Old Creamery
This photo is in Vincent Carmody’s book, Snapshots of an Irish Market Town. It is the old McKenna’s Creamery in Listowel.
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Listowel Folklore
Here is some more wisdom from the folklore archive gathered by Listowel children in 1937/38
These accounts refer to food.
Peggy’s Leg
Kevin Sheehy of Church St.
interviewed Dan Broderick also of Church Street.
Dan remembered a woman called
Peggy Carey who used to make a confection called Peggy’s Leg. It was made from
sugar and “farmers’ butter.” Peggy also sold seagrass. Peggy used to sell her wares at “Listowel Cross out in
Newtown”. ( I’m presuming this refers to Moyvane. ) The Peggy’s Leg cost two
pence.
Another local confectioner
was Bridge Conway. She used to sell penny bars which she made herself.
A man from Moybella,
Lisselton whose name was William Diggin used to make porridge from “yellow
meal, salt and creamery milk.”
Hand Savage of Lisselton also
had a story about William Diggin. Mr. Rice from Moybella had several men
digging potatoes. He promised a quarter of tobacco to the man who would produce
the biggest potato. William Diggin was one of the men digging the spuds. He dug
a big potato and cut it in half. Then he got another potato and quartered it and
he tied the two potatoes together with string to make one enormous potato. He
won the quarter of tobacco.
It was the custom not to give
a workman his breakfast until he had paid for it in work. A labourer often
worked for two hours on an empty stomach.
People killed a goose at
Michaelmas and on St. Martin’s Eve.
The stories told to the
children were full of hearsay and inaccuracies but also laced with gems of
wisdom. A D. Bunyan of Market Street wrote what he heard about the Famine. He
wrote about a mill on the banks of the river which was full of corn and
surrounded by soldiers guarding it. The local people used to go down to try to
get the wheat but the soldiers prevented them. Finally the wheat rotted and had
to be thrown out.
Sgiath/Sciath
Jim MacMahon set me straight on this one.
He wrote;
“The Sciath was a half moon shaped basket made from scallops . It was originally a shield in olden times , hence the phrase … buailim sciath ..meaning a braggart or one who struck the shield of a chieftain who hung his shield outside his castle thereby calling him out to fight .
Re Tae Lane there used to be a shed there with a curved wall at the right hand side going down. Tim Hannon from Ballybunion told me his father had a cinema there in the very early days of films.”
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Celebrating the century
The extended family of Stacks of The Arch Bar now Stack’s off licence dressed in period costume on St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate their 100th year in business.
These celebrations were tinged with sadness a short week later, with the passing of Mrs. Máiréad O’Connor (née Máiréad McGrath) of Market St., on March 24th. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.
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Celebrating Mothers
The following was read at masses in Tarbert on Mothers’ Day.
This is for the mothers who
read The Three Little Pigs, The Billygoats Gruff and Little Red Riding Hood
every night for a week. Then a little eye would open and a little voice would
ask, “Please Mom, will you read it again?”
This is for mothers who take their children to football matches and basketball games, who sit in the car and watch
and wait or stand on the sideline and when your child says,” Did you see my goal,
mom?”proud as punch you answer, “Of course, love, I wouldn’t have missed it
for the world.”
This is for mothers who run
car pools and bake birthday cakes and sew Halloween costumes and for mothers
who don’t.
This is for mothers whose
patience runs out when their two year old wants ice cream before dinner and
whose four year old says, “I’m bored. I want to go home.”
This is for mothers who
taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they went to school and for
mothers who opted for Velcro instead.
And for the mother who bites
her lip til it bleeds when her fourteen year old dyes her hair green and puts
seven earrings in each ear.
This is for mothers who don’t
sleep a wink, wondering and waiting and hoping all will come in. Now all safely
home and the lock on the door, she turns over and says., “Thank God for the end
of another weekend.”
This is for mothers whose
children have gone astray and can’t find words to reach them and all they can
do is pray.
This is for all the mothers
who cook, launder and clean, wash up all the dishes and never complain,
This is for all the mothers
who turn automatically when they hear a little voice say,”Mom” even thought
they know their own are safe at home.
This is for the heartbroken
mothers who put flowers and teddy bears on the graves of their children, who
hold precious and fond memories of times past and wonder today, what they would
look like or how tall they would stand.
This is for the mothers who
have gone home to Heaven themselves. If we had them today we would treat them
and spoil them but instead we pray for them and look forward to meeting them in
heaven.
This is for young mothers who
are learning and mature mothers who are trying to let go, for working mothers
and stay-at-home mothers, for young mothers and old.
Can I say, “Hang in there. We
need you. You are rarer than gold. God bless all mothers. May they never grow
old.”
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Alexandra Park
Some people live near really beautiful places, e.g. Alexandra Park London
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Darkness into Light, Saturday May 9 2015
Below is the link for online registration if you would like to take part in the first Listowel walk
Pieta House Darkness into Light
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That show on a lovely June day in 1953
John Murphy sent the following
“This is in response to the picture dated June 29,1953.
I believe this is me the seventh person seated from fence on right and I believe Sean Cahill is seated immediately on my left as you view picture and that is Junior Griffin standing to the left and behind Sean Cahill as you view picture.
It sure brings back some great memories of that show.
Keep up the great work you are doing keeping us informed while faraway from lovely “Listowel”.
Yours Truly,
John F. Murphy ”
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Listowel Community Centre is planning a refurb and is looking for ideas.
