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: Badminton Page 2 of 3

Listowel Badminton, the diet of barn owls and Knitwits Charity knitting

St. John’s, The Square, Listowel, March 2016

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Listowel Knitwits Knit for Charity


These are some of the hundreds of hats for premature babies that are knitted by a very kind lady here in Listowel.


There is an African charity that encourages knitters to knit these simple jumpers for African babies who would otherwise have no clothing. They ask us knitters to use colorful yarn as African people associate white with death and they love vibrant colorful garments.

Knitwits meet to knit and crochet on Tuesdays and Saturdays in Scribes Café in Church St. Listowel and everybody is welcome.

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Junior Griffin fills us in on more Badminton History

The story of Listowel Badminton Club continued

Some of the ladies who played badminton in the early  years
were Mrs. Clem Crowley, Miss. Kit Medell and Miss Mary Scanlan, who was a
carpentry teacher in the old Technical School at that time.  Romance blossomed here
through badminton as Miss Scanlan became the wife of Seamus Wilmot. Mr. Wilmot
in later life became Registrar of the National University of Ireland, was the
first President of Siamsa Tire and was the author of many plays in Irish.

Mrs. Crowley was the wife of Mr. James
Crowley who was the Sinn. Fein T.D. for Kerry North at that time.

It is known that in the late twenties there
was two badminton clubs active in the town, then playing in the Plaza Cinema and the
F.C.A. centre, known locally as the Sluagh Hall.

For a time badminton was played in a shed
in the Market place which was owned by a body called the Irish Automobile
Club.  This it seems was short term with
the Plaza hall and the Sluagh hall  
being the main venues.  Names to
the fore at that time were Frank Sheehy, Mai, Matt and Harry Naylor, Frank
Cotter, Mick Lynch, Paddy Walsh, Babe Jo Wilmot, the McElligott family and the
Macauley family.

The early thirties saw a banking family
arrive in Listowel by the name of Peard and they lived in the Square in a house
which has since been demolished and it was to the right of the Catholic Church.

The Peards were very much into badminton
and the mother and son, named Frank, were much involved in the local club.  The family were in Listowel from 1932 to 1938
and moved back to Dublin.  Frank Peard
became one of Irelands leading badminton players and in mens’ doubles was rated
in the worlds top ten.

In his book “Sixty Years of Irish
Badminton” he wrote of his time in Listowel and mentioned a Mrs. Macauley and a
Gus Stack who he played with and who was his teacher in St. Michael’s College
at that time.

Indeed, Frank Peard went on to be the
managing director of Guinness Ireland and is still interested in badminton though
in his nineties.

( I trawled the internet for a photo of Fred Peard and this was the best I could do.)

Mr. Peard gave great praise to the Tralee
Clubs of that time against whom Listowel played several friendly matches.  In particular he remembered being very
impressed by the Quinnell brothers of the K.P.H. club for the manner they received
service. Both, he wrote, stood right up to the short service line and
“threatened” the server.

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The Barn Owl and the Bank Vole



The bank vole painted by Michael Viney for The Irish Times.

“Barn owls in Britain feed mainly on field voles, a species that never reached Ireland. The range of the alien bank vole has spread widely across Ireland since its discovery near Listowel, in Co Kerry, in 1964. It had almost 40 years of Irish residence before that, having arrived with German machinery for the Ardnacrusha power project in the 1920s (a theory supported by DNA studies).

Bank voles mostly prefer woodland and hedgerow habitats, yet they now inhabit the southwestern third of the island, from the Co Cork coast to mid Co Mayo. Other Irish studies of barn-owl pellets show increasing reliance on the vole as prey, rather than the field mice and rats that used to dominate. The owl’s long legs reach easily into dense cover, but in a paper to be published in Irish Birds, the research journal of BirdWatch Ireland, the UCC scientists, led by Dr Sleeman, consider if the vole is spreading into open country, to take on the wider role that the field vole has in Britain.”

I bet you  never knew that, unless, like me, you read Michael Viney of The Irish Times online.

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From Time Travel Kerry

-Ballygrenane Listowel-

Two views looking north over the town of Listowel from the hillside at the south. The comparison is approximate as I’m not sure if the white farm building is the original cottage or not, there has been many changes. Notice how the doors and windows on the older cottage are level but the cottage itself is built with the slope. Also the road surface hasn’t improved much in between…

(Original photo – Lawrence late 1800s)(Modern photo – January ’16)

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St. Patrick’s Windows



Art Exhibition Continues, Listowel Badminton Club in 1924 and Coolard Memories

 Photo of Ballybunion on a March night in 2016 is by Jason of Ballybunion Prints

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Exhibition Continues

The Red Door Gallery is located in The Square Newcastlewest. It is a beautiful Arts space. The current exhibition is the varied and intriguing Colourful Spirits show. Below are a few last photos I took at the official opening on March 3 2016. It is well worth a visit.

 Billy Keane with some of the pictures.

 Two Billy Keanes: the younger Billy ( on the right) is a talented singer.

This fascinating artwork started life as a photograph.

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Listowel Badminton Club in 1924


(Junior Griffin)

In its early years
Listowel Badminton Club was a mens club only and Eddie Faley, Mortimer Galvin,
J. Farrell and others were members at that time.  Ladies applied to be admitted but to no
avail.  It is said that Eddie Faley
considered the females to be “A bloody nuisance”.

However he was
prevailed upon to admit the ladies and grudgingly condescended,  and in his first ever mixed doubles game his
partner was one Aileen Cronin, and lo and behold, she became his life partner
for many years to follow.

Indeed, it leads
one to ponder on the seemingly unending number of romances that have blossomed
through Badminton, and one feels that that the figure of Cupid should be
depicted with a racquet and shuttlecock and not with the customary bow and
arrow.

Listowel is very
fortunate that yet another dance ticket  was found in an old Library Book giving
details of yet another dance ball but more importantly for the benefit of
historians, the officers and committee of that time was listed.

This dance, known
as a wireless ball coupled with a fancy dress parade, was held also in the
Gymnasium on Saturday March 1st 1924 .

The committee
listed are as follows;

President; Mr
Seamus Wilmot;

Hon Sec; Mr. P.V.
Fahey;

Hon. Treas; Mr.
R.I. Cuthbertson

Committee; Messer’s
C.Tackberry, M.Hannon, T.Moore, J.Farrell, M.Naylor, J.O’Sullivan, J.Medell,
J.Walsh and T.P. Cotter.

It is interesting
to note the data on this card such as the admission price where the men had to
pay an old shilling more than the ladies, 8/6 pence compared to 7/6 pence.

There is  nice line stating that “Mr. Dunne’s Orchestra is
personally conducted”

The back page
gives information on the Wireless Concert. (To the young people of today a
wireless is now known as a Radio).

It states that “Subscribers
will be entertained to a programme Broadcasted from the following stations;
London; Paris; Bournemouth; Manchester and Glasgow.

Detailed Programme can be
seen in the Irish Independent of Saturday March 1st.

The set is fitted with the
latest and most up-to-date-Loud Speaker”

With the IT
technology that is available today the world has certainly come a long

way since those
updated loud speakers of 1924.

It is interesting
to note that whilst Listowel had a wireless on March 1st, some days
later, on March 6th, 1924, that Pope Pius XI had a wireless
installed in Rome for the first time.

One wonders did he
have some contact in Listowel who told him about this new form of
communication, and did he, per chance, purchase it from McKenna’s of Listowel?

Who Knows?

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The Old Order Changeth Yielding Place to the New



March 4 2016

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Maurice O’Mahony, Principal of Coolard Primary School



Maurice O’Mahony launched his memoir and history of the school where he has been principal since 1973. When he took to the stage in St. John’s on March 5 2016 the tale he had to tell was an extraordinary one.

Maurice came to the school in 1973, aged 20 years. He must have been one of the youngest principals in the country at the time. When he came, Coolard had no running water, no electricity and no telephone. It must have felt more like 1873.

Maurice is still at the helm today and the school has all the modern trappings, internet, white boards, SNAs, a secretary etc., etc.

When the principal of his old school, Ballydonoghue rang him one day to ask him for the names of all the teachers who had taught in Coolard, he undertook a search and discovered that, while all the pupils names were recorded, some of the teachers’ names were in danger of being forgotten. Thus began the long years of research to gather together as comprehensive a history of the school as possible. The culmination of that research is a magnificent magnum opus which will be treasured by local historians and everyone who has a link with the school.

The school has been through many trials and strifes and has seen much success, Thankfully we rarely hear about school boycotts nowadays but Coolard had one in its history and it lasted for 15 months. It is not as famous as the boycott in Drimoleague which is still not talked about to this day. It had at its heart though the same cause, i.e. the appointment of a principal.  You can read all about Coolard’s strike in Maurice’s book.

The local community has resisted any efforts to amalgamate their school with the other Primary school in the parish and under Maurice’s stewardship it has gone from strength to strength.

I’d advise you to go out and buy yourself a copy of A History of Coolard School 1846 to 2016. It will soon be a collector’s item. An interesting feature of the book is that it contains the name of every pupil who was ever on the roll there.

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Fuinneoga Gleoite


Listowel Florist

NCBI


Tae Lane Store

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Another successful performance




photo: Listowel Drama Group



Listowel Drama Group cast and crew with adjudicator at the North Cork Drama festival where high praise was given to their  stellar performance again last night.

Final run last night March 14 2016 in Hollycross in North Tipperary.

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Flying the Flag for the best of Irish Food



In London they celebrated St. Patrick’s Day early, on Sunday March 13 2016. Chef John Relihan was there cooking up the best of Irish beef on the best of Irish turf.

Terry Wogan, Early Days of Badminton in Listowel and G.A.A. success for Listowel in the early seventies



Cumar Dheis this week




Photo; Kerry Climbing on Facebook

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The saddest Corner of Town Today




My photo shows,  on the far right, Casa Mia, once the bar owned by Kerry footballing great, Tim Kennelly. Beside it is the old creamery, once the gathering place for country people, where stories were told and news and gossip exchanged. Next is the building that was once Walsh’s Ballroom , The Las Vegas where Sive was premiered and where many a romance began. And then The Classic Cinema, which Kieran Gleeson loved and nourished.

Kieran passed away yesterday, February 16th 2016 after a short spell with that cruelest of neurological diseases. MND. May the sod rest lightly on the gentlest, the kindest and noblest of souls.

My photo from 2012 shows Kieran doing what he loved best, promoting a local film maker;

L to R: Kieran Gleeson of Listowel Classic Cinema with Rory Kirby, filmmaker and Eddie, Mary and Catherine Moylan of Listowel Vintage Wireless Museum.

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Terry Wogan Compered The Rose of Tralee




My information comes from the festival history on The Rose Of Tralee website

“Rose Selection has been compered by Kevin Hilton, Joe Lynch, Terry Wogan, Brendan O’Reilly (RTÉ sports), Michael Twomey (‘Cha & Miah’), Gay Byrne, Kathleen Watkins, Derek Davis, Marty Whelan, Ryan Tubridy and Ray D’Arcy.”

and this is what it said in the paper about him

Kerryman  Saturday, 28 March, 1964; Page: 3

APRIL is almost here once again and with it come the glamour and excitement of the Rose of Tralee dances.

BACHELOR GAY Terry Wogan, the gay, bachelor compere of T.E,’s “Jackpot,” is known to thousands throughout the country. Those without, T.V. will have heard, him news announcing on Radio Eireann for the past three yews. He is probably one of the most, popular television personalities on T.E,.—proof of this lies in the number of Valentine cards he received, on February 14 last—130. Terry hails from Limerick and was a bank official before joining R.E.,

(Glossary;

R.E. is Radio Eireann

gay meant cheerful or happy go lucky)

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Junior Griffin recalls the early days on Badminton in Listowel


His colleagues in Listowel Badminton honoured Junior on his 50 th. year promoting the sport in town.



Here Junior writes about the early days of the club.

BADMINTON was invented long ago; a form of sport played

in ancient Greece and Egypt.  Badminton came from a child’s game

called battledore and shuttlecock, in which two players hit a feathered

shuttlecock back and forth with two tiny rackets.  The game was called

POONA” in India during the 18th century, and British officers stationed

there took the Indian version back to England in the 1860’s. The army men

introduced the game to friends, but the new game was definitely launched there

at a party given in 1873 by the Duke of Beaufort at his country place, “Badminton”

in Gloucestershire.  During that time the game had no name, but it was referred to

as “The Game of Badminton” and, thereupon, Badminton became its official name.

Until 1887 the sport was played in England under the rules that prevailed in India.

They were, from the English viewpoint, somewhat contradictory and confusing.

Since a small army of Badminton players had been recruited, a group formed itself

into the Bath Badminton Club, standardised the rules, made the game applicable to English ideas and the basic regulation (of England) was formed to take over the

authority of the Bath Badminton Club, and the new group made rules, which now

govern the game throughout the world.

The sport seems to have come to Ireland almost immediately. It is known that

Badminton was very strong in Dublin, Wicklow, Coleraine and Ballymoney

in the 1890’s which resulted in the Badminton Union of Ireland been formed in 1899.

Indeed, the world’s first ever International Badminton match was played between Ireland and England in Dublin in the 1902/03 season and, except for the

two world wars, became an annual fixture alternately home and away until 1971/72.

So, as one can see the sport of Badminton was in its infancy when it came to Listowel.

Regretfully, except for the dance card found by Jim Halpin, there is no other record pertaining to that time and, unfortunately, there are no names listed as to who was involved in the founding of the club.  Hopefully, if those founding fathers came back today they would be proud to see the club they started in such a strong position one hundred years on.


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This made my Day

Last week I received this. Well done, An Post, and thank you, Philomena.

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Errors Corrected and Clarifications Given


In my story from Junior about repairs to the clock in St. John’s, I stated that Archdeacon Wallace lived in Gurtenard House. Junior pointed out to me that the Archdeacon never lived in Gurtenard. The last clergyman to live in Gurtenard was Canon Adderley.

My little fun fact about the days of the week in February was not in fact a fact at all. A man who deals with figures and who notices such things pointed out to me that every February has 4 of every day of the week. 2016 is a leap year so it has 5 Mondays.

Now to the G.A.A. photo which Junior gave me;

What he gave me was a print of a photo with the names underneath. Junior did not in fact write the names himself so he takes no responsibility for any mistakes here.

Margaret Dillon thought that the priest in the photo looked more like Fr. Gerard Dillon. She remembered that Fr. Dillon was a great step dancer and participated in many concerts with her.

As usual with Junior, one story calls up another memory and he has a story to tell. He says

“My memory of Fr. Dillon, a lovely priest, was of a man with a fine bushy head of black hair. The one thing I know is that Fr.O’Sullivan would have been a curate in Listowel much earlier than that,in the early or middle 40s I would say. Could tell you a small story about him saying the 8 o’clock Mass one Sunday morning. He became P.P. of Duagh after that but was a man that was very much involved in golf.

Around the time that photo was taken the clergy in Listowel were Canon Peter O’Sullivan, Fr. Matt Keane and Fr.Gerald Dillon.  A great team of priests. The house keeper was Mrs. Kearns and I became very close friends with her son Olly and I spent a lot of my time in the Presbytery and knew the priests well. Olly’s son Liam is the well known inter County football manager, with Tipperary at the moment”

( I’ll have to go back for the 8 o’clock mass story.)



Such is the beauty of the internet that one memory shared leads to lots of other stories and the above photo was no exception. 



The man in the front row is second from left is the late Roly Chute who ran a famous chip shop at the corner of Ballygologue Rd. across from the sports field.  Vincent Carmody shared  the following memory of the late Roly on Facebook;





“Whatever about the merits of Roly’s smart bow tie and dapper dress sense, nothing could compare to his wonderful chips, peas, and Donnelly’s skinless sausages, then washed down by a glass of milk. 


In 1972, when I first became secretary of Listowel Emmets, training was at a low ebb at the start of the year . I had an idea that we should adopt a professional approach, and offer a meal after training.


Firstly, I went to Roly Chute and asked him, what would he charge per player for chips, peas and sausages. He thought for a minute and said,  “One shilling and sixpence and for an extra threepence, I’ll throw in a glass of milk.”


 Next, I spoke to the chairman of the club, Mikey Kennelly, (father of the great Tim). I told him of the idea and Roly’s quote. Always a man for a new idea, “Right,” he said, “if you think it will work, go ahead.”


 Agreement got, I went to Michael Collins and asked him to type a letter which we distributed to all the players. First night of training after that, 36 players turned up, not counting away players. Afterwards as Mickey and myself watched them all troop over to Roly’s cafe to be fed, he turned to me and said , “We will break the club, but we’d better go over as well, as I hear they’re great chips.”


 As the training nights went by, the numbers settled down and each night less and less went over to Roly’s. The training bug had caught on. That year, the senior team won an unprecedented treble, County Junior Championship, North Kerry League and Championship. 


Shortly after winning the replayed league final, Andy Molyneaux gave me a copy of the missive which I had given to the players and he declared, ‘”Thanks to your idea and Roly’s chips, peas and sausages, we have the best year ever in the club’s history.”




Listowel Emmetts Junior County Champions 1972

Back, E O Carroll, R.Chute, D. Stack, B.Galvin, S O Donavan, T Fitzgerald, T Leahy, J Leahy, G Leahy, P Lynch, J Guerin, B Walsh, V Carmody, T Moriarty, J Hannon, M Kennelly. 

Middle, J Croghan, T Kennelly, T Shanahan, P Flaherty, J Hartnett, E O Connor, J Driscoll, G Galvin. Front, K Fitzgerald, P J Browne, T Dalton, P Horgan.

Ashes 1962;

Ashes Team, (c) 1962. 

Front, J Keane, J Griffin, M Cremin, M Cotter, F Chute, T Ashe, M McMahon, R Farrell.

 Back, B McMahon, B Shanahan, G McMahon, B O’Shea, F Murray, J Flaherty, M Ryan, R Chute.

Clifton Clowers Badminton, The Men’s Confraternity and Barna Station



Beale Robin Welcomes the Spring


Photo: Ita Hannon



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“I don’t care about Clifton Clowers….”



Have you ever wondered who this man mentioned in the song, “Wolverton Mountain was?

Wonder no more. Maura Brennan found the answer and the picture in an Appalachian Americanswebsite;

Here is one of the “greatest generation” people who made this country great. This is a picture of Clifton Clowers plowing his field at the age of 100. Clowers was the subject of a Merle Kilgore hit song called “Wolverton Mountain.” Mr. Clowers lived to be 102 (1891 – 1994) where he actually lived and farmed that land on Wolverton Mountain. A solid American who was just who he was, although he rubbed shoulders with a lot of famous people after the song was written about him. 


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Healyracing Took Some Great pictures at Tattersalls Recently



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When Listowel Men Retreated to Limerick

(photo and text: Vincent Carmody)

The Listowel Men’s Confraternity
and Limerick Retreat.


The Listowel men’s confraternity had it’s origins in the
early part of the 1900’s and it continued until its gradual demise and ending
in the latter part of the 1950’s. The ladies of the parish were attached to a
religious movement named, The Children of Mary. 


The Men’s Confraternity was
attached to St. Mary’s Parish Church. As part of its discipline, each member
had a duty to attend monthly confession and communion. The confraternity, was
divided up among the various streets and areas of the parish, with each area
designated so many pews in the church, for the monthly mass. The first pew of
each section, hosted a wooden standard with the name of the area, held in place by it’s
insertion into brass ring holders, which were screwed onto the middle aisle
side of each pew. These brass rings remain to this day. Now some
serve as flower arrangement holders on wedding days.
 The wooden standards
carried, on top, a wooden, icon like board, on this was printed an image of a
particular saint, whose patronage was bestowed on the different areas. When
not in use, these standards were stored, mounted on frames, located in the
inner porches, left and right of the main entrance of the church. Each section
had a steward, his job, to maintain a confraternity notebook, into which he
marked, like the old school roll books, the attendance record of each member.

On completion of 25 years membership, one was presented by a medal of
commemoration, by the  Bishop of Kerry.

A rare 1960s photograph above  was taken on a weekend retreat at the Redemptorist
Retreat House in Limerick. Each year Listowel men of various persuasions,
including, Retirees, Coach Makers, Harness Makers, Licence Vintners , Farmers,
Builders Providers, Accountants, Schoolboys, Factory Workers, Electricians.
Solicitors, Garage Mechanics , Agricultural Advisers, Post Office Employees,
School Caretakers, Urban Council Employees, Confectionery Wholesalers,
Plasterers, College Professors and Secondary School Teachers, Blacksmiths, Veterinary
Assistants, Electrical Contractors and Electricians , Civic Guards, Firemen,
Hardware store Assistants, Tailors, Footballers, Dancers, Building Contractors,
Lorry Drivers and Creamery Workers, Actors and Play-Actors, Conformists and
Nonconformists, Publicans and Tipplers, and many more, of different trade and
political persuasions, would gather for a weekend of prayerful reflection, and
as one participant later told me, ‘for a peaceful and restful weekend away from
a nagging partner.’

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Badminton Winners of Yesteryear


Anne Marie and Mary O’Donoghue with Majella Maher.



(photos: Junior Griffin)


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Liam Downes photos of Barna Railway Station Then and Now



Listowel Arms, Badminton in Listowel and a few dates for your diary

Listowel Arms Now and 10 years ago

January 2016

2006

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Badminton, a shop refurbishment and an old dance card


Junior Griffin tells the story:

  

What, one may
well ask, has the famed city of Jericho and the Listowel Badminton Club in
common?

The Bible
story tells us that Joshua and his Israelites marched around Jericho, then
shouted and blew their trumpets so that the walls came tumbling down.

There is no
doubt whatsoever that the writing of this history of the Listowel Badminton
Club would never have been considered but for the destruction of another wall.

A few short
years ago local business man and former badminton club member, Mr. Jimmy Halpin
moved his fishing and shooting supplies business to number 24, Church Street,
Listowel. The premises needed extensive renovations to cater for his business,
which meant many of the inner walls had to be knocked, not to the sound of
trumpets but with the use of jackhammers and the tools of today.

On examining
the rubble, Mr. Halpin and his workmen found numerous newspapers, all tightly
folded as if they were inserted for insulation. On checking the papers it was
found that the headlines of most dealt with the earthquake and the destruction
of San Francisco in 1906.

On turning
over a page he saw something falling to the ground.  On examining it, Mr.
Halpin found it to be a beautifully decorated and well preserved invitation
card (illustrated) with a short pencil attached, to a dance under the
auspices of the Listowel Hockey and Badminton Clubs to be held on Friday
December 16th 1908.

The music
listed was definitely different to the music that is heard in the dance halls
of today with many classical pieces being to the fore and the pencil possibly
used by the ladies to reserve a dance if asked by a gentleman. One wonders did
that inspire the writer to pen the tune “ Save the last waltz for me”.


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A Few Dates for you to Pencil in

Make sure you catch Listowel Drama Group in St. John’s from February 11 to 14 2016. Their Blithe Spirit is a must see. Listowel needs to get behind them as they head off to the tough world of drama festivals.

The Exhibition will showcase works of art, photography, felting & assemblage. Participating artists include, Rebecca Carroll, (not in photo), Liam Brennan (not in photo), Jim Dunne, Noreen Breen, Malcome Donald, Lisa Fingleton, Viveca Amoto, Susan Hitching, Marie Brennan, David Morrison, Mary Finucane & Arian Everson. This Exhibition is in co-operation with Newcastlewest Arts. For further details contact Rebecca Carroll (Colourful Spirits) @ 087 4577979 or Vicky Nash (Red Door Gallery) @ 086 2517086

The Exhibition will be official launched by Billy Keane (Journalist & publican)

     ATHEA DRAMA GROUp presents ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ at Con Colbert Memorial Hall, Athea on February 25th, 27th, 28th & March 3rd, 5th & 6th at 8pm.Directed by Oliver McGrath, this is a heart lifting tale that tells the story of five women who meet up for a night of fun and laughter that ultimately leaves their lives turned upside down. The cast features Annette O’Donell, Angeline O’Donnell, Nora Hunt, Louise Ahern & Ria Browne. Photo by Lizzy Murphy

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