is a griddle. Also for cooking over an open fire, This was great for frying of fish . Remember at Phil the Fluter’s Ball the dancers were “hopping in the middle like a herring on the griddle”? The griddle was used for baking of thin breads and scones as well.

The coming of the range put an end to this hit and miss cooking. The range brought the thermostat which cut out much of the guesswork. That said, I remember my late mother having to open the oven door when the turf or timber had heated the oven that little bit too much.

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Important Discussion about Girls and Sport

Friday June 2 10.30 in The Plaza

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A Blast from the Past

This is a picture of Cork in 1969 from a website with old photos of Ireland.

Recently people have been making a big hoo ha because they have identified the bridge behind the Mona Lisa in the painting. Well, I recognise Western Road in this picture because I can see the gates of UCC in the background and the big building on the right is the Eye, Ear and Throat hospital. The filling station on the left is long gone. Traffic on that road is now one way,

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A Fact

Many people know that the sandwich was named after an English earl (1718 -92) but how did the Fourth Earl of Sandwich come to give his name to this meal which is the favourite lunch of so many today.

His lordship was a gambling addict. He ordered that his food be brought to him between slices of bread so that he could eat his meals without leaving the gaming table.

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A Poet , a Writer and some Stained Glass

Church Street in April 2023

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A Powerful Poem

This short poem is full of the pain of being forced by circumstances to live in a country that is not your motherland.

“The past is a hole in the chest….”

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Women in Sport

“I’ll eat my O’Neill’s shorts if this book is not nominated for Sports’ Book of the Year.” Ray Darcy.

On Friday June 3, in Listowel this very articulate young sportswoman/writer will be part of a great discussion on the place of women in sport. Eimear is GAA royalty, grandfather a president and father and a clatter of cousins successful county players.

In her book she deals with the humiliation of being left on the bench, the need for make up and straightened hair on the playing field, the negative image of competitive girls as opposed to the lauding of these traits in boys.

I have a personal interest in this Writers’ Week event which will be facilitated by our own local sportswriter, Emma Larkin and will feature trampolining champion, Rebecca Perry.

My sports mad granddaughter Aisling, who did her TY work experience in Listowel Writers’ Week, will be allowed to introduce this event.

Aisling made her Writers Week debut many years ago, being “fired” out of a cannon.

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Call Cards

Cards brought back as souvenirs from foreign trips.

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St. John’s, Tralee

St. John’s Tralee is a magnificent church, full of nooks and crannies, altars and shrines and exceptional stained glass windows.

This is a modern window telling the story of the prodigal son.

As well as this modern one there are many traditional windows.

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The Playboy of the Western World

Can you spot me with my great friends and former colleagues Bridget O’Connor and Sr. Consolata behind two rows of current Presentation Secondary Listowel staff in St. John’s Theatre on May 4th for the TY production of The Playboy.

These are the happy girls on stage at the end of a very successful evening.

Under the guidance of drama coach and director, Margaret O’Sullivan, this cast and crew breathed vibrant new life into Synge’s dated play. They played music, sang and danced and milked every bit of comedy out of a drama set in an Ireland long forgotten by the time they were born. The play was a triumph. Well done all.

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A Fact

Remember Concorde? Due to time zones crossed, if you flew by Concorde from London to New York you could arrive two hours before you leave.

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