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: Convent Cross Page 2 of 3

Convent Cross, Kerry lorries in the seventies and Christmas cards

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On January 13, 2017

In Uncategorized

Convent Cross in January 2017



This is on the wall beside the cross near the secondary school. It looks like some sort of hatch. Its concrete.

Ballybunion Road at Convent Cross

 The path to town

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Happy Days

To counteract the sad photos of the convent, Vincent Carmody sent me these two photos taken on the convent grounds after his daughter Norma’s wedding to Mark Boyle from Co. Waterford. The picture shows the Carmody and Boyle families at the main door to Presentation Convent, Listowel in 1998. Norma and Mark were married in the convent chapel while the parish church was under repair.

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Postbox at Convent Cross



This Christmas there were less Christmas cards posted then ever before. Are we witnessing the end of an era? 

Snail mail is far too slow for the millennial generation. But surely the custom of connecting with people at Christmastime is too precious to lose. Ideally it is a time for visiting and partying. The next best thing to a personal encounter is a greeting card, carefully chosen and written, bringing good wishes from afar.

Christmas card buying, writing and sending is a custom passed on to us from our parents. Carrying on this tradition connects us to our forefathers and keeps happy memories alive.

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From The Kerryman archive

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Big Plans for Áras Mhuire



Áras Mhuire are fund raising and they’re doing it in style. All the information is on the

Aras Mhuire

The story is that they have acquired valuable jerseys to auction to raise funds for their vital services.

Dublin jersey signed by the All Ireland winning team

All Blacks jersey

Ireland rugby jersey signed by all of the Irish team who defeated the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016

Convent Cross, Memory Lane and the proposed Site for the Roundabout

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On September 4, 2015

In Uncategorized

Listowel Arms

 This is how The Listowel Arms looks from Convent Cross.

 The BK car wash and valeting business is also by Convent Cross. When I photographed it the boys were putting the finishing touches to a little viewing area at the rear . This little lean- to overlooks the racecourse and they will have an excellent view of the action next week.

Convent Cross, Listowel,

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At St. Michael’s

This photograph was taken at the old front door of St. Michael’s College. Anyone have any ideas who the people might be?



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From a 1960 GAA programme

This florist must have opened between 1950 and 1960 as I can’t see any trace of her in Vincent Carmody’s book.

I like particularly the ad for Ted Kennelly and Son.

 Do you remember when we only ate lamb “in season”? 

Does anyone eat mutton anymore?

Has the word victualler disappeared?

Where was the meat kept before they installed the “frigidaire”?

And

What on earth is meant by “steamships catered for”?

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Proposed Location for Roundabout



(photo: Jim Halpin)

This is the proposed location of the roundabout on the Ballybunion Rd. if the Listowel bypass goes ahead. To the left as you look at the photo are 3 busy schools and to the right St. John Paul cemetery.

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(photo: 98fm)

Easter and Convent Cross

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On April 3, 2015

In Uncategorized

Happy Easter 2015 to all friends of Listowel Connection

Eileen Moylan of Claddagh Design writes a very interesting and entertaining blog.

 Here 

she is writing about Easter and her research has thrown up a few weird and wonderful Irish Easter customs and superstitions.

Random Traditions!

As with most Irish occasions, some of the traditions associated with
Easter are just downright weird! Here is a selection of our favourites…

The Herring’s funeral:Since many people will have eaten fish, fish and
more fish during the 46 days of lent, it’s no surprise that they’re quite sick
of it by Easter Sunday. As a joke, local butchers host a ‘funeral’ for one of
the most common types of fish – herring – so that people can bid it a not so
sad farewell until the next time Lent comes around!

Holy Eggs:For farming and rural homes where chickens are kept, any eggs laid by
hens on Good Friday are marked with a cross and put away until Easter Sunday.
On Sunday morning at breakfast, each member of the household must eat one of
the ‘holy’ eggs as a blessing.

Spoilin meith na hInide:During Lent, a small piece of meat is kept and
hung up on a wall, as a symbol of temptation. On Easter Sunday, the piece is
taken down and burned in the fire to give the house a tantalising aroma ahead
of the feast to come later in the day.

Cluideog:The tradition of the Cluideog involves the children of the household
in rural areas, who take some fresh eggs out to the corner of their land and
roast them on a makeshift cooking contraption. It is not known why this is
done, although it may be a throwback to some old Irish piseogs (spells or
curses).

And a few more:

If you get a haircut on Good Friday, it is said to prevent headaches.

Children born on Good Friday are supposedly born with the gift of
healing.

People who pass away on Good Friday are given automatic admission into
heaven.

Many families conduct a cake dance – whoever has the best dance gets
the first slice of cake.

Rural families sow a small amount of seeds to symbolise spring,
growth, and rebirth.

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 The Calvary at Convent Cross for Good Friday, March 3 2015



 This is the calvary at Convent Cross. The low wall that used to surround the scene has been taken away. The road now runs in a smooth semi circle rather then the very dangerous v that was there.

Drivers now have a clear view of traffic coming from Ballybunion Road.

These are the houses an the Ballybunion Rd at Convent Cross with the place that used to be Albert Kennedy’s shop in the foreground.

These very pretty houses are on Convent Street at Convent Cross.


These are houses  on the Greenville road at the cross. 



A bench, a post box, a bin and a sign seeking planning permission for a sign for the secondary school, all outside the old stone wall at Convent Cross, Listowel, at Easter 2015.



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On the road to Ballybunion


Old Listowel photos, the Oscars, a Listowel Connection and sport in Tralee

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On February 6, 2015

In Uncategorized

Listowel in Bygone Days from Denis Carroll’s photos

At Convent Cross

The Dandy Lodge in its original location in Bridge Road



The foundation for the Community Centre being dug.

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A Successful young man with a (very tenuous) Listowel Connection





This young man is Will Collins of Kanturk.  He is in the news because he wrote the script for the Oscar nominated film, The Song of the Sea.

Now the Listowel connection; Will is the son of my old Kanturk neighbours, Peggy and Willie Collins.

People my age and older will remember Bill and Pat Kearney of this parish. Bill was very involved with the Listowel Drama Group. After Bill’s death, Pat lived on in Listowel on her own. One evening she was driving home from Cork when she got a puncture. In the days before mobile phones, the done thing in this instance was to call to the nearest house. Pat did. This house was the home of Willie and Peggy Collins, my lovely neighbours. Being the kind people they are, they brought her in and gave her a cup of tea and some of Peggy’s legendary delicious baking. They changed her wheel and ascertained that it would have to stay in Kanturk overnight for repair. Peggy and Willie would not hear of Pat driving home alone with no spare wheel so they drove to Listowel with her. Pat never forgot their extraordinary kindness to her and she mentioned it often to me. There would be none more delighted than Pat Kearney to hear  that the son of her Kanturk friends is now a famous scriptwriter and if she has any influence above, that Oscar is in the bag for The Cartoon Saloon gang.

This photograph of Will with his family was taken (not by me) at Kanturk Arts Festival two years ago. Peggy and Willie Senior are on the right.

I saw the film, in French, during my recent visit to Ciboure. It is a lovely film suitable for all the family. I laughed and cried and was charmed by the story. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you the story but, believe me, it’s a good one.


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A Proposal to bring joy to the hearts of many of our diaspora


A report recently in the Irish Times outlined a proposal that was presented to Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for the Diaspora. Jimmy is looking into it before bringing it to government as part of a package that includes voting rights for emigrants in presidential elections.

It is proposed that American Irish young people between the ages of 18 and 26 be offered an opportunity to spend 10 days in Ireland immersing themselves in the culture, language,  history and modern day living conditions of the country to which they claim ancestral allegiance. The trip, which would be free to the participants, would be paid for out of a combination of philantropy and government funding. 

A similar “Birthright” scheme is in place for young adults of the Jewish faith. This scheme is in place for 15 years and is very successful, creating a strong bond between the diaspora and the homeland.

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All is forgiven

I took this unlikely picture fro Joe Brolly’s Twitter feed. He is pictured here among some of the greats of Kerry sport at a recent fundraiser for Austin Stack’s GAA club.

He was brought onto the stage for a “surprise” confrontation with Kieran Donaghy. The whole country knows that Joe, in his role as a football pundit, had famously written off Donaghy in a season when he went on to win an All Ireland and an All Star.

When asked if he would apologise for the article, Brolly laughed it off saying that it was, in fact, a motivational exercise and it worked. “Didn’t I win him an All Star?” says he. No one could argue with that.

Listowel people in Rome in 1950 and reconfigured Convent Cross

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On October 24, 2014

In Uncategorized

Changed aspects of Church St. 

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Listowel people in Rome


Michael Kennelly made two trips to Rome in 1950, once with the scouts and then in October with a local pilgrimage. The scouts’ trip in July 1950 is mentioned in Anthony Gaughan’s account. This was the trip, when, during an audience with the pope, the Listowel scouts presented some Irish tweed to the pope for the poor children of Rome 

  Listowel people on pilgrimage to Rome October 1950

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A Limerick limerick by Pat Brosnan



Outside Abbeyfeale near Feale Bridge

Lived a handsome young damsel called Pidge.

Her admirers all came

 But pursued her in vain

For this Pidge could dodge like a midge.

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Convent Cross 2014

Convent Cross is now safer to negotiate. The low wall has been removed and the road widened.

A long wall and a footpath have been put in beside the secondary school on the Ballybunion Road.

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6th Annual Gary MacMahon Singing Weekend

The link above will bring you to Michael Collins’ charming photographs of people at The West Limerick Singing Club’s Gary MacMahon commemorative event last weekend. Below are just a few of these treasures. Do visit the website to view them all.

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