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: Christy Moore

Tena and Rochelle Griffin and their marathon adventures, Christy Moore and a few from Ard Churam Official opening

Photo: Jim MacSweeney

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Griffin Sisters: Runners


This is Tena and Rochelle Griffin of Listowel with their proud parents, Martin and Carmel. The photo was taken at the finish of the recent marathon in Listowel. I asked Rochelle where this love of running came from and here is what she said,

“My running journey began with joining the local
running group, Kerry Crusaders.

In January 2013 myself and my sister, Tena
started running from lamp post to lamp post on the John B Keane road,  eventually building up to running the length
of it.

We had run a mile and we wanted to tell the
world

We  entered lots of races to build up the miles
and we set our sights on the Dublin Marathon in October 2013.

The Kerry Crusaders offer a fantastic training
schedule for this marathon so our summer involved very early mornings and very
long runs. That marathon was the start of a journey I didn’t expect. Along the
way we have made lots of fantastic memories.

The family I ran with Saturday, Team Kerr,  have really worked hard to promote inclusion
so that children with special needs can get involved in activities like anyone
else.

Myself and Tena have ran a lot of races lately
with them to help them and keep them company on the 26.2 miles of a marathon.

Absolutely anything is possible if you try it.

As the Crusader motto goes, Inch by Inch.

Team Kerr after completing the Listowel marathon  ( more on this bunch tomorrow)

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John Halkett’s retirement party in John B.’s


Photo; Neil Brosnan on Facebook




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The Man of the Moment

photo: Irish independent

Christy Moore, the Kildare singer songwriter is basking in a wave of adulation at the moment. He has a TV programme made about him and in the papers he is described as “a national treasure”.

It was not always thus. The below photo from Rabble shows Christy being searched by a British Secret Serviceman at the height of the Northern Irish conflict.


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Ard Churam Official opening (photos by John Kelliher)


Two of the people who have been with this project from the start are Micheál OSuilleabháin and Joan Walsh.

Jimmy Deenihan is a great supporter of the venture. He helped with the funding and it was he who made the contact with The Ring of Kerry Cycle which became the main plank of the fundraising. He cycled The Ring himself and intends doing it again this year. He quipped at the opening that he has a little more time for training this time round.



Ard Churam committee at the official opening on Friday April 8 2016

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Sixty Five Roses




Cystic Fibrosis is a hard term to pronounce when you are very young, so some genius came up with the idea of telling the newly diagnosed children to say 65 roses instead and people would know what they were trying to say.

This is CF Awareness week and if you want to help raise funds for this very worthy charity you can pop along to Christy’s on Friday

“On April 15th we will hold a Coffee morning in Christy’s Bar “The Well”listowel, fundraising for CF 

CF ireland have to rely alot on fundraising 

We will be selling rose pins and there will also be a raffle. Come in for tea coffee and lots of goodies to be had.



Raffle tickets on sale 2xeuro a strip or 3x strips for 5euro “

More from Ladies day 2013 and the ballad of Lidl and Aldi

Here they are; the first tranche of my Ladies Day photos. I’ll be posting more tomorrow and in the following days, but don’t worry, I’ll try to include a few non fashion related items as well.

If you needed a bag or a hat to complete the ensemble you could purchase one on the spot at a stand on the island.

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Serious message coming up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1dZddmJSOY&feature=player_embedded#t=0

The link above is to Christy Moore’s anti Arthur’s Day song. Listen and you will notice the ambivalence of the audience. They want to clap and sing along but the song is not a happy clappy number. It’s a very serious wake up call to alert us to the danger of being sucked into this image of Irishness being peddled by the advertisers.

We are all familiar with the iconic image of Barack Obama in a pub in Moneygall with a pint in his hand.

The queen’s visit was not complete until Prince Philip had been photographed in front of a pint.

Closer to home, I saw so much drunkeness in town on the Friday of Raceweek that I am very concerned for our young people.

A regular follower of the blog wrote to me to ask me to appeal to people to be “guardian angels” and look out for their friends and neighbours who are so incapacitated by drink on a night out or in this case a day out that they are a danger to themselves and others.

Rant over!

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In response to numerous requests, here it is Mickey MacConnell singing his ballad of Lidl and Aldi live in John B’s. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL7jyXCQ2Zc

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I wonder if they were as hard to come by in 1939.

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Free blood pressure checks today, Weds. Sept 25 2013 at Listowel Family Resource Centre between 10.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.

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