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
I found this picture of a market day in Killarney in 1901 on the internet. Houses are thatched. Horses and carts are where tractors would be nowadays.
Meanwhile in Tralee
The local painting and decorating firm of John J. Foley painted this magnificent ceiling in the convent chapel at Balloonagh.
The market place is constantly changing. Art is forever.
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A Christmas Story
By Maura Laverty
Charity shops are full of treasures. This is the marvellous Christmas book I found in St. Vincent de Paul charity shop in Listowel. It dates back 50 or 60 years and is an insight into a world that is fading into memory.
The following story from Maura Laverty is a gem.
Turron is very like nougat. It is thought to originally be a kind of halva brought to Spain by the Moors. It was a confection of honey, egg whites and nuts.
Now read on.
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Listowel Food Fair 2024 Craft Fair
On the Sunday of the Food Fair there is always an exceptional craft fair held in The Listowel Arms. Here are just a few of the highlights.
The lovely entrance bower set the scene for the picturesque displays within.
Mom’s Porter Cake business is about so much more than just porter cake. The mom here, Sherley, is not the mom who gave her name to the business. Sherley’s mom inspired her and now she is passing on the skills and the recipes to the next generation. She sells every kind of confection from Christmas cakes the size of cupcakes to huge celebration cakes. I bought a little porter cake and it was delicious.
Josie is always a pleasure to meet at a craft fair. I raised a false rumour here that she was retiring from knitting. She told me she was. But thanks to the miracle of cataract surgery she is back in business and knitting more than ever. Her babies’ cardigans and toys are heirlooms to be treasured by generations. Lovely lady and lovely craftwork! If you want a unique handmade baby present, Josie is the woman to meet.
I love this man’s honey. He is Jean louis Valentin and his honey is called Trieneragh Honey, after the home address of his bees. He is also a skilled craftsman in wood, producing beautiful wooden products. He is a previous winner at Listowel Food Fair. Jean Louis is always up for a chat. He is a great people person and his stall is always a treat for the eyes as well as the taste buds.
The hard working Sarah Fitzgerald took a minute off from organising Food Fair 2024 and selling her Green Green Gate Kombucha. Sarah posed for me with mom, Peggy, and aunt, Carmel, three lovely ladies, always a pleasure to meet.
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A Poem
Today’s poem comes from a lovely new anthology by a new poet, Anne Donegan.
This beautiful stylish little book is in the local shops now. It has many charming poems, some with a local flavour, that will bring a memory, a tear or a smile.
Here is an example;
It took a poet to see the potential in this heart shaped stone and to craft this lovely thought provoking poem.
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A Fact
The name of the legendary Lady Godiva’s horse was Aethenoth.
(You can thank me when it comes up in the table quiz.)
Delighted Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy on the podium at Paris 2024 holding aloft their prizes and wearing their hard earned gold medals.
But what is in those long boxes that everyone is being presented with along with their medals.?
Answer; A map of Paris
Look at the happy smiles on those two Cork faces. Observe the gaunt, spare frames. They haven’t eaten a solid meal in months. They have put in hours and hours af gruelling training. They have sacrificed everything to their sport. The jokes and banter hide a steely determination coupled with talent and perseverance second to none.
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John J. Foley of Tralee
Maeve Heneghan sent us this photo of her great grandfather. Let me remind you of his Listowel connection from 1901.
Foley was a local performer, singer and reciter of humorous verses, some of which he wrote himself.
In 1901 when he was aged 34 Foley performed at a grand concert in Listowel. So popular was his act that the audience called for an encore and in that slot Foley recited his own poem, Thade Kelly’s Hen.
There was once in Ireland a taste for long humorous ballads, usually recited in a rhythm that made the words easy to remember for the performer. The poem told a story, often far fetched and ludicrous. I’m thinking here of the likes of The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God or Dangerous Dan McGrew, which were favourite dramatic monologues in musicals and concerts at the time.
There was then, as there is now, a certain kind of literary snob who looked down on this type of literature and, failing to live and let live, insisted that this “inferior” entertainment be purged from public performances.
Here is the ballad of Thade Kelly’s Hen, discovered during her research by a U.S. scholar, Christan Bush. The poem is from a newspaper archive and so of poor quality.
A local literary snob, who was at the concert took exception to Foley’s performance and his murdering, as he saw it, of the English language. This man wrote anonymously to the paper decrying the performance.
Back and forth the trolling and defence went on in the Kerry newspapers. Eventually the anonymous critic was unveiled as no other than Thomas F. O’Sullivan, a Listowel journalist and author. So self righteous and incensed was O’Sullivan that he descended to expressing himself in language so defamatory that the paper refused to print any more of his ranting.
This O’Sullivan was very well respected in Listowel and in 1993 a movement was started to erect a monument to him. His ill tempered spat with Foley was not his finest hour.
Now to John J. Foley who was Maeve’s great grandfather. Maybe he is the one who should have the memorial erected to him.
John lived with his family in Moyderwell, Tralee from where he conducted a thriving business as a painter and signwriter.
He was a member of the choir of St. John’s church and the Tralee Philharmonic Society. He was in demand as a performer in local concerts and shows.
He was a talented man of refinement and taste. Maeve sent us this photograph of his magnificent work on the ceiling of the chapel at Balloonagh convent.
The convent is now closed and serves as a nursing home. According to the internet, concerts have been held in the chapel. The chapel is a listed building.
I think John J. Foley’s work on the ceiling is magnificent. Remember it was done in 1901 when equipment for accessing places like this was not as readily available as it is today.
Well done John J. Foley, an ancestor to be proud of.
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+ Mary Stack R.I.P.+
Last week we said goodbye to one of the most glamorous of Listowel grannies. I only knew Mary through her involvement with the local chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She was a lovely lady.
Barbara is following in her mother’s footsteps with her dedication to charitable works. I took this photo of Barbara and Mary in Main Street on M.S. Busking Day 2018.
Here is Jennifer Scanlon’s lovely tribute to her beloved grandmother. I copied this from Facebook.
Mary, Mag, Mam,Mamie, Nana, Gan. Mary Stack had many titles and she relished every role that she fulfilled. She was our matriarch, an incredible woman of dignity, integrity strength and resilience. She led the way by her example. She reached the wonderful age of 91, her quick wit and humour with her until the very end. She loved to travel and possessed a spirit of adventure and independence to be admired and emulated. I am eternally grateful for her love, guidance, friendship, encouragement and support. She was my cheerleader and encouraged me to keep going and “mind that shop”. Nana was integral to my life when I had my babies, she minded Robbie, Lila and Ogie in her kitchen when they were tiny babies and I was straight back to work. She allowed me that time. I would be behind the counter and she would appear at the door with a baby and say you’ll have to come in to feed! We would swap positions and she would serve my customers while I fed the baby. We made a great team. She got her hip done when Lila was 9 months old and she was delighted to have the buggy to do her walking because there was no way she’d be seen with a walking frame in public. Gan wanted to be at home, her home in the shop where she has lived for over 70 years. She got her wish. Her loving family wrapped themselves around her and cared for her in her final days, where she was and always wanted to be. We knew she was declining the last few days, but she insisted I press on with my sale. The show goes on. Ever the professional. My shop is right beside her kitchen and I’d pop my head in to see her throughout the day. She would look at me from her blue chair and wink at me and ask “are you busy?” I’d answer and she would say, “go back out now and mind your shop” and I did, I kept the shop face on as best I could. We will miss her so much. Her kitchen; always warm and cosy (too hot for me) will not be the same with the empty blue chair in the corner. I am the 6th generation of Stacks to trade at The Arcade and I will endeavour to make my nana proud and guide a thriving business into the future. I am beyond grateful for the opportunities she gave to me .
Rest in Peace Gan
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A Fact
Early Olympians competed wearing only loincloths. In 2024 some athletes favour figure hugging bodysuits. I’m told the tightness of the costume is to compress the muscles and make the body more aerodynamic.
Mayday, according to tradition is a day when the fairies are up to mischief. They might steal dairy produce or even children at this time so it was a time for vigilance.
May day was also the day for the hiring fair. Extra labour would be needed for saving the hay and cutting the turf so men in search of work came into town to meet up with potential employers.
“Im’ spailpín fánach fágadh mise
Ag seasamh ar mo shláinte…”
May was a time for the young and the strong. May poles, bonfires, May queens are symbols of this time of year.
In Ireland we have turned the tables and Bealtaine is a time for celebrating age and maturity.
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Thomas F. O’Sullivan
Who was Thomas F. O’Sullivan who trolled John J Foley in the pages of the Kerry newspapers for a short time in 1901?
In my opinion he is a man who should have known better. He let himself down badly in continuing to torment a popular local entertainer.
If you have ever taken one of Vincent Carmody’s informative walking tours you will have heard of this man. He was a very well respected journalist, so highly regarded that there was a suggestion that he deserved a memorial erected in his memory. His best known work is his history of the GAA
Here is what David O’Sullivan found about him.
O’Sullivan was born in Listowel in 1874. He developed an early interest in the GAA and in 1893 at the age of nineteen became secretary of the newly formed Listowel Temperance Football Team. In 1899 he became secretary of the Listowel GAA. He was appointed county secretary after the Kerry board was reformed in 1900. In 1903 he was appointed president of the Munster GAA council. He continued as secretary of the Kerry board until he moved to Dublin to write for the Freeman’s Journal in 1907. O’Sullivan held a number of positions for that newspaper, including a spell as parliamentary correspondent in London from 1916, until its demise in 1924. His Story of the GAA (1916) was the first ever history of the association.
O’Sullivan wrote several books and was a frequent contributor to The Kerryman.
John J. Foley passed away in 1941
Our thanks are due to Christan Bush, whose email sparked our interest in this local spat.
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Commemorative Seats in Town
Listowel, like many Irish towns has come up with ways of remembering local people who we loved and lost. One of these ways is the placing of seats in memory of the loved one in the park or by the river.
Here are a few I see regularly on my walk.
Along the banks of the Feale are these two;
My picture of the tree is dark and shadowed even though the day was sunny.
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A Favourite Poem
Mossbawn or Gneeveguilla, poet or storyteller, we all mine our childhood experiences for inspiration.
