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

Barbara In Galway

By

On August 25, 2022

In Listowel

St. John’s Listowel in August 2022

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Beloved Kerry Footballers

The man who posted this image on Twitter assures us that David Clifford is in there somewhere. Whenever his team, Fossa, play nowadays he is likely to be mobbed by admiring fans as soon as the final whistle is blown.

No mob here, unless its puffins or gannets. The great O’Sé’s on a trip to Scellig.

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The Griffin Family, Bridge Road. This old photo was shared online by a family member.

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Barbara’s Road Trip Takes her to Galway

When we got to Galway City, we had the evening to ourselves.   Knowing the area well, what do I do?  I walk almost 4 miles out to Salthill.  One of my favorite promenades in Ireland!!  

 I walked to the amusement park and then took the bus back to Merchant Street and shopped in the shops.   I shopped at Faller Jewelry.  Back in the 80’s, I was with my mother and got my first claddagh ring.   I misplaced my last one and I had to get a new ring.   I got one with my birthstone on it- a ruby stone!  A trip down memory lane.  

Inis Oirr

Next morning, we head to the seaside town of Doolin, one of my favorite towns along the Wild Atlantic Way.  Did you know there are 168 signs along the Wild Atlantic Way?   You could do a separate blog about that one! 

Inis Oirr

We boarded the ferry to Inis Oirr, the most easterly of the Aran Islands, which translates to East Island!  Ferry ride back treated us to the majestic beauty of The Cliffs of Moher, truly breath-taking. 

Cliffs of Moher

The best way to see the cliffs up close!  After that, we spent the night at The Lahinch Coast Hotel with the stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean, not my room.   A beautiful walk that evening was well worth it and of course, the 1st ice cream 99 cone!

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1940’s Listowel boys

Picture from The Advertiser shared by Mike Hannon

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Wedding of Mary and Dave

I had a lovely day at Mary and Dave’s wedding. The music as expected was out of this world. Thank you to Mary’s friends from Listowel Folk Group.

Members of Listowel Folk Group at the recent wedding of Mary Moylan and Dave Murphy; Denis O’Rourke, Mike Moriarty, Cathriona O’Neill Eileen Leen, Mary Moylan, Emer O’Neill, John Kinsella, Tina Kinsella and Mary Fagan

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A Fact

A horse’s age is determined by looking at his teeth. The term ‘long in the tooth” meaning old came about because of this fact.

As horses age their gums recede so their teeth appear longer. This gave rise to the assumption that the teeth were growing. They weren’t.

So a horses age can be determined by how much his gums have receded rather than by how much his teeth have grown.

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On the Road with Barbara

By

On August 24, 2022

In History, Listowel

Grotto in O’Connell’s Ave in August 2022

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Mallow Train Station

I snapped these recently in the train station.

Here’s a random question for people who travel by train. Have you ever thought that the man who recorded the announcements in Irish sounds very like Gabriel Fitzmaurice? “Táimid ag teacht isteach i nGabhal Luimní. Seachain an bearna le bhur dtoil.”

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Round Ireland Trip

Part 3 of Barbara Kissane’s coach tour

On the 7th day of this trip was the start of my 10 day tour titled, The Wild Atlantic Way Experience.    Ireland is an addictive place to visit-beautiful, stunning and with ever-changing scenery.

Slea Head Drive
Cows at Ballyconry

We stopped off at the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland-Kilbeggan.   We did a tasting! 

We drove to Athlone and the River Shannon to Galway City.   The start of viewing incredible landscapes, dramatic coastlines, villages and cities.  Full of charming people waiting to give us the warmest welcomes.

Galway

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In Kildare

Bord na Móna head office in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. The Listowel Connection here is that my son in law and his mother both work for Bord na Móna

Beautiful utility boxes in Kildare Town. Wouldn’t they look good in Listowel?

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Won’t be long Now

Senan and Sadhbh took a minute away from the festivities at their aunt’s wedding to look out the window of The Listowel Arms at Listowel race course.

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A Fact

Someone asked me where I am getting these facts from.

The source is a book called Trivia for The Toilet, a book for the bog.

Sorry you asked?

Today’s fact; When Bugs Bunny first appeared in 1935 he was called Happy Rabbit.

In case you are thinking that I should have left that “fact” book where I found it, I Googled today’s fact and here is what it says in the Looney Tunes site

Happy Rabbit is the name sometimes used for an early rabbit character from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series who evolved into the Warner Bros. cartoon studio‘s most famous character, Bugs Bunny. Created by Ben “Bugs” Hardaway in 1938, the rabbit first appeared in the short “Porky’s Hare Hunt“.

Like most of the other Looney Tunes characters, the rabbit was voiced by Mel Blanc. The name of the Bugs Bunny prototype was not used publicly until Blanc spoke of Bugs’ origins in a 1970s interview, though there is some doubt that it was ever an official name.

(So maybe not quite a fact, but near as dammit.)

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Barbara’s Roadtrip 2

By

On August 23, 2022

In History, Listowel, Personal

In Marley Park; Éamon ÓMurchú

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Dwyers of New Zealand with a Listowel Connection

Press, 3 May 1946

MR AND MRS J. DWYER Mr and Mrs John Dwyer, 555 Manchester street, will celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage tomorrow. Mr and Mrs Dwyer are well known in Christchurch, as Well as in many other parts of the Dominion where Mr Dwyer was stationed during his 43 years’ service in the Police Force. Mr Dwyer was for nine years Superintendent of Police in the Canterbury district. He retired from the service in 1922, on which occasion he was accorded a public farewell. Mr Dwyer, who was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland, came to New Zealand in 1878 on the sailing ship City of Auckland, which was wrecked, on the Otaki coast. Many and varied are the experiences which Mr Dwyer can recall. For his rescue work during the Cumberland street fire in Dunedin in 1882, he was presented by the City Council with a silver medal for valour. He also holds the Australasian Royal Humane Society’s award for bravery, which was presented to him in 1893 for his attempt, in very dangerous circumstances, to rescue a man from drowning in Oamaru harbour.

Mr Dwyer has been associated with many cases which have made police history in New Zealand, and wherever he has been stationed he and Mrs Dwyer have won the respect and affection of those among whom they have lived. Mrs Dwyer, Who was born in Australia, came to New Zealand at the age of seven years. Mr and Mrs Dwyer were married in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, by the Rev, Father P. Lynch. They have one son, Mr Philip Dwyer, of Gisborne, and three, surviving daughters, Mesdames N. Lyttelton (Auckland), David Lusk (Fendalton) and F. B. Freed (Wellington). There are three grandchildren.

Jer Kennelly found the story and Martin Moore sent him this reply;

That is my great-granduncle. There are photos of him
around. His son, Thomas died during the Great War. Two
other sons of his died later in 1918 during the Spanish
Flu.

It was the family of a near relative of Lord Kitchener
[either a brother or uncle?] that he rescued from
the Cumberland fire.

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Installment Two of Barbara’s Tour Blog

Today Barbara spends time in Kerry with her cousins. She then starts her tour of Ireland with a trip to Galway.

We started our tour at The Riu Plaza-The Gresham Hotel and made our way to Galway.   Mind you I had just spent 5 glorious days in Kerry with cousins-Bridget O’Connor and Jerry O’Dwyer driving me to Clare and enjoying a night out at Milltown Malbay for their Irish Music Festival.   A fun night was had by all.  Thank you, Eithne and Eddie!!      I managed to get invited to a wedding too!  Thank you, Margaret Ann and Jerry Behan.   A blast at the wedding.  Congratulations to Blaithin and Neal Mangan.   

The church was Ballydonaghue.  The same church that my father attended so it was extra special for me. 

The finale on the 6th day was a visit to Croke Park to watch the Semi-final Gaelic Football game Kerry vs Dublin.  

To me, it was like the All-Ireland as they were always the rivalry when my father would cheer for Kerry.   Always seemed like it was Kerry vs Dublin!! 

I took RyanAir to Dublin that day-a great way to go and a nice young man from Tralee shared a taxi with me and he treated me!!  That was a real treat!!  The New Yorker in me was quite surprised!!

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My Kildare Granddaughter

Our little Aoife had a birthday. Her Kildare Granny made her a deliciious birthday cake and took this picture. Aoife is one.

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We’re Behind You

Danny’s window speaks for us all.

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At a friend’s wedding

These are a bevy of Mary’s glamorous school friends at her wedding to the love of her life, Dave Murphy, on Saturday last, August 20 2022.

Barbara Mulvihill, Nicola Griffin, Aoife Kelliher, Mary Moylan, Lainey Keane and Maria Dillon

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A Fact

The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and the UK in 1896.

Zanzibar surrendered after 28 minutes.

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Barbara’s Road Trip

By

On August 22, 2022

In Listowel, Schools

In Marley Park; Éamon ÓMurchú

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A Kerry Connection

Jim and Liz Dunn with their niece Rosie on Rosie’s wedding day.

Jim and Liz are huge supporters of the Arts in Kerry.

At the wedding, Liz read Gabriel Fitzmaurice’s Just to be Beside You is Enough during the ceremony.

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This story is Pants

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A First for Listowel Connection… A Guest Blogger

Barbara Kissane is an Irish American lady. She loves Ireland, the birth home of her parents and she has visited often.

This year her Irish holiday was a bit different. I asked her to give us an account of her trip and I will share her story of her Irish summer with you over the next few days.

When 2022 rolled around, I had no intentions of travelling to Europe this summer due to the covid restrictions.   In March, the restrictions were lifted and still no intention of traveling to Europe.  On April 12th, a mass shooting happened on the NYC subway.  The next morning, I booked my vacation on Aer Lingus for three weeks because I knew it was going to be a hot summer so I had to get out of NYC!  I hardly ride the subways!!  I had gotten an amazing deal for under $1,000 for 3 weeks.  

Our parents instilled in us a love of Ireland at an early age.   My father was from Kerry and my mother’s parents were from Mayo.   Ireland is in our blood!   We are  a large Irish/American family of 8 and we grew up in The Bronx, mostly an Irish neighborhood with lots of Kerrymen surrounding us.   I have been to Ireland the most out of my 8 siblings because I traveled with my parents a lot.

Originally for this trip, I was traveling with a friend and we were going to rent a car and travel all around Ireland for 2 weeks.  Then my friend had to back out at the last minute.   With that, my plans changed too.   I have driven Ireland by myself in 2017 and loved every minute of it.  I didn’t feel like doing it this time around.   I found a tour company called, The Royal Irish Tours and the tour dates fit perfectly for my trip.

It was totally last minute.   I would highly recommend them!   We covered a lot of ground in 10 days.   Yes, ten days and I survived being on a coach bus for ten days.  

More tomorrow….

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The Boys (of 1972) are Back in Town

Jim Fitzmaurice has been in touch.

Listen up if you belong to the St. Michael’s Class of 1972.

Here is Jim’s email:

“We are organising a reunion of the Leaving Cert Class of 72 on 17th Sept. In Christys bar the Square

At 7pm. There are many we have no contact details for so a bit of publicity is needed.

Jim Fitzmaurice, Bunagara Listowel and Arklow.

jimmyfitzm@gmail.com

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A Fact

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries doctors prescribed tobacco to treat a variety of ailments. These included, headache, toothache, arthritis and bad breath.

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Heritage Week 2022

By

On August 19, 2022

In Listowel

In Marley Park; Éamon ÓMurchú

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Heritage Week in St. John’s

St. John’s held a great stained glass event for Heritage Week.

The man in the centre of my photo is Glynn, the expert who restored the windows in St. John’s.

These are a few details from the window that is behind us in the first photo. This memorial window is dedicated to Major James Murray Home who lived in Gurtinard House. He was a popular agent of Lord Listowel for over 20 years. His coat of arms is in the centre panel of the window, with his motto True to the End. He died in Scotland and is buried there but his name is also recorded on the family headstone in Dysert, Lixnaw. I learned all this on Tom Dillon’s excellent guided tour.

We learned lots from Glynn about how stained glass is done and we got a chance to have a go at cutting some glass.

Easy peasy says she who stuck to taking the photographs.

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Bryan MacMahon Statue

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A Fact

Britain’ s royal family used to be called Saxe- Coburg-Gotha. They changed their name during WW1 . They dropped the name which had German connotations and settled for Winsor. At the same time their cousins, the Battenberg family, changed their name to the less German sounding Mountbatten.

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