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

Flowers in Listowel, a Trip to Teampall Bán, Radio Kerry’s Opening Day and John Lynch’s Funeral

Listowel Parish Presbytery, July 2019

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More from A Book of Ignorance

My book (above) is English but this following applies equally to Ireland.

People asked to name three species of mouse will probably get House Mouse, Harvest Mouse, Field Mouse and maybe Wood Mouse. No marks for Dormouse though. The dormouse is more a squirrel than a mouse.

The dormouse is much furrier than a mouse. This is because it hibernates, the only British rodent that does. The “dorm’ part of its name refers to this. The dormouse has been known to sleep for seven months of the year.

You’ll thank me if it ever comes up in a quiz.

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Halo Health



Elaine Dee Worth’s great health food shop and café in Upper William Street.

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Listowel Awash with Flowers in July 2019


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Teampall Bán

I took my visitors to Teampall Bán. They were moved and impressed. This is one of Listowel’s treasures. Everyone should visit and pray.

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Radio Kerry Opening


Photo and text from MacMonagle Photography on Facebook

Happy 29th birthday 📷🎼🍾🎂to Radio Kerry on Sunday. Our historic photograph looks back to the opening day on July 14th 1990 when Dan Collins was presenting the programme with Liam Higgins on sport, dj Paul Sheahan and the one and only Sean Hurley from Killarney, who still presents his ever popular programme on the station. How many original staff are still with the station?

Photo: Don MacMonagle 

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Don’t Forget!




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Good News from Talkabout on Radio Kerry


Yesterday’s Story



Today’s Story

“On today’s show, we hear how the Kerry community in London turned out in force yesterday, for the funeral of John Lynch, originally from Ballylongford, who died with no living relatives. Pictured: left to right: Tommy Flaherty, Martina O’Gorman, Gary Noone, Amy Canavan, Trish Madden, Noreen Buckley, Dermot O’Grady, Vince Harty and Gerry Rochford.” Deirdre Walshe on Talkabout

Update



Since I posted this I have had an email from Martina OGorman which I am posting below. The North Kerry contingent did themselves us all proud.

Morning

I notice that you posted the death notice for John Lynch.

We attended the funeral yesterday and it was a great turnout.   Attached is the photo I sent to Radio Kerry, which they published.  Names as follows :

Left to right

  • Tommy Flaherty – Listowel
  • Martina O Gorman – Listowel
  • Gary Noone – Ballycastle, Mayo
  • Amy Canavan – Listowel
  • Trish Madden – Ballydonoghue/Ballylongford
  • Noreen Buckley – Keel, Castlemaine
  • Dermot O Grady – Tralee/Ballybunion
  • Vince Harty – Ballinskelligs
  • Gerry Rochford – Ballyduff

I was made aware of the call out by Radio Kerry at lunchtime Tuesday and by the power of facebook and emails I was able to get the message out to a lot of local Kerry people to see if they could attend the funeral.    It was magnificent because almost 100 people turned up and gave John a great send off.   I took a spare Kerry Flag that I had and draped it over his coffin as he was an avid Kerry supporter.   Also a few of us wore our Kerry Jerseys as a mark of respect for John.

Unfortunately a lot of the younger kerry people here in london could not attend due to work commitments.

Thought I would share this with you as you have a lot of followers all over the world.

All the best for now

Listowel Pitch and Putt Course, Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill and Rewilding

St. Mary’s, Listowel in July 2019

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Listowel Pitch and Putt Course in Summer 2019


The course is in tip top condition and a credit to all the people who look after it.

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Book of Ignorance




Another pearl of wisdom for you….

Over a fifteen year period an ecologist called Jennifer Owen discovered 422 species of plant and 1,757 species of animal including 533 species never before recorded in Britain and four were completely new to science. All this in her suburban garden in Humberscome. So if you have enough time, patience and, of course, expertise, it is quite possible to discover a new species without ever leaving home. AND if you get to discover a new species, you get to name it.


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‘Sé mo Laoch……


Text and photo is a Facebook post from Raymond O’Sullivan.


While waiting and praying(?) that my old car would pass the NCT test in Charleville this morning, I jumped the wall into the adjacent Holy Cross cemetery to pay my respects to the 18th century Gaelic poet, Seán “Clárach” Mac Domhnaill. He was born in Churchtown in 1691 but lived most of his life in Charleville, and is buried there in the ruins of the mediaeval church in the centre of the graveyard. Although a labourer by trade he was regarded by his peers as Príomh-Éigeas na Mumhan or Chief Poet of Munster. He is best remembered for Mo Ghile Mear, a Jacobite ballad composed after the defeat and exile of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden in 1746. One of our most popular Gaelic songs, it has become the ‘anthem’ of our southern neighbours in Cúil Aodha i nGaeltacht Mhúscraí.
BTW, she passed the test. Never underestimate an old man with an old Nissan Micra.

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Rewilding



That’s the new name for it. So if your lawn is going to seed and your garden looks a bit neglected, you can say you are “rewilding”. It’s the latest trend in gardening.

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So Sad




This story was all over main stream and social media yesterday so I’m sure by now people will have made out who John was. I hope he had a good turn out at his funeral.

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Good News from Ballybunion



Beach Wheelchairs

Kerry County Council have announced that there will be a beach wheelchair available on the ladies beach for the summer. The wheelchairs will be available for booking until 15th of September.

This service is free but the wheelchairs must be booked in advance and are available for up to 3-hour slots. They are available at Collin’s Seaweed bath’s phone 068-27469, Times available during weekdays are 12pm to 5.30pm and at the weekends 11am to 6pm. For further information phone 066-7162000 or email: environ@kerrycoco.ie

Athea, Green Oranges, Ignorance Dispelled, a Boland Poem and a Walking Tour

Listowel’s Carnegie Library


This is Listowel’s Carnegie Library, now KDYS Youth Centre. Andrew Carnegie was an American philanthropist  who endowed communities all over Ireland with free libraries. Kerry seems to have benefited more than many other Irish counties. This year we are commemorating 100 years since Carnegie’s death. An Post is bringing out a commemorative stamp. The stamp is going to feature Athea’s Carnegie Library.

(Below photo and text are from Athea Tidy Town on Facebook)

Delighted to learn that our Carnegie Library here in Athea will feature on a postal stamp to be released on August 8th to mark the centenary of the Death of Andrew Carnegie who provided the grant to build the Libraries! Stamps will be available to preorder online shortly.

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Athea Mural

I finally got to Athes to see the restored mural and all the recent developments.

This Jim Dunn mural is still my favourite. Every time I see it I enjoy it afresh. If you haven’t seen it yet, put it on The Bucket List today.

The other celtic style mural featuring local people, and celebrating Athea talent and legends has been fully refurbished and is looking vibrant and striking. It’s absolutely lovely. It is now preserved from the elements as well.

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A Charity Shop Find


I found this gem in the Irish Wheelchair shop in Listowel.  It’s full of interesting pieces of information, stuff most of us get wrong. I’m proposing to drip feed some of my newfound wisdom to you here.

Once a teacher……..

Are oranges orange?

No, is the short answer. In many countries, oranges are green, even when ripe, and are sold that way in shops.

There are no oranges in the wild.  An orange is a cross between the tangerine and the pomelo, which is pale green or yellow. They were first grown in South East Asia. The first oranges were green and Vietnamese oranges are still green. Thai tangerines are green on the outside and orange on the inside.

In Honduras the people eat their oranges green at home and orange them up for export. They do this by blasting them with ethylene which removes the green outer layer, allowing the orange layer to show thorough.

So if you are visiting Vietnam or other really hot country, buy the green oranges. They are fully ripe and delicious. I verified the ‘fact” with Google.

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Bob Boland’s Heartfelt Plea



Bob Boland, Farnastack poet and agricultural contractor, lived through World War Two and all the privations of rationing that accompanied it. Here he pleads with the Dept. to give him a permit for fuel so he can do his job and work for the local farmers at the harvest.





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Guided Walk, Saturday July 13 2019


These lovely people walked with me on my first guided walk around town on Saturday. They came from Listowel, Duagh,  from Lithuania, from Canada, from the U.S. and the U.K. and there was a brave family from Mayo there too. They heard some stories and I heard some stories too. Great morning!

Ballybunion, What our Forefathers Ate and some Listowel Premises getting a Facelift

Molly’s Back

Trouble -the -House is back for her Kerry holidays. You’ll spot us out and about these days as I reintroduce her to her second home.

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Ballybunion is Buzzing


Ballybunion loves a Summer Sunday. The Bunker was full to capacity and overflowing on to the street.


Flash had set up outside the Railway Bar and was entertaining the whole street on Sunday July 7 2019

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Food in Olden Times


from the Dúchas Folklore collection 

(Read to the end. I think he got the bit about the tea wrong.)

In olden times the chief food of the people was potatoes three times a day and sour skim milk and sometimes porridge made from yellow meal for supper and two meals of potatoes. 

Breakfast was usually taken at nine o’clock in the morning so that three hours work was done before breakfast. 

At each meal the table was placed in the centre of the floor and all sat down and commenced eating. In later years meals became more plentiful and bread was made from it by mixing with boiling water and afterwards baked in a griddle. The breakfast consisted then of yellow bread and sour skim milk filled out in wooden mugs. In the morning the bread was often heated in front of the fire before being eaten. In those days very little meat was used but salt mackerel for supper but potatoes were not unusual, supper hour being about nine o’clock. 

Easter Sunday was a feast and each member of the house was allowed as many eggs as he or she could eat. 

Tea was scarcely known until some sixty years ago and was not drank only at Christmas. Then it was made in a parcel and put away until the arrival of Christmas again.

Location: Cappagh, Co. Kerry- Teacher:T.F. Sheehan.

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Running Repairs in Listowel 

Fitzpatrick’s iconic bay window in Church Street is being replaced.

Jumbo’s is being repainted

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A Trip Back in Time




Dont forget to take a trip on the Lartigue in summer 2019. Open every afternoon.

Michael Guerin, Lartigue Driver. Oxana Sean, Seamus Kyritz from Tampa, Florida. Diane and Robert Moloney from Ennismore Listowel Canada. Pat Walsh Lartigue wayman.

These visitors to the Lartigue on Wednesday are descended from  families who left Listowel for Canada under the Peter Robinson Resttlement Scheme of the 19th century.

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Weekly Guided Walks



This photo was taken before the start of the first guided walking tour of the town on Saturday last. It is planned that these walks will take place every Saturday until the end of August, starting at 11.00a.m.

The cost is €5 and includes tea or coffee and a scone in The Kerry Writers Museum at the end of the walk.

If you are planning on taking the tour tomorrow,  July 13 2019, your volunteer guide will be…………….me.

Cows in Knockanure, Hay and Tae in Bromore and a Look Back at some old Systems

Blue Tit, Just Fledged

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Holy Cow!




At Knockanure


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Meanwhile in Bromore



Danny Houlihan piped them into the meadow at Michael Flahive annual Hay and Tae festival.

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Old Feast Day Customs

from the Dúchas folklore collection

Festival Customs
St. Brigid’s Day (1st of February). People make a rush cross and put it outside the door and say special prayers. This rush cross is made in memory of Brigid. When teaching the pagans she made a rush cross to represent the cross Our Lord was crucified on. On St. Brigid’s eve people hang a piece of cloth in the air outside the window. This Brat Bride is supposed to contain a cure by touching the sick or sore.

St. Patrick’s Day (17th March). People wear shamrocks and harps. Little girls wear green ribbons and harps and as much green as possible.

Shrove Tuesday (variable date) being the last day of shrove many marriages take place also match marriages. Shrove Tuesday night is often called Pancake night. A ring is put in the pancakes and it is said who ever gets the ring is the soonest to be married. Eggs are put in the pancakes, because at that time long ago they were forbidden during Lent, the first day of which comes after Shrove Tuesday. The bride who marries on Shrove Tuesday does not go to her husband’s house until after Lent.

On Ash Wednesday (variable date) men are reminded as of old that unto dust they shall return, and the ashes is placed on their brows in the shape of a cross.

Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Sunday, Whit Sunday and Whit Monday are either religious or bank holidays, and are observed in much the same way all over Ireland. On Easter Sunday morning children get up early to see the sun dancing. An old custom is to eat a good many eggs, as Lent (forbidden time) is now over.

Chalk Sunday (first Sunday of Lent) was often a cross day long ago, because all the young boys and girls used to chalk the backs of the men of marriageable age, who did not get married during Shrove.

May Day (1st May). People hang a branch of Summer tree in the house to keep away the fairies.
The house, family, outhouses, cattle and fields are sprinkled with holy water to keep away the fairies also.

St. John’s Day (24th June). On the eve of this feast bonfires are lit.
On feast of Assumption (15th August) most people from this neighbourhood go to Ballybunion for the day. No one ventures on the sea that day because the drowning of ’93 took place on August 15th.

For Michaelmas dinner people usually have a “green” goose.

On St. Martin’s Eve it is an ancient custom to kill a fowl and sprinkle the blood around the house. This is supposed to be an unlucky day, so few fishers go fishing.

Hallowe’en (30th October) is the last night of Autumn. Nuts and apples are eaten. Many games are played with nuts and apples, and beans etc. (1) Two beans are put roasting on coals near the fire. One bean gets a man’s name, the other a woman’s name. If both beans jump together, the pair are supposed to be married. (2) An apple is made to hang by a cord from the ceiling. Hands are tied behind the back, and the person tries to bite the apple without putting a hand to it. (3) Three saucers are put on a table, one containing water, one containing earth, and one containing a ring. The players are blindfolded, the saucers are shuffled around,
and if a person puts his hand in saucer containing earth, they say he will be dead before that day twelvemonth. If he touches the ring they say he will be married, and if he touches the water, he will cross the sea. A cake containing many charms is cut for the tea, and much fun is enjoyed.

The Twelve Days of Christmas between Christmas and Little Christmas are supposed to be the twelve months of the year. If these are fine, the year will be fine, and if these are wet, we will have a wet year. The twelve days were fine last Xmas, and every month so far was wet.
St. Stephen’s Day (26th Dec.) On this particular day crowds of boys dress up in fancy conspicuous looking costumes, and go around to the neighbouring districts collecting money “to bury the wren”. Each boy plays a musical instrument and the procession marches in time. One boy leads the procession, he carries a branch of holly with a little dead wren fastened to it, and according as he stops outside the door of each house he says
“The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
St. Stephen’s Day he was caught in the furze
Up with the kettle, and down with the pan
Give us some money “to bury the wren”.
Meanwhile, the champion dancer of the crowd gives a dreas rinnce
on the doorstep. One of the wrenboys marches at the side. He carries a bladder attached to the end of a long stick, and he runs after any little boys who interrupt the procession. When the joyful day rambling is ended, the money is evenly divided between the boys who were in one crowd. Some times they hold a wren dance.

Handsel Monday (the first Monday of the New Year) is a day on which people like to get a present of money, no matter how small. It is an omen that he will receive plenty money during the year.

The Epiphany (6th Jan.). On the vigil of this feast everybody likes to be in bed before 12 midnight, at which hour they say water changes into wine. It was the day of the wedding feast of Cana.

All these old fashioned customs are still observed because, as the proverb says, I suppose – “It is not right to make a new custom, or to break an old one”.

Collector- Kitty Lynch- Address, Tarbert, Co. Kerry- Informant Mrs Lynch- Age 78, Address, Tarbert, Co. Kerry

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In Namir’s

I met Namir with Kay and Rosa in Ballybunion on Sunday. Lovely to catch up with old friends.

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