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: Athea Page 9 of 11

Athea et al.

Athea Tidy Town Committee posted this picture postcard of their lovely village during the December cold snap.

I visited shortly after Christmas and took a few photos of my own.

This is the local Post office.

At Christmas it had this lovely stain glass effect picture by local artist, Jim Dunn, in the window. My photo does not do it justice.

Wintry conditions have slowed progress on the magnificent mural but it is always a delight to watch this masterpiece in progress.

As I walked through the main street, this delightful makeover of a post box caught my eye. Unusually, the box is on the wall of a private dwelling. Maybe it was once the post office?

This house had an almost life sized crib in front.

This piece of sculpture commemorates the town’s most famous athletes, the Aherne brothers.

A whole social history of Athea is captured by Jim Dunn in this intricate and fascinating mural. Below are some of the cameos included. They represent everything that the village holds dear. In years to come will people come to Athea as they do to Derry just to look at the wall art?

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Old Listowel

This is a photo of the old bridge to Listowel racecourse

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Fungi still going strong in 2015




Fungi photographed by his friends at Fungie Forever

Athea revisited and Princess Mary Tins

Athea, Co. Limerick


I could look at the Athea forge mural forever. When I visited last week it had progressed a good bit. It is absolutely fascinating to watch the forge scenes from my childhood come to life on a local wall. The life size animals and men are captured brilliantly by artist, Jim Dunn.



This looks to me like a seed drill. I am proud to say that I have operated such a machine. I can’t wait to see this one finished.

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A Christmas treat during WW1

As British servicemen were
mobilised en masse in late 1914, the nation prepared itself for Christmas at
war. Facing the very real prospect of hundreds of thousands of British men
spending the festive season away from their families, the 17 year old Princess
Mary took it upon herself to create a Sailors’ and Soldiers’ fund that would
raise funds to provide every service man and woman with a Christmas gift to
remind them they hadn’t been forgotten. 

Dubbed the Princess Mary Tin , the
gift was a brass tin that contained a variety of gifts. Tobacco, writing sets,
cigarettes and chocolate all featured, with a photo of the princess inside
every one of the 2 million tins produced.          (Photos and text: FindmyPast on Twitter)

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Slí na Sí

The Fairy trail is now even more inviting as all the tall weeds have been cut back.

Another burden of worries left at the worry tree.

Róisín spotted all the birds’ nests high above us .

We checked in on the animals in the pet farm at O’Halloran’s Garden Centre

All doing well and enjoying a rare sunny day outdoors

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The staff of Dr. Enright’s dentist’s The Square Listowel sometime in the 1950’s  (photo from Listowel thread on Boards.ie)


Community spirit in Ballincollig and Athea

Up The Village



This is Ballincollig, Co. Cork and it is where  many people I love now live. The Village is what native people have always called this massive dormer town. It must be the biggest village in Ireland.

Ballincollig is still en féte in celebration of a momentous victory in The County Senior Football Championship. This might seem like a bit of overkill to places in Kerry, well used to club victories but you might understand better the appreciation of this victory when I tell you that Ballincollig GAA club was set up in 1886, just two years after the founding the GAA. This makes Ballincollig GAA one of the oldest clubs in the country and this is the very first time ever they have won a senior club county football  championship. 

The place has gone bananas.

The church is bedecked in bunting. You would be forgiven for thinking that the bishop or some other church dignitary was due a visit.

This is Scoil Eoin. It and all the other Ballincollig schools were temporarily uniformed in Green and White. The visiting team members included many past pupils. They wangled a whole week off homework for the delighted young supporters.

Dunnes Stores showed its support.

So if you are passing through Ballincollig, be sure to congratulate them. They are still on a high.

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Athea Victory




This is  Athea Tidy Town Committee celebrating their victory in the 2014 Limerick in Bloom competition.

If you are anywhere in the vicinity, do drop into Athea, one of Ireland’s loveliest villages, in my opinion.

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Still preserved and loved in Athea


butter churn
wash board

These artifacts can be viewed at  Blueberry Home Bakery in Athea

Fr. Tom O’Donnell, tying the knot and some old photos

Chaplain of The ancient Order of Hibernians in the U.S. has a Listowel Connection

Maeve Moloney Koch sent us this 

National Chaplain’s Report

By Fr. Tom O’Donnell

Vocation seeds in the Kerry
genes;

My mother and father came to
the Garfield area in Pittsburg in 1924. My father, Bartley was from Moycullen
in Co. Galway and my mother, Nellie from Listowel, Co. Kerry It was the custom
of the Irish at that time that after they were established in The States they
would send money to Ireland for one of their siblings or close relatives to
come to the America. My godmother, Delia O’Donnell Griffin brought her brother,
my dad to the States and my great uncle, Nick Synan sent for his my mother,
Nellie Synan.

Since they were from separate
counties, separated by Clare and Mayo my mother and father did not know each
other until they came to Pittsburg. They met at the home of my great uncle and
aunt Nick and Maria Synan.  Nick was the
brother of my mother’s father, John Synan. I never knew any of my grandparents
since they did not come to America. However my aunt, Maria and my uncle, Nick
became my surrogate grandparents. Maria and Nick along with three other great
aunts lived directly across the street from us. I spent a lot of time at the
Synan home. I particularly like to go there at night for there was always a
game of Euchre or Five Hundred.

On one occasion when I was
about eight or nine years old, my Aunt Maria said to me, “Tommy, did you know
that you had a great uncle who was a bishop of Kerry?” It was not until I was
ordained a priest and became interested in my ancestry that I discovered that
my great great uncle, John Mangan, was Bishop of Kerry 1904 to 1917. Bishop
John was born in Listowel in 1853 and was baptized and confirmed in St. Mary’s
church, Listowel, the same church where all my Synan and Mangan relatives
received the sacraments. Bishop Mangan was ordained on July 1 1877 and died on
the fortieth anniversary of his ordination, July 1 1917. He is buried in St.
Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney under St. Patrick’s altar, a side altar at the
cathedral. I was privileged to visit his grave many times on my trips to Kerry.
Two of his sisters’ sons, his nephews and my cousins were ordained priests.
Bishop Mangan’s sister, Elizabeth Mangan who was married to Denis Synan was my
great grandmother. My great grandmother lived in the same family home as my
mother growing up.

Now to the seeds of vocations
in the Kerry genes. In addition to Bishop Mangan and his two nephews, I the
great great nephew of Bishop Mangan am also a priest and my nephew Fr. Michael
Joyce OFM Cap is also a priest. A co incidence- or have the Kerry genes blessed
the Mangan, Synan, O’Donnell and Joyce families with the seeds of religious
vocation? Ultimately we thank our heavenly Father for the gift of our vocations
to the priesthood.

National Hibernian Digest
July August 2014

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Tying the knot




Oddly enough, the
phrase ‘tying the knot’ comes from an old Irish tradition that symbolises the
bond of marriage in the same way that the exchanging of rings does in most ceremonies
today.

At the point in
the ceremony where the bond between husband and wife is signified, the couple
clasp their hands together, and a ribbon, cord, or rope – often brightly
coloured is wound around
their joined hands as a symbol of their agreement to spend their lives
together.

This is a Celtic
tradition to which the Scottish also lay claim, and there’s plenty of evidence
to suggest it was widespread throughout Europe at one point. It was even part of
the British royal wedding in 2011.  ( source: Irish Central)

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An Eclectic Collection of old photos from negatives


Old images from The Market.

Jimmy Hickey in 1970. I don’t know who the young lady is.

Athea Baby Show 1970

Josephine McEnery at the creamery Athea 1973



Jimmy Hickey’s Dancing Class, Knockbrack, Knocknagoshel

Listowel Races, an Athea artist and Cork win the All Ireland Camogie Final

Monday, September 15 2014



Guess where I will be this afternoon ?

No prizes for guessing the answer.

But

I might win a prize because I have been chosen as one of the finalists in the Loving Listowel Races Photography Competition.  The winners will be announced at 4.30p.m. today by Mr. John Maguire, Chairman of Listowel Race Company.

Watch this space!

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They did it!



The Cork Camogie team, helped by their Listowel born physiotherapist, Aoife MacMahon, were far and away the better team in yesterday’s All Ireland Final. They won by a comfortable margin in the end even though they got off to a shakey start and found themselves on the receiving end of a few licks from the Cats.

(photo: The Examiner)

Anna Geary, the Cork captain, was this year’s Cork entrant in The Rose of Tralee

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A Brush with history


This is the writing on the paper bag containing the brush pictured below. My friend found it among her family treasures. The writer claims that the brush was purchased around 1863.

The brush is about 16 inches long. Any idea of its purpose?

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Big Wheel in full swing

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Athea mural coming along nicely

Snapped on the street in Athea, Co. Limerick last week; the artist, Jim Dunn at work on his forge mural. It is worth a trip to Athea just to marvel at the work of this extraordinarily talented artist.

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Getting behind the team

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