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: Cora O’Brien

Darkness into light 2017 in Listowel

We Walked the Walk

“Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it’s breaking….”

Maud Fitzmaurice, Cliona Cogan, Billy Keane and Eleanor Ryan

Jim and Liz Dunn with Máire Logue

All around me on Saturday morning May 6th
2017 at 4.00 a.m. on Listowel racecourse were smiling faces.  Listowel has always lent great support to
Pieta House and to any agency that helps people who have suffered because of self-harm.
Many of the early risers on the Island were thinking back to that awful moment
engrained forever in their memories ; the moment when they heard the
unbelievable news that someone they loved had died by suicide.

A Tarbert choir was on hand to raise our
spirits;

Cora O’Brien, director of Pieta House, Tralee, sings along with the choir

“Lean on me when you’re not strong,

I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry
on”  we sang as we tried to convey hope
to the sad and lonely souls who sometimes feel very alone.

Tom McElligott

People brought their dogs and their
children. “We are there for you “ was the message. You are never alone. It’s
okay to say you are not okay.

“Hope for the sunshine tomorrow after the
darkness is gone.”

Hundreds of us set off to the strains of
Walking on Sunshine.

We made our way along by the racecourse to
the candlelit bridge and there in the water was the stark word, Hope, reflected
in the waters of the Feale.  Some stopped
to take photos, some caught their breath as they remembered other waters in
another places.

We walked on along the well-stewarded route
through the Square and down Bridge Rd. to the Arch and into the Silent Mile. An
eerie silence fell on the previously chattering hoard. The only sound was the
birdsong as we walked the road beside the Garden of Europe, a path the
organisers had lit with candles and decorated with wind chimes.


We turned the bend for home at Cahirdown and
we walked the eerily deserted streets of our fair town. Many windows were
decorated in support. Candles flickered and everwhere posters and T-shirts whispered
the message of hope, You are not alone.



Up William Street we went, some tiring a
little, others getting their second wind. We rounded the roundabout at the John
B. Keane Rd. and we were in the home straight. There was one more jolt in store
though. Along the railings at the back of the preschool were several banners
with the names of people who should be here with us. This is what it’s all
about. We are all walking and praying that no one who is here today with us
will be named on that banner next year. This was a stark reminder that we were
not on a merry morning jaunt. We were here on a deadly serious mission to try
to stem the tide of suicide.

“Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice

Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.”

We ended our walk back at base, at Listowel
Racecourse where so many of us had so many happy September days. As we returned
home we hoped for the sunshine tomorrow. 

We had done our small bit to help
Pieta House deliver its twin aims of  Hope and Consolation.

Photos from Opening Night Writers’ Week 2015

Are we there yet?

Here is another tranche of the great and the good and some in between arriving at the hotel for opening night of Writers’ Week 2015.

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Tomorrow I’m going to get to some children’s events but meanwhile here is the best shop window display at Finesse Bridal Shop in Church Street and the  the best window dresser, Cora O’Brien. The lady who has given us some of our best days out has now given us the best laugh of LWW2015.

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Believe it or not!




A lady left this piece of junk into a recycling centre in California. Luckily an alert worker at the centre guessed that it might be more significant than it looked. It is one of only 200 early computers made by Steve Jobs and co. and it is worth €200,000. The last I heard they were still waiting for the woman to come forward to reclaim her”junk”.

Nunday through the lens

Due to popular demand, Monday’s post is coming to you a day early.

There will be no post tomorrow.

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Excitement was building to fever pitch all week. The whole town was behind the O’Brien family and looking forward to a good day on Saturday.

Betty McGrath had one of the more imaginative window displays but lot of businesses took on the nun theme for their windows.  Fair dues, all!!!!

By 5.30 the town was a sea of black and white, with all roads leading to the sports field.

The weather was begin to spit rain as we headed out.

We had to wait for our 3 unlikely looking postulants

There were a few familiar faces who had taken the veil for the evening and a lot of un nunlike behavior on display.

Cogans en famille

Cora O’Brien directing proceedings

Friar John having a laugh

Brenda, Maura and the little sisters of the bookshop

Nora Relihan, Helen and Róisín Kenny, Sr Maisie and her postulant

Noreen Brennan and sisters in every sense of the word.

Checking the iPhone

Are my seams straight?

Betty McGrath has a word in the ear of the reverend mother.

Patsy Kennedy looks every inch the part.

Jer Kennelly shared a great video of the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjoNFLtq3Yg&feature=youtu.be

In case there was any doubt, the record was well and truly beaten. Listowel on June 30 2012 had over 1400 people dressed as nuns in the same place at the same time. Look out for us in The Guinness Book of Records.

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Don’t forget that it was all done to raise awareness of  the tragedy of suicide and the work of

Pieta House

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