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 Through a Lens

A Poem about Loss, Jerry Ryan R.I.P. and the Old Chapel in Asdee

Waterfall at Conor Pass by Éamon ÓMurchú

<<<<<<<<<<<

Another Poem from Poetry Town

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

A Permanent Reminder

This recent mural with a quotation by Brendan Kennelly is a poignant reminder of how fleeting all the living voices are. The man whose distinctive voice enthralled so many has left the stage. R.I.P.

<<<<<<<<<

+ Pat O’Flaherty R.I.P.+

Pat O’Flaherty of Chic Boutique has passed quietly away. She will be a huge loss to Mary and to her many friends. May she rest in peace.

<<<<<<<<<<

A Fact stranger than Fiction

According to a story in The Sunday Times there are more than 50 billboards in the UK fitted with cameras and equipped with facial recognition technology. If you are walking past one of these billboards it can recognise your age, sex and mood and it will then display an advertisement it is programmed to “think” suited to you.

<<<<<<<<<<<

The Old Chapel in Asdee

from Shannonside Annual 1956

Continues tomorrow….

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

+Jerry Ryan R.I.P.+

Nobody’s child; everybody’s friend

“No Mommies’ Kisses and no Daddies smiles” but Listowel took Jerry Ryan to its heart and he was a valued member of our community.

The Monday after Listowel Races 2014

Jerry Ryan who passed away recently was the salt of the earth. He did his job diligentlty, keeping our streets clean for many years before his retirement from Listowel UDC. He always had a smile and a friendly word. He didn’t know my name. “Friend,” he called me. Jerry had many friends.

With Mark Loughnane
With Pat Hickey

I took these pictures of Jerry at work.

He was part of the fabric of Listowel life for years.

I invited Jerry to come to the launch of my book, Listowel Through a Lens, in 2009. He had never been to a book launch and he was a bit dubious about whether it was his kind of thing.

This is the photo of Jerry and Jim Cogan in Listowel Through a Lens

I can tell you all that it was my honour to have Jerry there and there was no guest more appreciative of the invitation.

May his gentle soul rest in peace.

<<<<<<<<<<

Listowel Through a Lens at a bargain price

Recently, Ger Greaney, our chairperson in NKRO took a trip with his family to The Big Apple. While there he visited the New York City Library and, just for curiosity,  he looked up what books they have about Listowel, Co. Kerry. They have two. One is Fr. Anthony Gaughan’s Listowel and its Vicinity, a second edition of which sold recently at auction for €400 and the other was …

Listowel Through a Lens.

Apart from bragging, why am I telling you this?

Because I, Mary Cogan, publisher of this book, am making the last remaining copies of it available at €5 each, while stocks last. If I have to post it to you, the bad news is that you will have to cover that cost, which, unfortunately will be more than the cost of the book.

For those of you not familiar with the book, it is a book of photographs of Listowel during the Celtic Tiger years. Much has changed since I took the photos between 2000 and 2009. The book records a prosperous and dynamic time in the history of Listowel.

Below are a few of the many photographs

A Corpus Christi procession with Fr. Donal O’Connor.

Joe Stack of RTE shares a joke with his former teacher, Eleanor Scanlon who, I am sad to say, passed away earlier this year.

A group of Ashes old boys who togged out for a victorious trip down memory lane.

The late great Michael Dowling, in the role of St. Patrick, a role he did so well, leads Listowel Emmets down Courthouse Rd.

Local historian and businessman, Jack McKenna, leads locals and visitors on a walking tour of the town during Writers’ Week.

You can contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com if you would like a copy. 

Why not bag a collector’s item for the grandchildren!

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén