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Island of Geese, Tralee
I walked through this beautiful Corner of Tralee for the first time last week. It’s a peaceful natural oasis in the centre of town.
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From The Sleán , a Clounmacon journal of the 1980s
Clounmacon by Dan Keane
I apologise for the size of the print . It’s worth enlarging.
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Dáithí on The Wren in 2004
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Christmas Traditions from Dachas.ie
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Photos I took at the Garda Centenary Celebrations
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A Lighthearted Limerick from Dan Keane
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1930s Listowel
J.J. Dillon Grocery shop, 2 Main Street, Listowel in the 1930s.
Photo copyright; Tipperary Studies Photographs of Munster Shops
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Sr. Gemma R.I.P, A woman before her time
An interview with Sr. Gemma McGrath which appeared in the 1991 Presentation Secondary School Yearbook.
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Ella Corridan R.I.P.
Another of the old residents of Listowel Town Square has gone to her eternal reward.
Mrs Ella Corridan was one of the salt of the earth characters who live quietly but contribute vitally to the community. She was a regular at morning mass where she always had a cheery greeting for friends and acquaintances.
This picture was taken in Craftshop na Mear in 2013. Mrs. Corridan was hugely supportive of that venture.
She was also a great supporter of Listowel Connection. She was always anxious to provide me with any content she could. She always told me how much she regretted that I had not started the blog while her husband was alive and in his prime because he had such a great interest in local history.
Mrs. Corridan told me the story of the tragic killing of her first cousin, Sr. Aidan Quinlan in South Africa.
She was truly grateful when I wrote about it in this blog. She was anxious that her cousin’s horrific death would not define her and that her immense good work in that troubled part of the world would not be forgotten.
This event in her family history had a huge impact on Ella and it was typical of her that she was anxious I would write about Sr. Aidan rather than anything about herself.
Ella Corridan lived a long and happy life. She raised a big family, many of whom still live locally and they and her grandchildren gave her enormous pleasure.
Ella and I have roots in the same part of North Cork. She often mentioned those connections. For her, family was always number one.
May her gentle soul rest in peace. Listowel is the poorer for her passing.
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Old Friends Reunited at Writers’ Week
Éamon ÓMurchú, Kay Caball, Pat White and Jim MacMahon
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Ballydonoghue Parish Magazine
Ballydonoghue Parish magazine is a credit to everyone associated with it over the years. It is a treasure, eagerly awaited at home and abroad every year. So many of these precious local journals have ceased to publish and their loss leaves a huge gap in our tapestry of local history and memories.
I take my hat off to the good people of Ballydonoghue.
The 2022 Ballydonoghue Parish Magazine committee at a function at The Thatch, Lisselton February 19 2022.
Front: Maria Leahy, Jim Finnerty, Áine Canavan, Colette O’Connor and John F Keane. Back: Seán Linnane, Ger Moran, Mike Gilbert, Ann Foley, Seán Stack and David Kissane.Material is being accepted now for the 2022 edition and may be emailed to magazine@ballydonoghue.net or posted to BPM, Lisselton PO, Co Kerry.
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A Dan Keane Limerick
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Matt Mooney’s Photo
Matt shared this photo of Vocational School boys on Facebook…no dates and no names except for Matt himself on the back left and Michael Gaine on the back right.
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Old Ballybunion
Ballybunion Tourist Office shared this beach scene as it was 1930 to 1950
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In Time of War
Mattie Lennon sent us this;
“Hitler was running riot through Poland with very little opposition. The cream of the British Army, battered and broken, had their backs to the sandy walls of Dunkirk. The Listowel Grenadiers of the LDF were gathered in Eddie Scanlon’s pub making feverish plans to invade Russia…..
“The Listowel LDF after much liquid discussion, in Eddie Scanlon’s Bar, decided not to invade Russia after all”.
Written by the late Sean McCarthy.
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Remembering Past Writers’ Weeks
This is a lovely photo from a few years ago of Writers Week stalwarts, Billy Keane, Noreen Buckley, Nora Relihan and Mike Lynch.
Writers’ Week 2022 will run from June 1 to June 5 2022
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Another Dan Keane Limerick
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Rural Electrification
This is the book I am currently reading. It is a beautifully written story based in Co. Clare.
I grew up listening to stories of The Shannon Scheme and the coming of the electric light, so the neighbourhood depicted in the book is not as alien to me as it probably is to most of today’s readers.
Then in my trawl through my stash old old school magazines I found this apt essay,
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Ard Churam needs your help
Fundraising is central to both sustaining and growing the facilities and services on offer within Ard Chúram. As a beneficiary we have been afforded a wonderful opportunity to raise capital as we strive to pay for our purpose build facilities which represent a haven of support for our clients, their families and their carers.
It is for that reason we are seeking your support; we are asking you to choose Ard Chúram Dementia Centre as your designated charity and pedal it out for us on Saturday, July 2nd.
If you can help you’ll find al the details on the Ard Churam Facebook page.
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Two St. Michael’s Colleagues, R.I.P
Two Corkmen, Jim Cogan and Michael Cody, many moons ago.
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Medicinal Recipes from 1852
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Good New for St. Michael’s
(text and image from St. Michael’s website)
Statement from Norma Foley;
Multi-million Euro Extension for Listowel School!I am delighted to announce a multi-million euro extension project for St Michael’s College Listowel under the additional accommodation scheme.The state of-the-art building project includes provision for a special education teaching room, a multimedia room, a music room, an art room, two science labs and a project store room. Approval was also given for reconfiguration works to upgrade an existing art room, converting it into a mainstream classroom.It was wonderful to have the opportunity to visit St Michael’s College in Listowel this week and to personally deliver this good news.St Michael’s College is synonymous with the town and this extension is an endorsement of the excellence in education being provided by the entire school community.
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Dan Keane’s Limericks
Dan Keane who passed away in 2012 was a man of varied and extraordinary talents. I encountered Dan first as as storyteller and I was enthralled by him. His story was about a football match, a subject on which Dan was an expert. I later learned that Dan was a ballad maker and poet of some merit.
Much later I learned that Dan, while including scholars and literary men among his ancestors, was , himself, completely self taught. His appetite for knowledge coupled with his interest in local history and lore made him a knowledgeable and popular raconteur and writer.
His last volume of verse was the above, A Kerryman’s limericks, and I’m going to bring you a few over the next few days.
The next is not one of Dan’s but he professed it was one of his favourites.
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Great Old Photos
Tipperary Studies is a great website devoted to preserving and promoting the past.
They have a marvellous digital archive of old photos and videos. Among their collections is a collection of Photographs of Munster. These photos were taken by a professional photographer on glass plates in the 1930s.
While most of the images are of Tipperary there are some lovely photos of a few Listowel shops and their owners or workers.
Please respect Tipperary Studies copyright claim to these digitised images which may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.
This lovely photo was unidentified in the collection but an old neighbour has identified the late Mrs. Mona Dalton at the gate of her home in Bridge Road.
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