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
If you have a bit of time to kill in Ballybunion or if you are in search of a different locally made present, this recently opened shop is the place for you.
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In Fota
We took the little lady to Fota with her Cork cousins for the birthday celebrations.
Her first sight of a rhino in real life underwhelmed her a bit.
When you’re two, blowing bubbles is more fun than looking at animals.
The Cork cousins minus one.
The reason they are stuck to the phones is that they were in the queue for tickets to Coldplay. Aisling saw them play recently in Amsterdam and they were “fantastic”. No joy with the ticket hunting so she’ll have to live with the memories.
One tired girl with her Mammy at the oryx enclosure.
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Poetry Corner
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TFI Transport for Ireland
People waiting at a bus stop…in Listowel
This has to be Ireland’s most unusual bus seat. The seat was sculpted by local sculptor Darren Enright to commemorate the town’s success in the Tidy Town Competition.
This is the Darren Enright sculpted seat in the grounds of Kerry Writers’ Museum aka The Seanchaí.
Darren’s clever and very apt design features an exact replica of Michael’s bodhrán, perfect in every detail, even the studs on the rim.
The bodhrán from the back.
Michael’s life was selflessly entwined with his Listowel community. Music was just one string to his bow.
Here is Michael front and centre among a group of Kerry Diocesan young people in Knock to see Pope John Paul II in 1979.
Michael with Derry Tatten and Gerard Lynch on a Gorta Walk in the 1980s
Members of the Listowel Mission Bazaar group making a presentation to Michael Dowling, Listowel , second from left, to mark his 44 years of service to the Bazaar committee at Scoil Realta na Maidne. L-R : Julie Gleeson, Michael Dowling R.I.P., Brendan Behan, Billy Moloney, Mary Hanlon & Kay Hanley R.I.P.
Michael was a great entertainer as auctioneer at these annual bazaars. If you have never been to one of these legendary events you have missed an iconic Listowel treat.
The night consisted of raffles for hampers and vouchers donated by local businesses. While the ticket sellers were wandering among the crowd selling the raffle tickets the auctioneer entertained everyone by selling items which have been donated. These items may be a Christmas cake, a bottle of spirits, a box of biscuits, a picture, or a set of ware. Michael, as auctioneer, would have no idea what was next for sale until he saw it in front of him.
A great source of amusement was Michael’s lack of familiarity with intoxicating drink. He was a lifelong pioneer and all wine to Michael was “a lovely bottle of table wine”. Before you put in a bid you had to strain to see if you were buying Cork Cream Sherry from the back of someone’s drinks cupboard or Chateauneuf de Pape from Galvin’s off licence.
He bantered continuously with the audience, commenting on their shrewd judgement in making a purchase or jokingly inviting himself to tea to sample the just purchased cake.
Michael was happy as long as he was raising money for a good cause.
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In Vincent’s
I met the lovely gentle Eileen O’Sullivan in Vincent’s recently. She was accompanied by her son who had come to Listowel for a while to look after her.
Eileen had surgery recently, but like the trooper she is, she is making a great recovery. She was delighted to be pampered by her sons but now ready to get back into the driver’s seat, literally and metaphorically.
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A Fact
Elvis Presley wore a cross, a star of David and the Hebew letter chi as jewellery. When questioned about this strange mix, he replied
“I don’t want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality.”
Uptown Video on William Street was just one of many video lending shops in Listowel in the 1980s.
They had members like any book library and you had a membership card and a membership number.
The library was stocked with VHS tapes. These you played on a machine connected to your TV. There were hundreds of films available, classics and new releases. The children’s section was oh so popular. The challenge when you were organising a youngster’s birthday party was to find a title that not everyone had seen.
VHS tapes were not at all as sturdy as DVDs. They wore out from constant playing. Then there was the problem of dirty players and you had to run a cleaning tape regularly to keep your player in working order.
Technology overtook the tapes. First there were dvds and then everything was overtaken by the streaming services.
Another point of social interaction was removed from the entertainment industry.
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Michael Dowling Commemorated
Darren Enright, local artist in stone, was commissioned to make the commemorative seat. Now we can all rest our weary bones in this beautiful and functional piece of public art. The Michael Dowling seat is located in the grounds of Listowel Castle/ Kerry Writers’ Museum, looking towards The Master, Bryan MacMahon. The seat features a bodhrán, an exact replica of the late Michael’s preferred instrument.
The memorial was unveiled on Sunday April 9 2023 by Labhrás ÓMurchú of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann.
Labhrás ÓMurchú and Jimmy Deenihan, who spearheaded this project, with Michael’s family, Imelda, Anne and Muriel. Thoughts on Sunday were with Geraldine, who sadly passed away shortly before the project reached fruition.
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Paul Muldoon is Coming to Listowel Writers’ Week 2023
Muldoon’s poem in Sunday’s Irish Independent is a realistic look at Northern Ireland post Agreement. It’s a great poem about perception and reality, about hopes and the realisation or not of hopes.
It’s a powerful poem, not about the “architects” of the agreement but about the essential workers who keep the ship of state afloat.
The poem ends with the thought provoking lines
“We think the plumber works in lead
when his medium is mainly water.”
You can see Paul Muldoon in conversation with Nick Laird at Listowel Writers’ Week (Friday June 2 2023)
On Saturday June 3 is a not -to– be missed event; Crazy Dreams, Paul Brady in conversation (and maybe a few songs) with Paul Muldoon.
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A Fact
The expression ‘to get his goat” comes from horse racing circles. Racehorses are notoriously highly strung and there used to be a custom of keeping a goat stabled with a thoroughbred to keep him calm.
If you wanted to scupper your rival’s chances in a race you could upset his horse by stealing his goat. The expression spread to humans and means to rile someone by jolting him out of his comfort zone.
Yesterday Feb. 27 2020 I was in Listowel Town Square on my way to Carroll’s of Course to pick up a lamp they had so kindly ordered for me when I spotted Darren Enright busy at work in the Tidy Town trophy corner of town. He was putting in place the accolade Listowel received for achieving a silver medal in the Entente Florale competition. The official unveiling of this takes place on Saturday at 2.00 and everyone is welcome.
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Cahirciveen
Cahirciveen is a town full of history. Even on a cold wet weekend in February 2020 with many shops closed for the off season, its appeal is obvious.
Quirke’s is a lovely bookshop run by Colman who is passionate about books. His stock is small but carefully chosen.. He even has A Minute of Your Time.
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Kells Bay
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What a difference a word makes
Try this;
Insert the word only anywhere in this sentence:
She told him that she loved him.
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Unveiliing of the Nuns’ Statue
On a snowy Sunday in December 2010 Bishop Bill Murphy unveiled Listowel’s memorial to the nuns who have given so much to the town. They came in Famine times and fed and clothed the starving and sick of the parish. They have educated the town’s young ladies for decades and are still giving service today.
Jimmy Deenihan who worked hard on this project whips the tarpaulin from the sculpture.
The sisters and dignitaries in the sunny snowy square.
This is Junior’s father John Griffin. Many people will remember him as a great amateur engineer and the go to person to mend clocks, umbrellas etc.
Kay Caball who grew up as a neighbour of the Griffin family has a vivid memory of him on a fateful day when Bert Griffin got into one of his many childhood scrapes.
” We lived right across the road from the Griffins in the Bridge Rd before we moved to Gurtinard in 1948 but I knew Bert better as he was the one older than me – Junior must have been a ‘big boy’ then. Bert used often joke with me about the time I gave him a ride on my tricycle – a big black one as far as I can remember. Young fellas didn’t wear shoes then and he went off for a cycle round our back yard in his bare feet but got his (big) toe stuck in the chain. Talk about an emergency – there was no A & E or no Ambulance then. I can just remember crowds of people in the back yard all giving conflicting advice on how to extricate the toe without success. Eventually Johnny Griffin (their father ) had to be called away from his job (was it McKennas?) and he had a hacksaw and had to saw the chain off to get Bert released. Somehow or other then I was blamed – apparently I gave him a push at the wrong moment.“
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Tim Kennelly Dinner, October 25 2002
Junior let me photograph some of his memorabilia of this great night. In the above photo are Bert GriffinR.I.P., Mary and the late Eamon O’Connor, Vincent and Kathleen Carmody
Junior has kept his menu which was autographed by many of the football greats who attended.
At the front are Mike Nagle of Ballybunion, John Brosnan, Junior and Fr. Kieran O’Shea
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Neodata Memories
Neodata is no more…..November 2016
Kathleen Nolan worked in Neodata in the 1970s and 80s. She very kindly agreed to tell us what she could of the history of the place:
“The Neodata office in
Listowel operated as a processing centre for the Philip Morris cigarette
company in the United States. Coupons were collected from cigarette packets and
sent with order forms for different products.
The office in Listowel handled the coupons and processed the orders. The
data was sent back to the U.S. and the goods supplied to the customers.
I am not sure when the office
opened but I worked there as a typist in 1973 along with a lot of other women.
One room was assigned to
typists and the other was the mail room.
I worked in Neodata again in
the 1980s as a mail opener and I micro filmed the order forms. Typists were
also employed at that time. The big change was that the typewriters had been
replaced by computers.
Lorry loads of mail were
collected at Shannon in the mornings and brought to Listowel for processing.
Neodata also had offices in
Newcastlewest, Kilmallock, Abbeyfeale .
The office in Listowel may
have become an eyesore in recent years but we should not forget the huge amount
of employment it generated for the town and its environs during those years and
as a consequence generated a lot of money for the many women, married and
single who worked there. There were some men employed there but not many. This
earned it the nickname “The Henhouse”.
Wags earned there were largely spent in town and it was a great loss to
a lot of people, workers and shops. It was a very busy place and friendships
were formed there that endure to this day.”
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Some Humans
Jimmy Deenihan, Daisy Foley and John Mulvihill in Listowel Community Centre for BOI Listowel’s Enterprise event on Nov. 26 2016
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Mystery Solved…..Violá! A beautiful new Seat
The sculptor is Darren Enright.
I photographed the beautiful piece of street furniture, which celebrates Listowel as Ireland’s Best Small Town in the Tidy Towns’ Competition, from all sides so that you could get a good idea of its size and location.
