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: Listowel Races 2018 Page 2 of 3

Listowel Pitch and Putt Course, Members of the Independent Courageous Party and Ladies Day 2018

By

On September 20, 2018

In Uncategorized

Horse chestnut tree in Library Road Listowel in September 2018

<<<<<<<<<


Beautiful Listowel Pitch and Putt Course





<<<<<<<<



Doodlers






Do you remember Paul Murphy’s newspaper clip of a Doodle rally?  Jim MacMahon recognised a few faces. Here is what he wrote;

Mary I recognize many in the TomDoodle photo . People like Pat Whelan should be able to identify almost all . In the centre is Stackianus , a central character in the story , Stack . Beside him is Mick Carey from the Gleann. In the front right is Tom O Connell from the small square .Possibly Mat Kennelly at the back . The names of some of the others should come to me but people like Pat Given should also know , regards Jim



I dont think any of the people Jim mentions follow the blog. But is anyone wants to show them the picture and get a few more names that would a great help. Thanks, Jim.



Maria Sham thinks she might know a few faces as well;



She writes;



 Hi Mary, me again,the photo of a group of men in dinner jackets I recognize on the left my uncle Peter Moloney and next to him I am sure it is Sean Grogan. Sean was postman. Both men were from Charles street lived opposite to one another. In front of them could be Dermot Tatten, ambulance driver



Thank you, Maria


<<<<<<<<



More from Ladies’ Day at Listowel Races 2018


John Kelliher is the real Races photographer and if you want to see the outfits and the local people who were there, John’s Facebook page is the place to go. He has some marvellous coverage of the Races.

I snapped this bevy of beauties as they were lining up for John to take their picture.


Three very stylish local friends who always make a huge effort for Ladies Day.

It was a pleasure to meet three generations of the Keogh Carmody family looking beautifully turned out as always.

I snapped Peggy on her way to put on a bet.

Listowel Races is the perfect place to spend some time with old friends .

These young men were snazzily dressed .



The style judges were doing their job and chatting to the locals as well.

Honan Chapel, UCC, Race week 2018 and style from Ladies’ Day 2018

By

On September 19, 2018

In Uncategorized

<<<<<<<


Honan Chapel, UCC



On my recent walking tour of UCC I visited the Honan Chapel and I learned about a Listowel connection.

 The magnificent mosaic of the River Lee teeming with fish was executed by the mosaic artists of the firm of Oppenheimer, the same company which did the mosaics in our own St. Mary’s.

The much admired stained glass windows are the work of two artists, the great Harry Clarke and the lesser known Sarah Purser. Harry Clarke’s work  totally overshadows Sarah Purser’s windows. The Clarke windows, while magnificent in themselves, are dark and leave in very little light. They are characterised by their deep deep blue glass. Purser’s are refreshingly lighter  and in my humble opinion function better as windows as in they allow light into the building.

St. Gobnait is the patron of the nearby village of Ballyvourney. She is depicted in her window surrounded by bees.

Sadly, beside the door there are two blocked out windows, victims of the penal window tax.

<<<<<<<<

Upper Church Street, Race Week 2018



<<<<<<<<



Ladies’ Day Sept. 14 2018



Some of the ladies I spotted as i made my way around the course.


Not all fun and games. Helena Halpin was off to work when I ran into her.

Niamh Kenny looked every inch a winner, but she didn’t win.

The lady on the right with her gorgeous Aoife Hannon headpiece was the first runner up.

This lady was also a top 10 finalist. Isn’t her hat fabulous?

<<<<<<<


Credit Where It’s Due 



Yesterday I had some photographs of this seat with its verse to the memory of the late Paudie Fitzmaurice.

I have since learned that the verse was written by his good friend of many years, John (Junior) Griffin.

<<<<<<<



Possible Identification



The first black and white photo looks like it was taken at Buckleys. If my memory is correct the boy at the back is Buckley and the girl on the right  was his sister. They had a bar, and I can remember that they sold ice cream. I would love to know if I am correct

Is Maria correct?




George Boole, Harvesting Apples, rides at The Market 2018 and an early take on Ladies’ Day

By

On September 18, 2018

In Uncategorized

Phlox in a border in my garden in Autumn 2018

<<<<<<<<


“Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfullness”



Everyone who is lucky enough to have fruit trees will tell you that this year we have a massive crop. My grandsons helped me to harvest my apples.

<<<<<<


Great Genius and Common Sense or Lack of it



This is George Boole, father of Boolean Maths which in turn gave rise to the internet. That’s what our guide on our walking tour of UCC told us. This statue to him was unveiled in 2016 but already the student library was named after him.

Here’s the anecdote our guide told us.

George lived in Blackrock and walked into college every day. On this horrendously wet day in November 1864, Gorgeous George (our guide told us that that was his nickname) set out for college on foot. He was soaked to the skin but he gave all of his lectures and did not leave for home until all his duties were fulfilled. He refused to get a cab and instead he walked the three miles to his home.

He was by now chilled and feverish and on the verge of pneumonia.

George’s wife was a believer in homeopathy. This branch of medicine was in its infancy and I fear Mary took too literally the belief that what had made you ill was the best thing to cure you…a sort of hair of the dog belief.

Anyway, she put poor shivering George to bed and piled wet blankets on top of him.

Ten days later, on December 8 1864, George Boole, Cork’s greatest mathematician died of pneumonia, aged 49.

<<<<<<<<

Meanwhile down the road



It used to be called Brandy Lane. Now it’s St. Finn Barr’s Road but the corner hostelry is hoping that that won’t put student’s off.

<<<<<<<



The Market, September 2018




<<<<<<<



One Boy Named




Maria Sham recognised someone in Seamus Buckley’s old photo. Here is what she says;

I recognize my cousin Michael Fitzgerald, blond hair facing the camera, from Charles Street, now in the US A.

If anybody is in contact with him, will you tell him please.

<<<<<<<


Ladies’ Day Races 2018


I was on the Island early, so I took a stroll around.

Isn’t that a lovely touch? For Listowel people far and near, young and old, Raceweek is a time for remembering. It is a landmark week in the life of so many Listowel natives. 

These were the first lovely ladies I encountered. There were hundreds more to meet in the course of the afternoon. 

It is lovely to see families coming to the Races . This young racer won’t remember this one but he has many more ahead of him.


In the bar the staff were enjoying the calm before the storm.

Even the bookies enclosure was like a ghost town…but not for long.


UCC, Cork, Finesse RaceWeek Window, Paul and Gary O’Donovan’s win and Jack McKenna’s autobiography

By

On September 17, 2018

In Uncategorized

Fuchia in my garden in Autumn 2018

<<<<<<<<


Town and Gown


Recently I took a trip down memory lane to UCC. It’s a very different place nowadays to when I was a student many moons ago. It is a place very aware of its history.


This hovel which has been erected at the Gaol entrance to the college gives us an idea of the great divide that existed between students at the then Queen’s College and the ordinary folk of the surrounding city in 1845 when the college was founded.

The V under a crown on this finial stands for Queen Victoria and this angel greets you on your arrival at the arch into the Quad.

Irish harp, English Lion and Welsh dragon. I think they thought that the Irish and Scottish people were all the one and so covered by the harp.

 There were certainly no cranes on campus in my day but the college is continually expanding nowadays.

 The statue of Queen Victoria has been replaced with St. Finbarr, in line with the motto of the college; “Where Finbarr taught, let Munster learn.”


These photos were taken in the president’s garden. This was walled in and off limits to students in the 1970s  when I was there.

There is still a rift between town and gown in Cork. While in town I also saw the other side of life there.

I snapped this homeless man sleeping in daytime outside the city library.

<<<<<<<


Finesse Window at Race Week 2018


The ladies at Finesse devoted their entire window display in tribute to their friend, Mike Lawlee R.I.P.



<<<<<<<<

World Champions

The charming self deprecating O’Donovan brothers, world champion rowers…no specific Listowel connection that I know of but all Ireland loves them. They represent the best of us.

<<<<<<<<



Races week 2018



I took lots of photos but it will take me a while to recover the energy to process them all. Here’ a taster.

It was Ladies’ Day and there was a party going on a bus stop .

Throw me down something. No humans, just ducks in The Feale

Security was tight. Anyone underage and to show that they had no alcohol on them.

This is Cliona McKenna who used to sell race cards here in the good old days when you could get a card and a biro for €1.50

<<<<<<<



An Invitation to a Book Launch



One for everyone in the audience

You are all invited to The Seanchaí on Wednesday next at 7.30 p.m. for the launch of an important book, telling the story of an extraordinary Listowel man. The man is Jack McKenna who has reached his 100th year and has led a varied and interesting life.


Raceweek Crowds, Trees in Listowel Pitch and Putt Course and Black 47

By

On September 13, 2018

In Uncategorized

Photo; Chris Grayson

<<<<<<<



Do you recognise anyone in these old photographs taken by Seamus Buckley during a bygone race week.

<<<<<<<<



Trees on the Pitch and Putt course



I often include here some photographs of the magnificent trees on Listowel’s Pitch and Putt course and I have mentioned here before the unselfishness of men who plant trees under whose shade they will never sit.

One of these old stock was the late Tom O’Halloran.  Colm O’Halloran has sent us some of the receipts for those same trees in 1974.

<<<<<<<



Race Crowds



The weather has kept me at home but here are 2 more from Sunday.

these are just a small few of the crowded stands on Sunday Sept. 9 2018

<<<<<<



Black 47…The Listowel Connection




This is an official promotional pic. of Stephen Rea who plays the cute hoor who runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds in this film that is currently breaking all box office records.

Listowel’s P.J. Dillon is the writer and director of this story set against the backdrop of The Famine. Black 47 is a story of revenge and desperation in an Ireland where taking the soup or the king’s shilling were regarded with equal hatred.

I saw the film in Listowel’s great Classic cinema. (We are so lucky to have this superb amenity on our doorstep.) I was blown away by the stark devastated barren landscape. The backdrop to the action was breathtakingly awesome. The acting from a truly stellar cast was superb. The story packed lots of action and maybe a bit too much violence for my liking but those were very violent times and cruelty was an everyday currency. This film is a testament to man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. Brutality, cruelty and barbarism are never far below the surface in this thought provoking film.

I loved the way the native characters spoke in Irish and the authenticity of the starving people in a cruel and hostile environment brought those hungry desperate times before our eyes in chilling reality.

Try to see it if you can. It’s one you won’t forget too easily. Well done, P.J.

<<<<<<<<



Remember where you read it first



In my post of April 18 2018 I told you that the next U.S. ambassador to Ireland would be Ed. Crawford. It took a bit longer than I expected but yesterday it was revealed that indeed Edward J. Crawford is to take up residence in Phoenix Park.

Edward J Crawford’s roots are in North Cork. He is an ardent Republican and is hugely involved in the Irish community in Cleveland.

Page 2 of 3

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén