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 Page 5 of 7

Listowel Races, the 2014 All Ireland Football Final

Ballybunion Sunset

Another stunning sunset captured by Mike Enright

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Congratulations




Happy members of the Listowel Tidy Town Committee who travelled to Dublin to collect their 7th gold medal.

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Lots to look forward to

Only a few more days wait and we will be off on our annual pilgrimage to The Island.

Tuesday’s mass seems to be working

and

John R.’s has this salutary warning in the window

A racehorse is an animal that can take several thousand people for a ride at the same time…..too true!

And then….

 The bunting is up for the All Ireland Football Final.

Craftshop na Méar has favors, hats and mascots in Kerry colours

 Shops and businesses are getting behind the team.

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Lest we forget



Today is Sept 11th

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To get you in the mood for next week, here is John B. Keane on The Late Late Show talking to Gay Byrne about Listowel Races

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG6PqD16Z64

Knocknagoshel, Travellers and June Races

Arise, Knocknagoshel and take your place among the nations of the earth.



These old milk churns say “small farmers” to me. Small farmers are the backbone of this lovely rural Kerry community. I had occasion to visit Knocknagoshel recently and I liked what I saw.

“Arise Knocknagoshel, and take your place
among the nations of the Earth!’, was a slogan on a banner which was carried by
local men at a rally addressed by Charles Stewart Parnell in Newcastle West in
1891.

The banner is today commemorated with a
plaque in the centre of Knocknagoshel village.

Knocknagoshel has a lovely church in the heart of the village.

The church has some really fine stained glass windows.

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Presentatation Convent May 2007


I took this photo shortly after the imminent closure of the convent was announced.

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Travellers

Traveler culture is now often  associated with big weddings, ostentatious grave memorials, disco clothes as daywear and sulky racing. Once upon a time in the 1940s and 50s travelers were poor people. They lived a nomadic life in squalid conditions, had large families and poor life expectancy. In the Cork Museum there is a permanent exhibition of artifacts and photographs associated with the traveller lifestyle.

In 1971 and 1972, two Ph.D. students of anthropology, George and Sharon Gmelch lived for 13 months with travelers in a site called Holylands outside Dublin. They studied their way of life and their interactions with the settled community. The Gmelchs’ photographs capture a way of life that is now but a fading memory. George is now Professor of Anthropology at the University of San Francisco. Some of their photos are on display in Cork Museum.

A bed in a typical barrel top caravan

These pockets or aprons covered in beads, buttons and medals were worn by traveller women

 An open cart

 Trading in scrap metal was a way of life for many of the menfolk.

 A tinsmith at work outside his home. Travellers often made tin cups or saucepans and sold them to country people on their travels.

Traveller encampment in the early 1970s

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The Races are coming

Next weekend, if you are worn out from all the culture, you might dander down to the Island on Sunday and Monday for the June races.

Ard Cúram, Tragedy at The Races 1896

Here is the promotional photo for The Ring of Kerry Cycle. At the back on the left is Finbarr Mawe of this parish. He is there because Ard Cúram is one of the chosen charities for The Cycle this year.

Here is where you come in. The committee is looking for cyclists to do the Ring in aid of the great new Listowel venture.

I asked Mike Moriarty to tell me bait about the service offered by Ard Cúram and here is what he wrote;

Ard Ċúram Day Care Centre – Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle 2014.

“We are delighted to have been selected as one of the nominated charities for the 2014 Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle. We are a registered charity and all our directors and members work in a totally voluntary capacity.   

                         Ard Ċúram Day Care Centre currently runs a two day service for older people in a premises rented from the Respond organisation in Baile Ó Dubhda, Listowel. Older people in the North Kerry area have morning coffee and a three course hot lunch. They have entertainment through music and song. They have recreational activities such as games, art and crafts. Most importantly they have a social network and interaction. Other services are available such as hairdressing and chiropody. They have support from qualified nursing staff. All of this at a very reasonable charge.

        Objective; To construct a purpose built Day Care Centre which will offer a five day service on a site, procured through the H.S.E., on the grounds of Listowel Community Hospital for which planning permission has been granted. The major portion of the funding for this project is in place so we need one last push, through the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle, to get across the line.

        So we are looking for people to fundraise and cycle for this worthy project. 

For further information please do not hesitate to contact us via via email at

ardcuram@gmail.com or by phone – Finbarr Mawe 087 2316017, Breda Dowling  087 6424888, Mike Moriarty 087 9521324.”

We will all be old some day (if God pleases) and then we will be grateful to the hard working people who have worked so hard to make this vital Day Care facility available to Listowel old folk.

 Ard Cúram is on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ardcuram?fref=ts

Below is the committee;

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Tragedy at Listowel Races 1896

Last week I wrote about the first jockey to be killed at Listowel Races. Vincent Carmody told me that there was an account of the incident in John O’Flaherty’s history of the Races. 

Here is an account of the 1896 tragedy from Listowel Races by John O’Flaherty

First jockey to be killed in Listowel.

The man in question was a 21
year old jockey from Fedamore, named Michael Prendergast who was tragically
killed during the last race on the second day when his mount “Castlequarter”,
crashed into a corner post after jumping the last fence.

The accident happened when
Prendergast was trying to drive Castlequater inside the eventual winner,
Tantalus, as they approached the final corner post. As they neared the post,
Castlequarter swerved to the right and would have gone inside the post if Prendergast
had not snatched him up. This momentaery delay cost him his life, for, when he
straightened his horse, he found that the gap had almost been closed by
Tantalus and his rider.

Courageously, Prendergast
tried to squeeze through the tiny space, but, instead, he only succeeded in
driving the horse on to the post with shattering force. He was propelled from
the saddle and struck the ground violently with his head, knocking him
unconscious.

He was removed to Feale View
Hotel, the home of the Hon. Secretary, Michael O’Connor, with blood streaming
from his ears. Despite being attended to by a number of doctors, he died
without regaining consciousness, at 7.00p.m. on Friday August 29. His young
wife, whom he had married only a few months before, was at his bedside.

The terrible accident, which
prematurely ended a very promising career, was all the more pathetic, because,
up to then, Prendergast had been enjoying an outstanding meeting, during which
he had notched up three winners, including the two feature races.

Perhaps the accident might not
have happened at all had the stewards not disqualified the winner of the first
race that day, Antelope, because he had come inside one of the posts.  In trying to avoid the same fate, Prendergast
earned the unenviable distinction of being the first jockey to be killed at
Listowel. Incidentally, his mount, Castlequarter broke his neck in a fall at
Croom the following year.

There was another fatality on the racecourse in 1902……more of that tomorrow.

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Image from Life magazine of Ghandi and his spinning wheel

1902 tragedy at Listowel Races and Pres. convent chapel

An account of another racing tragedy in 1902

 from John O’Flaherty’s book,   Listowel Races

…The highlight of the excellent racing was a dead heat in the Stewards’ Plate between Bayleaf and Kilgrogan. The race was rerun at the end of the day’s racing and Bayleaf was an easy winner. The racing overall was excellent and the meeting is described as successful. What a pity that it was marred by the tragic death of Mr. H.R. Poe, who sustained serious injuries when his mount, Springboy stumbled and fell on him during The South of Ireland Plate on the second day. The accident was all he more tragic because the race was being run on the flat, and not over fences.

When Springboy stumbled, Mr. Poe was thrown heavily on to the ground, which was rock hard. While he was lying helpless on the track, the horse rolled over him. Mr. Poe’s injuries were four broken ribs, a fractured collar bone and severe concussion. He was removed to Listowel Hospital where he was attended by Drs. Dillon and Hartigan. Their ministrations were in vain and he died on the following Saturday,  after a brief period of consciousness.

No blame was attached to the organizers for this second and happily last riding fatality at Listowel.

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Marie Shaw sent me some photos she took after the last mass in  the the convent chapel. They will bring back happy memories to many.

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What a hilarious piece of advice!

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Bromore, McSorleys and Listowel Races

One of my favourite places in Kerry is Bromore and I have been featuring some of Mike Flahive’s photos recently. Liam Enright, when he was at home on holidays this summer visited with his family and took some lovely photos which he sent me.

You must remember that these were taken during our heatwave in July 2013

The children are Liam’s, venturing as near as they dared to the cliff’s edge.

That was then, this is now;

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Cork at Christmas 1961

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Hard to believe its 50 years.

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McSorleys is one of the most famous Irish pubs in New York.

http://www.mcsorleysnewyork.com 

Vincent Carmody paid it a visit with his son Kevin.

Vincent is anxious to point out that there 3 other people at the table!

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Photo by Healyracing

Lovely article HERE about Listowel Races (Thank you Jimmy Moloney for finding it.)

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