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: Adare

Adare, The passing of a Knockanure born nun and WIM 2015


What more could you want? A cuppa in the sunshine at The Seanchaí




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Adare


A visitor to Woodland House took these photos.

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Death in the U.S. of Knockanure born nun




Sr Elena,( Phil) Goulding



Death of Sister Goulding of Knockanure.

Sister Elena Goulding, OSF, 81, died in Assisi House in Aston, Pennsylvania, on April 7. 2015.  She had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 63 years. Sister Elena (Bridget Philomena Goulding) was born in Knockanure, County Kerry, Ireland. She earned a B.A. in English from Neumann University in Aston, Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in Education from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She ministered primarily in education, prison ministry, and eldercare. 

In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, she taught at Immaculate Conception School, Towson; St. Stephen School, Bradshaw; Fr. Charles Hall Middle School, and St. Frances Academy and served as a prison chaplain at the Women’s Detention Center. She also ministered in Delaware; Washington, DC; South Carolina; and Ireland. 

Sister Elena is survived by two sisters: Mary Clancy and Patricia Danaher; two brothers: Christy Goulding and Michael Goulding; her nieces and nephews, and by her Franciscan family. 

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Crisis hits Tralee in 1920


From the front page of the MONTREAL GAZETTE (Canada) Friday the 5th of november 1920 ,,,,,,,,

the headline reads ,,,

“TRALEE IS PARALYZED”…. Town near starvation , condition is desperate. The town of Tralee in Ireland is fast approaching starvation, in consequence of recent police order forbidding the carrying on of business – until two missing policemen are returned by the townspeople ; the report began Trade is paralyzed , the banks and bakeries even being closed , and the condition of the people is becoming desperate , An additional military order forbids the holding of fairs and markets or assemblies of any kind within a 3 mile limit of the town.     (source; Historical Tralee)

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Women in Media 2015 




Moya Doherty, Chairman RTE, Miriam O’Callaghan , Prime Time etc., Dearbhail MacDonald, Associate editor Irish Independent, Correspondent on legal matters etc., Dee Forbes, European Head of the Discovery Chanel and Katie Hannon, Prime Time.



I was in Ballybunion on Saturday April 18 for WIM 2015. There was a starstudded lineup of influential  Irish women collected there. The message I brought from the event was that we women have the competence and we are gradually finding the confidence.

One of the speakers, (I think it was Dee Forbes) told us that a woman looks at a job spec. and says,” I can do 1, 2 and 3 but I can’t do 4 and 5, I can’t apply. A man looking at the same ad says,” I can’t do 1,2 or 3 but I can do 4 and 5. I’ll apply.

Mary Harney opened the symposium. Here she is with Ballydonoghue women in media, the backbone of the great annual Ballydonoghue Parish Magazine.

Joan O’Connor of Kilcooley’s is the driving force behind this super event.

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Munster Fleadh for Listowel




Denis Carroll posted this old one on Facebook to herald the news that the fleadh is to return in 2016, not Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann this time but the Munster fleadh.

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They’re Open




This lovely couple, Sonata and Vilijus Ogorodnikas have come all the way from Lituania to lovely Listowel. Yesterday, they sealed their arrival with the opening of their new business at 18 Church St. It’s all about beauty, hair nails and skin. If they can make us look half as beautiful as they look themselves we will be doing okay. I wish them success.

Weather photographs and Frank Lewis’ Listowel Walk

Today I’m going to bring you some idea of our recent weather as captured by the cameras of better photographers than me.

 Clogher Head by Peter Cox

Fasnet lighthouse by Peter Cox

Flood outside Adare golf club by Jessica Hilliard

Valencia by Valerie O’Sullivan

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Meanwhile Jim MacSweeney and Timothy John MacSweeney (no relation) were out photographing birds

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N.B. A date for the diary

Last Sunday I went walkabout with Vincent Carmody and Frank Lewis. The programme, a walking tour of Listowel, will be broadcast on Radio Kerry on Feb 22 in Frank Lewis’ Saturday Supplement. The entire 2 hour programme from 9.00 to 11.00 will be from Listowel. I think you will enjoy it. I certainly did.

Here are a few photos I took on the day

Frank Lewis interviewing Vincent as we set out on the walk

Gabriel Fitzmaurice is a programme maker’s dream. He had anecdotes, stories, poems and songs and was quick on his feet when thrown a curve ball question. Nothing on this tour was rehearsed…well prepared, yes, but the first take was the last take.

 Frank interviewing Kay Moloney about the Famine in Listowel

Martin Griffin told stories of local characters a few Lartigue anecdotes.

Jim MacMahon talked of Church Street then and now.

Joan Mulvihill gave a vituoso performance of the songs of the local bards. She also reminisced about her childhood in The Gleann.

Ballybunion in the aftermath of January storms 2014

This is Ballybunion on Sunday, January 12 2014

 The beautiful beach was fairly empty except for our family.

Banks of sand were washed up beside the Sea Rescue garage.

Damage to the the remaining door of the Sea Resue premises

This piece of driftwood looked a bit like a beached alligator.

Damage to the sea side windows of the little shop

Grass on the cliff looked as if it had been “combed” by the wind.

I don’t think I’d like to live in this cliff top apartment.

Two birds on a wire surveyed the deserted beach.

Looking down from the road

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A mystery nearing a solution

Do you remember the obituary to Pat Abruzzo?

“Mrs. Nora Patricia Abruzzo, of Woodstock, GA., passed away Tuesday December 24, 2013 in an automobile accident in Warren County, GA. She was 67.

A Funeral Mass will be held 10:30 A.M. Thursday, January 9, 2013 at Transfiguration Catholic Church with Father Tran officiating. Burial will follow at 12:30 P.M. Thursday January 9, 2013 at Georgia National Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 2-7 P.M. Wednesday, January 8, 2013 at Woodstock Funeral Home.

Mrs. Abruzzo was born March 12, 1946 to the late Dan and Nora Sweeney Kirby in Listowel County Kerry Ireland.


Mrs. Abruzzo was the Director of the Microbiology Department at Kennestone Hospital.”



A few local people set to work on solving this mystery. Progress was slow but Kay Caball cracked it for us . This lady, who was known as Patsy Kirby in Duagh, came from The Mall.

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Jer. Kennelly took this photo of The Big Bridge

This is Timothy John MacSweeney’s study of 2 swans at Ross Castle, Killarney


National Library picture of Adare Co. Limerick, 1900

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Maura Esmond sent me these.

The annual Snow Sculpture contest in Breckenridge, Colorado, attracts contestants from all over the world. These are just a small sample of the many magnificent works of art on display . They are all made from snow.



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