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: Fred Chute Page 2 of 4

Fred Chute at work on Jet’s, Bank of Ireland Refurb and Molly in Cork

Trees in Listowel Pitch and Putt course

<<<<<<<<


Still Number One


I saw Fred on his ladder painting one of the many pieces of  individual wall art that grace Listowel.

A master at work.


Fred’s cousin, Liz, sent a request for a smile especially for her the next time I saw Fred painting. Here it is Liz, a smile especially for you from William St., Listowel.

In case any of the rest of you are getting any ideas, I can’t make a habit of going around town disturbing people at their work and asking them to smile at their cousins in America.

<<<<<<<


Bank of Ireland


I haven’t called for a few days. This was how it looked last time I visited.

<<<<<<<<


Molly at Home


Molly is back in Cork with her family.


 Her girls are learning to touch type. Molly is waiting for them to get done and come and play.

She likes a walk and a little dip.


<<<<<<<<

A legendary Ballybunion Piper


This is Ballybunion at nighttime. Once upon a time a lone piper used to walk these shores at sunset composing tunes.

According to local lore, Tom McCarthy, the famous Ballybunion piper, was born in 1799. His favourite playing spot was the Castle Green but he also was said to walk along the cliffs listening to the wild life and replicating the sounds of Nature in his music.

He passed away in 1904 after a lifetime of composing and playing music.

After his death, his pipes became the stuff of legend, one man claiming that they played by themselves with no musician about.

Finally the pipes vanished and nobody has any idea where they are to this day.

(I read this story in Danny Houlihan’s Ballybunion, an Illustrated History)

the Blaket Islands, ducks on The Feale and some local images

Cycling home with the newspaper through Childers’ Park,  Listowel in July 2018

<<<<<<<<<


A Date for the Diary



<<<<<<<<<


West Kerry Islands



Last week I posted this photo from Seán Mac an tSíthigh of An Fear Marbh. I told you that this island is also called The Sleeping Giant. Well, this prompted Denis Quille to write to tell us that the same island is also called An tEaspag (the bishop). It’s proper name is Inis Tuaisceart  ( The North Island)

Denis says;

The old people at the tip of the Dingle Peninsula knew Inis Tuaisceart (The Sleeping Giant) as “An tEaspag” (The Bishop), it is also easy to see why. 

On a family boat trip on 30 June we went into the island (some of my family with my brother Bryan’s living in Listowel) and I’m attaching a few of the numerous photos taken by my daughter Neassa and nephew Micheál for you. We also landed on other outlaying islands but could not land on An Tiarach due to the spring tide swell. The landing/climb on to Inis Tuaisceart is dangerous and we had a very calm day, it not advisable for all ages should any of your followers be contemplating a visit. There is no ferry.

This is the Great Foze Rock (An Fós = Rage) taken on 30 June. This is the most westerly landfall in Europe and is situated quite a distance from An Tiaracht. 


The families had a swim here but in hindsight was probably foolish as there was a very strong drift in the direction of the rocks.


<<<<<<<


Ducks on The Feale during the summer drought of 2018



There are several families of ducks in the river. I photographed these by the Big Bridge.

Peter McGrath collects some stale bread from a local shop and he makes his regular trips to feed the ducks.


These were further downstream

<<<<<<<<



Look who I met on my Sunday morning walk




Fred Chute is a man who loves Nature. On this lovely Sunday morning July 22 2018 he was enjoying a stroll by The Feale with his dog.

Lyreacrompane 1956 and some Listowel people in Dec 2014

Listowel People at the Santa Parade on Sunday Dec 7 2014





<<<<<<<


Lyreacrompane, 1956

(photo: Cathy Dunne)

<<<<<<

Success for a descendant of the Listowel Diaspora



  • Christine Kenneally is an award-winning journalist and author who has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, Time, New Scientist, The Monthly, and other publications. Her books, The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures and The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language, are published by Viking Penguin. Before becoming a reporter, she received a Ph.D. in linguistics from Cambridge University and a B.A. (Hons) in English and Linguistics from Melbourne University. She was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and has lived in England, Iowa, and Brooklyn, New York (ckenneally@ckenneally.com). She is currently a contributing editor for Buzzfeed News.

    <<<<<<<

    Out and About with my Camera




    Roly Chute and John Lynch





    Fred Chute at his travelling workshop






    Ruth O’Quigley at Knitwits Christmas lunch


    Mary Sobieralski with Abraham Nur and Namir Karim at Scribes



    Patricia Borley with the cake she made for the Knitwits Christmas party



    <<<<<<



    Operation Education



    One great day during Listowel Writers’ Week 2014



    Operation Education


    <<<<<<<

    Don’t forget the Christmas Craft Fair at The Seanchaí on Sunday

     from 11 to 5.00.    Admission free

The last of 2014 Corpus Christi procession photos and some beautiful paintwork on Church Street

Today is July 4th.  Have a great day all my American followers!

The stars and stripes are flying outside St. John’s.

<<<<<<<

Liam Murphy and family


Liam, on the far left,  is pictured with his sister, Catherine (Kath) brother Tom and sister Mary. The photo was taken in 2012. The story of Liam’s emigration is a happy one. He loves Kerry and in particular his native Lyre but he made a good life for himself in the U.S. and he now loves both of his homes. The land of opportunity gave him a good job, a home and family. Now, in his retirement, he returns often to visit his family and renew old acquaintances.

 Happy Independence Day, Liam!

<<<<<<<

Corpus Christi procession 2014



<<<<<

Church Street Looking good

Lovely, absolutely lovely!

<<<<<<



In Herald.ie Gerry O’Carroll remembers his father who played his part in WW1

02 JULY 2014 12:00 AM

LAST Saturday marked the 100th anniversary
of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo.

The shooting led, of course, to World War
i, a conflict which drew in millions of people around the world.

Among them was a young man from Listowel,
Co Kerry, named James O’Carroll. He was my father.

He was one of thousands of young Irishmen
who answered John Redmond’s call to join the British Army and fight for the
freedom of small nations.

My dad was just 16 when he left north
Kerry for London in 1916. There he joined the Royal Engineers and, after four
months of basic training, was sent to the Western Front.

He fought in France and later in Belgium.
Like thousands of his fellow countrymen he endured the horrors and hardships of
the Great War – the mud, the blood, the daily terror and struggle for survival.

In early 1918, having survived two years
of that living hell, he was seriously wounded during an over-the-top attack in
Ypres.

He was shot through the shoulder and,
following a mustard gas attack, lay blinded and choking in a shell-hole for ten
hours before he was rescued.

My father was taken to hospital and
recovered from the wound. Alas he suffered lifelong effects to his lungs from
the gas attack.

James O’Carroll remained in France with
his regiment until the Armistice in 1918 and was demobbed the following year,
after which he returned to Listowel.

My dad’s experiences in France and Belgium
left him a changed man. In later years he became a committed pacifist.

veterans

He also went on to raise a family of 15,
living in the soldiers’ houses in Listowel, a terrace built by a trust for
wounded veterans of the War.

Growing up In the staunchly Republican
heartland of north Kerry I always had the feeling that the houses were looked
on by many people as a curious anomaly.

Perhaps one of the reasons for this was
that our family would sell the poppy each November, not a common practice in
the town.

Sadly my dad, like many other veterans,
was seen by many not as a person who fought for freedom, but instead as someone
tainted by treason, for taking ‘the King’s shilling’.

Likewise no monuments were erected to my
dad’s many Irish pals who never came home.

Only now, at last, are they being properly
recognised. It’s taken a century but I’m glad to see it.

I’m sure my dear departed father would be
too.

Corpus Christi procession 2014, painting and Abbeyfeale Hall

This year the procession left St. Michael’s after 11.00 a.m. mass, travelled up Cahirdown, down the John B. Keane Rd. and ended with hymns and benediction in Ballygologue Park. The weather was glorious.

Sunday masses are celebrated in St. Michael’s while St. Mary’s is undergoing floor repairs.

Canon Declan O’Connor carries the monstrance up Cahirdown on Sunday June 22 2014.

The people of Cahirdown made a great effort, erecting altars and coming out to stand and show respect.

Charles Nolan was at the island by the roundabout, capturing wonderful memories of the event.

Seán Moriarty and grandson making every effort to get there on time.

(more photos tomorrow)

<<<<<<<

In the park on Sunday I met Lilly taking her grandparents for a walk.

<<<<<<<<

In the Emmetts pitch,  Captain Jack Sparrow was twisting balloons into animal shapes and Mickey and Minnie Mouse were posing for photos. I have no idea what it was all in aid of.

<<<<<

The Coffee Nook is next to be painted.

<<<<<<

Abbeyfeale Hall

St. Ita’s Hall was originally known as the Parochial Hall, Abbeyfeale  It was officially opened on New Year’s Night 1928.  Fund-raising for the Hall was organised by Canon Jeremiah Murphy, who had been appointed P.P. of Abbeyfeale in  April 1924.  The building of the Hall was a co-operative effort, all involved giving their services free.  This new Hall replaced the Temperance Hall, which was burned by The Black & Tans.  In the downstairs area the late Mr. Jim Kelly and his sister Anna commenced their Post Primary School, later to become St. Ita’s College in a new location.

Presently the Hall is a hive of activity – Legion of Mary, Bereavement Support, West Limerick Community Development, Parents’ & Toddler Groups and many others. In recognition of Abbeyfeale’s proud association with the Irish Language the name over the main door reads “Halla Íde Naofa”

(source: Abbeyfeale newsletter)

<<<<<<<<<<

Memory lane

Mrs. Crowley’s class 1954, Listowel Boys National School

<<<<<<

Lovely video memories of June Bank Holiday weekend 2014 in Listowel

http://youtu.be/Vmr7PmqgA6o

Page 2 of 4

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén