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

Tag: 1972

Watching Tennis, Barna Bog, Féile an tSolais 2019 and a 1972 pantomime

Abandoned House in Valentia Island

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Watching the Tennis in the 1980s



Photos; Danny Gordon



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Bord na Mona and Barna Bog




This photo was taken by a Bord na Mona employee, Mr. E Switzer, (related to the Grafton Street family) in 1948. It shows a tipper full off hand cut turf being loaded on to a Cadbury’s Rathmore truck.

Photograph and information from Bord na Mona Living History

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Can you Help?


THE LEVIATHAN PROJECT

Féile an tSolais is looking for 15-20 volunteer artists and craftpeople, to complete an amazing project for its 2019 festival this October/November.

Key Skills

– Metal Fabrication

– Wirework

– Experience using Dremel tools

– Sculpture

– Upcycling

Please send a short bio with your name, age, skills and experience.

Email: feileantsolais@yahoo.com

The beautiful Illustration below is called ‘The Destruction of Leviathan’ by Gustav Doré.

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When the Pantomime was the Talk of the Town


Jack and The Beanstalk in 1972 was a show not to be missed.  With scriptwriters like John B. Keane, Bryan MacMahon and the panto king himself Declan Mangan, Colm O’Brien and Cathal Fitzgerald in charge of the music and a cast of thousands this panto had all the ingredients for success. So successful was it that it awakened an appetite among the audience for an annual panto and the players   and other participants had been bitten by the bug. So pantomime became part of Listowel’s entertainment calendar for a few years. People cherish very fond memories of those years. It also raised much needed funds for the building and fitting out of Listowel Old Folks’ Home, now Áras Mhuire.

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People You Meet at a Conferring


Bob Geldof was lucky enough to run into Martin Moore at a recent conferring ceremony.

Ballybunion, Listowel, Lyreacrumpnane and Moyvane

Tiger on the rocks at Ballybunion

Photo;Ballybunion Prints

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From Time Travel Kerry

The link above will lead you to a great site which has then and now photos from all over Kerry. I’ve put just two of the many Listowel ones here. The site is on Facebook and I know that many of my blog followers “don’t do Facebook” and so might miss these treasures.

Apart from the demolition of the house in white above, little has changed archictecturally in The Square.

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Bord na Mona: a Lyre Connection



“We had a request for items about the former Turf Development Board and BnM works at Lyrecrumpane in Kerry. This photo was taken at the retirement of Harry Starken of Boora in 1958. Harry Starken, second left front row, was a German who brought the first machinery to the Turf Development Board in 1936. The machinery was used in Turraun, Co. Offaly. While assembling the machine, he fell in love (bet he didn’t expect that to happen) and married a local girl, Elizabeth Cloonan from Leabeg. He remained in Ireland and was transferred to Lyrecrumpane in Kerry. “



photo and text from Bord na Mona Heartland



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GAA Nostalgia



From Twitter the 1972 Kerry Football team



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Moyvane Historical Walk



Despite the inclement weather, the planned historical walk through Moyvane went ahead on Sunday evening July 26 2015. Gabriel Fitzmaurice with the help of many local walkers relived old times in the village. People reminisced about characters who once enlivened daily life in Moyvane, shops and houses now closed up, blacksmiths, old schools and church, businesses selling all sorts, owners fondly remembered, and stories of life in a different era. 

I missed it but Elizabeth Brosnan took some great photos. Below are just some. Elizabeth has lots more on Facebook.

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