Listowel Connection

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: healyracing Page 2 of 4

St. John’s, Berenice Holmes visits her Listowel Connections and I saw Room and was Wowed

By

On January 21, 2016

In Uncategorized

From Time Travel Kerry





-St Johns Church Listowel-

This is a former Church of Ireland Gothic style church, located in the centre of the Town Square. In 1814 the site for the church was presented to the community by Lord Listowel. A Cork architect, James Payne designed the church and it was used by the faithful of North Kerry as a place of worship from its completion in 1819 until its deconsecration in 1988. The Church of Ireland community and the people of Listowel were keen to preserve the building and make it a centre for local cultural activities and heritage.
It now houses a fine Theatre & Arts Centre and also a Tourist Office. St. John’s Theatre & Arts Centre features an annual programme of performances including theatre, music and dance, exhibitions and educational programmes and an annual summer school.

(Original photo, late 1800s, unknown)

(Modern photo – July 2014)

(Historical ref – Listowel.ie)

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A Visitor Who Fell in Love with Listowel


Berenice Holmes sent me this account of her very enjoyable trip to Ireland in 2015. It’s lovely to hear a first hand account from a visitor who had a great time here. 

My name is Berenice Holmes and I get your Listowel Connection every day and enjoy reading through it. I thought it was about time I managed to share my wonderful trip to Ireland and Listowel with my husband Lionel last September 2015..

I started out a few years ago now asking on your blog how I could find out about my ancestors from Listowel. My Mum was always telling me all my life I needed to go to Ireland to see where her Grandmother came from in County Kerry which she was told was the most beautiful place on earth.

For a long time I had no idea where in County Kerry she came from but gradually I got more information and getting my Great-Grandmother’s Marriage and Death Certificate they both said born in Listowel. (Abt.1850).  My Great Grandmother was Mary McKenna and she emigrated to Australia around 1871
and married William Ives in Queensland in 1877. My relatives are the McKenna’s of Listowel. My ancestors go back to Thomas McKenna and Joanna Ffoulkes who have some stories written about them and the uprising around 1879.

I have always had a longing to come to Ireland but could not make the trip as I needed to look after my Mother who passed away on the 1st November 2014 at 94 yrs.  She would have been 95 in January 2015.

We had the most wonderful 2 weeks driving around Ireland and looking at places where my ancestors had lived on my Dad’s side in Northern Ireland.  We eventually arrived in Listowel on the Sunday of Race Week in September.  We stayed for 4 days with Kathy Walsh at Gurtenard House.

That was wonderful. Kathy is just a great person.

Then we got to meet Jack and Sue McKenna.  Jack is Mum’s second cousin and mine as well.  We spent the afternoon with them and it was the highlight of my trip to Ireland to meet them both I just couldn’t believe we were finally here.  It felt like I had come home even though home for me is Australia.

It really added a another dimension to my family and for me filled in some of my missing relatives.  We spent the next morning with Sue and her son John and they took us to the old Kilshenane Cemetery to see some of the McKenna graves and up to see the old farm house.  This was again another wonderful experience for us.  The warmth and friendliness that we both felt from family, friends and anyone we met in Ireland was wonderful and really blew us away.

We had a wonderful time at the Listowel Races on the Wednesday for the Kerry National.  I have attached a photo of us at the races.  We really enjoyed being in Listowel over those 4 days and it was hard to leave.  We got to meet a couple of people while we were there – Damian Stack and

Billy Keane (outside his pub) and also Gerard Greaney of Forur Genealogy while we were at Gurtenard House with Kathy. We got to go out to Ballybunion and along to the Bromore Cliffs which we loved as we were there on our own and no tourist crowds crowding out the place.  We met the

Farmer and a good chat with him and got to give some attention to the beautiful grey horse out there.

We went down to Newmarket in County Cork for a visit to where my G.G.Grandfather John McAuliffe was born in 1836.  He emigrated to Australia around 1867.  He is my Mum’s G.Grandfather on her dad’s side.  While we were in Newmarket we were introduced to Maurice Angland and he took
about 2 hours of his time to take us around Newmarket and show us things about the McAuliffes the cemetery, the McAuliffe crest on the outskirts of the town and the new Clann Building they are restoring as a community centre there as well as use by the Clann and then shared coffee with us.
That just blew us away again on how people would go out of their way to help us.  It seemed every time we turned around someone was there to welcome and help us.

This trip has not satisfied my hunger for coming back to Ireland.  We are hoping to get back again maybe sometime next year and if so we will make Listowel our base and stay with Kathy at Gurtenard house again and get to see more of County Kerry and the locals in Listowel and get

to feel like a local.  We would dearly love to catch up with Jack & Sue McKenna if we can.  The only thing that would stop us coming back would be our health which is very good at the moment.  Lionel is 80 yrs and I am 75yrs. We don’t feel old.  It is a very long haul trip by plane from Australia but I am

sure we can do it.  Kathy is very keen for us to come back again.

Berenice and Lionel at Listowel Races.

Berenice’s photo of Bromore.

Bart gives Lionel a warm Kerry welcome.

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Presentation Convent, Listowel had a really beautiful front garden



(Photos: Tim Griffin R.I.P.)


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Room is Brilliant

photo; Official poster




I saw Room this week. It’s a long time since I was so blown away by a film. If the Oscar for best film was in my gift, there would not be a moment’s hesitation before I awarded it to Room.

Jacob Tremblay as Jack stole the show. The twists and turns of this story of an exploration of human relationships was brilliantly depicted in this masterpiece.  See it.

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Done it Again




In the very competitive world of press photography Listowel’s own Healy Racing are up there with the best.

The photo above shows a racehorse being hosed down after a race. It’s this eye for the unusual shot that makes these superb photographers stand out from the pack.

Today, January 21 2016,  the Irish Independent have a heartwarming Healyracing photo on the front page. Once more this Listowel photographer has shown that unequalled eye for  spotting “the money shot”.

The photo in today’s paper is taken at the Races but not on the track. It’s a heartwarming human interest photograph of a jockey signing an autograph for a young fan .   Respect!

Book Launch in The National Library, Apprenticeship, Auschwitz Remembered and another great Healy photograph

By

On January 18, 2016

In Uncategorized

Building at Ballybunion


Photo; Ballybunion Prints

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Sometimes a Book can be declared a Treasure








When Vincent Carmody launched his great book, (pictured above)  in the National Library a few years ago, he was surrounded on the night by his family and by some illustrious North Kerry people who now live in Dublin.

The book is still available from Vincent and should be in every home with a Listowel connection.

Standing are Kevin Carmody, Vincent’s son, who returned from the U.S. for the event and Sr. Maura, Vincent’s sister who, sadly, passed away before Christmas 2015.

In front are Vincent and his wife, Kathleen

Back L to R ; Eamon OMurchú, Katie Hannon, Maurice Hayes, John Coolahan and Cyril Kelly

Front; Vincent Carmody and Jimmy Deenihan

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An Apprentice’s Lot was not a easy one


Jackie Lenihan of Charles St. Listowel, grandfather of Donal Linehan, rugby player was a carpenter. He took apprentices to train in to the trade. One of these apprentices was James Enright, father of Mike Enright of Ballybunion. Mike has his father’s apprenticeship contract. It makes interesting reading.

It reads more like a monk’s contract to me. Apparently it was the standard agreement for all apprenticeships back in the day.

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Do you Remember when Mill Lane looked like this?


(photo: John Kelliher)

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 Bob Geldof’s wedding to Paula Yates in 1986




Photo: Rare Irish Stuff

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Seventy Years ago this week


Photo: Alien West

This image, taken at the liberation of Auschwitz, is just as shocking today as it was then.

We need to remind ourselves often of this enormous inhumanity.  Our ancestors who fought in WW11 fought to put an end to this.

We will get a chance to remember all the victims of war everywhere at Listowel Military Tattoo 

April 29 to May 1 2016

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Wow,Wow,Wow




What a snap!

There are three heroes here;

A great horse, Killultagh Vic, who recovered from this mishap  at the last to go on to win his race at Leopardstown yesterday, January 17 2016,

A great jockey, Ruby Walsh, who employed all of his considerable skills to stay on board and steer his mount to victory once again,

AND

 Listowel’s great racing photographer, Pat Healy of Healyracing who captured the moment for all time.

Well done all.

Mrs. Cullen’s Powders, Holy Communion on the beach on D Day, a brilliant photo from Healyracing and some old ones of The Lartigue

By

On December 17, 2015

In Uncategorized

Fungi in Dingle in summer 2015

(photo; Fungie Forever)

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Ballybunion at night

(photo: Ballybunion Prints)

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Any cure for Nostalgia?


I looked up Mrs. Cullen’s Powders and I found this lovely old image. These magical remedies were sold up the 1970s. They came packaged in a little sachet and you mixed the powder with water, stirred the lot and your troubles were over in ten minutes. According to the internet they contained caffeine and asprin. 

Who on earth was Mrs. Cullen? Was she just an old wife made up by the advertising industry, a bit like old Mr. Brennan?

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DDay Communion


(photo: Shared by Joseph Gloor)

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Sunny and friends enjoy a Christmas Night Out

( photo: Black Diamond Photography)

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I Love a Good Photo


This is Healyracing’s photo of winning jockey, Helen Mooney. It certainly paints a thousand words….face covered in muck and grass, goggles around the neck that no one could possibly see through, silks destroyed BUT a beaming smile and twinkling eyes that say, “I really love what I do.”

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The Lartigue 




I posted this old picture yesterday. Vincent Carmody contacted me with a few of his memories of the Lartigue.

“A little correction of the picture of the monorail at Teampailin Bridge, the Ballybunion roadway was on the left, behind the bushes, you can see the telegraph poles near the house, which I think was Whites. The lane way shown on the right was accessed by going over the Lartigue bridge. The Famine cemetery, houses and fields had entrances from this lane. The next available crossing further up the Ballybunion road would have been through one of the flying gates.

I am enclosing a photograph of what was the remains of the last of those flying gates. Posing for the photographer are the Leahy brothers from No 1, The Square, and also Ballygologue. Patsy and Sean. Patsy was for years working for M. J. Carroll’s of The Square, he was also captain of the the local fire brigade service, Sean, I think, went working to England. They were brothers to Bridie (O’Donnell) Peggy (Murphy) and Maureen (Gilmartin)

The second photograph was taken during an early Writers Week walk, this walk was conducted by a Sean ?. his surname escapes me, he, I think that he worked for the TV company, U.T.V. His passion was railways, and he had particular interest in The Lartigue. The crowd in the photograph are on the platform opposite the station house, near the old signal box, they are looking at the site of the old Lartigue line which was situated inside the wire. on their right are the rail-lines of the Limerick/Tralee railway, in the immediate distance is the old goods store, now the present day, Lartigue Monorail Museum.  ”  

HERE is a link to a lovely little youtube video of Liam Hannon’s trip to on the Lartigue.

Commentary is in German but that won’t spoil your enjoyment of this engineer’s eye view.

Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue and Healyracing’s tribute to A.P. McCoy

By

On June 22, 2015

In Uncategorized


in Listowel Square


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Signs Old and New on Courthouse Road

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Look who I met in Changes




Jean Quille of Kerry Businesswomen’s Network with Norah Casey who was in town for Listowel Food Fair and Danny Russell of Changes who had just styled Norah’s hair.

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Healyracing tribute to A.P. McCoy


One of the really nice local events on this year’s Writers’ Week programme was Healyracing’s photographic tribute to A.P. McCoy. I was lucky to be there. Here are a few photos I took at the launch.

Three generations of the Kelliher family
John Maguire, Kevin Sheehy, Maurice Hannon, Aiden O’Connor and John McAulliffe
Liam Healy with his granddaughters
Junior Griffin, Cathy Healy and Danny Hannon
John McGuire, Maurice Sheehy, John Keane, Kevin Sheehy and Junior Griffin
Old stock: Junior Griffin and Liam Healy
Liam with Mr. Carey
Sally O’Neill and Michael Lynch
Lisa Healy and son
Marion Relihan
Pat Healy
Liam with Owen and Maura MacMahon
Seán Lyons and Christy Walsh
Christine Dwyer Hickey and Máire O’Connor
Sean Lyons, Máire Logue and Joe Stack



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Heroes All

Ballybunion Sea & Cliff
Rescue was founded in 1986 to provide a rescue service to the locality of North
Kerry and West Limerick.

The unit, manned by 35
volunteers, is situated on the Ladies Beach in Ballybunion and operates as a
declared resource to the Irish Coast Guard. BSCR operate on 7 minute readiness
for the D Class and 12 minutes for the Atlantic 75, always available on 24 hour
pager alert. As a declared resource we form part of a group of voluntary rescue
boats collectively called Community Rescue Boats Ireland. This is made up of 13
units around the country (listed below)

Although maintaining the name Sea
& Cliff Rescue, cliff rescue was taken over by the Ballybunion Unit of the
Irish Coast Guard in 1991 (then the Coast and Cliff Rescue Service). The Irish
Coast Guard unit based in Ballybunion is a separate organization and should not
be mixed up with BSCR.

Equipped with a D class
inflatable boat, & a new Atlantic 75 RIB, BSCR covers the coast and Shannon
Estuary from Ballyheigue, Co Kerry to Foynes, Co. Limerick, and inland to
Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick. Having a declared night time capability also means we
overlap with neighboring services to cover that area in the hours of darkness.


As well as providing 24×7 Sea
& Cliff Rescue, the volunteers also provide First Aid and Ambulance
assistance at a handful of horse races and other events around the Ballybunion
area.

We rely on public donations and
all year round fund raising to raise the €45,000 needed to keep the service
afloat each year. None of our members are paid and all give their time freely.

The crest of Ballybunion Sea
& Cliff Rescue Service is made up of an anchor in the centre, a ring buoy
around a figure of 8 (for climbing) and a plan view of a D Class boat, all of
which is outlined by a gold rope.

The words “Watch for ye know not the hour” is the units motto
and comes from Matthew 24:42. It reminds people to always be
careful…….because you never know when you may need us.


Photo and text from Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue 

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An Gleann 2015 Scoil Realt na Maidine champions




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Billy Keane’s great article about Limerick Tipperary rivalry on the field of play and a heartache closer to home is

Here

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We have a Winner




Maria Stack of Listowel (on left) was declared the best dressed lady at Cork Summer Show at the weekend.

Fungi, Liam Healy and progress at the Plaza

By

On May 21, 2015

In Uncategorized

That dolphin again!  photo Fungie Forever

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Listowel Writers’ Week opens on May 27 2015

Olive Stack’s image provides  the lovely cover for their year’s programme.

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Kitesurfing in Ballybunion Last Week

Photo:Ballybunion Prints

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Liam Healy Reminisces




Liam and his daughter, Cathy


After school, Liam went to work for Duggans, cutting turf. He
earned 15 shillings a week delivering milk for Jim Walshe. He worked from 6a.m.
to 6p.m. and he was only 15 years old.

One day on his way home from the bog he
met Eddie Lawlor who asked him if he would like a “proper job”. His father
consented to him going to work for Eddie Lawlor. Liam spent eight happy years delivering
minerals around North Kerry.

But the grass is always greener on the far side of
the hill. Liam saw men his age returning from England where they were working.
They had fancy clothes and fast cars and he thought that he would like a piece
of that action. He took the boat, only to discover that the fancy clothes were
bought on the never never and the cars were rented. In fact his life at home
was much better than most of the emigrants (AND there was a sweetheart in the
picture by now). Liam only stayed in England for 18 months and this is the only
time he has ever lived away from his beloved Listowel. He returned to Eddie
Lawlor and a new job as a salesman.

His late wife Joan is the love of Liam’s life. They knew each other all their
lives and Joan carried a torch for the young Liam for a while before he first
asked her to dance in Walshe’s
ballroom. Liam had another little job there. He used to work in the cloakroom.
There was an area behind the dance floor, behind the crowd of onlookers and
close to the cloakroom and there Liam and Joan put on a display of jiving. Liam
walked her home that night and they fell in love. They had a sort of long
distance relationship for a while because Liam emigrated for a time and Joan
emigrated for a spell as well but they kept the spark alive and eventually
married and had 4 children.

An early photo of Listowel Racecourse

By now Liam was interested in photography and he had never got
that early love of photographs of racehorses out of his system. He had a
half day from work on a Thursday and he spent every Thursday and Sunday
photographing horses at Race meetings & Point to Points. Liam returned home
every night, even if the race meeting was as far away as Dundalk. All this
travelling and working full time as well was taking its toll on Liam. He asked Joan
if she would mind if he took up the photography full time. He remembers Joan’s answer,“The first day the children are hungry I’ll tell you.” Joan joined Liam in the
business. Liam took the photos and Joan ran the office. Pat, his eldest son was
displaying a good eye for a good shot and Liam Jnr was also taking an interest
in photography.

Liam and his friend, Pat Walshe, reading my book shortly after its launch.

Everywhere he goes, Liam makes friends. He is very grateful to
one of these friends, Max Fleming from Tramore. He had the power to allow Liam
on to the race track to take his pictures. That was the beginning of the
business that today is Healy Racing.

In a horrible instance of history repeating itself, Liam lost his
beloved Joan and was left with 4 youngsters to rear. She had breast cancer for
3 years but it was a clot that killed her in the end, on November 27th.
1987, three days after her birthday
which she spent at home with Liam and her family. Liam still misses her but he
takes consolation in his family of whom he is so proud. He now has 6 grandchildren Kevin, Siún, Jack, Ruth,
Adam and Sean who also show great interest and love for what Healy Racing does.

Liam’s two sons were keenly interested in the racing photography
and came into the business with their dad. He sent the two girls to college and
they both did well and got good jobs. Such is their love and admiration for
their dad and their pleasure to be in his company that they have all chosen to
work for Healy Racing.

In Liam’s words, Pat is the face of the business, Liam is the engine, Cathy is the voice and
Lisa the mother figure in the background keeping the show on the road. There
is now a third generation of Healys with
an interest in photography coming along.

It was my great pleasure to talk to Liam and to hear his memories. I am very grateful to his
lovely daughter, Cathy for arranging it all and for supplying some photos. He
is a man I greatly admire, one of Listowel’s underrated great men.

I searched around for one word to describe Liam. I toyed with
honest, upright, kind, humble, talented, entertaining, generous etc. etc. I
finally chose loyal as the word to best describe him.

Liam is loyal to his roots.

He is fiercely loyal to his family who plainly adore him.

He is loyal to his hometown, Listowel.

He is loyal to his friends.

But above all Liam is loyal to himself and true to the values he
learned in his childhood home. He has passed these same values of generosity,
kindness and neighbourliness, hard work and humility on to his children who
have all done him proud.

Liam Healy is living proof of a fact I have always maintained
that there are qualities which will take you far in life which are a more
valuable asset than anything that can be measured in Leaving Cert. points.

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Progress at The Plaza



The site is cleared and building is due to commence at the back of The Plaza

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Pastoral Scene







Cattle in a field outside Killarney last week

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Thinking Ahead



What have you planned for the young ones for the June Weekend?

Bring them into town on Saturday May 30th at 12.30. Have them dressed as any character they like. The  Elsa costume will be getting an outing on Sunday for the Frozen singalong but it will be fine for this one too. Princesses, pirates, vampires etc.etc. all welcome. Prizes galore.

Make This year’s Childrens Festival at Writers’ Week the best ever.

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