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: Kanturk Page 1 of 12

Tricycles, Horses and Memories

Ballybunion in May 2025

George Fitzmaurice

Last week Warren Buckley brought us news of the George Fitzmaurice commemorative plaque which has been removed from his former home in 3 Harcourt Street Dublin. Jimmy Deenihan organised a hooley for Kerry people living in Dublin to mark the unveiling of the plaque. I wondered if anyone had a record of that evening and sure enough someone had.

Eamon ÓMurchú realised that it was an occasion that should be captured for posterity. He unearthed his photo of the attendance on that night and sent it to us.

I recognise only a few of these people but I’m sure someone will help us with names.

Photos bring back Memories

This exhibition of old photographs will be a great hit in Kanturk Library. Danny O’Sullivan took hundreds of photos of Kanturk events in the 1950s and 60s. He took his camera with him everywhere. He had his own dark room. His family with the help of Duhallow Heritage Society is now sharing his valuable legacy with us all.

This is just one of the charming pictures in Danny O’Sullivan’s archive. It’s carnival time in town and this is the start of the children’s tricycle race.

When I was in Kanturk last week I saw that one of the tricycles is parked outside Kelly’s in The Square.

It looks a bit the worst for wear but it is definitely one of the bicycles in the O’Sullivan photo.

The National Stud

If you are going to visit the stud be sure to take the guided tour. If, like me, you are lucky and the day is fine, you are in for a treat.

This is my tour group on a May Sunday in 2025

Ross was our very knowledgeable guide. Here he is telling us about the stallions standing at the National Stud.

This is one of the newer stallions so his children havent raced yet. A date with him is a bit cheaper than one of the proven boyos. Because we had children in our group, the language of mating and covering was couched in romantic terms. There was lots of “dating”, often 3 times per day every day.

There is no artificial insemination used and horses are not cloned. It’s a hugely regulated industry.

These flags represent all the countries from which students of equine science have come to Ireland to work and study at the stud.

There is a huge workforce in a wide number of disciplines employed at the stud and the students help with the work as well.

Handling the stallions is a very skilled job and each stallion has his own dedicated handlers.

We were allowed to get up close and personal with some of the retired horses. They love mints. Ross had a supply on hand.

New foals are being born here every day. We saw some who were only hours old. Did you know that mares nearly always foal in the nighttime?

The setting is beautiful. The animals are stunning. There is much to learn. The National Stud comes highly recommended for a summer visit.

Respect for a Fallen Comrade

National flag at half mast at Listowel Garda Station

Books of Condolence for the family of Garda Kevin Flatley R.I.P. have been openend at many Garda stations.

A Fact

Canada has more lakes than all of the rest of the world’s lakes combined.

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Perennials

Narcissi in Phoenix Park, Dublin…photo; Carmel Hanrahan

What a difference a year makes?

This lovely picture is on page 4 of Moments of Reflection. The sun is shining and the hens are out foraging among the daffodils. The photo was taken by the hens’ owner on February 18 2024.

One year later on February 18 2025, same old garden and same photographer. The hens are in lockdown to keep them safe from the global avian pandemic that we call Bird Flu. Because of the inclement weather we experienced this winter and early spring , the daffodils are way behind.

Old Kanturk

This is back in the day when the Fair was a big thing. I am currently reading Niall Williams’ The Time of the Child (highly highly recommend). In it Williams paints a great picture of just such a fairday in his fictional town.

A great blessing on life’s journey is keeping contact with old friends. This is Margo Spillane who is one of my most loyal and supportive old buddies. We caught up recently in Ballincollig. Always a pleasure!

Life Goes On

A Fact

Alligators and sharks can live for up to 100 years.

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Snowy Kanturk; January 2025

Photo; Blue Tit by Chris Grayson

Roof Collapse

One of the most disastrous impacts that the snowfall had on life in Kerry was the collapse of the roof of the Tralee Sports Complex. Thankfully it happened at nighttime and there was no loss of life of injury to anyone. The Complex is a very very busy place and many many North Kerry clubs and groups depend on it.

A Poem for Parents

Kanturk looked Beautiful in the Snow

Photos by Adrian Angelina on Facebook

Growing up in Listowel in the 1960s and 1970s

Concluding part of Carmel Hanrahan’s reminiscences…

The Races – a week off school, what bliss.  Returning from Summer holidays a week early seemed a small price to pay.  We went to The Market where the amusements were. It was never going to the amusements but going to “The Market”.  We saved whatever money we got through the year –my savings were in a Band-Aid Tin – white with a picture of a plaster on it.  I remember once having a Ten Shilling note in it which seemed like a fortune.  I’m wondering if it was possibly the year I made my First Communion. On our way from Cahirdown to town there was a small shop quite close to the boys’ National School – I can’t remember the name of the owner, where we regularly bought Slab Toffee – Cleeve’s – and which you would then break on the edge of the path.  Speaking around the lump of toffee was a skill in its own right. She also sold sweets in paper cones.

Burning question here!! Does anyone, apart from me that is, remember Penny Cakes? –.  My sister also remembers them so I know I haven’t imagined them.  The closest I can come to describing them is that they were like a rusk and I adored them I think there was also a variation with fruit. You could buy them out of big boxes which were placed just inside the door of Miss Molyneaux’s shop, (pronounced Munnix), across the street from Michael and Delia Kearney.  Biscuits in large tins with glass panel on top sold loosely resided just at the door.  Nobody I’ve ever spoken to from anywhere else knows what I’m speaking about when I mention them.  Tile loaves are another mystery to people – I learned that in Dublin they are called Turn-overs but will always be a Tile loaf to me.  Lynch’s bakery used to sell them and I would pick my way through one on the way home from the Square.  I often thought I should have bought two, one to hand over at home and the other for me.  My greatest regret about Listowel is that Lawlor’s Cake Shop closed.  Oh, my goodness, what cakes, never since matched or beaten.  The coffee cake in particular – there’s a surprise!

The Convent Primary school was where the girls all started off.  Some boys attended until senior infants when they then transferred to the Boy’s National School where Brian McMahon was Principal.  We learned to knit and sew in Primary School and the highlight of the whole enterprise was the visit of the Sewing Inspector.  There were two maybe three weeks with minimal schoolwork done as we were preparing for “The Visit”, getting our various projects completed.  Playing in the Schoolyard seemed to have a Seasonality to it.  There was a time for chasing games, then Hopscotch and Piggy (??) were de rigueur, Skipping and then Conkers.  Our Skipping Ropes generally came from Carrolls in the Square – a length of rope with a knot tied at either end.

Then came Secondary School when we strolled from one building to another without another thought.  How lucky we were – none of today’s angst trying to ensure a place and wondering if you qualify for the school of choice.  Everyone transitioned together with a few exceptions, and some new classmates joined us.  We had some interesting teachers in Secondary.  Tony Behan who was our history teacher and approached the curriculum in his own inimitable way, and who gave us the time and space to think things out for ourselves and draw our own conclusions.  But the best by far was Sr Carmelita who lived on a reputation for being very fierce and indeed, she presented as such.  However, once you engaged with her and got into conversation, she turned out to be an incredibly inspiring person.  Indeed, I met her a few times in Cork when she was visiting and went to tea with her in the Imperial Hotel where we continued our long and rambling conversations.  It is she I must thank for my love of English and language in general.

There were some Characters in Listowel as we grew up.  One of these being Babe Jo Wilmot.  What a larger-than-life personality.  She always struck me as being a very warm person, and had I been old enough at the time, I suspect she would have been great fun to socialise with.  We, of course, had the aforementioned Bryan McMahon whom I occasionally engaged in conversation with on my walk home from school and John B Keane.  John B used to walk up our road many evenings setting a ferocious pace with one of his sons struggling to keep up.  Billy told me recently that he was the walking companion in question.  Dr McGuire also walked up Cahirdown for his constitutional.  Many a fright he got when “Mac” (the Weimaraner) came bounding down the road to land with his front paws on my shoulders.  He hadn’t realised that Mac and I were ice-cream sharing partners on the occasions when Mike (his son) brought him to hang out.  What a handsome dog.

So, with my rosy glasses removed I am still firmly of the belief we were blessed to grow up in Listowel.  When I’m there now I can see so many changes to the place and yet, there is an underlying familiarity.  When I think of Listowel my immediate image is of standing on the river bank looking at the bridge.  I’m not sure why the bridge made such an impression but there you are.

A Few Food Related Brehon Laws

Couldn’t find any meaning for withe on the internet but looking at the illustration, it looks like a spancel.

A Fact

Bloomsbury, the publishers offered £2000 in advance for the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher’s Stone

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Books, Cards and Candles

Used now only as an ornament

Our Recent Dead

This list in St. Mary’s remembers all those who have passed away in the last year. We remember them and all our dead loved ones and during the month of November we can light a candle at a special shrine in their memory.

Comings and Goings

New art studio, shop and classroom on Market Street

Frank Coffey Shoes in Main Street is closing shortly.

What I’m Reading

My table on a November morning 2024; My neighbour’s newspaper waiting my attention; Candle lighting for the holy souls; Left over Halloween treats, a cuppa and my new book complete the tableau.

I am reading this book because I want this brave lady to get to Number 1 on the bestsellers list for Christmas.

I had never heard of Emma Heatherington until I heard her interviewed by Claire Byrne on her morning show on the morning of the launch of her latest book.

This photo from The Belfast Telegraph is how she used to look.

Emma was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, in March 2024 as she was nearing the end of her first draft of her Christmas novel.

I’ll give you the bones of her story as told to Claire Byrne. Many lesions in parts of her body, chemotherapy, recurrence of lesions, much pain and sickness, hospitalisations etc but she soldiered on and got the novel finished.

Fast forward to launch day and she is being interviewed in her hospital bed as she awaits the latest procedure to try to buy her a few more years. Her healthy stem cells have been harvested and now after more chemo to kill any remaining cancer they are being put back into her body. The procedure was happening on October 29 2024 as the book was being placed on the shelves.

Emma will never see it on those shelves for she will have to be in isolation for 6 weeks in order to let the stem cells take root without any risk of infection. She will not see her 4 children as she is only allowed one named visitor in case of emergency.

By the time she is better and back home, her book will have had its moment. So I did my small bit by buying it in the hope of getting it to number 1.

Maybe Next Christmas is a feel good love story, very readable.

Very Last Hospice Coffee Morning Photos

The morning ended with a raffle for some marvellous prizes kindly donated by local businesses.

Next project; the Christmas cards. They look lovely again this year.

A Fact

In 2005 , the singer, Adele’s song, Hello, became the first song ever to reach more than one million downloads in its first week.

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Autumn in Kanturk and Listowel

Lower Church Street

Lost Souls

I found this sad poem on the internet

LOST SOULS

Sitting alone at the bar in Kilburn

Mid afternoon on a mid Summers day

Wearing a suit stained with blood, sweat and booze

Drinking the last of this months rent 

He took the boat in 57

Leaving behind Mayo

Full of hope and fear

An address in his pocket

For a ganger and a start 

Money for a week to tide him over

Sunday best on his back 

New shoes squeezing his feet 

No Irish need apply

Lodgings hard found

Working every hour god sent

Paid in the crown at the weekend

Missing home, laughs to hide the pain

Another from the top shelf 

Saving for the summer holiday

Putting a little by 

Back home for a week to the old sod

Buying pints for the lads

Bragging about the wages

Gold chains around the neck

Bought from a suitcase

When did you get home?

When are you going back?

Back to back breaking in blighty

Years passing on

Body getting tired

Drink taking hold 

No money for the holidays

Or the funerals at home 

Nights in the doss house

Sleeping on the rope

Days on the streets 

Dreams of a long gone family

Passing away in the cold

(C) Kevin McManus

This sculpture, The Crying Stone by Colm Brennan

A Few More Hospice Morning Photos

Tidy Town Work

The Tidy Town organisation is about so much more than litter picking and tidying up. The replacement of these important tourist information signs is just one of their many unsung contributions to making Listowel the lovely place it is to live in, to work in or to visit.

Book Promoting in Kanturk

Kanturk looked very autumnal on my recent visit.

Noreen O’Sullivan has a keen interest in local history.

I met Alison Murphy in Presents of Mind. My book is now available in this lovely gift shop on O’Brien Street.

Eilish O’Connor in the beautiful welcoming Olde Worlde Alley Bar bought 3 books to give to family at Christmas.

A Fact

After its catastrophic collision with the iceberg it was a full 2 hours and 40 minutes before The Titanic sank.

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