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

Tag: Aoife McKenna Page 3 of 4

Summer Entertainment

By

On June 19, 2023

In Listowel, Listowel Writers Week

My little granddaughter, Aoife McKenna in Ballybunion in June 2023

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Writers’ Week 2023

I’m back in the saddle after a little blip. In this picture, Saturday, June 4 2023, my younger daughter Clíona is addressing the audience at my Writers’ Week walk. In the forefront right hand side is my older daughter, Anne. My son, Bobby, is beside her in the picture.

The event this year became a family and friends affair as I was temporarily indisposed. They did fine without me.

I was sorry to miss this highlight. The legendary Jimmy Hickey, with his past pupils and fellow dancers, Jonathan Kelliher and Patrick Brosnan delighted the crowd with dancing, before the castle and beside the memorial to a man who would have appreciated this event more than most, the late Michael Dowling.

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Michael O’Connor, Illuminator

Stephen Rynne shared these two pictures. They are both pictures of &.

The top one is the work of an unnamed monk. It is in The Book of Kells and the bottom one is from Michael O’Connor of Listowel.

O’Connor took what he saw in the Book of Kells and elevated it to a new level.

Plans are afoot; On July 6th Stephen Rynne, our Michael O’Connor expert will give a talk in Kerry Writers’ Museum to an invited audience. The talk will be on Michael O’Connor and all the other Listowel artists working in different branches of art but all with a Celtic ambiance. I’ll be telling you more about this in the coming days. It is hoped that the talk will be live streamed and we’ll all be able to hear it.

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Remembering Luke Kelly in Ballybunion

I got a lovely email from the U.K.

…I grew up in the Square in Listowel and my father Dr Johnnie Walsh was a GP. He was called to Ballybunion one night where the Dubliners were playing. Luke Kelly had dislocated his shoulder. My father put his shoulder back in but demanded payment first. He had not been paid often as a young doctor and had learnt that you got the money when ‘the tear was in the eye’! 

Thank you for all the pleasure I am getting from the blogs. 

Best regards, 
Eleanor

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A Great Night in The Tinteán

I hadn’t been in the Tintean in years until last week when I went there with my visitors.

One of the main attractions (for me anyway) was Elle Marie O’Dwyer. On the left of my picture is Elle Marie’s mother, Catherine, who comes from Kanturk, with Breeda Ahern, my sister in law, Sheila Cronin, my cousin, and in the front Lil MacSweeney.

Elle Marie with Frances Kennedy, also from our parts and another friend.

Elle Marie on stage. You could hear a pin drop as she sang, unaccompanied, Garry MacMahon’s beautiful Land of the Gael.

A slightly bigger name on the bill was Sean Keane, always a joy to listen to.

Crystal Swing came out of retirement for the night and Derek threw his legs east and west in his inimitable style. We loved it. If an act wasn’t to your liking, you knew that there would be another one on in just a few minutes. My visitors loved their night’s entertainment.

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Strange but True ( and a bit harsh)

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Barbara’s Roadtrip 2

By

On August 23, 2022

In History, Listowel, Personal

In Marley Park; Éamon ÓMurchú

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Dwyers of New Zealand with a Listowel Connection

Press, 3 May 1946

MR AND MRS J. DWYER Mr and Mrs John Dwyer, 555 Manchester street, will celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage tomorrow. Mr and Mrs Dwyer are well known in Christchurch, as Well as in many other parts of the Dominion where Mr Dwyer was stationed during his 43 years’ service in the Police Force. Mr Dwyer was for nine years Superintendent of Police in the Canterbury district. He retired from the service in 1922, on which occasion he was accorded a public farewell. Mr Dwyer, who was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland, came to New Zealand in 1878 on the sailing ship City of Auckland, which was wrecked, on the Otaki coast. Many and varied are the experiences which Mr Dwyer can recall. For his rescue work during the Cumberland street fire in Dunedin in 1882, he was presented by the City Council with a silver medal for valour. He also holds the Australasian Royal Humane Society’s award for bravery, which was presented to him in 1893 for his attempt, in very dangerous circumstances, to rescue a man from drowning in Oamaru harbour.

Mr Dwyer has been associated with many cases which have made police history in New Zealand, and wherever he has been stationed he and Mrs Dwyer have won the respect and affection of those among whom they have lived. Mrs Dwyer, Who was born in Australia, came to New Zealand at the age of seven years. Mr and Mrs Dwyer were married in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, by the Rev, Father P. Lynch. They have one son, Mr Philip Dwyer, of Gisborne, and three, surviving daughters, Mesdames N. Lyttelton (Auckland), David Lusk (Fendalton) and F. B. Freed (Wellington). There are three grandchildren.

Jer Kennelly found the story and Martin Moore sent him this reply;

That is my great-granduncle. There are photos of him
around. His son, Thomas died during the Great War. Two
other sons of his died later in 1918 during the Spanish
Flu.

It was the family of a near relative of Lord Kitchener
[either a brother or uncle?] that he rescued from
the Cumberland fire.

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Installment Two of Barbara’s Tour Blog

Today Barbara spends time in Kerry with her cousins. She then starts her tour of Ireland with a trip to Galway.

We started our tour at The Riu Plaza-The Gresham Hotel and made our way to Galway.   Mind you I had just spent 5 glorious days in Kerry with cousins-Bridget O’Connor and Jerry O’Dwyer driving me to Clare and enjoying a night out at Milltown Malbay for their Irish Music Festival.   A fun night was had by all.  Thank you, Eithne and Eddie!!      I managed to get invited to a wedding too!  Thank you, Margaret Ann and Jerry Behan.   A blast at the wedding.  Congratulations to Blaithin and Neal Mangan.   

The church was Ballydonaghue.  The same church that my father attended so it was extra special for me. 

The finale on the 6th day was a visit to Croke Park to watch the Semi-final Gaelic Football game Kerry vs Dublin.  

To me, it was like the All-Ireland as they were always the rivalry when my father would cheer for Kerry.   Always seemed like it was Kerry vs Dublin!! 

I took RyanAir to Dublin that day-a great way to go and a nice young man from Tralee shared a taxi with me and he treated me!!  That was a real treat!!  The New Yorker in me was quite surprised!!

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My Kildare Granddaughter

Our little Aoife had a birthday. Her Kildare Granny made her a deliciious birthday cake and took this picture. Aoife is one.

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We’re Behind You

Danny’s window speaks for us all.

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At a friend’s wedding

These are a bevy of Mary’s glamorous school friends at her wedding to the love of her life, Dave Murphy, on Saturday last, August 20 2022.

Barbara Mulvihill, Nicola Griffin, Aoife Kelliher, Mary Moylan, Lainey Keane and Maria Dillon

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A Fact

The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and the UK in 1896.

Zanzibar surrendered after 28 minutes.

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St. Ita

By

On January 24, 2022

In Ballybunion, Listowel, Personal

Ballybunion Golf Course January 16 2022; Photo; Catherine Moylan

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I don’t know much about this photo except that Bryan MacMahon and John B. Keane and others are on the back of Stuart Stack’s truck. Any help with identifying the others and telling us when where and why this photo was taken would be great.

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Local Lore and Legend

Newmarket man, Raymond O’Sullivan is a great man for local lore. Here is his Facebook post about St. Ita.

St. Ita, the patron saint of Killeedy and Co. Limerick, is also called ‘The Foster Mother of the Saints of Ireland’. Among her many illustrious foster children was none other than St. Brendan, the Navigator, who was brought to Killeedy when he was one year old and stayed until he was six.Her çult remains strong in the hill country along the Cork, Kerry, Limerick borderlands. One unusual feature of the cult is letting the Christmas decorations up until after her feastday on the 15th of January. Not sure if it is out of laziness or devotion to her that I continue to observe this custom. Probably a bit of both. We got married on her feastday, and, when unsure of the anniversary date over the years, a discreet inquiry about St. Ita’s ‘pattern’ got me out of many a potentially perilous situation.

Shrine to St Ita in Killeedy, Co. Limerick

Stained glass window of St. Ita in The Oratory in Gougane Barra

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Your Help Sought

I am trying to trace any (relatives) or people that may know of/ be related to my Grandfather, John Sylvester Horan.

My hubby is doing my family tree My mum, ( who died in 1990) was orphaned when she was 9 yrs. She told me that she was led to believe her father was a bigamist but, I have found through ancestry that he was in fact a widower when he left for Liverpool. I only know that his 1st wife was called Sarah.

John was born in 1886 in Listowel. I know this is a massive long shot, but maybe someone may know something.

Thank you so much, Patricia Jones…South Wales x

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Telling Stories

This little piggy….

Aoife and I had great old chats on her recent visit. I can’t wait to share all the family secrets with her.

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The one who came back to say thanks

John O’Leary contacted Listowel Connection to thank his former teacher in Rossmacowen Primary School, Miss Enright of Bridge Road. He remembered her with gratitude. We tracked down the Sheila Enright in question and John’s gratitude and kind words will be conveyed to her.

This is from John’s latest letter;

Hi Mary,

I can not  thank you enough for all your time and effort in tracing my primary school teacher, Sheila. I moved into the fourth class as Sheila arrived at our school. Sheila was kind and always showed interest in your progress, caring, taking time to explain the subject, never telling you off. It was a time of learning. The classroom was always welcoming with displays and all the flowers on the window board and on her desk. There was the open fire with all the bottles of drinks for lunch time, as from Oct to March we all brought a sod of turf for the fire and at lunch time we went up through the fields to collect wood for the fire. My last years in primary school were so memorable. Thanks to Sheila or, as we would say, Miss Enright.

John

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New Year, Changed Town

By

On January 10, 2022

In Listowel

North Kerry sunrise photographed in January 2022 by Ita Hannon

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A Poem sent to us by Éamon ÓMurchú

John O’Donohue
A Blessing For The New Year

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colors
Indigo, red, green 
and azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight

When the canvas frays
In the curragh of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

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2022

John Kelliher took this marvellous picture of Listowel Town Square in December 2021

Here in North Kerry 2022 is opening with businesses closing, shops having to shut temporarily due to staff absences due to Covid and our streets at times eerily quiet as we are advised to limit social mixing. Our resilience is being tested but we will survive.

I’m back after a longer Christmas holiday than usual. Thank you to all the followers who were worried I had contracted Covid. Thankfully I have managed to avoid it so far even though it is all around me. so hopefully Listowel Connection will continue in some form for a while yet.

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John Stack, Dancing Teacher

My friend and former colleague at Presentation Secondary School, Listowel posted a sad message on Facebook in January 2022. He accompanied the message with this photo;

Hi All

I have informed the Ballydonoghue Cce branch of Comhaltas that It is with regret that I will not be returning as Set Dancing teacher in Ballydonoghue after 43 years. I have put alot of thought into my decision over the Christmas and due to a number of reasons including Covid-19 and the effect it has had on everything and still not knowing when we can return if at all this year.

I started classes in Ballydonoghue in 1978 and during my time I have had some very memorable ventures.

Our first All Ireland medal was in 1996 when our U8 set brought home medals in the U15 set competition in Listowel. We also won All Ireland medals in Ballycastle Co Antrim Castlewellan CountyDown Tullamore, Co. Offaly, IrelandPeter StackBallina Co MayoEnniscorthy Co. Wexford and Drogheda, Ireland

Winning our first All Ireland winners medal in Ballycastle County Antrim in 1999. We also have had much success at County, Munster, as well as other competitions all over the country.

We also travelled to take part in Sean Dempsey International competition in Manchester on several occasions having much success.

In 2008. 23members from the branch did a branch exchange with the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann – O’Neill Malcom Branch CCE in Washington DC. This was a very rare experience and we enjoyed visits to Capitol Hill, reception at the European union offices, also at the Irish Embassy, visiting Baltimore, Virginia, Maryland and seeing places we could only dream off. Finishing our trip with a performance on the Millennium stage In the Washington Dc Kennedy Centre where we were told we would have 200 to 250 attending and ending with over 1300 people watching us for an hour long concert.

Our trips to the RTE Studios for our performances on TG4 was a highlight for all our dancers.

I have to acknowledge the input Liz McNamara had on both Dolly and myself and the dancing class. She was a great support to us and always showed her support to every child regardless whether they won or not as she was always very proud that they had represented the branch.

Again many thanks to everyone in the branch for their support over the last 43 years and we would like to wish the branch much success in the future.

To Ballydonoghue GAA for the use of their clubrooms down through the years and of late their fabulous new building I would like to say thanks to all the officers past and present. Also to Jackie Hegarty and Tom in Tomasinis ye were always willing to help in any way ye could and put yer building at our disposal.

To the parents who have supported Dolly and myself and the class down through the years I want to thank you.

Last but not least to you our dancers wherever you may be. Passing through the doors of Ballydonoghue GAA clubrooms on a Satuday morning and Tuesday evening of late, I thank you all for the pleasure and joy you brought to us. We have made some great memories together and hope you will always remember your dancing days in Ballydonoghue.

John

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It’s for the Children

Our lovely 2021 baby has had her first Christmas, her first Christmas tree, her first visit to a crib and Santa was good to her.

Aoife has brought “hope with her and forward looking thoughts.”

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Listowel, December 2021

By

On December 3, 2021

In Listowel, Personal, Poem

Upper William Street, Listowel in 2021

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Then and Now on Market Street

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A Listowel Fact about Leahy’s Corner

These two houses were the first slated houses in Listowel. They were built by a man called O’Callaghan with money he brought back from the Napoleonic wars.

The blocked up windows were a later renovation. At various times in our history a tax known as a window tax was imposed. The more windows you had in your house the more tax you paid. This is thought to have given rise to the phrase ‘daylight robbery”.

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From Shannonside Annual 1958

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Three Generations

I decided to reprise my photo with my daughter and granddaughter on their recent visit.

Aoife was a bit reluctant to add her hand to the mix.

The final take was a lovely one.

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