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: knitting Page 1 of 2

Hurling and Knitting

By

On August 14, 2023

In Listowel

Greenway mural at old Neodata site in August 2023

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I think you can go now

It looks like Listowel’s public toilet has finally got the green (or is it red?) light

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The Crotta O’Neill’s Fairytale

They say GAA is family and nowhere is this more true that in a small rural village like Kilflynn. I watched the game on TG4 by chance and I have been fascinated by the story ever since.

This essay by Noel McGrath from Facebook describes it well.

Glory Glory Crotta

Sometimes words failed to describe a feeling, and in this case words will fail.

What this means to Crotta people and the community cannot be put in to words.

Crotta have had 54 years of pain walking out of Austin Stacks in  preliminary stages, quarter, semi and finals where each year leaves a scar on the heart. Some of us have lived through all of these, while others have lived through some due to age or have moved on to the next world. 

As the great Mick O’Connell said, we play sport for fun and take a break from life for a while. 

We all have a competitive side though and the will for your club to win is always there. Unless you’re from Crotta you won’t understand the hurt and pain each year has been, where you see your club and the players not getting over the line. Some of these players may have been you, your brother, son, nephew, grandson, neighbour and your heart goes out to them.

Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.

With this current team, I have witnessed the huge amount of work  and commitment put in by the players themselves and mentors along the journey from u6 Coiste na nOg up to senior.

A lot of mentors these players have gone through will be here today, and should give themselves a pat on the back, without your commitment this day would not exist.

The veterans on the team, the likes of Shane and Sean have shown how leadership is done. Shane, top scorer in the championship and a work rate like it was his first year at championship, Sean seamlessly transitioning from a back to a forward with sensational breaking the line plays.

The younger members of the team know what winning is from minor and u21 and have brought this mindset into the team. As an older person looking at them their mindset and drive for success is admirable, they carry no weight of the past, there is only one way forward.

Going through each player would be too much here, but a special mention on our captain Bill Keane as he is the captain. A captain should be among other things a model of excellence to his teammates. I have watched Bill playing for both Crotta and Senans and what a model, sheer hard work and 100% commitment always and no airs and graces. Delighted  for him and his family.

We all have heroes or people we look up to, whether it’s Muhammad Ali, Katie Taylor, Cian Lynch and so on.

But sometimes these heroes are right beside you,  and I am happy to say as a person older than all the players, they are our heroes and people to look up to and admire.

We have waited a long, long time for this day, and we should have in our thoughts those no longer with us, and we wish could be here to witness this historical moment in our club as the “new kids are in town” have arrived.

So with that, I would like to thank this team for giving us a memorable year, sometimes driving our hearts into overdrive but most importantly making our dreams come true.

The scars in the heart have healed instantaneously like magic.

2023 is the new 1968.

Let the celebrations begin.

Crotta abu

Photos from Facebook

Former @crotta.gaa Senior hurlers Pascal Nolan ,Cyril Nolan, John Joe Conway, Mike Hickey and Brendan Twomey keeping a eye on the Crotta Senior training on Wednesday evening before the final.

supporters Shane Herbert, Fr.Gerry Keane, Paddy Weir, Paul Sheehan and Paud Twomey  keeping an eye on the Crotta Senior training on Wednesday evening .

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Learning from Nana

I have taught each of my grandchildren in turn how to knit. Cora is a great student and has mastered the key skills of plain and purl, casting on and casting off after just a few days practice.

Knitting requires patience and perseverance. There are no quick results with knitting. it is a great skill to learn in a world where results are mostly instant.

Killian is a bit old now for the knitting with Nana lark but back in the day….

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Kanturk, My Hometown

I had a small wander in Kanturk last week and I was well impressed.

This is O’Brien Street. Just to the right of this picture is the lovely little riverside park.

The ducks were sheltering on the sunny day I visited. If you are going to break your journey to Cork, I’d advise a little stroll here. I’ll share more pictures tomorrow.

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There is Always a Listowel Connection

My niece took the photo. Her Listowel connection, apart from me, is her husband, sitting to her right ( left in the picture). He is Michael O’Sullivan, formerly of Knockanure.

The lady in blue is Maureen Larkin, formerly of Listowel. All were in a pub on a night out in Dublin in August 2023.

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Outdoor Dining, Knitting, a Mural and a Limerick

By

On August 13, 2021

In Listowel, Personal, Poem

Bridge to Listowel Racecourse

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Outdoor Living in Summer 2021

Flanagans of Church Street with a well co ordinated outdoor on the pavement seating area.

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Some Premises getting an upgrade

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Knitting is having a Moment

An English newspaper caption writer came up with the best one for this. Olympics 2020 when Tom Daley came out…as a knitter.

He may have won a gold medal for diving but he has won even more plaudits for his knitting. While waiting between dives, Daley chilled out by knitting himself a cardigan.

We were ahead of the curve in our family. Here I am eleven years ago teaching Killian, aged 4, to knit.

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A Laugh

There once was a man of Bengal

Who was asked to a fancy dress ball;

He murmured “I’ll risk it-

And go as a biscuit.”

But a dog ate him up in the hall.

Anon

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Update on the Mural

The latest mural in the Listowel Characters project is on Mill Lane. The quotation is from Maurice Walsh. The final piece of the quotation seems to me to say that Kerry is a small place too.

I returned later yesterday and this is how it looks now.

The artists, Mack Signs, were putting the finishing touches to the letters.

“and you can put your finger on the village and the river, if you are able.” I’m still puzzling it out.

You can see the remains of the doodle grid. That will all be covered up in the end.

This gives you an idea of the scale of the mural in situ.

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The influence of Irish in Kerry English and a trip to Castleisland

By

On April 30, 2018

In Uncategorized

Chris Howes, Irish Wildlife Photography Competition

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The Kerryman Unbuttoned by Redmond O’Hanlon in Shannonside Annual


…..As the years pass
one insensibly makes many of these phrases one’s own. There is a gay
inconsequence about your Kerryman’s talk. Rabelasian at times, he is impatient
of the restraints of a pseudo culture that would seek to shackle his ready
tongue. Conscious of the inadequacies of English, he rifles the rich store of our own tongue to add colour and imagery to his talk. Someone is classified as a
mean bacach and we have him in focus at once. He will refer with feeling to the
shortcomings of a cabóg and we share his impatience with the bosthoon. The
average Kerryman is close to the soil and we are one with him there with this
difference, that his sense of values gives him pride in his background.

Words, accents,
idiom, what a fascinating field for him who delights to listen. In individuality
of speech Kerry is perhaps more rewarding to the observer than any other county
of the thirty two. Listen to the salty arguments of dealing men in fair and
market., to the caustic asides of crusty old lads drowsing over pints in deep
cavernous pubs; to the helpers paying the comhar at the threshing; to the
passionate vociferations of those followers of the green and gold as their
heroes rise with elan to tear balls out of the skies in Croke Park; and listen
again wherever Kerrymen foregather to pay the last tribute to their dead.

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Then and Now


John Hannon took this photo of Mrs. Mann at the door of her shop in Main Street.

The same corner of town today

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I was in Castleisland


There is lots of history on Castleisland’s Main Street. I was struck by the irony of the name of the pub on  which I saw the above plaque.

The great Con Houlihan is well remembered.

The above three pictures were on display in a shop window.

I have no idea of the era of the post box.

This landmark building was unoccupied last time I was here. I was delighted to see it back in business.

You all know how much I love a charity shop. I met a lovely lovely lady, Nora, in the Vincent de Paul shop but it was in the NCBI shop that I discovered these.


I do a spot of knitting so I know how much time and effort went into these creations. The green and pink doll are one doll.  You turn her over and you have her alter ego. They call her a topsy turvy doll.

The lady who knits these is Jan Wesley and she is 88 years young. She sells her knitwear in aid of the NCBI, so this shop in Castleisland is well worth a visit. The dolls are a snip at €10 and the tea cozy was €12.

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Craftshop back in Town (temporarily)



Until June 3 2018 there will be a craftshop in Galvin’s Off licence premised in William Street. Why not pop in and take a look a these Craft Makers wares

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Style with  a Listowel Connection

This is Niamh Kenny from Listowel at Punchestown Ladies’ Day last week.

This is the piece in Saturday’s Irish Times. Niamh and her friend, Mary O’Halloran caught the eye of a journalist. Competing at Ladies Day is part of the fun and enjoyment of a day at the Races for many ladies. It’s worth the investment. The prizes are big. As Mary says, “We’re gambling on ourselves.”

The Council of Dirha, an old photo and a new jumper

By

On April 16, 2018

In Uncategorized



A camelia in The Garden of Europe


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A Photo from the Johnny Hannon Archive



Junior Griffin to whom I  went to ask for help in  identifying these people wrote;

The best known name here of course is Sam McGuire. Not sure of the man on the left but he may be Walsh from O’Connell’s Ave as the other3 are from that area of town., namely Tom Lyons, Mick Carey and “Gigs Nolan, who sadly died just a few months ago. Mick Carey was known as the doyen of the Gleann street league football and knew the game inside out.


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A John B. Keane Story   (serialised )

Today I’m beginning another serialised essay of John B. Keane’s. He writes of a different era when Irish people were in the thrall of the church and fear of the wrath of God, as defined by the Catholic church, was ever-present.

The Council of Dirha       by John B. Keane

Good luck and
success to the Council of Trent

What put fast upon
mate but not upon drink,

(Overheard at a
wake) 

When the above
couplet was conceived there was fasting on Fridays. Nowadays, Lent apart, we
may eat meat with impunity throughout the entire year. The church was quite
clear in its strictures regarding the consumption of meat and meat products on
days of fast and abstinence. Then in 1966 Pope Paul promulgated new laws for
Roman Catholics. Fast days, which had included all the weekdays of Lent, the
vigils of Pentecost, The Immaculate Conception and Christmas and the Ember Days
were reduced to two, i.e. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In the same decree
Pope Paul reaffirmed the laws of abstinence from meat. However, he allowed
episcopal conferences to substitute for abstinence with other forms of penance
especially works of charity and exercises in piety.

Hobside
theologians of the time were known to smirk at the expression “works of
charity”. They deduced in their own indigenous fashion that to be charitable
one had to be rich. Since neither they themselves nor their associates were
remotely connected with wealth, they regarded themselves as being incapable of
charity. When it was explained to them that charity had other connotations such
as love of one’s fellow man they were quick to point out that because of their
innate worthlessness no one, save their own family, places any value on their
love.

(more tomorrow)


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Horan’s New Look




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My Latest Knit




The story of a jumper that turned into a saga.

Handknitted by moi
with a little help from Woman’s Way’s Louise Finn

It all began with
Woman’s Way, “Ireland’s best selling women’s magazine”.

I spotted a knitting pattern and I thought “This has my name on it.” 
Simple pattern, easy peasy knitting and beautiful result down to the
beautiful colourful yarn. But…..

I went on line to
the two big online sellers of wool, Vibes and Scribes in Cork, my favourite bricks
and mortar craft shop but I knew they sold online as well, and Springwools in Dublin,
Ireland’s biggest online yarn retailer. Neither of them seemed to stock Tivoli
Colour Maze.

Feeling a bit
miffed I contacted Woman’s Way with my false assumption that they had published
an old pattern and the yarn was discontinued. Louise Finn, the lovely deputy
editor, who has become my new best friend in this venture, emailed back to say
that my assumption was wrong. It was  a brand
new pattern and the wool came into the shops in September 2017. She gave me the
phone number of Tivoli, the Cork company who market the wool and Anne there
told me that they had thousands of yarns and not every shop takes every one.
She couldn’t sell it to me because they don’t sell directly to the public. When
she found out that I lived in Kerry, she found that the nearest retailer to me
with that wool in stock was in Kenmare. I gave her a quick Geography lesson.
Kenmare is 100kms from Listowel.

I reported back my
lack of success to Louise. Now Louise didn’t get to where she is today by
giving up. She did a bit of research and she found a lovely shop in Midleton,
Karen’s Krafts. Karen had the yarn in stock and she was willing to post. Now we
were sucking diesel or so I thought.

I contacted Karen.
There were 8 colourways available and she didn’t have them all but she was
expecting a delivery. So the final outcome of my chat with Karen was that she
would text me when the wool came in and I would take a trip to Midleton on my
next visit to my family in Cork.

Meanwhile my
daughter is going to Midleton with her work on Monday, February 26 2018.
Spottting an opportunity I ask her to call to Karen to suss out my wool. I ring
Karen and now she hasn’t got three balls in any colour. (The pattern requires
three) but the delivery from Tivoli hasn’t come yet.

Delivery comes  and Karen texts me to tell me that the only 3 ball
stock that came in are grey or beige. Now remember I said that this is a very
basic jumper only made special by the colourful yarn. Let’s say grey and beige
don’t cut it with me in the ‘Colourful” stakes . So I decided to throw in the
towel.

Did I mention that
Louise did not get to where she is today…….?

When I told her
that I had accepted failure she was having none of it. She emailed back to say
that she had contacted a wool shop in Blanchardstown and they were willing to
order the wool and to post it to me.

And so they did.
The yarn arrived in Listowel and now all that was left for me to do was knit
the blessed thing. Then Louise emailed to say that she would like to see a
photo of the finished product for publication in the magazine.  No pressure then.

So voilà, me in my
beautiful new jumper just in time for the next cold snap.

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Two Names




The two people on the left have been identified as Arthur Chute and Violet McCarthy. The search continues to identify the other three people.

Ballybunion and Kit Ahern and a dinner party with difference

By

On March 30, 2017

In Uncategorized

Deirdre Lyons climbed Carrauntoohil.


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Branding sheep in the old days



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A Trip to Ballybunion in March 2017


 The sea was rough.

 The beach was fairly deserted.

Seats in memory of local people are located on the path on the way to the breach. They are a nice touch.

 The toilet building was completely redone last year.

My little girleen made a sand castle.

We were fascinated to see how well this three legged greyhound could get around.

The sea rescue building.


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Passing on the Skill



This is my granddaughter, Aisling. She has been mastering the skill of knitting whenever she is on her Kerry holidays. The bad weather on her last trip meant that she had lots of time indoors. She spent much of this time knitting.


Here is Aisling with her sister, Cora in Ballybunion. Aisling is proudly wearing the snood she knit herself.

Róisín learned to knit as well but she still prefers to read.

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Kit Ahern of Ballybunion


We remember the late Kit Ahern as a T.D. but here is an account of a young Kit starting out her political career with the ICA

  The Kerryman Saturday, April 15, 1961

MRS. KIT AHERNE, of Main Street,
Ballybunion, was elected national, president at the annual meeting of the Irish
Country women’s Association, in Dublin this week.

The high honour crowns many years
of keen activity in Kerry and Munster on behalf of the association which, is
the largest and most widespread women’s organisation in the country.

Mrs. Aherne, whose husband, Mr. Dan
Aherne, is a national school teacher, is president of the Ballybunion guild of
the I.C.A., a former president of the Kerry Federation and was National
Vice-President up to this week.

She has many interests as a member
of the I.C.A but her mai, one is lace making. During the past few years she has
visited lace making, areas in the six counties  and recently 
started, a class in Ballybunion for ten young ladies.

For the past two years she acted as
bean-a-tighe and teacher for Gaeltacht scholarship holders, and is looking
forward to doing the same again next month.

Mrs. Aherne also is interested in
An Club Leabhar, and her wish that some Kerry members would start a Ciorcal
Leightheoireacht.

“I work with the I.C.A. is because
it is the only movement in which women can do their share to hand on their
parish and, their country better than they found it,” .she told. The Kerryman

She also got an award for an essay,
called The ICA in my County.

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A Lovely Dinner Party at Mully’s


This is the group assembled at David Mulvihill’s on Tuesday evening for  a masterclass  in cooking and a delicious meal to follow.

My photo does not do this justice. These little tosheens contained Jimmy Harris’ smoked chicken. They were served to us as we chatted on the window seats. The custom made serving dish was made by David.

These are the delicious samosas which David convinced us were easy to make.

This was our main.

David demonstrated how we could make a yummy Ferraro Rocher cheesecake.


Then out of the fridge he whipped the ones he had made earlier .


A great night with delicious food in great company, and a cookery lesson to boot.

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