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: Jim Costelloe

A Poem, Athea, old Cork and generosity personified at Christmas 2017

By

On December 21, 2017

In Uncategorized

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Forget Elf on the shelf. Chris Grayson’s robins are up to morning adventures as well.

Ballylongford in Winter 2017     Photo by Ita Hannon

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The Wind         by James Stephens

The wind stood up
and gave a shout

He whistled on his
fingers and

Kicked the
withered leaves about,

And thumped the
branches with his hand.

And said that he’d
kill, and kill, and kill

And so he will!
And so he will!

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Athea’s Local Chronicler



Domhnall de Barra does his local district a great service by bringing them a regular update soon local happenings in his 

Athea and District News

Here is some of what he has to say in Christmas 2017

The Festive Season 

Domhnall de Barra


Christmas time is upon
us again and the buying frenzy has already started. In trying to understand
why, I googled Christmas and found a lot of information about the origins of
the feast and how it developed over the years. You can do this yourselves so I
won’t go into it except  for the following passage:

The celebratory customs associated in various
countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian,
Christian, and secular themes
and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving,
completing an Advent calendar or Advent wreath, Christmas music and caroling,
lighting a Christingle,
viewing a Nativity play,
an exchange of Christmas cards, church services,
a special meal,
and the display of various Christmas
decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe,
and holly.
In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known
as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas,
and Christkind,
are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and
have their own body of traditions and
lore. Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival
involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant
event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact
of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of
the world.


That passage sums
up  in a few sentences what Christmas is about but it does not tell the
whole story. With all the ballyhoo, the real meaning of Christmas can easily
get lost. It was created to  celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, an event
that is central to Christian beliefs. December 25th may not be the real date of
the Lord’s birth but it was chosen because it was the shortest day of the
year in the Roman calendar and marked the beginning of the longer days  to
come and more light. When people celebrate they often do so by eating together
so the Christmas dinner began. It was, and still is, a great family occasion
and a time for loving and sharing…..

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Cork in 1920




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A Heartwarming Story

This is Eunice Perrin of Duagh. Eunice loves to knit and every evening she knits little hats for premature babies as she watches her favourite TV programmes.

I met her in Scribes on Saturday where she was meeting up with another very generous soul. Namir Karim is closing down his craft shop in Church Street and he gifted Eunice twenty balls of knitting yarn for her charity knitting. Maureen Connelly agreed to be the liaison person to deliver the yarn and collect the caps.

Three kind people

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Getting Ready for Christmas in Asdee in the 1950s

by Jim Costelloe in his book…Asdee a Rural Miscellany

Whitewashing the
dry walls around the house was one of the jobs that had to be done for
Christmas. The outer walls of dwelling houses had to be lime washed also. The
lime had to be prepared a few days beforehand and I have a memory of rocks of
lime in the bottom of a bucket being covered with boiling water as the mixture
stewed a combination of steam and lime into the air,  Some blue dye which was also used for
bleaching white clothes on washday was also added to make the lime wash brilliant
white. The yard and the bohreen near the house were also brushed and a general
clean up was done.

There were no
commercial;l Christmas decorations for sale in the shops, or, if they were,
they were not bought by most rural householders. Holly and ivy were the only
decorations I remember with the odd simple crib. We were aware before Christmas
of the holly with the “knobs” was as we would have been hunting and searching
the fences for plums and sloes during the autumn.

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Well deserved Cultural Archive Award for Listowel’s Lartigue




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The sea gives up its secrets




As Noelle Hegarty was taking her morning walk on Beale strand yesterday, she noticed that the tide  had washed clean the sand that usually covers the old slipway.



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A Poem for Christmas 2017



sent to us by Mary McElligott



Mountcollins, The Spinning Wheel and Sex education on the farm.

By

On May 12, 2017

In Uncategorized

Jonathan Fleury of Carrigaline for The Rebel Cup Photographic competition.

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Ballybunion May 11 2017


Photo: Catherine Moylan

Mario Perez did a sand art tribute and we all gathered round to say another farewell to our friend Fr. Pat Moore. I’ll post more photos next week

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Artist at Work in Listowel Town Square




Monday May 8 2017

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The Church at Mountcollins


Here are a few more photos from my recent visit to this chapel on the hill.



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Do You Remember The Spinning Wheel?


Where Footprints now stands there once was a successful restaurant called The Spinning Wheel. James Scanlon, whose family owned this business shared with us some photographs from the 70s and 80s.

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Learning about the birds and the bees in the fifties



( from Jim Costelloe’s Asdee)

Taking a hen turkey for service was a job
for women, but, unfortunately, in our house the males had to do it. The bird
was put into a canvas bag a hole was cut in the bag so that she could stick her
head out in case she smothered. Dedending on the distance away to the cock, she
was transported either by hand, on one’s back or on one’s arm, or taken by
donkey and cart. Either way, it was a very embarrassing situation for us as
boys to be seen by our school pals taking a hen turkey to the cock. We often
went through the fields, which was a much harder journey, rather than meet one
of the school peers. Being seen taking a hen turkey to the cock was nearly as
bad as being accused of ‘trying” hens for eggs.

In general, the service did not take very
long, but sometimes the cock would be slow, especially if it was a busy time
and business was brisk. A cock turkey has very long claws and all breeddoing
cocks have their claws trimmed, otherwise they would damage the hen turkey’s
back during service. A well feathered hen would have some protection, but
breeding hens are inclined to lose some of their feathers during the laying season.
To protect them, a piece of a man’s jumper was often tied on their backs during
mating. The male turkey, always referred to as a cock and not a cockerel often did
a lot of prancing on the female during service so protection on her back during
service was essential.

As a hen turkey generally laid fifteen to
twenty eggs, she would have to be serviced three or four times to make sure all
the eggs were fertilized. This meant more embarrassing trips for us. It
happened that an odd young turkey, in her first breeding season, would not lie
first but would lay without lying and consequently the egg would not be fertilized.
That egg would be eaten by the man of the house. Turkey eggs are larger than
duck or hen eggs, though smaller than goose eggs and they are speckled.

New business, Ballybunion on the Wild Atlantic Way, and Listowel Military Festival 2017

By

On May 4, 2017

In Uncategorized

Theresa Collins of Mallow Camera Club is the photographer.

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New Pharmacy at The Gold Corner


Work is underway on Doran’s Pharmacy due to open soon at this location.

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Ballybunion on the Wild Atlantic Way

These details from the WAW sign point out some of the reasons for  the universal appeal of Ballybunion. I count myself blessed to have it on my doorstep.


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Setting the Spuds


(from Jim Costelloe’s Asdee…..)

Potatoes were grown in drills but the
belief existed that, because the ridges were made in virgin soil (bawn) they
produced better crops. To prepare the soil for drills, which were always made
in broken ground or stubbles, the garden was ploughed as normal. It was later
harrowed with a spring harrow, rolled, harrowed again and again rolled. The
area was then ploughed again, and rolled and again harrowed to make sure there
were no lumps in the soil and that the earth was fine and loose. The process
helped the germination and crop growth of the seed potatoes. When the ground
was ready, the drills were opened using a double boarded plough.

Farmyard dung was then drawn from the dung
heap beside the cowshed with the horse and butt car. It was later spread on all
the furrows with four prong pikes. The drills were now ready for the sciolláns
so all members of the family were called on to spread the seed. The seeds were
laid on the dung in the furrows and the drills were split so that the furrows
with the potatoes on the dung became drills and the drills were the new
furrows. There was less manual work with drills although the spreading of the
sciolláns was severe on the back. The varities of potatoes sown then included
Aran Banners for fowl and farm animals, Kerr’s Pink, Aran Victors (blue ones)
and Records. The early variety, Epicure was set in the kitchen garden near the
house.

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The Siege of Jadotville

Sheila and Leo Quinlan (son of Pat Quinlan) with Ann and Jim Halpin



Jim Halpin is a man who does more then anyone in Listowel to make sure that  the men who served their country are remembered. He has put his money where his mouth is and invested heavily in his excellent military history museum on Church St. and every year he organises a reunion and celebration for his friends and old comrades in The Irish Army Reserve.

Jim invited me to an event he had set up for Friday April 28 2017 in The Seanchaí. I felt privileged to attend.

Kathy Walsh, Dr. Declan Downey and John Pierse at The Seanchaí

After a cheese and wine reception, the dignitaries and honoured guests were piped into the auditorium.




Aoife Thornton, our current mayor, made a presentation to Leo and Sheila Quinlan.


Dr. Declan Downey filled us in on the background to Jadotville and the travesty that followed.


This was the early days of Ireland’s peacekeeping involvement with the United Nations. The African country of Congo had freed itself from its Belgian and French colonisers and was now a republic. The oil and mineral rich Katangan province was backed by rich oil and mining companies in its bid to form an independent state within Congo. The United Nations was called on to help maintain peace between the state forces and the rebels.

Conor Cruise O’Brien was the UN man on the ground when the UN peacekeepers were sent in. O’Brien had no experience as a diplomat and, according to Downey, made a very bad job of it.

Commandant Pat Quinlan, a Kerryman, was the man in charge of the UN compound in Jadotville in Katanga. He and his small band were charged with keeping the peace between the Congolese and Katangan troops whose ranks were swelled with mercenaries brought in by the vested interest in mining and oil.

The siege lasted 6 days with Quinlan’s A Company outnumbered 20 to 1. Orders from O’Brien were to keep fighting even though the Irishmen were inflicting heavy casualties on the Katangans. The peacekeepers had become peace enforcers.

Eventually when they had run out of ammunition and food supplies, every bullet having been fired twice, and Quinlan was left completely on his own, he made the only decision he could to protect the lives of the men in his charge; he surrendered.

………….

We were shown the film starring Jamie Dornan which brought all of this story to life for us. After the surrender the men served a month as prisoners of war while the UN and the Congo debated what to do with them. Eventually they were released and came home to an ignominious lack of welcome. Despite continuous campaigning their heroism was ignored until nine years after Quinlan’s death. In 2016 Quinlan’s reputation was restored and his men honoured by the Irish state which they served so loyally and so well.

At Listowel Military Festival 2017 the surviving members of A company were honoured guests and after the wreath laying ceremony on Saturday April 29 2017, they were invited to stand as their fellow veterans marched past in a gesture of respect for them.


St. Vincent de Paul, Ballybunionand the Easter dues in the 1950s

By

On April 17, 2017

In Uncategorized

Man at Work    Photo by Janusz Trzesicki

Mallow Camera Club has some excellent photographer members. The theme for their last monthly competition was People at Work. It elicited some marvellous images. One of my favourites is this from Janusz Trzesicki.

Janusz is a super photographer who photographs everything including weddings and sporting events.

Below is another of his photographs from a recent Kanturk rugby match

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Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Listowel


Kay Landy was photographed for the Kerryman with other long serving volunteers at their recent celebration. I snapped her in the Second Time Around shop in Upper William Street with two of the newer volunteers. Listowel should be proud of the work they do and the services they provide.

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Nearly Done


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Evening in Ballybunion

Saturday April 9 was one of the best days of 2017 so far. The sky was clear and the weather was warm and balmy. When I got to Ballybunion with my visitors the crowd on the beach was beginning to thin out but it was evident that people had been in the water. Others had been sun bathing and there were a few sandcastles still standing on the beach…… a welcome taste of summer.

My visitors obligingly struck the now obligatory jumping pose at the WAW sign.


We watched the sun set from the vantage point of our table upstairs in Daroka where we enjoyed an excellent meal.

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Sisters and Friends




I met Tena and Rochelle walking (yes walking) by the river.

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with Jim Costello down memory lane




Jim Costello in his lovely memoir takes me back to my childhood. Our experiences and the experiences of many of our contemporaries were very similar.

This is what he says about “the dues”.

“…..The announcements at Sunday
mass often consisted of the reading of the priests’ collection. Each townland
was read and all who paid were named, starting with the highest payee, for
example; townland of Asdee-£1 each (names of people) 10 shillings each  (names of people), 7/6 each (names of
people). The amounts paid were gradually reducing until the people who paid the
least amount were mentioned last. People whose names were not read had not
contributed at all and there was more interest in the people who did not pay
than in the amount which people actually paid.”

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