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 Tidy Towns Page 5 of 13

Observing the Pieties, Tidy Town Folk and a Fox Photo on my Trip to Kanturk and a library in Kildare

By

On May 14, 2019

In Uncategorized

Long Tailed Tit

Photo by Pauline Doran , finalist in Irish Wildlife Trust’s Photography Competition.

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Observing the Pieties

The following poem by the late Gary MacMahon was given to me by his brother, Owen. It is a great run through of all the old traditional practices in Kerry long ago. Thankfully many of these customs are still preserved here.


Observing the Pieties

Garry MacMahon

I confess I’m a creature of habit, as down life’s road I go

Observing annual rituals is a must for me, and so

Before the crib at Christmas Eve I kneel with all the clan

And on the feast of Stephen go to Dingle for the wran.

Then for sweet St. Brigid’s Day a straw cross I have made

To hang upon the threshold whereon it will be laid.

In the house of my Redeemer I chant a hymn of praise

My throat criss crossed with candles on the feast day of St. Blaise.

Shrove Tuesday I eat pancakes dipped in honey from the hive

And thank the Lord that yet I live and another year survived,

And when the long gospel is read before the end of Lent

Home I take the blessed palm and breathe its sacred scent.

On Good Friday I buy hot cross buns and before the day is past

Gather cockles from the sea shore and keep the old black fast

And then on Easter morn I rise to see the dancing sun come forth

Not forgetting Patrick’s Day between, as the shamrock I still sport.

The coming of the swallow, the awakening of the earth

The promise of a primrose I await with bated breath,

And lest ill luck should follow me and give me cause to grieve

I never bring whitethorn to the house upon May Eve.

June bonfires once I lighted on the feastday of St. John

A custom all but vanished as relentless time moves on.

July sees me hit for Milltown and Willie Clancy in the County Clare

In Marrinan’s pub I pay my sub and a song or two sing there.

And then its Munster Final time and the piper must be paid

To Thurles, Cork, Killarney the pilgrimage is made.

Again I fetch my fishing rod before the season’s out

Take the time to wet a line and coax elusive trout.

To the Pattern of the Virgin, from thence on to Puck Fair

The Races of Listowel come next and I’m certain to be there.

Dew drenched fields provide me with mushrooms gleaming white

While plump and juicy blackberries for my sore eyes are a sight.

When comes November of the souls and all the leaves are shed

Will you light a candle then for me as I do for the dead?

You’ve heard an old man’s story, each word I swear is true,

Be blessed thrice, take this advice I now implore of you

Don’t turn your back on dúchas or on history’s learned lore

And pass it on before it’s gone and lost forever more.

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Working Hard on our Behalf





I met these hard working tidy towners on Tuesday May 7 2019. They were still working hard when I came out of my meeting.


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Slow Mail in Moyvane in 1894


Kerry Sentinel Saturday, January 13, 1894; Page: 3

MAIL SERVICE BETWEEN LISTOWEL AND NEWTOWN.

A move has been made by the inhabitants of Newtown and the surrounding district with a view of inducing the Post Office Officials to accelerate the postal service between Listowel and Newtown. At present letters posted in Listowel for Newton have first to go to Limerick, then to Tarbert, and from thence by foot to Newtown. The roundabout could be easily avoided by running a mail car direct from Listowel to Newtown, and it is to be hoped that the Post Office may recognise the benefits which the adoption of the change would effect, and the desirability of connecting Listowel more immediately with the surrounding districts.


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Reynard, Up Close




This brave fellow stopped to pose for me  at my old home in Kanturk last week.



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Kildare Town Library




I was in Kildare for the weekend and I took the opportunity to deliver some Listowel Writers’ Week brochures to the libraries round about. This is me delivering to the Kildare Town librarian, Orla.  Orla loved the programme and resolved there and then do to her best to come to the festival.  She is really knowledgeable about books and loves reading. Her library runs four book clubs!

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Listowel Town Square, May 13 2019



Upgrade works have started. Should only take a few days.




Vicar Joe photobombed my picture.

Gurtinard Wood, Tidy Town seat, Frank Sheehy and Finuge’s New Jersey

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On April 17, 2019

In Uncategorized

Remembering a popular teacher and a great servant of the GAA who died in Nigeria.

I previously published the below biography in 2013

Who was Frank Sheehy?

The question is answered by Vincent Carmody 

Frank was born in 1905 to John J.(b 1870) and Annie Sheehy.(b 1874) His father served as a drapery assistant in the Listowel and his mother was a native of Tipperary. Frank was the youngest of 4 children, with a brother John (b 1898), Margaret(b 1899) and Ellen ( b 1901).

He received his primary education at the Boys’ National School, only 3 doors up the street from his home,. After this he attended St Michael’s College where he was a classmate of Seamus Wilmot among others.

 Having achieved an M.A. at University College Dublin he then applied for and was accepted to attend at St. Patrick’s Training College 1932-1934 to complete his studies to become a National Teacher. Among his colleagues at this time was the redoubtable Sean O Síocháin, later to become a long time General Secretary to the Gaelic Athletic Association. OSíocháin, in a tribute to Frank in 1981 wrote, ‘I first made his acquaintance in 1932/1934 as a student teacher in the Primary School attached to St. Patrick’s Teacher Training College, in Drumcondra, Dublin, where Frank had established himself as one of the great primary teachers of his time. In the following years, through the thirties and into the forties, we worked in after-school hours for the Comhar Dramaíochta, in the production and promotion of plays in Irish, he as runaí and I as a junior actor and sometimes Bainisteoir Stáitse. His high efficiency, his drive and his sense of humour streamlined many a situation for amateur actors which, otherwise might have been chaotic. During the forties, as Principal of an Endowed Primary School in Oldcastle, Co. Meath, gave him a distinction enjoyed by few in Primary Education, while his period in that part of Co. Meath, which coincided with that of the incomparable Paul Russell as Garda Sergeant, transformed the town and the district into a mini-Kingdom all their own’.

He returned to his native town in the early 1950s and quickly immersed himself in the local club and county GAA scene. He became Chairman of the county board in 1953 and many would say that he indeed was the spark that ignited the Kerry Senior team to regain the Sam Maguire, the first since 1946. That year he also organised the golden jubilee of the county’s first All Ireland success in 1953 and he was also instrumental in initiating the scheme that allowed Kerry All Ireland medal holders the right to apply for two tickets whenever the county reached the final. 

He was appointed as principal of the senior boys’ school on his return to Listowel, a position he held until 1960. He served as Munster Council President from 1956-1958 and was narrowly beaten for the Presidency of the GAA by Dr.J.J.Stuart. 

In 1961 he went to Nigeria, Africa, to take up a position of Professor of Educational Science at a training college in Asaba. He died there in 1962.

Listowel sports field is named ‘Pairc Mhic Shithigh’ in his honour.


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Gurtinard Walk

It is lovely to walk in Gurtinard Wood at this time of year.

This set is surrounded by wild garlic.

This new seat by the pitch and putt club hut is a gift to the town from the Tidy Town Group.

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The Most Stylish team in the North Kerry Championship


When you have a fashion designer in your club…..

Photos and text from Paul Galvin on Facebook

Finishing up the Finuge senior club jerseys for 2019. Under-designed so as to promote color, meaning & identity. 

•Deep green & gold color combination. 

•Finuge Cross printed on the sleeves where 4 sides of the parish come together to play shoulder to shoulder.
•The parish map co-ordinates sit alongside to drive identity.
•Sampled 3 different sleeve lengths, went for a half-sleeve covering the bicep to the top of the elbow which I think is under-utilized in jersey design. Finished product to come

April Horse Fair, Tidy Town Judges favourites and a Holy Well

By

On April 11, 2019

In Uncategorized

Minnie posing in Ballybunion at evening time.   Photo by Bridget O’Connor

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April Horse Fair 2019


Market Street was busy on April 4th as a big crowd attended the street fair.

Cabbage plants

Scealláns or seed potatoes. I remember long hours spent cutting them and preparing them for planting.

Saddles and other assorted horse related tack.

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Mentioned in The Tidy Towns Judges Report


The Tidy Towns adjudicators had mostly positive things to say about Listowel. A few places in particular they loved. They loved the Pat MacAulliffe plasterwork and they praised the people who preserve it. 

They loved the houses along the John B. Keane Rd by the Lartigue museum. The one below, No. 6 was a favourite.



Their report mentioned this tribute to Ireland’s most popular car.

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A Holy Well, a moving experience

(from the Dúchas folklore collection)


There was a blessed well in Jim Woulfe’s field and one day they washed clothes in it and that night the well changed out to Tom O’Connor field which was two fields away. People used go there on Sundays and especially Sundays of May. Some people used go there to get cured from some disease they had and they would leave a piece of cloth on the bushes round the well. They used also go around the well three times to every rosary they would say. It is called Sunday’s Well. If you were to be cured at some wells you would see a fish.
Eileen Shine
Address
Gortdromasillahy, Co. Kerry

The Loo Hullabuloo Part 3, Some Wild Flowers, A Tree Planting Project and a Horse Fair

By

On April 8, 2019

In Uncategorized

Cherry Tree in Blossom

On the John B. Keane Road, Listowel in March 2019

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Looking to The Future



Photo: Listowel Tidy Towns

Friday April 5 2019 was a very significant day in Listowel’s history. In an initiative from Kerry County Council and facilitated locally by Listowel Tidy Towns Group, young people from Listowel schools planted 420 saplings in and around Childers’ Park. All the trees are native Irish species. Future generations of Listowel people will enjoy this important legacy.

Hard working Tidy Towns’ volunteers Imelda and Bridget are the school liaison officers. They are pictured here with some of the Junior Tidy Towns’ Group before the tree planting.

Photo credit: Listowel Tidy Town’s Group

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Listowel’s ‘s  Public Toilet

For those who have been following this story which began back in 1942 we are now in the 1970s and the headline writers are having a field day. Everyone seems to be about to lose patience with the saga when eventually a solution is reached , a site acceptable to everyone is secured and the toilet built. 

Thanks to Dave O’Sullivan for the research.




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Flower Miles



Flowers on the right travelled many miles across Europe to a hall table in Knockanure. The flowers on the left came from outside the window.

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April Horse Fair 2019

The traditional horse fair has morphed into a street fair. You could buy just about anything from a needle to an anchor on Market Street on April 4 2019.

Here are a few snapshots of the fair.

Listowel Public Toilet (Part 2), Helping to Research North Kerry Ancestors and Tidy Towns Awareness Day

By

On April 5, 2019

In Uncategorized



Ballybunion Sunset, March 2019




Photo: Bridget O’Connor



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The Hullabaloo about the Loo



We’re at 1972. The saga continues next week.

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Harriet Owen in Listowel


Harriet Owen is pictured here with Tom Fitzgerald and Jimmy Deenihan. Harriet is a frequent visitor to Listowel. Her ancestors come from North Kerry and she is doing some genealogical research, helped by Tom and Jimmy.  She is very much at home here now. We will be seeing her again soon.

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Tidy Towns’ Awareness Day



When I was in Super Valu on Friday March 29 2019 I ran into my friends from the Tidy Town Committee raising awareness of their work for the environment.



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