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
This beautiful stained glass window in St. Mary’s is in the aisle on the left as you face the altar. It is a fabulous depiction of The Last Supper.
This is the window on the other side. The panel on the right and the rose window at the top have been restored. They too were blackened by harsh weather and the grime of urban living. The panel second from the right will be restored and refitted before the end of the year and the other two are a project for 2024. A job well worth doing.
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Dan Keane, Poet of North Kerry
I came across this treasure during a bit of a clearcut recently.
A lovely lament for The Races and “that canvas village of fun” gone for another year.
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Gaeltarra Eireann
This lovely presentation package comes from my friend, Margaret’s treasure trove.
“Gaeltarra Eireann was an Irish state industrial development agency set up in 1957 specifically for the Gaeltacht areas. It had the twin fold aim of preserving the Irish language and bringing industrial employment to Irish speaking areas. The scheme had limited success. It was replaced by Údarás na Gaeltachta in 1980.”
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No Words!
Photo; Joe.ie
Ardie Savea showing Johnny Sexton the ultimate respect as he finishes his rugby career.
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Fact
There is a town in Texas called Earth. It is the only place on earth called Earth
Photo and text from Kerry Association in Dublin on social media
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Listowel Ball Alley Today
Symbols of Listowel painted by volunteer artists
The one looks appropriate for Halloween
Listowel in a bubble
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Pages from 1990s guide
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Blast from the Past
If you are under 50 you will probably have no idea what these are. My friend, Margaret, found these artefacts among her treasures.
In the 60s and 70s wedding cakes were usually three tiers of rich fruit cake, iced with marzipan and royal icing, pretty much like three Christmas cakes. I dont know when this fashion for chocolate biscuit cake, red velvet or other lighter cakes came in.
The bottom cake was cut up and served to the guests at the wedding with a cup of tea after their dinner. Before the 1960s it was a wedding breakfast but that’s a story for another day. The top tier was put into storage for the christening and the middle tier was brought home to the house of the bride. Brides usually lived with their parents until the wedding.
This cake was cut into fingers (small rectangles) put into these little boxes and posted to people who had sent presents but had not attended the wedding….Daftness!
You will notice that the boxes were decorated with horseshoes . Brides often carried a silver ornamental horseshoe with their bouquets. These were charms to bring good fortune to the marriage….More daftness.
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A Fact
If you commute to work every day, taking one hour to get to work and one hour to get home, between the ages of 22 and 65 you will have spent 2 and a half years in transit.
St. Michael’s has been steadily growing and developing over the years.
This is the view of St. Michael’s from the nearby greenway.
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St. Mary’s Listowel, Parish Mission October 7 to 13 2023
Symbols of the mission before the altar.
The mission was very well attended and the two Redemptorist leaders and the parish mission committee worked hard for the week.
Marie Neligan Shaw remembers a more old style Listowel mission.
Hi Mary, smiling as I remember one particular Mission back in the early 50’s. I was a teenager and as Eamon Kelly liked to relate there was always a Big man and a small man. At that time St. Mary’s had a pulpit where the sermons were preached from. On the first night of the mission, the big man mounted the steps to the pulpit, stood there for a good minute just looking around at everyone in the church. He then pounded the pulpit and declared in a booming voice “ YOUR ALL DAMNED”! Very traumatic for a teenager at that time. Thank God things have changed since then. Regards, Marie
I don’t think we are all damned or redeemed after the mission. We did have a big man and a small man, a loud man and a quiet man but they were both affable and non scary, The cup of tea afterwards was a welcome addition to things and the feeling all round was one of hope rather than fear.
The mission stall is still a feature of the mission today.
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Rising Star
Photo and story from Listowel Pitch and Putt Club on social media
This week Ajay Barrett becomes the first Listowel Pitch and Putt Club member to play for Ireland. Ajay is part of a six-boy team to represent Ireland in Spain this coming week. Ajay is joined on the team by his inter-county teammates, Brian McCarthy and Nathan Cronin of Killarney, Jack McShane (Kilkenny), Joe Franklin (Tipperary), and Peader O’Toole (Kildare). It is a proud time for the Club and for the Barrett and Walsh families, in particular.
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People I Met in Town
Maria and Leonard were enjoying a day off.
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Listowel in the 1990s
This tourist guide from the 1990s is a good indicator of how much has changed
This is who brought it to us
I’ll bring you some more over the coming week.
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A Fact
The UK imposed the first speed limit regulation in the world in 1903. It was twenty miles per hour.
I don’t remember these. I notice that the box contained 2lbs. of chocolates. This seems very generous in today’s terms.
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A Book Launch with a Difference
Mary Kennelly launched her latest book in St. John’s on October 7 2023.
Mary’s latest work, Seven Steps to Birth a Crone, is no ordinary book. It is a limited edition (250 copies) work of Mary’s poems and artworks by Rebecca Carroll and Susan Hitching.
The launch was no ordinary launch either.
Mary sang with her group and she brought us a dramatised reading by her actress friends.
The artists and the poet, Susan, Rebecca and Mary
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Congratulations
My son in law, Seán, had his passing out on Saturday, October 7 2023
He is now a corporal in the army reserve (FCA). Here he is with his 2 proud girls.
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Meeting by Chance
After the book launch on October 7 I went to the Listowel Arms for lunch. There I met Marlene Harte, formerly of Listowel and now of Co. Cork. She was meeting up with her old work colleague and now lifelong friend. Marlene is now a frequent visitor to my beloved North Cork.
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A Fact
The world record for a frog jump is held by a South African frog called Sanjie. He jumped 33 feet 5 and a half inches over the course of three consecutive jumps in May 1977.
This is the O’Sullivan family at their recent reunion in The Listowel Arms in September 2023.
Pride of place in the centre of the picture is occupied by Sr. Bríd.
One O’Sullivan not there is Michael who joined in the banter from his home in Rochester in the U.S. His daughters Fiona, Deirdre and Norah were there as well as his son, Stephen. His other son, Paul, was with his dad in the US making sure the technology worked.
Michael O’Sullivan was the man of the moment for he was the one to be honoured during the occasion.
Here is the story.
Vincent Carmody grew up in Upper William Street beside the O’Sullivan family. The Carmody boys and the O’Sullivan boys played together as children and that bond strengthened over the years. There was only a few months between Michael O’Sullivan and the late Moss Carmody, Vincent’s brother, both born in 1935.
Vincent stayed in touch with Dr. Michael O’Sullivan even when his career took him far away from Upper William Street.
Dr. Michael O’Sullivan became a consultant pathologist. He served in the US forces for 2 years and when he returned to his post in the Mayo Clinic, he was informed that he was to head up a new research lab. At first he feared that he would not be up to the task but he was persuaded. He picked his team of researchers and the unit grew and grew until it was the greatest research unit in the world.
Dr. Michael moved on to The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona and there he worked for over 30 years. When he retired he returned to Rochester with his wife Margaret (from Lixnaw).
At Christmas 2022, Vincent was in the US visiting family and he was invited to visit his old friend. The dinner party was also attended by Dr. Michael O’Connor whose father came from Listowel.
On his return to Listowel, Vincent mulled over the possibility that Dr. Michael O’Sullivan of The Mayo Clinic was surely the most successful man to ever come out of Listowel. Yet he had never been honoured by his native town. Vincent also knew how much an honour would mean to his old friend.
Vincent set to work. He contacted local councillor, Jimmy Moloney, and Jimmy set the wheels in motion. Listowel Municipal District was only too happy to bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award on Michael.
The ceremony was organised for the week of the races when the descendants of the O’Sullivans planned to gather in Listowel.
Vincent invited some of Michael’s former classmates and teammates from his footballing days. He also gathered some old Upper William Street neighbours and friends.
After the formal awarding of the honour and speeches by Aoife Thornton and others, Vincent introduced the informal part of the event.
It was all live streamed to Michael in the U.S.
Old friends and neighbours reminisced and chatted. The highlight was a rendition by Dr. Bryan MacMahon of the Jack Ashe poem, The Night the Boro Rovers Met in Combat with the Gleann. This celebrated a 1953 football match in which Michael was in goals.
The occasion was enjoyed by all. It was much appreciated by all of the O’Sullivans, especially by Michael who ranked it among the greatest honours of his life.
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Memories, Memories
My friend, Margaret, comes from a family of treasure keepers. The history of two sisters who were seventies teenagers is stored in old chocolate boxes which she is now slowly going through. She has sent us some photographs which will definitely evoke memories for some.
I don’t know the story of Cadbury’s Milk Tray. But I only knew it as a Cadbury brand. What’s with this Fullers logo and Dunnes Stores branding?
The back of the box
I had forgotten St. Bernard. When did he become uncool?
Back in the day it was very important to emphasise that chocolates were made from milk, a glass and a half in every bar. Milk Tray was a high end brand. I remember the tag line in the TV ad in the early days of Telefís Eireann “…because the lady loves Milk Tray.”
Look out for another chocolaty memory tomorrow.
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More Photos from the Hospice Coffee Morning
October 5 2023
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A Fact
How does Swiss cheese get its holes. Cheesemakers call these holes eyes?
As Swiss cheese ferments it generates a bacterial gas. As the gas is released it bubbles through the cheese leaving the characteristic holes.
