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: Just a Thought Page 1 of 5

Family

By

On June 11, 2025

In Ballybunion, Just a Thought, Listowel, Poem

Áras an Phiarsaigh

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Family Support

Mary Sobieralski and her lovely grandaughter helping to sell books at Kerry Literary Festival.

Me and Bobby Cogan after he won the Mens’ Doubles Division 1 and 2 competition at Lakewood Tennis Club’s Open.

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Just a Thought

My last week’s Thoughts are on the Diocese of Kerry website

Just a Thought

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OVER ENTHUSIASTIC VOLUNTEERS.

 By Mattie Lennon.

  The prestigious   Listowel Writers’ Week 2025,  had  one of its outstanding events on May 30. It  was, “ Poetry: Celebrating the Poetry of Paul Durkan-An Evening of Music and Poems to mark Paul’s eightieth birthday and the publication  of Paul Durcan 80 at 80.” Unfortunately Paul didn’t live to see it, he died on May 17th

       There is a tradition, among the good people of Ringsend, of gathering at a funeral procession to carry the coffin over the hump-backed bridge over the River Dodder just before the village. Needless to say at the funeral of one of our greatest poets the Ringsend people turned out in their droves to help the bereaved to, “carry Paul over the bridge.”

   Prolific Irish Times journalist Frank McNally treated his readers to a story from some years ago.  The volunteers overdid their enthusiasm for the tradition.  They stopped a hearse, with three limousines behind it, at the bottom of the bridge and immediately launched into the routine of organising each other to carry the coffin into Ringsend until the driver of the hearse intervened. “Lads, lads stop,”  he said, “This funeral is going to F…ing Bray.”

  What did Paul think of the afterlife? I’m  sure we can glean something from one of his poems.

Staring Out the Window Three Weeks After His Death.

Staring Out the Window Three Weeks After His Death

On the last day of his life as he lay comatose in the hospital bed

I saw that his soul was a hare which was poised In the long grass of his body, ears pricked

It sprang toward me and halted and I wondered if it

Could hear me breathing

Or if it could smell my own fear which was,

Could he but have known it, greater than his

For plainly he was a just and playful man

And just and playful men are as brave as they are rare.

Then his cancer-eroded body appeared to shudder

As if a gust of wind blew through the long grass

And the hare of his soul made a U-turn

And began bounding away from me

Until it disappeared from sight into a dark wood

And I thought – that is the end of that, I will not be seeing him again.

He died in front of me; no one else was in the room.

My eyes teemed with tears; I could not damp them down.

I stood up to walk around his bed

Only to catch sight again of the hare of his soul

Springing out of the wood into a beachy cove of sunlight

And I thought – yes, that’s how it is going to be from now on:

The hare of his soul always there, when I least expect it;

Popping up out of nowhere, sitting still. 

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Blessing the Herd

Photo by Elizabeth Ahern

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Kerry Women in Literature

Here are three of the writers featured in KWM’s new exhibition.

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Shared On Line

An old photo of The Castle Hotel Ballybunion

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KDYS

The ramped entrance to KDYS Listowel

It’s Pride month.

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A Fact

Black cats are considered lucky in Ireland and the U.K but in the U.S.A. it’s white cats that are the lucky ones.

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Last One before my Easter Break

By

On April 18, 2025

In Just a Thought, Listowel

A mix of mature and growing trees in Listowel Pitch and Putt course

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Tralee link to The Titanic

(pic and story from the internet)

Today April 15  we remember Dr William O’ Loughlin from Ashe street  Tralee .who was the doctor aboard the ill-fated Titanic  .which sank 113 years ago today  For a man who was heralded for his actions on the night of the sinking of the worlds greatest known ship as yet does not even have a plack at his place of birth .. yet we have a street named after Neil Armstrong.. because he visited once to open an exhibition for a day in the museum….   .He is glorified in Dublin .and New York . When will he finaly be remembered officially in his home town by the powers that be?

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Link to my latest Thoughts as broadcast on Radio Kerry last week

Just a Thought

Some of these reflections are inclused in my latest book

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One Hundred most Common Irish Surnames

Some of these will surprise you. They certainly surprised me…apart altogether from the fact that neither my birth name, my married name, my mother’s maiden name nor my grandmother’s maiden name make the list. The nearest I came was a Connor relative a few generations back but she must have taken the soup as Connor is only there with an O.

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Summer Entertainment

From this week’s Kerry’s Eye

No programme yet but there are a few goodies promised.

Today’s Fact

The Boomtown Rats are coming to Revival. That’s a promise and the fact is that I have a family connection to the Rats. My sister-in-law, Liz Cogan, is a sister to Pete Briquette and a first cousin to Johnny Fingers.

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Welcome Home!

By

On February 28, 2025

In Just a Thought, Listowel

Photo: Chris Grayson

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My Maine blog followers

I met John and Patty for the first time in 2017. They were on one of their annual, and sometimes biennial, trips to Listowel, Patty’s ancestral home.

I met them again on Tuesday last, February 25 2025. Their love for Listowel, their home away from home, was undiminished. Patty loves everything about Listowel and John has, over the years, fallen in love with the town and surrounding area and more especially with its people as well.

My first interaction with this lovely couple resulted in my introducing them to Eileen Moylan who has since become their favourite jewellery designer.

This is one of the lovely bespoke pendants John commissioned Eileen to make for Patty.

Here is Patty wearing it in The Listowel Arms this week.

Another of Patty’s Eileen Moylan designed pendants, also a gift from John.

Bridget offered the visitors and everyone else in the dining room a sweet.

Jim and Liz were in the hotel as well. John and Patty had never met them before but they know them from Listowel Connection.

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An Old Post box

My postboxes website threw up this gem from William Gibb Forsythe

Albert Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow

A Irish Post box, and an odd story to the sign, it was nearly faded away, the odd part, it was black and red, which had me puzzled as it would mean it was pre revolution of 1916, 

Which didn’t make sense,

I wanted to repaint it as I thought it historical in a way, 

I found out later, after repainting it, it was first done in the 1970s ,the post office was part of a BnB then moved to the shop in the picture

My only conclusion is that it was painted in British colours for the movie Michael Collins by Neil Jordan, and the art department didn’t care about fixing it back, 

As a Scotsman living here in Southern Ireland,  

Painting it Red and Black would not be sensible 

So Cream n Green it was

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Just a Thought

Here is the link to my reflections which were broadcast last week on Radio Kerry. The texts of some of them are in my book, Moments of Reflection.

Just a Thought

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Remember These?

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A Fact

The phrase Hamlet without the Prince (of Denmark) denotes an event or occasion at which the expected principal participant is not present. It is based on the absurdity of performing, without an actor playing the title role, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (between 1599 and 1602), by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

The phrase Hamlet without the Prince (of Denmark) apparently originated in a theatrical incident which allegedly occurred in the summer of 1775 and was recounted in September of that year, in The Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland).

 The hero who was to play the principal character had absconded with an innkeeper’s daughter; and the director, when he came forward to give out the play, added, “The part of Hamlet will be left out, for  tonight.”

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Newbridge Now, Listowel Then

By

On January 14, 2025

In Just a Thought, Listowel, Poem

Photo; Chris Grayson in Killarney National Park on January 7 2025

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A Tree of Hope Knitting Project

This is the St. Conleth’s Parish newsletter which was sent to me by Mary McKenna.

As you can see this was a massive undertaking, a huge credit to all involved. In Newbridge, knitting is a huge community thing. I have seen and documented here their previous yarn bombing and St. Brigid projects.

Detail shows how each branch and bauble was made.

And someone wrote a poem.

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A Birdseye view of Snowy Listowel

John Kelliher took this fabulous photo of the recent snow.

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Growing up in Listowel in the 1960s and 1970s

By Carmel Hanrahan

(Continued from yesterday)

… My father grew a lot of vegetables alongside all the flowers and ornamental plants he had – he was a passionate gardener and I inherited that gene.  There seemed to be a type of barter system going on amongst the other gardeners and himself as it wasn’t unusual to look out the window and see one of the neighbours collecting some vegetables, (or strawberries in the Summer), but we also picked peas and other items in Hilda O’Donnell’s Garden.  Between us and the O’Donnell’s was the Crowley’s house.  Kitty Crowley was also a keen gardener.  Together, Hilda and Kitty (it seems strange to call them by their first names as, growing up, most people were addressed as Mr or Mrs) often did “a run” to Ballybunion during the fine weather.  It seems in my memory that no invitations were issued but if you spotted a car being packed you just turned up with your towel and your togs and joined the group. I think we may have broken a few Guinness records for the amount of people in those cars.  Kitty drove a Mini and Hilda a VW Beetle and yet, their combined 6 or so children – Susan and Nuala may not have been born at that time, – plus whatever number of neighbour’s children all travelled in layers to the beach – often only one car was taken.  A veritable “Lasagna” of people.    

We were taken fruit picking by Mrs. O’Donnell, to give her her full title, to a fruit farm where you picked your own.  She would then spend several days making jam and marmalade.  Her Kenwood Chef was her pride and joy and I later visited her when I was in my 20’s and the machine was still going strong. Mrs. Jones, further down the road taught me to make apple and rhubarb tarts which I proudly brought home.  Sometimes we were sent to the Creamery for bottles/jars of cream which you filled from a tap and then paid for through a window on the side of the office building.  I also recollect a man with a bike, not unlike a butcher’s bike but with a churn of milk or cream on the front and ladles in pint and half pint measures hanging from the bike, possibly called PJ – end of an era I think. 

Another instalment tomorrow

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Just a Thought

I have been fairly busy on Radio Kerry over the holidays. Here is the link to some reflections you wont have herd before. Some of these are included in my recent book, Moments of Reflection.

Just a Thought

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A Postbox Story

From Folklore.ie’s Michael Fortune

I was just going through an old photo album from around 2002 and came across the photo on the left of an Edward Rex Letter Box somewhere in south-west Wexford and said I’d share this with ye. 

Many of you will know this already but in case you don’t, when ‘The Free State’ was setup, the old red boxes associated with the British Empire were rebranded and painted green. To this day, you’ll spot these around the country and obviously this one in Wexford caught my eye some 22+ years ago.

The letter box on the right is from over in Buckinghamshire in England and as you can see, they are almost identical in design. I’m no expert on this but I believe these were installed/made between 1901 – 1910. 

A great bit of rebranding and a sensible and practical thing to do back in the day.

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A Fact

The first cheque written in decimal currency in the UK was for £50.30p in March 1968.

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Important Visitors

By

On August 8, 2024

In Just a Thought, Listowel

Courthouse Road

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Molly on her Kerry Holidays

She has made herself at home on every chair in the house.

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Returning to the home of his ancestors

Dr. Michael O’Connor opened a door to many many memories on July 31 2024. Michael is the third generation of Michael’s to open this door. His grandfather, also Dr. Michael O’Connor lived here and his father, Michael O’Connor, the great illuminator, lived in this house too.

The house is no longer a family home. It is now Kerry Writers’ Museum. Michael is here viewing for the first time his father’s beautiful celtic artwork on display. Michael was 16 when his father died and he never fully appreciated how talented his father was.

Michael with his wife and one of his daughters in the room where Michael O’Connor’s artwork is exhibited.

The travelling party included family and friends. They were entertained to a tour of the museum by Vincent O’Brien.

Here, Vincent, in the John B. Keane room is playing his bodhrán and singing them the Sive songs.

Stephen Rynne who has dedicated much time and effort into collecting the works of O’Connor gave the visitors a talk on how he discovered various pieces by the artist. Some very important commissioned works are still out there, awaiting discovery.

Jimmy Deenihan is anxious to promote the artworks and to raise the profile of this great local artist.

The U.S. branch of the O’Connor family at the door of No. 24.

When Dr. Michael visited here on summer holidays as a child he remembers coming down these steps to go to play marbles with the local children in The Square.

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Just a Thought

All of last week’s reflections which were broadcast on Radio Kerry will be in included in my new book

https://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/our-diocese/communications/listen-now/

The book will be launched next month. Look out for details here.

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A Poem

I love to do crosswords. Recently I was doing the Simplex crossword with a little help from my son. The clue was a line from this poem with a word missing. Bobby had never heard of the Gray’s Elegy. Here it is (well, a bit of it) for all of us who learned it in school.

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Flowers and a Stone Wall

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From the Archives

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1910.

New York NY Irish American Advocate

Moore and Healy-—Kerry joins Cork. On Sunday last January 22, 1911, Cornelius F. Moore, of Newtownsandes , Co Kerry, and Miss Mary J. Healy, Ardgroom, Castletown Bere, Co. Cork, were joined in the bonds of matrimony at St. Mary’s Church, Bensonhurat, Brooklyn.

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Father Wightman,P.P., of that church.

After the ceremony was performed the happy couple were convoyed by a host of friends and relatives to their new home at 576 Seventeenth street, Brooklyn, where they entertained a large crowd of relatives and friends and gave them a most enjoyable time until a late hour on Monday morning. Mr. Moore has been president of the Jolly Sports Social Club for the past five years and is highly esteemed by its members,

The brides-maid was Miss Hannah Healy, a cousin of the bride, and the best man was James Foran, of Ballyguiltanan, Co. Limerick.

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A Fact

Why do Olympic gold medal winners bite their medal?

It is a silly tradition that harks back to a time when buyers sometimes tried to trick merchants by passing off inferior metals as gold. The trader would bite into the coin to make sure he was not being cheated, Biting into gold leaves no teeth marks. The biting now is purely symbolic as the medals aren’t gold anyway.

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