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: Danny Hannon Page 3 of 5

Danny Hannon’s Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, Thurles train station and Munster Championships for Listowel

The Tidy Town corner of Listowel Town Square

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Danny Hannon Honoured at Writers’ Week 2019


Danny held his beloved Eileen’s hand at his big night at Listowel Writers Week, May 29 2019.

The Hannon family at the door of the family home as they prepare to take the short walk to The Listowel Arms for Opening Night.

Maurice escorted his mother while Joanna Keane, daughter of his great friend, John B. escorted Danny.

The night was filled with emotion, love,  pride, affection and a tinge of sadness.

The story of Danny’s contribution to the Arts was told as this very humble gentle man listened. There was talk of drama and books, of plays and playing and particularly innovation in the field of theatre. Many of Danny’s family and friends were there to celebrate him.


 V.I.P. guests Joseph O’Connor, Colm Tóibín and Carol Drinkwater listened enthralled.

And still Danny held Eileen’s hand. He later joked about the manicure.

The hall was packed. Danny has a long association with Mercier Press who co incidentally sponsored the trophy.

Danny and Eileen posed with Eddie and Helen Moylan, parents of Eileen who designed and crafted the beautiful presentation piece at her Claddagh Design studio in Macroom.

His good friend, Jimmy Hickey was on hand to congratulate Danny. He was just one of a long line of well-wishers.

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Joys of Free Travel

 I had a little rail trip last weekend and I took a photo of this Victorian post box in some train Station but I cant remember which one.

This is Thurles.

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Listowel Pitch and Putt


I was walking in the park yesterday when I spotted that the pitch and putt course was closed. There is a good reason. The hard working club members are getting the course ready for the Munster Championships at the weekend.

The always beautiful course is looking even more beautiful today.



Asdee, The Rise of Coffee Culture and Listowel Revisited

Asdee church is a lovely intimate, beautifully kept place of worship. I was lucky enough to be there on Jan 1 2019 for a beautiful wedding ceremony.

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The New Irish Pub Culture


Changes in the laws around driving have driven Irish men out of the pub as their favoured meeting place. Young people had already abandoned the pub for house parties and the gym.

According to an article I read recently, the coffee shop is the new pub. People are meeting with groups of friends in coffee shops and cafes and a whole generation is growing up having a favourite coffee rather than a favourite beer.

Supermarkets used to have a holder for your shopping list. Now they have a holder for your coffee cup.

Listowel, as usual, is ahead of the curve. Long before it was a “thing”,  Danny Hannon, Jed Chute and friends were meeting in The Listowel Arms for a coffee in order to chew the fat and set the world to rights.

I interrupted them last week at their morning chin wag.

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Reconnecting




I took this photograph last week as Patricia Gordon renewed acquaintance with Judy MacMahon and other people she knew in Listowel when she lived here 24 years ago.



This is how we in Listowel remember Patricia.

The reason I have a 24 year old photo of her is because part of the purpose of her visit was to bring me photos taken by her husband, Danny, when they lived in town and he was a member of the camera club.

I will be sharing these photos with you in the coming weeks.

I photographed Patricia outside Jackie McGillicuddy’s shop because that was the very place where she was a victim of crime .

Twenty five years ago she stopped outside McGillicuddy’s and ran in to buy a card. She left the keys in the car because back then there was very little crime in Listowel and she felt safe to pop into a shop for 5 minutes.

But a opportunistic  car thief who happened to be in town on that day saw the “gift horse” outside the toyshop and couldn’t resist the temptation.

Patricia emerged from the shop to find her car gone. Her first thought was that someone who knew her had taken it to for a prank. She went around to Church Street to find it. When she still hadn’t seen it by the time she got to the Garda Station she realised that maybe it was actually stolen. She went into the station where she met Sgt. Tim O’Leary. He made  phonecalls to Tarbert, Moyvane, Ballybunion and other garda stations around about. A keen eyed Garda spotted the car in Tarbert, the thief was arrested and the car returned.

Subsequently Patricia had to appear in court and she was reprimanded by the judge for practically putting a sign saying “Take me”  on her car. 

I noticed when I met her last week she observed all the safety precautions, putting bags and valuables in the boot and locking the car. She now lives in Limerick.

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From The Kerryman of 1994







Ballydonoghue, A Doctor in Spite of Himself twice, Doran’s Then and Now

The Cross at Lisselton in glorious June sunshine in 2018

Photo; Ballydonoghue Parish Magazine

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A Doctor in Spite of Himself X2

Remember I told you about this open air performance of Moliére’s play in Listowel Town Square during an early Writers’ Week. Mike Moriarty who is  in the white coat on the left of the stage remembered that they were all delighted when their performance made The Irish Times. David O’Sullivan did a bit of delving for us and here is what he found.

The above is an extract from the 1978 programme. What a feast of drama they had!

Two other performances aroused my interest. They are  The Life of O”Reilly with Brendan O’Reilly. Was this the late great high jumper and later sports commentator?

And what was The Ball on the Hop by Eamon Keane?

I’ll have to go back to the oracle.


 I hope you can enlarge this to read it. It reminds me of accounts of early performances of Shakespeare and miracle plays in courtyards of inns and town squares when people would drop by to see a play on their way home with the shopping and maybe shy a tomato or two at the villain.

Seems like the evergreen Mickey McConnell was the highlight of the ballad competition. No surprise there then.

This is the 1991 production. Mike Moriarty is on the right, playing the part he first played in 1978. Danny Hannon, who founded the Lartigue Players was also involved in the acquiring and refurbishing of St. John’s decided to reprise a successful play for the opening performance.

The “smallest theatre in Ireland and England” had been closed down for 9 years when the lease ran out. Gerard Lynch, who owned the building, had given the Lartigue the use of the theatre rent free for ten years.  Now drama had found a new home in St. John’s and the Lartigue company was just one of the many local drama groups who used it as their home for many years and some still do today.

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Then and Now on a Corner of Church St.

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Evening Stroll by The Feale

Listowel Town Square, Tim Danaher, Open Air theatre and Listowel Visual Arts Week 2018

Photo; Graham Davies

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In Listowel Town Square


This piece of street furniture which we Listowel people use as a seat is actually an important piece of sculpture.


In 1998 when the reconfiguration of Listowel Town Square was completed this area was dedicated to Listowel and North Kerry’s writers. It is located outside the house where a local man, Tim Danaher, grew up.

RTÉ Radio producer Tim Danaher, in the control room at the station’s Henry Street studios, in August 1973. He was present for the recording of the RTÉ Radio serial ‘Glenmalin Park’, which he was producing at the time. 

Tim Danaher joined RTÉ’s sound effects department in the 1950s, becoming a radio producer in the mid-1960s. He was the founder of Listowel Writers’ Week. He died in 1995 at the age of 71.  (From the RTE Library)

Tim Danaher’s vinyl recording of The Gift of Ink along with his early contributions to Listowel Writers’ Week are part of his legacy to his native town. The Gift of Ink takes it’s title from Bryan MacMahon. The recording itself features contributions from all the great literary characters of Listowel in the early part of the twentieth century.

The piece of street furniture is designed to look like a quill pen and an inkwell, the seat part being the quill and the circle the inkwell. Around the rim of the “inkwell” are quotations from some of the local literary greats.

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A Doctor in Spite of Himself




Photo; John Hannon Archive

There is an extraordinary story behind this scene in Listowel Town Square. We are not sure of the date but probably early 70s.

Danny Hannon of The Listowel Players was the first artistic director of Writers’ Week. He was forever thinking up challenging, innovative or plain daft ways of presenting drama to the people. This is one of his most daring dramatic presentations.

Danny told me the story when I met him with his friends, Jed and Joe in The Listowel Arms.

Danny loves this Moliére play. He was only the the second in Ireland to produce it. The first was the Trinity Players.

Danny planned to put it on en plein air during Writers’ Week. Damien Stack went to Kerry Co Op and borrowed 100 palettes. They purchased a few planks of plywood in a nearby hardware shop and thus the stage was constructed. The hotel lent 100 chairs for the audience and Danny was ready to go. Because it was outdoors, there were a few innovations Danny was willing to try. One character rode up on a bicycle and another arrived by ass and cart.

The prompter had a tough time. Even though she was sitting in the front row there were times she had to shout to be heard above the noise of the traffic. Some of the thespians remember it with great fondness. Cliff Gore and Mike Moriarty were in it. Jackie McGillicuddy was there too as were the late Maurice Geale and Jetta Grogan

If any of you remembers it I’d love to hear from you.

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Listowel Visual Arts Week 2018



One of the highlights of the festival is the event that took place on June 2018 in Allos.

The task that was set for the artists was to paint a portrait of our great singer songwriter journalist Mickey McConnell.

They were doing marvellous work while enjoying a serenade from the model.

These are the works in progress.

When I called in the artists were taking a refreshment break.

The model and his wife were relaxing between sittings.

Listowel History Festival, The Square, 3 Good Friends And Stylish Eilish prepares for Ladies’ Day 2018

Chris Grayson took this photo of a dipper dipping a toe in the river Maine in Castleisland.

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A Last few from The History Festival 2018

Here are just a few more photos I took at the commemoration ceremony to honour the war dead and veterans in Listowel Town Square in May 2018

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Photograph posted online by Patrick Godfrey

We should be able to date this photo because it is between the time when there was a wall and railings all round St. John’s and modern times when there is no wall.

Once upon a time mass going Catholics used to tie their horse and trap to the railings of St. John’s while they attended mass in St Mary’s.

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Sand Sculpture in Torremolinos

Julie Evans who is a loyal follower of this blog was fascinated by the recent sand art festival in Ballybunion. When she and her husband, Glyn, were on holiday in Spain they saw these marvellous sand sculptures. Beside the sculptures was a locked box chained to a railing for people to put a donation into.



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I’m Still Researching




Morning coffee and a chat in The Listowel Arms with these three friends as I research my walk around Listowel Town Square on June 2 2018. Jed Chute, Danny Hannon and Joe Murphy, thanks for all your help and the great stories.

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Stylish Eilish is Busy Preparing for Listowel June Bank Holiday Ladies’ Day




I met Eilish as she was racing around collecting prizes for her great Best Dressed Ladies event at the June Race Meeting in Listowel.

It promises to be a great day of style and craic and the prizes are amazing. Eilish has a great knack of mobilising everyone behind an event.

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