Christie Hennessey – Listowel Connection

Photo by Ita Hannon

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Sleepless in Seattle

Seattle’s Best Coffee in Market Street has rebranded as Insomnia.

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1994 Harvest Festival Brochure

Junior Griffin found this old brochure among his treasures.

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Christie Hennessey

This is the Christie Hennessey memorial in Tralee. Plans are in train to put a voice element to these memorials. In time, visitors will be able to access a spoken biography of the singer at this spot.

The words of Christie’s greatest hit song, Roll Back the Clouds are printed in full in the memorial. Wouldn’t it be great if the voice element included Christie singing his moving song?

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Kerry Football, is it in the blood or in the DNA

All the way from San Diego came this missive on Monday.

Message from Richard Moriarty, from Lisselton-Ballydonoghue, now living in San Diego,California, USA:

I wrote a poem commemorating the “Five Games in a Row” (attached)

I hope you will share it with your bloggers.

Thank you for your consideration.

Richard Moriarty

FIVE GAMES IN A ROW

I remember back when just a kid I’d climb on Grandad’s knee

And while I perched there

With an eagle stare

He’d tell these tales to me

How in this land there’s a noble band of men who plan and dream

Who cannot be beat

Who will not retreat

And they’re called the Kerry Team

Like giants he said they forge ahead a wave of green and gold

Who in the history book

If you care to look

With passion there it’s told

As plain as day I can hear him say those boys are smooth as foam

They glide they swoop

They slide and scoop

To bring that trophy home

He’d call out each game each date and name until it was all done

And when he shed tears

For the losing years

I dried them one by one

Yes that was many years ago but some things are still the same

With my grandson Lee

There on my knee

Today we watched the game

And Grandpaw I knew you were here too but in case you didn’t know

In headlines bold

The tale was told

“Tis FIVEgames in a row

Richard Moriarty

Ballydonoghue/Lisselton

San Diego, California

Christie Hennessey winner, Tullamore school and Duagh chef to open Cork restaurant

By Listowel Connection

On November 13, 2015

In Uncategorized

A Break in the clouds over Ballybunion captured by Jason of Ballybunion Prints.

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This is Mide Houlihan from Clonakilty. She recently won the Christie Hennessey song writing competition. I think we’ll hear more of her.

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Listowel people at Ardfert Camera Club’s exhibition

Dillon and Mary Boyer with Anne Cox at the official opening of Ardfert Camera Club’s annual exhibition in Tralee Library recently (Photo: Tralee Today)

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Tullamore School…..the girls

Recently I posted some photos from Tullamore school. I remarked that they seemed to be all boys. Well, no better man to supply me with the gender quota than Vincent Carmody. He sent me this photo and the names. Vincent’s mother and his aunts all attended Tullamore.

Ciss O Shea ( Teacher), Sara Madden, Mary Ann Mulvihill, Nora O Shea, —-, —–, —–, Lena Walsh, Pollough ( my aunt, older than my mam, she married Paddy Buckley ( cooper), lived at 26 Upper William Street), Mary Bridget Walsh, Pollough (my eldest aunt, she trained as a teacher in England, lived in Leeds, married to Victor Kilbride, a civil servant, had 2 daughters, Angela, a doctor, and Helen, an actress who was attached to The Old Vic.), Lil Carmody, Mrs Julia O’Shea.

Middle row,

____, ____, _____, 4th, Kitty Lynch, ____, ____, 6th, Eileen Shanahan,

Front row,

____, _____, 3rd Catherine Mulvihill, ( she married Paddy White of Bedford), 6th, Josie Walsh, Pollough ( my mam, went to England, like her other sisters to secondary school, then trained as a teacher, taught for some years, then came back and married my dad John F. Carmody), Margaret (Maud) Walsh, Pollough, ( younger than my mam, she also went to England, also trained as a teacher, taught over there for a while, she returned to Ireland in the early 30s, anxious to continue teaching she went to Ring to do Irish, while there she met the love of her life, Thomas Murray, he was over the Helvick lifeboat, they got married and she stayed down there teaching) .

Vincent was also able to help in naming some of the boys

My uncle Patrick ( b.1900) is in the boys photo, somewhere.

Apart from Master Roger O Shea. who is standing on the extreme right. He ( he came from the Rathmore area) and his wife Julia ( nee Scanlon) were outstanding teachers, they also had a daughter who also taught there at this time (1910)

There are 3 O’Connor brother’s from Shrone ( Gale Bridge)

Thomas (Tom), is second from right extreme back row.

Edward (Ned) , is third from right, second row (back)

James (Jimmy), is forth from right, front.

It is possible to get the names who attended the school at this time, unfortunately it is impossible to fit names on faces however, Sheila O Connor could point out her dad and his brothers.

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In the Real Capital of Ireland

Recently, I was “doing Pana” or, to put it in Irish, I was ag spaisteoireacht. I was mooching around on Patrick Street, Cork musing over what had changed since my last visit.

I strolled into Dunnes Stores and they have given over their new product corner to Paul Galvin’s latest collection. It looked very clean and pared down and there were very few items on display. Think TK Maxx, well, this is the opposite. The clothes looked just like what I would expect from Paul Galvin. I think he must have been designing his own clothes for some time because these look to my untrained eye like the clothes he has been wearing for a while now.

Across the road in Brown Thomas they had created a teaser display for their Christmas windows.

As I headed up towards Patrick’s Bridge who did I run into but North Kerry’s own celebrity chef, John Relihan of Duagh and London. He is now, for a short while, John Relihan of Duagh, London and Cork. He was in town to choose tableware for his new restaurant which, I can exclusively reveal to readers of Listowel Connection will be in The Mardyke. So, in a few weeks time, if you find yourself in Cork and you are looking for a great meal, remember to support our own.

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I Saw Brooklyn….the movie

It was great. Saoirse Ronan should definitely get an Oscar. She was superb in the part. I think this story was meant for the big screen. It is so much better than the book. I was never in a Brooklyn boarding house but I was there on Tuesday night. Much more familiar to me though was the claustrophobic Irish town, the dullness and drabness of life in the 50s and 60s. Everything in New York seemed so much brighter and more colorful but the message came across, loudly and clearly; It’s not places that matter to us, it’s people.

I’d give Brooklyn 10 out of 10.

Autumn horsefair 2013 and Christie Hennessey song contest

By Listowel Connection

On October 10, 2013

In Uncategorized

Horses have always been part of our lives in the Irish countryside and the horsefair has always been a high day in Listowel. Unfortunately, the number of horses changing hands is now drastically diminished but the fair has now expanded to encompass other animals. Here are some of the many animals of sale at last week’s horsehair.

ducks

puppies

a goat

ferrets

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This lucky boy was having his first taste of a Listowel horsefair.

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This bike owner has the right idea. Even the most daring thief would not steal a bicycle from here.

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Claire Egan asked me to share the following information with you:

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 3RD ANNUAL IMRO CHRISTIE HENNESSY SONG CONTEST

LIVE FINAL TAKING PLACE AT THE CARLTON HOTEL, TRALEE | SATURDAY 19^TH OCTOBER | 8:30PM

Guest performances by Hermione Hennessy & RTÉ’s Aonghus McAnally

The live final of the third annual IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Contest takes place on Saturday, 19th October at The Carlton Hotel, Tralee. Ten finalists, selected from over 200 entries from across Ireland and beyond, will perform their song in front of a live audience and panel of expert judges. The winning songwriter will be presented with a cheque for €1,000, courtesy of Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and Tralee Chamber Alliance.

The IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Contest takes place as a tribute to the life and music of one of Tralee’s most famous sons. Christie grew up in a house full of music in Tralee and went on to become one of Ireland’s best known singer–songwriters. Among his songs which went on to be recorded by other artists were “All The Lies That You Told Me” performed by Frances Black, “Don’t Forget Your Shovel” performed by Christy Moore and “Oh Jealous Heart” performed by Moya Brennan.

Special guest performances on the night will come from Christie’s daughter, Hermione Hennessy, and RTÉ star, Aonghus McAnally, who will perform some of Christie’s most well-known songs. The IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Contest is among a number of events taking place in Tralee over the course of the weekend of 18^th to 20^th October at the Carlton Hotel, Tralee, including live music with the Troubadour Club on Friday 18^th, a songwriting workshop on Saturday 20^th, a young songwriter’s showcase on Sunday 20^th and a series of interactive workshops with the WholeWorldBand music platform throughout the weekend.

Last year, Dublin and Cork songwriting duo, Enda Reilly and Christine Deady, took home the top prize in the IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Contest for their song, “Follow the Water”, while the inaugural contest winner of 2011 was Paul McDonnell for his song, “Superman”.

The ten finalists taking part in the 2013 IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Contest are:

Andrew Basquille – “What Needs Fixin First”

Katie Carpenter & Gary Burke – “Never Ends”

Joe Casey – “May the Road Rise”

Paul Casey – “Every Time It Rains”

Roberta Howett – “Eclipse”

Alan Kavanagh – “Bitter Man”

Liam McDermott (Funzo) – “Amour Fou”

Paddy Nash – “The Old Country”

Aidan O’Brien – “Maid of the Isle”

Doug Sheridan – “Speed Dating”

Entry to the live final is free of charge, but due to limited capacity, booking is advised. To reserve a place in the audience email IMRO atmembership@imro.ie or phone 01 661 4844.

The Christie Hennessy Song Contest is supported by Tralee Chamber Alliance, Radio Kerry, Kerry’s Eye, Tralee Advertiser, The Troubadour Club & The Carlton Hotel.

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Gentle reminder