Emigration

On January 26, 2022

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A Prayer for My Daughter

By Gabriel Byrne

You are born in love and pain.
Given to us for a short time only.
Before we must let you go again, with love and pain.
One day you’ll come to know how close they are, one to the other.
You are a treasure, a blessing, a prayer’s answer,
A jig in my Irish soul.
You are me, and I am you.
You are both of us, the love of your mother and me.
Let me be worthy of you.
Let me lead you to truth, to beauty, to the mystery of the universe.
You will ask me great questions, and sometimes I will not know the answers.
Perhaps we are not meant to know some things.
That is life too… a seeking.
It may be our only purpose here.
All things are changing, always.
Yesterday is dust, tomorrow a dream.
Our gift is now.
And so, my sweet angel, may you know love, and be loved in return.
May you know truth, and laughter, and peace, and happiness,
And may the great spirit of the universe enfold you in his arms, and keep you safe, for always.

Éamon ÓMurchú sent us this lovely poem by Gabriel Byrne around the time that the nation was in mourning for Ashling Murphy.

Walking Among Ghosts

Gabriel Byrne, one of our most successful actors is also a skilled writer. His recent interview with Tommy Tiernan showed us another side of him.

A story that he told resonated with me. In case you missed it, here is is.

In the old Irish legend Niamh Cinn Óir lured Óisín to come with her to Tír na nÓg. She promised him happiness and eternal youth. He went with her and he was happy and youthful. One day Niamh asked him if he was contented. He replied that he was but he missed his fiends at home. So Niamh granted him his wish to go back to Ireland and see his old country and his old friends.

Alas, the country was changed utterly and his friends were gone. He found himself walking among ghosts.

Byrne was telling us that this is the story of every emigrant.

It is a story I hear often from followers of Listowel Connection.

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Handball Days

John Croghan and Autie Galvin being presented by John Joe Kenny with the Joe James Handball shield.

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A Jorum?

This is part of Dan Hartnett’s collection of old receptacles. I think these were for whiskey or beer. If memory serves me right we used to call them jorums.

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Listowel Town Square is changing. Here is something I photographed for you from last week’s Kerryman.

The section of Greenway from Abbeyfeale to Listowel is scheduled to be ready for summer 2022.

Kerry Co. Council have shared this video of progress so far.

Abbeyfeale to Listowel Greenway

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A Thought Found on Twitter

“Takiwatanga” is the Maori word for autism and it means “In their own time and space”.

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Donkeys, Horses and Scouts in Rome

By listowelconnection

On October 20, 2021

In Ballybunion, handball, History

Photo;; Clochar, Corcha Dhuibhne by Éamon ÓMurchú

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Donkey Sanctuary

I have a soft spot for donkeys.

My mother never learned to drive. After my father died, she bought a donkey and from then until I was old enough to drive a car, a donkey was her means of transport when anything that could not be brought from town on her bicycle needed to be bought.

I always used to pay a visit to the donkey sanctuary when my grandchildren came for holidays. Now, like all other visitor attractions the sanctuary suffered a loss of income during Covid. So, if you have children to entertain during mid term, consider a trip to the donkey sanctuary.

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Ball Alley Art

Recent work in the ball alley celebrates Irish culture. In these two pictures our love affair with the horse and with horse racing in particular is honoured.

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A Bun Fight

There is a restaurant chain in the U.S. called Five Guys. Police were once called to the Florida branch of the chain because a fist fight had broken out there. They arrested five guys.

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I spotted this on a recent stroll through Ballybunion. It looks like an ATM that is not associated with any bank. Anyone know the story?

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From Shannonside Annual 1956

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Radio Eireann, Ballybunion, Ball Alley Art and Brendan Kennelly R.I.P.

By listowelconnection

On October 19, 2021

In Ballybunion, Ballylongford, handball, Poem

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“Le Coinnle na nAingeal”

Last weekend two of Ireland’s literary giants passed away.

Máire Mhac an tSaoi had a very small poetic output compared to Brendan Kennelly. She also wrote exclusively in Irish which meant that her poems were accessible to a limited audience.

Her work is well known by school children who identify with the teenage angst of her poem of first love with a local boy “Mac feirmeora ó iarthar tíre”, she had a crush on during a summer in the Gaeltacht of West Kerry.

She wrote a lovely sad little poem, a picture of a parent putting on the first shoe, “seoidín den leathar” , a step to freedom or the first shackles.

Probably her best known poem, Cuireadh do Mhuire, is a Christmas classic.

Guím leaba i measc na naomh di.

……………………………………

Brendan Kennelly R.I.P. was a prolific, popular, well known and loved poet and academic.

Throughout his long life he “walked with kings but kept the common touch”.

He never forgot his Kerry roots. He loved his large Kerry family, his Kerry friends and Kerry landscapes and values.

This prince of the Kingdom was a very proud Ballylongford man but he had many many Listowel connections and it was in this little corner of the world he saw out his days surrounded by his loving, caring and very proud family. It is they who will most feel his loss. His brothers, his sister and all his family will miss him greatly.

I took these photos in 2015 at the unveiling of the bust to Brendan Kennelly in Ballylongford.

Colm Tóibín, Liz Dunn, Chair of Listowel Writers’ Week, Brendan Kennelly, and Richard Ford

This is 2017 when Brendan was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Listowel Writers’ Week.

These photos were also taken in 2017 at Opening Night Listowel Writers’ Week. In it Brendan is chatting to Eileen Moylan of Claddagh Design who designed and crafted the beautiful award piece depicting scenes from his two home towns, Ballylongford and Dublin.

Éamon Ó Murchú & Brendan Kennelly (Photo taken many years ago)

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Today’s Incredible Fact

A Disney themed café in Birmingham was once closed down temporarily because a customer spotted a mouse.

The café is inside the world’s biggest Primark. It is famous for serving mouse shaped pancakes and there are posters of Mickey and Minnie all over the shop.

But when a real living mouse was spotted, it brought business to a sharp halt for a while.

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Listening to the Radio

In Ireland in the 1950s the main source of inanimate entertainment was the radio. Many houses had a set like this. This is a PYE. Our one was a Phillips. I remember waking up to the sounds of O’Donnell Abú. This was the signature tune of Radio Eireann. We never listened to any other channel.

After The News we had sponsored programmes. These were short music or magazine programmes sponsored by big business e’g. ODearest Mattresses, Batchelors or The Irish Hospitals Sweepstake.

The Waltons programme on Saturdays ….”If you feel like singing, do sing an Irish song” and Dear Frankie’s “This problem may not be yours today but it could be someday” became phrases familiar to every Irishman.

Memories, memories!

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Making Turf

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Public Art in Ballybunion

Have you noticed that, as you walk around any town nowadays there is so much to delight the eye. I took these photos on a recent stroll around Ballybunion.

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In the Ball Alley

This is just one of the many lovely pictures in the ball alley now. It says home; doesn’t it?

Winter, summer, old, new, commercial and residential, Listowel in all its loveliness.

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Ballybunion’s Marian Grotto and Listowel’s Charlie Nolan

By listowelconnection

On July 8, 2021

In Ballybunion, handball, History, Listowel

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Ballybunion Grotto

At Ahafona cross there is this lovely secluded grotto. It is beautifully kept and a great credit to all who look after it.

In front of the grotto is a row of seats remembering the people who loved this place very much.

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Charlie Nolan

A while ago when I was doing my bit about handball in Listowel, I published this picture of Charlie Nolan with the Joe James trophy he won 50 years ago. To promote that post I also published the picture on Facebook.

Some people, seeing the photo, thought that Charlie had won some recent accolade. He hadn’t but he deserves one, so here goes.

This is Charlie Nolan in his happy place beside his Silver River Feale, photographed by Paddy Fitzgibbon.

Very often it is only when someone spends years away from their native place that they truly appreciate it. This is not true in the case of Listowel’s Charlie Nolan. Charlie was born and bred here and has spent most of his adult life in and around his beloved river Feale.

John Lynch and Charlie Nolan, Listowel historians

In a town famous for writers and composers, Charlie is a doer, a local historian who chronicles Listowel life not in words but in video pictures. He worked for a long time with his great friend and fellow videographer, John Lynch. They went out in all weathers to document significant happenings in town. They made a great team. When John stepped back, Charlie continued on his own to record life in the town he loves so well.

Charlie with fellow local historian, Jer Kennelly

He spends hours of his time editing his videos and putting a soundtrack or captions to them. Then, most importantly, he shares them with everyone.

Charlie on the reviewing stand recording a St. Patrick’s Day parade

Charlie grew up in O’Connell’s Ave, and many of his childhood neighbours and friends are scattered throughout the globe. These are the audience that most appreciate his videos of Listowel life as they remember it. He is doing them a great service and they appreciate it.

Charlie Nolan and his sister, Eileen Worths

Charlie is also hugely supportive of what I do. He is one of the greatest promoters of Listowel Connection.

Charlie Nolan recording my walking tour of Listowel Town Square during Writers’ Week 2018

Charlie is up for learning new things too. Here he is on a Googling trip with Damien O’Mahoney.

Charlie is happiest outdoors, whether in Gurtinard Wood or on The Feale.

To a whole other audience, Charlie Nolan is a wildlife videographer. He has a deep knowledge of Kerry wildlife and he has an unequalled knowledge of the River Feale. He has captured on film all the native birds and animals of North Kerry and he has introduced them to an audience that may never have got to see them otherwise. Spending hours by the river is no hardship to Charlie but he uses his time there to patiently video the wildlife.

Charlie, second from left with Seán Treacy, Billy Galvin, John Maguire and Seán Comerford

Recently was the first time I heard about Charlie, the champion handball and squash player.

This man is nothing if not modest. He “can walk with kings but keep the common touch”. Charlie has only a small appreciation of the high regard in which he is held locally. He is part of the fabric of Listowel and one of the town’s noblest sons. He deserves the freedom of the borough or any other lifetime accolade that can be bestowed on him.

Charlie Nolan is a local treasure and Listowel is very lucky to have him.

Ballybunion, A Ball Alley Poem and a Fact

By listowelconnection

On July 7, 2021

In Ballybunion, handball, Listowel

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Ahafona

I have often seen this mural on my way into Ballybunion. Last week I stopped to have a look around.

I think the welcome sign is probably best seen by a drone.

Do you remember the Irish Open of 2000? I was there in a different life.

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As a kind off post script to the handball alley stories, here again is John Fitzgerald’s lovely paen of praise to the alley and four of its best players. The foursome mentioned in the poem are Junior Griffin, Tom Enright and Dermot Buckley from the Bridge Road and John Joe Kenny from Patrick Street.

The Ball Alley

A poem by John Fitzgerald

The Alley

Standing on the dead line

I face the pockmarked wall,

it hides the bridge above me

fond memories I recall,

the side walls mark the theatre,

the concrete floor the stage,

four players take their places

the finest of their age.

The cocker’s hopped and hardened,

Junior’s feet fix solidly

he contemplates the angle

of the first trajectory.

His swinging arm begins the game

the ball’s hit low and fast,

a signal to John Joe and Tom

this will be no soft match.

Dermot standing by his side

sees his neighbour win first toss,

a simple game to twenty one

no ace is easily lost.

I watch them from the grassy mound

behind the dead ball line

hear the cries of older boys

cheer each one at a time

and in the space of half an hour

the ball has weaved its way

through every nook and cranny

in this battlefield of play,

the long ball to the back line

the close one to the wall

the deadly butted killer

seemed to hit no wall at all

and in end the four of them

take leave just as they came

and beckon us to take our place

and learn more of their game,

the game that gave such pleasure

the game I got to know.

when I was young and full of fun

in the Alley years ago.

(The cocker was the name they had for the ball)

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The Friday Market is very small these times

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A Fact

Tikka Masala

Where does Tikka Masala, which is Britain’s most popular take away curry, originate from?

No, not Bangladesh or any other Middle Eastern country.

The answer is Glasgow.

This is the story according to my Fact book.

Chicken tandoori began to feature on restaurant menus in the mid 1960s.

A Glasgow restaurant served it to its customers. A diner asked for extra sauce. The chef improvised a sauce of tomato soup, spices and cream.

Masala means a mixture of spices. Tikka Masala contains cardamon, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, paprika, fenugreek and chilli among other things.

Turmeric is the spice that gives it its bright yellow colour and a synthentic dye tartrazine is what causes it to ruin your clothes with an unremovable stain.

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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: handball Page 1 of 4

Emigration

A Prayer for My Daughter

Donkeys, Horses and Scouts in Rome

Radio Eireann, Ballybunion, Ball Alley Art and Brendan Kennelly R.I.P.

Ballybunion’s Marian Grotto and Listowel’s Charlie Nolan

Ballybunion, A Ball Alley Poem and a Fact