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
There I am in the midst of the lovely 6th class girls in Presentation Primary School, Listowel on World Book Day 2023. The girls were dressed as their favourite characters. I came as myself.
I was a VIP guest as part of their Creative Schools’ Cluster project.
I was welcomed to the school by my friend Mrs. Anne Brosnan and the class I spoke to is now being taught by someone I taught back in the day, Miss Julieanne Galvin.
Behind us on the interactive whiteboard is our good friend, Jimmy Hickey. I told the girls about Jimmy’s exploits in The National Concert Hall. They don’t read Listowel Connection so it was news to them. Jimmy is their dancing teacher.
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Alice Curtayne
It’s not all male writers in Kerry Writers’ Museum. This female Kerry writer is there too. She is a little known but very learned journalist and writer, deserving of a wider audience.
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A Little bit of the USA in Cork
When I’m on foot I notice things that were there all the time but I never spotted before.
This happened to me lately when I was walking on Western Road in Cork and I came upon this sign.
Maybe it is my imagination but doesn’t that white car look a bit American as well.
There is a likelihood that the inhabitants of the village which was known as Newtownsandes, in North Kerry, may become confused regarding the name of their locality. The village was originally named after a well-known North Kerry family named Sandes. Subsequently It was called Newtowndillon, after the late John Dillon, father of Seamus Dillon, T. D. That title, however, was not retained, and the place reverted to the old name. Recently Con. Brosnan decided to call It Newtownsheahan, after the late J. Sheahan, who, while serving In the I. R. A., was killed by the British in 1921. Mr. Brosnan is at present employing 25 men in preparing a football field, which is to be known as the Sheahan Memorial Park. Now the local Fianna Fall Cumann has unanimously requested that the name Newtownsandes be changed to Newtownstack, in memory of Austin Stack. It is suggested that the people will not be deeply interested in the controversy, as they will continue to refer to the village briefly as Newtown.
I think the village is still officially Newtownsandes.
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From the mailbag
A man who never forgot his Kerry roots;
……. My father, Des Diggin, grew up in Ballinclogher Cross. Whether he lived in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco- he always considered Ballinclogher his Home.
And to regularly get Home, we would drive through Listowel and visit his sister Mary Daly on 32 Bridge Road (last house on the left before the actual bridge).
Unfortunately they both passed away earlier this decade. I attach my father’s 2021 obituary in the Irish Echo, a weekly American paper he read since the 1950s.
So my Listowel connection are my absolutely wonderful Daly relations. Happily, over a lifetime Mary and Jack Daly, as well as my fantastic cousins have regularly very kindly welcomed me.
Likely hundreds of times I delightfully walked around the Square to enjoy Listowel’s lovely craic. Often I would unexpectedly meet a cousin.
I have terrific memories of time spent with my relations in Listowel. From quiet walks on deserted streets long after pubs officially closed to huge enthusiastic crowds drawn by the amazing fleadh.
I truly feel a terrific kinship with Listowel. It really is my home away from home, but far too infrequently visited of late.
So when I luckily stumbled across your blog during the pandemic, it was a way to reconnect a bit from a distance.
Seeing your pictures and reading your informative and illuminating articles of familiar places and people is both a nice comfort and educational.
And inspirational to eventually plan another trip to catch up with my relations, perhaps (directly thanks to you) for the first time even during the Races! My daughters may get a kick out of the quite fashionable Ladies hats which you regularly highlighted. ……
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A Listowel Road Sign
Traffic disruption in Listowel due to roadworks has been far from a laughing matter in recent times. However the road signs have raised a smile or two along the way.
I dont know if an “advanced” warning is a very superior warning or one that had been brought even further forward than an advance warning.
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Something to Look Forward to
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Great News from the Capital
John Given sends us news of a theatrical triumph for Listowel’s Christian O’Reilly.
John wrote:
Hi Mary
I attach a photo of Listowel playwright Christian O’Reilly standing outside the Abbey Theatre on Thursday last where his new play ‘The Table’ played to a rapturous full house at its opening night on the Peacock Stage, having started its run at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway.
The Table is a wonderful allegory of the Civil War and is the story of a west of Ireland family of musicians whose prized possession, their kitchen table, becomes a cause of dispute and controversy. It’s a highly original, poignant and touching work which is also full of comedy and music and is for theatre goers of all ages. The Table runs until the 20th of March.
Could Christian be the first Listowel playwright to feature on the National stage since John B?
Something to feature on The Listowel Connection (which I read every morning) perhaps?
This lady, sitting frozen outside the door, is who we have to thank.
Mary O’Malley Young was a very pious lady. She settled in Ballybunion after her millionaire husband died. She befriended Fr. Mortimer O’Connor who was the parish priest. She built the church and the convent for the Sisters of Mercy. She built two houses in Ballybunion but ended her days in the convent she had built. Mary Young invested all of her inherited wealth in Ballybunion. She did not live to see St. John’s completed. Fr. O’Connor was very ill but dragged himself from his sick bed to bless the church on opening day in August 1897.
Fr. Mortimer O’Connor is buried before the side altar in St. John’s
According to Danny Houlihan’s great book, Ballybunion an illustrated history, the original Ballybunion Parish Church was in Doon. It was a much smaller, simpler church than St. John’s.
Doon church fell into decline as the mass goers moved to the more convenient St. John’s. Doon was located about a mile from the town . St. John’s was completed in 1897 and gradually the congregation moved to the Church in town. St. John’s was first intended as a second church as the Doon one was small but the arrival of the Lartigue railway in 1888 meant that there was demand for a church that could be easily accessed on foot.
St. John’s today is a must see visitor attraction if you are in Ballybunion. It is, of course also a busy place of worship.
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In Vincent’s
Listowel’s Vincent’s, the retail outlet of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is located at Upper William Street. These are some of the lovely volunteer customer assistants that you may meet there any opening day.
Vincent’s is open on Thursday and Fridays from 11.00 to 5.00 and on Saturdays from 2.00 to 5.00
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A Butter Box
I grew up in Kanturk , a town famous for it’s delicious butter.
It is now called Ór but in my day local people just called it Kanturk butter.
I worked for a summer in the creamery offices. It was my first introduction to a telephone exchange…nightmare!
As well as answering the phone we had various callers to the office with various queries. I remember a consignment of butter destined for an African country and so made with some kind of preservative to keep it fresh on the long boat journey. The preservative coloured the butter dark brown. The ship broke down and couldn’t sail. The butter was returned to Kanturk and a decision made to sell it in the local shops. One lady called to the office demanding to see the manager to complain that her husband wouldn’t eat the butter. We told her the story of why it was that colour and we reassured her that the taste was exactly the same. Unmollified she demanded to see the manager. He was duly brought to her and his solution to her dilemma was “I suggest, ma’am, you blindfold your husband.”
The sight of a butter box in the window of The Horseshoe brought me back to that time.
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Listowel Library
It’s well worth keeping an eye out for great things happening in the library.
For instance a Creative Writing Group Write Lines, meets on Tuesdays from 10.30 to 12.00.
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A Fact
It is against the law to leave a restaurant in Italy without a receipt. Apparently this is not because they have so many diners doing a runner but because so many Italian restaurants were avoiding tax by doing cash- in -hand customer transactions.
So when in Rome, be sure to ask for a receipt and keep it on you.
Sunset in Ballyheigue in February 2023 photo; Dulce
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Burning of Tannavalla
Newspaper accounts at the time of the destruction of this glorious house were found for us by Dave O’Sullivan a few years ago.
So much destruction was caused during the struggle for independence.
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Waiting for the Bus
One of the great innovations in recent years has been the advent of accessible community transport for rural areas. You just call them the day before and they will collect you as near to your door as possible. They will bring you to town to do your shopping, attend doctor’s or other appointment or simply to just have an outing.
These lovely men were waiting for the bus home. They were sitting on Listowel Tidy Town’s Darren Enright’s convenient seat, another godsend to weary shoppers.
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Advice to Adult Children
WHEN PARENTS GET OLD … Let them grow old with the same love that they let you grow …
Let them speak and tell repeated stories with the same patience and interest that they heard yours as a child …
Let them overcome, like so many times when they let you win …
Let them enjoy their friends just as they let you …
Let them enjoy the talks with their grandchildren, because they see you in them …
Let them enjoy living among the objects that have accompanied them for a long time, because they suffer when they feel that you tear pieces of this life away …
Let them be wrong, like so many times you have been wrong and they didn’t embarrass you by correcting you …
LET THEM LIVE and try to make them happy the last stretch of the path they have left to go; give them your hand, just like they gave you their hand when you started your path!
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The Rambling House
If you are anxious to join a seisiún or if you just want a night of music and song there is a rambling house in the Community Centre in Knockanure on the first Thursday of every month.
Listowel Rambling house is on the last Thursday of every month at Kerry Writers’ Museum (The Seanchaí) starting at 9.15
Jim Lyons’ rambling house is in Knockalougha on the third Tuesday.
(Information gleaned from Kerry’s Eye)
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A Fact
At the end of the day you are approximately one quarter inch shorter than when you got up. The amount your height decreases depends on what you are doing. Walking, or better still, running, will shorten you the most.
Elephants, cows and horses can sleep standing up but sometimes choose not to do so. Maybe they are tired of standing tall.
I don’t think I’ve been in Athea since Covid. It was high time I visited my favourite outdoor art gallery. Last time I was there Jim Dunn, artist/muralist had a cover erected so that he could work in all weathers. That was gone and I could see the work in progress in all its splendour.
The forge mural is across the road from the church.
The morning was sunny and the standard for the hanging baskets was casting its shadow on the doctor.
The blacksmith/farrier is a new addition. Isn’t that such a kindly face? The anvil awaits another day.
I love all the men in the artwork.
I love all the horses too.
While I was there I met two lovely real men who stopped for a chat and posed for a photo.
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The Optical Suite
Lower William Street, February 2023
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A Very Sad Relic of 1950s Ireland
When “many young men of twenty” said goodbye to Ireland forever.
This was donated by Eileen Fahey to John Creedon’s National Treasures.
Here is what she wrote;
“A Catholic Handbook. This little booklet measuring 9cm x 11.5cm, which cost sixpence highlights a very different Ireland. Published in 1954, the handbook was drawn up because “economic difficulties especially the scarcity of work in counties like Mayo, Kerry and Galway have caused boys and girls to leave homes in Ireland and seek a living in the land across the water.” When I took up my first teaching post in Roscommon in 1974, it was part of the library in the school. I was given the responsibility to sort out the school library and when I found this document, I decided to keep it because it speaks volumes about Ireland at a certain period in time. You wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry reading it but when I first read it, I recognised its historical value. In many ways, it was sad that it was a reference book in a school library where many students would have emigrated from. It gives insight into the loneliness, isolation, and fear of emigration in the 1950s. On arrival in England, the book advises that one of the first things you should do is look up the local parish priest.”
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Fact of the Day
Actor and film star, Jack Lemmon was born in 1925…..in a lift.
His mother was playing Bridge and was engrossed in a particularly good game, so good that even though she realised that birth was imminent she refused to leave the table until the last minute.
