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

Greenways and Waterways

By

On May 22, 2023

In Greenway, Listowel, Personal, Schools

Greenway Mural at the old Neodata site, May 2023

<<<<<<<<<

Progress on the Greenway

This is the Bridge Road entrance

<<<<<<<<<<

Another Prestigious Prize for a journalist with a Listowel Connection

This is Malachy’s father, David Browne’s Facebook post

“Proud and privileged to witness the announcement of the Pulitzer Prize Award to my son Malachy last Monday in the New York Times offices. His team were acknowledged for their unflinching coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an eight-month investigation into Ukrainian deaths in the town of Bucha and the Russian unit responsible for the killings.’

Malachy Browne with Donnie O’Sullivan at Listowel Writers’ Week 2022

<<<<<<<<<<

A Settle Bed

This is a picture of an old farmhouse from Floklore.ie. On the left of the picture is what was known as a settle bed. The bedclothes were stored underneath the seat and brought out when the bed was dressed for someone for the night. This was a fine cozy bed beside the fire and often used by visitors or travelling workmen.

<<<<<<<<<<<

Listowel’s Newest Amenity

“My heart, tonight, is home again in Ireland

Upon thy banks, my silver river Feale.”

Bryan MacMahon’s words were sung to us by his son, Owen, at the launch of Listowel Kayaking Club on May 14 2023.

The sun shone. The water was resplendent. The birds sang. A small crowd gathered (small, for health and safety reasons) and Jimmy Deenihan presented us with his latest project, a kayaking club. Jimmy and friends have brought this to fruition in jig time.

Jimmy Deenihan

I was delighted to meet this group of my former pupils, all involved in this healthy outdoor activity. Lovely to see these young ladies emerging as leaders in their community.

<<<<<<<<<<<

A Welcome Treat

On my way to town on Friday, I met these lovely young people at the gate of their school, Coláiste na Ríochta. They were inviting me to their Bake Sale in aid of Áras Mhuire.

I took up their invitation and a lovely young man accompanied me to the classroom where selling, eating and chatting was in full swing.

I even met someone I knew. I bought some cakes . They were delicious.

Well done enterprising seniors in Coláiste na Ríochta.

<<<<<<<<

A Coronation Tale

Did we ever think we would see Kay Caball, cousin of Canon Declan, renouned historian and genealogist and a pillar of respectability feature in The Irish Daily Mail?

Don’t panic. Kay was merely telling the tale and it all happened in the eighteenth century.

This is the coronation connection. Lady Fiona Petty Fitzmaurice is Queen Camilla’s best buddy.

The Fitzmaurice connection: Fiona’s husband. is one of the once Lixnaw based Fitzmaurices who used to own most of Kerry.

“After a gatherer comes a scatterer” they say and the Fitzmaurices had the father of all scatterers. Kay told the story replete with “Petticoats up and pantaloons down” to a journalist from The Daily Mail and below is a photo of the centre page in the paper on Saturday.

If you missed the paper, Kay will tell it all again on Jimmy Deenihan’s walking tour at Listowel Writers Week on Friday June 2 starting from Kerry Writers’ Museum at 10.00 a.m.

<<<<<<<<<<

I told you so

In 2018 I posted this picture on here. It is cyclist Dillon Corkery being greeted by his grandparents at the stage finish of the Rás in Market Street.

Pic : Lorraine O’Sullivan

Yesterday Dillon won Rás Tailteann outright as part of Team Ireland. I told you he was destined for great things. My exact words were ” Is Dillon the next Sam Bennett?”

The Listowel Connection?

I went to school in Kanturk with his grandmother and still count her as a friend today. I’m over the moon!

<<<<<<<<<

A Fact

The word NEWS comes from the fact that stories were gathered from all corners of the world. News is actually an acronym North East West South.

<<<<<<<<<<

Kayaking

By

On May 19, 2023

In History, Listowel, Personal

Listowel Pitch and Putt Course

<<<<<<<<<<

Listowel Kayaking Club

Sunday, May 14 2023 marked a significant development in Listowel’s relationship with the Feale River.

Listowel’s newest club was officially launched by guest of honour, Dr. Karen Weekes. I must admit, I didn’t know this lady but I looked her up for you.

“Dr Karen Weekes (54) is only the 20th woman in the world to complete this challenge. The first Irishwoman to row solo and unaided across the Atlantic ocean has ended her record-breaking feat after more than 80 days rowing 3,000 nautical miles that tested her to the limits of endurance. (Feb. 2022)”

This lady was there too. She is Moira Aston, CEO of Canoeing Ireland. She was delighted with the speed at which Listowel’s club got up and running.

The club was first mooted in 2020 and great interest was shown at the Women on Water event.

John Kelliher’s photo collage for The Advertiser.

Jimmy Deenihan is at the helm the new club, Siobhán O’Sullivan is honorary secretary and Mary McGrath is Safety Officer. Jade O’Mahony is the Training Officer. The club has 40 members at level 2 kayaking skills and has a waiting list of about 40 more.

<<<<<<<<

Beautiful old Clieveragh Cottage

This picturesque old cottage is located at Clieveragh. When Listowel.ie posted it online it provoked a flood of great memories for people who remembered it either as a family or friend’s home or just from passing it often and admiring it.

This was the happy home of a Murphy family and it once rang to the sounds of their music. As well as musicians the family had talented Irish step dancers in this house. They were also animal lovers and had cattle, sheep and a donkey named Bill in the haggard behind the house.

Apparently at one time there were 14 people living here.

Now it seems it is used as a cowshed. Still looks lovely and a magnet for the photographer.

<<<<<<<<

Kildare Supporters

My son in law has already turned by little granddaughter into a Lillies fan. Here they are celebrating their U20 football team’s win.

The Kerry half of her parentage doesn’t get a look in.

<<<<<<<<<

A Fact

American people eat more bananas than any other fruit.

Bananas are actually herbs and, like all herbs, die after fruiting.

<<<<<<<<

The March of Time

By

On May 18, 2023

In History, Listowel, Poem

Ballybunion Sunset…Photo : Denis Carroll

<<<<<<<<<<

Remembering the last of the Listowel Shoemakers

(Story told to me by Jimmy Hickey, son of Joe)

Joe Hickey had a shoemaking business in Colbert Street. He had a shop on the street and a factory at the back employing 6 men. All of his family were involved in the business with him, making the shoes and selling them.

All of the shoes were leather, upper and soles and all were hand stitched. There was no glue used in the making of these shoes.

Hides were bought from a tannery in Tralee or from a firm called Matthews who had a tannery in Cork. Matthews’ salesman would call to the shop with a selection of hides in his van and Joe would pick the best for his purposes. He would buy hides the size of a cow’s back for men’s shoes and boots or kid ones for the more delicate ladies’ shoes.

Hickey’s sold more men’s shoes and boots than ladies. They made shoes to sell to the local shoe shops, mostly Whelans. They had  a full book of private customers. Each person had his own steel last with his name on it. Small adjustments sometimes had to be made if the customer developed a bunion.

Priests were good customers. Because their job involved genuflecting their shoes were made of pliable  leather which would bend and regain its shape without damage.

Ladies bought high boots with “glassy kid uppers’. These were soft and supple like kid gloves. They were handsewn with hemp waxed end and the eyelet holes made with special awls.

The “big shots” sometimes asked the shoemakers to leave the squeak in so that when they wore their new shoes to mass the  distinctive squeaking noise would let everyone know they had new shoes.

The average price for a new pair of shoes was £3.50, when wages were about 2/6 per week. Hand made shoes were a luxury and had to be taken care of. Some country people walked to the edge of town in their boots with their shoes slung over their shoulders and changed into their shoes when they reached town.

There were no specific shoes for step dancing in those days but sometimes dancers asked to put a halfpenny into the toe cap of their shoes. This was covered over with leather and made an “extra tap” when they danced.

Working boots were the hardest to make as they had to be made from very strong box hide  leather. Again no nails were used but they were pegged with timber pegs like match sticks.

Jimmy remembers these pegs coming in 10 stone sacks. These working boots were pegged to a removable wooden last that had three holes in it. Wooden pegs were driven through the three holes. When they were wet they swelled making the boot waterproof.

Jimmy and his family all worked in the shop. They loved to see a good fishing day come around. Joe would be off fishing and the boys would finish all the town orders, knowing that when they delivered them the customers would stand to them, a handy few bob for themselves.

All of this and salmon for tea.

<<<<<<<<<

The Clock is Ticking

Behold this lovely old clock with pendulum and clock face with Roman numerals. It dates back to the days when a clock was a piece of furniture.

Now look at your clock, if you have one.

Enough said.

<<<<<<<<<

A Poem

Molly Twomey is one of the poets participating in the Bealtaine project this week.

<<<<<<<<<

Beautiful Nature in Bloom in 2023

by the river Feale

<<<<<<<<<<<

A Fact

Vatican State is the world’s smallest independent state. It has zero birthrate and a population of around 1,000. The Pope and his palace are protected by The Swiss Guard, an armed (the ancient halberds are for show but the guns ar real) force of young Catholic men.

Now the most amazing fact…the Swiss Guard still wears the uniform designed by Michelangelo in the early 16th century.

<<<<<<<<<

Poetry and Cattle

By

On May 16, 2023

In Ballybunion, Listowel, Poem

Late Evening Surfer…Photo: Alice Moylan

<<<<<<

Great Bealtaine Idea

Molly Twomey is one of the poet’s. Here is a poem of hers

recently published in the newspaper.

Have you ever lied to me? I ask. You reply,
that on our fifth date, you said a rock hit the wheel,

but it was a chaffinch. You didn’t turn and hand me
that small flame of news but drove into the mango

and gunpowder sunset. Afraid I’d make you pull up
to check that there were no quavers stuck in its throat.

That if its pulse didn’t react to my fingers
tap-dancing on its keel bone, I’d want to bury it 

under heather and moss. You thought I’d make you pray
every time we drove from Lismore to Ballynoe, that our date

would become not the boardwalk, chips and the anemones
but broken wings and blood wet feathers. I think of your ex

in North Carolina. How she might have perched and looked out
to razed earth, waiting for you with your newly shaved beard,

hand luggage of notebooks and craft beer. Only for the fast
and brutal machine of my heart to catch you off guard.

Molly Twomey has won the Padraic Colum Poetry Prize, the Waterford Poetry Prize, and has been awarded the Eavan Boland Mentorship Award and an Arts Council Literature Bursary. She is currently working on her debut collection.

<<<<<<<<<

Serendipity

Serendipity is all about making happy discoveries by chance.

Recently I got a demand for more money from Google as I had used up 70% of my storage. You will appreciate that the blog with all its pictures uses up a lot of storage space. I decided to clear out some of the old stuff to free up some space. I started with gmail.

Did you know that gmail has lots of strange folders called names like Promotions and Social? They slot emails into these folders without your spotting.

Long story short, in the folder called Social I found all of the late Fr. Pat Moore’s emails from Caring Bridge which was where he had a blog before he had his own website.

Here is his upbeat post from May 2016 with his individual take on life, complete with his unique appreciation of his home, his friends, and country folk in general.

R.I.P. Fr. Pat.

The bees are busy in the apple blossoms at the side of the house. I prefer apple blossoms to cherry blossoms for they seem to share more with the green leaves. And they seem to last much longer perhaps because they are more native than the Japanese cherry blossom.

Tom Costello lives on the banks of the river Feale. Someone  called to him lately collecting for a new swimming pool they are building down in Limerick and asked for a contribution. He was delighted to support the project. He gave them a bucket of water from the river!

Sonny Egan told me of a local happening. A builder he knows was asked to build a two storey house for a rather mean tight man. Would he get enough money to complete the job he thought? ‘Do you know what we will do,’ he suggested. ‘We will build one storey and the second storey might be another story.’

Last night we remembered the wit of the late Jackie Healy as we recalled a different world. Jackie made a career out of being perceived to be lazy. At his 80th birthday party at The Jessie James Pub he was asked if he had any regrets. ‘I think I worked one day in my life,’ he said.  ‘ Have you a garden this year,’ he was asked.  ‘The only earth turned on my behalf will be the day I’m buried in the grave!’ Other sayings are either too local or wicked!

It’s First Communion season. My god-child,  Caoimhe, made her Communion on Saturday and she came to see me on Sunday with her lovely family. My cousin Debbie is with me again.

The young swallows are learning to fly.

And all is well with the world this May evening.

May 16 2016

<<<<<<<<<<<<

Listowel Success at The Kingdom County Fair

Photo and text from The Irish Examiner

Many competing on the weekend said that the Kingdom County Fair was a great start to the season for them.

Michael Laffan from Kilfinny, Adare, Co Limerick, certainly agreed, as in the dairy classes on Sunday, he took home the Senior Champion and Supreme Female Champion titles for 2023 for Everground Hagley Gail 51.

“It’s great to be back,” Mr Laffan said, and the animals may have known they were gearing up for something too because in advance, “you’re washing them, and they would have got a little extra feed, just getting ready for today”.

“For a cow like this, you start with a nice udder that looks like it’s high and wide; good teat placement, from a milking point of view that they’re in the right place; and then we like a high-yielding cow so a cow with the capacity to yield,” he added.

As Mr Laffan was competing, he said he took notice of a lot of young people in attendance at the show – which instills great confidence in him about the future of these competitions, and brought back some memories for him.

“We started showing when our children were small and even though they’ve grown up, myself and my wife Margaret kept showing away,” he explained.

“We enjoy it, it’s nice to do of a Sunday, and it’s nice to take out the cows now and again,” according to Mr Laffan, who said his children continue to help out on the dairy farm and to prepare the cattle for competitions.

In the dairy section on Sunday at the Kingdom County Fair, the Junior Champion, Reserve Junior Champion, and Reserve Senior Champion titles went to Daniel and Emer Curtin from Listowel, Co Kerry.

Meanwhile, in the Young Handlers U-12 dairy class, Stephen Harty came first, Clodagh Kennelly in second, and Nora O’Carroll in third. 

Jennifer Harty placed first in the Young Handlers 13-16 class, with Sarah O’Connell and Jacqui O’Connell in second and third.

<<<<<<<<<<

An Artefact

A butter churn…when our forefathers made butter this is what they used. It was a job that required careful attention to timing.

<<<<<<<<

A Fact

The Ancient Romans used to drop a piece of toast into their wine for good health. That is where we got the phrase to raise a toast.

<<<<<<<<

Page 93 of 672

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén