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

The Council of Dirha, an old photo and a new jumper



A camelia in The Garden of Europe


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A Photo from the Johnny Hannon Archive



Junior Griffin to whom I  went to ask for help in  identifying these people wrote;

The best known name here of course is Sam McGuire. Not sure of the man on the left but he may be Walsh from O’Connell’s Ave as the other3 are from that area of town., namely Tom Lyons, Mick Carey and “Gigs Nolan, who sadly died just a few months ago. Mick Carey was known as the doyen of the Gleann street league football and knew the game inside out.


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A John B. Keane Story   (serialised )

Today I’m beginning another serialised essay of John B. Keane’s. He writes of a different era when Irish people were in the thrall of the church and fear of the wrath of God, as defined by the Catholic church, was ever-present.

The Council of Dirha       by John B. Keane

Good luck and
success to the Council of Trent

What put fast upon
mate but not upon drink,

(Overheard at a
wake) 

When the above
couplet was conceived there was fasting on Fridays. Nowadays, Lent apart, we
may eat meat with impunity throughout the entire year. The church was quite
clear in its strictures regarding the consumption of meat and meat products on
days of fast and abstinence. Then in 1966 Pope Paul promulgated new laws for
Roman Catholics. Fast days, which had included all the weekdays of Lent, the
vigils of Pentecost, The Immaculate Conception and Christmas and the Ember Days
were reduced to two, i.e. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In the same decree
Pope Paul reaffirmed the laws of abstinence from meat. However, he allowed
episcopal conferences to substitute for abstinence with other forms of penance
especially works of charity and exercises in piety.

Hobside
theologians of the time were known to smirk at the expression “works of
charity”. They deduced in their own indigenous fashion that to be charitable
one had to be rich. Since neither they themselves nor their associates were
remotely connected with wealth, they regarded themselves as being incapable of
charity. When it was explained to them that charity had other connotations such
as love of one’s fellow man they were quick to point out that because of their
innate worthlessness no one, save their own family, places any value on their
love.

(more tomorrow)


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Horan’s New Look




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My Latest Knit




The story of a jumper that turned into a saga.

Handknitted by moi
with a little help from Woman’s Way’s Louise Finn

It all began with
Woman’s Way, “Ireland’s best selling women’s magazine”.

I spotted a knitting pattern and I thought “This has my name on it.” 
Simple pattern, easy peasy knitting and beautiful result down to the
beautiful colourful yarn. But…..

I went on line to
the two big online sellers of wool, Vibes and Scribes in Cork, my favourite bricks
and mortar craft shop but I knew they sold online as well, and Springwools in Dublin,
Ireland’s biggest online yarn retailer. Neither of them seemed to stock Tivoli
Colour Maze.

Feeling a bit
miffed I contacted Woman’s Way with my false assumption that they had published
an old pattern and the yarn was discontinued. Louise Finn, the lovely deputy
editor, who has become my new best friend in this venture, emailed back to say
that my assumption was wrong. It was  a brand
new pattern and the wool came into the shops in September 2017. She gave me the
phone number of Tivoli, the Cork company who market the wool and Anne there
told me that they had thousands of yarns and not every shop takes every one.
She couldn’t sell it to me because they don’t sell directly to the public. When
she found out that I lived in Kerry, she found that the nearest retailer to me
with that wool in stock was in Kenmare. I gave her a quick Geography lesson.
Kenmare is 100kms from Listowel.

I reported back my
lack of success to Louise. Now Louise didn’t get to where she is today by
giving up. She did a bit of research and she found a lovely shop in Midleton,
Karen’s Krafts. Karen had the yarn in stock and she was willing to post. Now we
were sucking diesel or so I thought.

I contacted Karen.
There were 8 colourways available and she didn’t have them all but she was
expecting a delivery. So the final outcome of my chat with Karen was that she
would text me when the wool came in and I would take a trip to Midleton on my
next visit to my family in Cork.

Meanwhile my
daughter is going to Midleton with her work on Monday, February 26 2018.
Spottting an opportunity I ask her to call to Karen to suss out my wool. I ring
Karen and now she hasn’t got three balls in any colour. (The pattern requires
three) but the delivery from Tivoli hasn’t come yet.

Delivery comes  and Karen texts me to tell me that the only 3 ball
stock that came in are grey or beige. Now remember I said that this is a very
basic jumper only made special by the colourful yarn. Let’s say grey and beige
don’t cut it with me in the ‘Colourful” stakes . So I decided to throw in the
towel.

Did I mention that
Louise did not get to where she is today…….?

When I told her
that I had accepted failure she was having none of it. She emailed back to say
that she had contacted a wool shop in Blanchardstown and they were willing to
order the wool and to post it to me.

And so they did.
The yarn arrived in Listowel and now all that was left for me to do was knit
the blessed thing. Then Louise emailed to say that she would like to see a
photo of the finished product for publication in the magazine.  No pressure then.

So voilà, me in my
beautiful new jumper just in time for the next cold snap.

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Two Names




The two people on the left have been identified as Arthur Chute and Violet McCarthy. The search continues to identify the other three people.

Jubilee Nurse, Skywalking and Help Needed with a Photograph


Ever Beautiful Ballybunion



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Skywalkers in Tralee



I am always on the lookout for fun things to do when my grandchildren come to visit. They always love a visit to Bowling Buddies in Tralee.

The boys actually prefer Air Hockey to Bowling but on this visit we did both.

On their recent sojourn in Kerry the girls discovered Skywalking. This is an experience housed in the same building as Bowling but its a ride not for the faint hearted. My girls are gymnasts and have lots of upper body strength and flexibility so they were well able for the exertions. Their mother, on the other hand, found it a bit tougher and she was only going along to make sure they wouldn’t be frightened.

Their grandmother stayed firmly planted on the ground.

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Contributing to the Jubilee Nurse fund


Kerry People  Saturday, March 09, 1912

LISTOWEL JUBILEE NURSE

Subscriptions  towards a fund for the support of a Nurse from the Queen’s Jubilee Institute for the poor of Listowel and Kilmorna district.

 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS

Earl of Listowel … £25- 0 -0; Knight of Kerry … 10- 0- 0; George Gun Mahony … 10- 0- 0;Mrs  Trent Staughton … 5- 0 -0; Jas. D. Crosbie , D.L. … 3 -0 -0; Jas. Bannatyen and Sons, Ltd. … 5- 0- 0; Thomas Armstrong … 2- 0- 0; Mrs. McElligott, Mount Rivers .. 2- 0- 0; Revd. J. Beazley, Duagh … 2- 0 -0; B Johnston … 2- 0- 0.

ONE Pound from Following; J. Woulfe-Flanagan, R.M. , M J Byme . … John Dillon, M.D. … Mrs. Raymond … Mrs. Sweetnam : … Robert Geo. Gentleman .. R Latchford and Sons … Miss Horgan .. Mrs. Moran … Henry J Marshall …  Connor, Martin, MD., Tarbert … William McElligott … Revd Canon Molyneaux, Ballybuinion . … Michael O’Connor, M-D. .. J. Little, I.N.S. 

TEN SHILLINGS from; Mrs  Eagar … T. J. O’Connor, Tralee …  Patrick Corridan …  Mrs. Breen …  Mat Finucane …  Maurice Kelliher, Tralee … Thomas. Sampson; T. F. Cronin … J. H Pierse, V.S. …  D H Leane, L.P.S.I. …  Revd Canon O’Riordan ….Maurice Leonard…. Revd. Canon Hayes, Ballylongford …  D Flavin. C.U.D.C…. Dr . Clancy .

5 SHILLINGS EACH from; —T. F. Hawney, T M O’Connor, D,C., Tarbert; P Breen, J Kane, T Moran, Mrs. M Colohan, M O’Connell, Mrs Spillane, Jerh. Galvin, M. O’Carroll, B. Johnston, junr.; Revd. John Pattisson, Miss Pattison, P. Quill, B. Browne, T. Galvin, Thomas Corridan. T O’Connor. J J Kennelly, J Moran, .M. Murphy. Pat Scanlon, Mrs. M. Crowley, Miss Griffin. Edwd. Wilson. Miss Lyons, Mrs. Behan, John McNamara.

3s and 6d from—Wm. Keane. N.G. 

2s 6d each from—M. McCarthy, Mrs. Leahy. Miss O’Carroll. Martin Sheehy, Miss Buckley, J. C. Harnett, Martin Mulvihill, Mrs. Costelloe, Mrs. Harnett. L. Larsson, H O’Sullivan,  J Kirby, John Broderick, Miss  Namack. R. A. Browne, Mrs. McMahon, Mrs P Keane, Miss Barrett, John R Troy, Geo. Hewson, T Browne, J Foley, J Ross. Mrs E Stack, Mrs. Carroll, Sergeant Kane, J Lynch, D J Johnston, J O’Donoghue, Timothy O’Sullivan, M O’Connor, Joe Broderick.  M. Hannan. Elder and Co. 

2 SHILLINGS each—T. Bennett, Mrs. Kirby. Jerh Buckley, P J O’Connor, Wm. Leahy, Morgan Sheeny, I Peet. T O’Connor,. Mrs. Cotter. J P Kennelly, T. O’Brien, Miss Julia Nolan, Pat Stack,  Mrs. Griffin, John Moran, Wm. Dillon. P M McGrath, Mrs. Reynolds, Miss Keane.

 Is 6d EACH—Mrs O’Sullivan..

Is each—Timothy Galvin, Miss Kearney, L Dwyer, Miss Bunyan. Mrs. McGrath. Mary Buckley; T Grogan, J Sweeny, Con 0’Farrell, B McGinley, Mrs Naylor, Miss Lane. J Cain, J Quigley, T J Dillon. P Mangan, T. Bolster. Wm McCarthy, M Scanlon, M J Dillon. J.Thornton, J Relihan, Miss Moroney, Mrs Bridget Nolan, T. Dillane, Miss Stack.

B JOHNSTON, Hon. Treasurer.

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Another Photograph from Johnny Hannon



Junior Griffin drew a blank with this one. Someone must know them. They are almost certainly local and I’m guessing the time is the 1950s

a Jubilee Nurse in 1912, a Visit to Duagh Pottery and a photograph to evoke memories

Litter Picker

Photo: Philip Karina, Mallow Camera Club

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The Jubilee Nurse


The title Jubilee Nurse comes from the The Queen’s Jubilee Institute which was the body that first appointed and funded these district nurses.


Kerry People  Saturday, February 03, 1912; 

Women’s National Health Association 

LISTOWEL BRANCH.

APPOINTMENT OF DISTRICT NURSE.

Mr. D J Flavin, J P. C.U.D.C. was moved to the chair and the other members  present were: Miss Lamont (Organiser): Mrs B. Foran, V.C., P.L.G., hon. sec. ; Mrs Raymond, Mrs J H Pierse, Mrs  W McElligott, Miss B Buckley, Messrs. B Johnson, Manager Bank of Ireland; D H Leane, L.P.S.I. ; and P. Breen, St. Michael’s College. The hon. secretary read her report to the meeting which was considered very satisfactory after which the necessity for the appointment of a district Jubilee nurse was discussed. Miss Lamont explained the rules under which a Jubilee nurse takes-up the position, and stated the salary of such a nurse would be £90 a year.

Mr. Johnson said they commenced to collect the town and said they had collected in one street about £50, there being no refusal but one. The people he should state met them in the most generous and sympathetic manner possible, and he had no doubt whatever that they would be always in a position to meet the salary of the nurse.

The Chairman asked Miss Lamort what, would be the area  to be covered by the nurse.

Miss Lamont said the nurse  would take in a radius of about three miles from the centre  of the district, but, of course, in exceptional cases she would not confine herself to that radius; she might go four and even five miles from the centre. Her duties primarily should be concerned with the poor of the district, but in exceptional cases and where she was at liberty to do so, she could give her services to the better off people who of course, would be obliged to pay for such services. The nurse would at the same time, be always subject to the directions and advice of the doctors as to the patients to attend to, and she hoped the medical gentlemen of the town would sympathise with the movement.

Mr. Johnson said he knew that as far as the dispensary medical officer Dr. Dillon was concerned he would, he assured him give all the assistance in his power. Mr. Leane said that Dr. O’Connor, he was sure, would do the same. 

Mrs. Foran asked if the nurse could be sent to cases of infections disease Mrs. Lamont: Yes, in exceptional cases, but while attending such a case she must be kept away from the ordinary cases. Of course she knows a good deal herself what to do, and how to act in such circumstances. Chairman : I am sure she won’t be  overwhelmed with too much authority. (Laughter).

 Mrs. Foran : If we had a nurse when the  present epidemic broke out it would have possibly prevented it. Because instead of having the patients nursed by their mothers, the nurse would have at once known that they were suffering from a contagious disease and have them separated at once.

(Discussion continued and suggestions and advice was sought on who to appoint to the position.)

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More Pottering About at Easter 2018


While my young visitors were with me we visited the newly opened 

Duagh Pottery 

This is a small 2 man or one man and one woman operation in the heart of rural North Kerry. The beautiful flora of this idyllic location is the inspiration for many of the unique, quirky colourful pieces produced bt Maggie and Mac.

Maggie showed us how she makes her beautiful tiles using bits and pieces she finds in the kitchen and incorporating vegetation from the nearby meadows.

Duagh Pottery is an adults only operation but Maggie allowed my boys to have a go just so I could see how its done. Duagh Pottery offers a very different kind of day out for a small group in its Pottery Experience Day. All the details are on the website

Duagh Pottery

This is a tile made by Maggie in her studio in Duagh for her son’s kitchen in London.

Above are some of Duagh Pottery’s beautiful  creations

Maggie and Mac are two more talented artists who have relocated to Kerry and continue to contribute and enrich the life of our community. 

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One Night in 1959



This photo is one of several that were given to me by Mike Hannon so that I could share them with you. Mike came upon these when he was clearing out his Uncle Johnny’s house and he knew that some people would love to see them and to relive the happy memories.

I recognised Junior Griffin and Margaret Dillon in this one and I asked Junior to fill me in on the the others. Here is what Junior wrote;

Left to Right…(later Judge) Brian McMahon; myself; Olly Kerins, Margaret Dillon, Joan Sharry (nee Griffin). That photo was taken in Ballybunion and I’m almost certain it was in 1959. Olly’s mother was housekeeper to Canon Peter O’Sullivan  who was our P.P  here in Listowel and came around late 1953. Olly’s eldest son is Liam Kerins who is the current manager of the Tipperary senior football team. Olly and his wife Eileen are now based in Tralee for many years. My sister Joan was married to Jack Sharry of Colbert Street who was himself an uncle to Margaret Dillon. Joan and Jackie settled down in Coventry, indeed next October will be the 10th anniversary of Joan’s death. Jackie pre deceased her.

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The icon of The Holy Family in St. Mary’s, April 9 2018



My visit to Woodford Pottery

 Photo; Chris Grayson

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Old Ballybunion


This photo was from The Kerryman May 1969

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Pottering about in North Kerry at Easter 2018



The above three mugs were all made in Listowel by Pat Murphy of  Woodford Pottery

The blue one is my favourite. The white one is a work in progress. Pat is experimenting with different shapes and sizes of mug. He is planning on adding a plainer “everyday” mug to his more stylish range. It won’t be white like this but will have a colour outside and for those customers for whom this is important, a white interior.

I usually meet Pat at craft fairs and he has been inviting me to visit his workshop and shop at Woodford for some time now. I made the long promised visit at Easter 2018 accompanied by  my young visitors.

Woodford Pottery is a one man operation. This one man produces a wide range of very beautiful and practical items of tableware and one-off pieces such as bowls, lamps and vases and an adorable Christmas crib.

Like so many North Kerry artists, Pat is a blow-in, a cliamhain isteach. I never fail to marvel at how life in rural North Kerry and West Limerick is so enriched by these very talented people who chance to end up here.

Pat is a Wexford man who began his career as a potter at Kiltrae. You can see that early influence in the practicality of his pieces. In my humble opinion, Woodford Pottery outshines Kiltrae in terms of style, beauty, usefulness and price.

Look out for Pat at future craft fairs or give him a ring at his studio in Woodford.  You can also message him on Facebook where you can also see some of his wares.

Woodford Pottery

If you are in the market for a unique local gift, look no further. Tell him I sent you.

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They Stretched in Never Ending Line



Beside St. John’s in Ballybunion

Schoolboys in 1988, Irish links with Russia in the 1950s and Listowel links to The Masters

Sunset by Denis Carroll

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Scoil Realt na Maidine 1988

 Patrick Godfrey found this photo of his third class with Mrs. O’Sullivan

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Successful Walk in Aid of Listowel Hospice on Good Friday 2018


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Still Time to Get a ticket



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“Reds Under the Beds” at Bord na Mona in 1956


This story comes from one of my new favourite blogs 

Bord na Mona Living History

In August 1956 Bord na Móna was involved in a bit of controversy over a two week visit to Ireland by a delegation of Soviet peat experts including the Minister for Peat Stations, Mr Alexei Bausin. The Soviet visit was in response to a trip by Bord na Móna officials to Russia earlier that year. 

At the time Pope Pius XI warned that no assistance be given to Communism in any enterprise whatever and there was a certain amount of hysteria about the so called Red Menace. Because of that, various Catholic groups were against it and there were lots of letters to the papers denouncing the visit. 

One of the main protests was the placing of a picket on our head office in Dublin by Firinne, a Dublin Catholic Action Group. The picket carried banners on some of which the slogans were: “Do Reds dominate the Bord?” “Bord na Móna Trademark – Hammer and Sickle” and “Bord Traitors to the Church of Silence.” Leaflets were also given out that asked “What Irish Catholic worthy of the name will not denounce the bureaucratic action of Bord na Móna in bringing to Ireland a delegation of Soviet experts on fuel?” 

The visitors were informed that the picket was actually a welcoming committee. 

In response Bord na Móna pointed out that the visit was a reciprocal one, Irish technicians had previously visited Russian peat installations and that the visiting Russians were engineers. 

Overall the visit went well and the Russians were impressed with the technical expertise and machine improvements achieved by Bord na Móna since the Second World War. This led to many other visits between both countries over the years and ten years later a delegation of Soviet peat experts were brought to an All-Ireland Hurling Final and not a protestor in sight.

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Listowel Connection to The Masters



There has been lots of notice given to the GAA jerseys at last weekend’s Masters Golf Tournament.

According to Aiden O’Connor the man in the Kerry Jersey watching the winner Patrick Reed sink his putt is Timmy Leahy from Ballygologue.

This photo of his television screen was taken by Gerard Leahy.

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