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 Writers’ week 2018 Page 2 of 3

Opening Night Listowel Writers’ week 2018, Elizabeth Stack’s New Post and Emmetts Under 16s

Charming mosaic picture in the window of Olive Stack’s Gallery

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Photos taken at Opening Night, Listowel Writers’ Week 2018

Niall MacMonagle was here to work, but not tonight. Also working were Máire Logue, Maria McGrath, Maria Leahy, Noel Twomey and Louise Lyons.  Eddie Moylan came to support his daughter, Catherine who introduced proceedings on the night and Robert Pierce and the Walshes of Aspire Technology were there to present their prizes. The rest were heading to the Listowel Arms for a night out, one of the highlights of the Listowel season.

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Emmetts Abú


I spotted this story and photos on Listowel Emmetts’ website

Emmets U16’s choose the bog over the beach 😀

Fair play to our U16 team and mentors who spent this evening in the bog with Seamus Stack. It was all for a great cause too as the turf will be sold to raise much needed funds for The Nano Nagle School here in Listowel. 



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 Listowel Lady doing well



This is the account in this week’s Kerryman of Elizabeth Stack of Listowel and her new job.

This is what it says in The Irish Echo;

The Irish American Heritage Museum has a new director.

Elizabeth Stack has taken the helm and has plans to extend the reach of the museum beyond its physical location in New York’s state capital, Albany.

“I have lots of plans for the museum and am excited to settle in to the capital region,” said Stack, who previously worked at the Institute of Irish Studies at Fordham University.

“I am looking forward to meeting the wider community,” said Stack who indicated her intent to extend the museum’s activities beyond its home city.

The museum describes its educational mission as “To preserve and tell the story of the contributions of the Irish people and their culture in America, inspiring individuals to examine the importance of their own heritage as part of the American cultural mosaic.”

The museum was first organized in 1986 by the New York State American-Irish Legislators Society and was initially financed by the State Natural Heritage Trust, the State Council on the Arts, and private donations.

Initially, and after it opened in June, 1990, the museum was located on the grounds of the Irish Culture and Sports Center in East Durham, in New York’s Catskills region.

In 1992, the museum was permanently chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

The museum was relocated to downtown Albany in 2012. The 3,250 square foot space opened on January 17, 2012 and includes the Paul O’Dwyer Library and the Ancient Order of Hibernians’ archives.

Exhibits at the museum have included: “Irish in the Civil War,” which looked at Irish Americans in the American Civil War; “The Irish and the Erie Canal,” which highlighted the contributions of the Irish in all phases of the Erie Canal construction, and “Dublin: Then and Now,” which included photographs of the streets of Dublin in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

States the museum on its website: “Our museum….provides year-round access to our exhibits, our Paul O’Dwyer Library, lectures, presentations, film screenings, book signings and other special programs and events.

“The Museum was an integral force in providing instruction in New York State’s public schools about the Irish Famine of 1845-1853.  Further, we are the first Museum of its kind here in America to have exhibited at the National Library in Dublin.”

The museum is located at 370 Broadway in Albany.

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Remembered with Love


Sunday, June 10, would have been Fr. Pat Moore’s birthday. In this age of social media, people find solace in posting messages on a dead loved ones’ page. I visited Fr. Pat’s page on his birthday and it was lovely to see the old pictures of his smiling brave presence among us.

Ní imithe uainn atá sé, ach imithe romhainn.





More from LWW 2018 Opening Night, Nourish by Nature and chess in The Square

A beautiful stylish shop in Church Street, Listowel; beautiful shop full of beautiful things.

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Some More People Arriving for Listowel Writers Week Opening Night 2018


 

There were old friends, Fr. Anthony Gaughan and Niall Stack reunited, the Dillon family of Chursh Street out in force to celebrate a win and there was dancing in the streets.

This upbeat couple had come all the way from the U.S. and they were happy to dance for the camera.

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Nourish by Nature


I left you yesterday after our starter course on our night out in Sid and Angela Sheehan’s Nourish by Nature cookery school.

The evening of our dinner coincided with the start of our warm spell so it was part of the pleasure of the experience to go outdoors between courses and commune with the family’s hens and goats.

Back indoors we enjoyed some absolutely delicious food, prepared and cooked while we watched.

Alice and Carmel enjoying the night.

One word….yum!

One for everyone in the audience.

Sid preparing our dessert selection.

Mouthwatering delicious dessert medley.

This is a super night out to celebrate a birthday or any special occasion. Or just do as we did and gather up a few friends and  give yourselves a treat.

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Chess Mates




These young men, who are students in the nearby Butler Centre were playing a game of chess in the sunshine in Listowel Town Square on Friday June 8 2018.

Writers’ Week Opening night 2018, Anti conscription rally in 1918, Nourish by Nature and Work begins at the Convent

Sunny Listowel, late May evening 2018, Heaven?

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Some People at Writers’ Week Opening Night May 30 2018

Musicians, photographers, writers and some plain folk of Listowel on May 30 2018

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Woman Power in 1918


Towards the end of WW1 Britain felt compelled to introduce conscription  in Ireland due to  the heavy toll on manpower being taken by this most awful of trench warfare. The alternative of extending conscription in Britain to teenagers and men over 42 was proving unpalatable there.

After 1916 voluntary recruitment in Ireland had fallen drastically.

This proposal to conscript was met with widespread dismay and dissent. A day of protest was organised for June 9th. 1918.

This is a poster for a rally organised in Dublin by Cumann na mBan.

The following account of the rally and the poster are from an RTE site called Century Ireland.

Dublin, 10 June 1918 – Heavy rainfall failed to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands of women who turned out in protest against conscription across the country yesterday.

In Dublin city and suburbs alone, an estimated 40,000 women participated in signing a pledge not to fill the workplaces of men let go from their employment for refusing compulsory military service.

The vestibule of City Hall was the main signing centre for the city itself and here almost 15,000 signatures were collected, the first three hours being devoted to the members of various women’s societies.




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Nourish by Nature


Nourish by Nature is the business of Sid and Angela Sheehan of Listowel. It combines a cookery school with nutrition courses and alternative therapies.

I was in Gortacrossane for a cookery lesson and a meal with friends and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I’d highly recommend it.

Our gang were contacted beforehand with choices of starter, main course and dessert and our menu was drawn up by Sid based on the preferences of the majority.

We brought our own wine and we watched as Sid prepared and cooked a gourmet meal for us.

Sid and Angela had spent hours preparing for us and when we arrived the table was set and we were ready to go.

Breads and dips

 Here I am with my group of early arrivals.

Our menu

Sid serves us our delicious starter.

(more tomorrow)

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Mea Culpa



I had the location of this garage wrong. It is the Mangan’s in Upper William Street where Royal China is today.

Dan Moloney bought three garages from  Mangan, one in  Market St,. one in William St ( The one in John Hannon’s photo above) for trucks & anothet one down on the back market backing on to the river. 

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Update on the former Presentation Convent Listowel



 As of June 2018 the convent has been sold to a private individual and in now under renovation. The grounds and the building have been completely cleared and work is underway on the interior.



Opening Night Listowel Writers’ Week 2018, a local poet, candle making long ago and pitch and putt today

In the Pink

Photo; Chris Grayson

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Folk on their way to Opening Night Listowel Writers’ Week 2018

In glorious evening sunshine on May 30 2018 they trooped into the ballroom of The Listowel Arms. There were writers and prizewinners, invited guests and local people. I photographed only a few of them.

Writers’ Week opening night is attended by loyal local people, writers, young competition winners and their proud parents, older competition winners and the great and the good in Ireland’s literary firmament.

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Donal O’Connor, Tarbert






Photo by Graham Davies on Facebook

Donal is a poet farmer and a bit of a local legend. He is a brilliant raconteur with stories and poems readily to hand. He gained a whole new audience with his appearances on a TV series called Senior Moments.  If you encounter Donal in storytelling form, he is sure to brighten your day.

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When fat wasn’t all bad


The school’s folklore collection has all sorts of little interesting snippets of information. This extract is all about candles and candle making

Before candles were commercially made people used to make their own from “fat.” They used the fat of goats and other animals according to Mary Hickey of O’Connell’s Avenue who was 85 when she told her stories to B. Holyoake of Railway House. According to Mary, they got a mould, put a stick across the top. Attached to the stick were 6 or 7 “cotton threads”  These were obviously the wicks. Then they “rendered the fat”. 

(I rememeber well my mother rendering suet in the days before cooking oil.  There was always a bowl of fat or dripping at the ready for frying. This dripping is actually making a comeback recently and you can buy it again in artisan food shops.)

Back to 1937…the hot fat was poured into the mould and left to set overnight. In the morning they had 6 candles. Half penny candles were called “padogues”.

Another type of candle was a dip candle. These were so called because the wick was dipped into the tallow, brought out, allowed to cool and then dipped in again.

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Listowel Pitch and Putt Competition

I was out walking early on Sunday morning when I spotted a competition about to begin at the pitch and putt club so I grabbed a few photos.

I learned later from Facebook that it was the County Strokeplay competition and these were the winners.

Listowel Writers Week 2018 Opening Night, Roadworks, Revival, Folklore and an old photo

During this recent warm spell, the Beal dolphins came in really close to the shore and Ita Hannon got this photo.

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People at Opening Night Writers’ Week


I took up my position st the door of the Listowel Arms and I snapped these lovely people on the way in to the festival’s opening event.

As you can see I am automatically drawn to local people or people with a Listowel Connection. If you see anyone here who you know is not a blog follower will you alert them.

(more tomorrow)

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We Still have roadworks Disruptions



Listowel people have had a lot of disruption to put up with as natural gas is brought to Listowel. Road works begin at 7a.m. and finish at 8.00p.m. and we won’t mention the odd disruption to water supply due to burst mains.

It will be all worth it in the end.

I just hope that the Tidy Town judges will understand because the local committee is doing every thing it can to keep the town as clean and tidy and presentable as possible while the work is ongoing.

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Revivsl



Book early as ticket numbers are limited. Listowel’s great music festival is back for another year.

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From the Archives



The following is taken from the great folklore collection of 1937/38 when local children throughout Ireland collected lore from their older family and neighbours. We are lucky in Listowel that we had Bryan MacMahon on board with this project. Bryan was a great collector of folklore himself and he well understood the importance of remembering and preserving folk memories.


1. Baskets

One boy wrote about a woman called Madge Shine who lived in The Red Cottages, Cahirdown. Madge used to make baskets from hazel. She used to place the hazel twigs over the fire to soften before weaving them into baskets.

Sciath is the word in Irish for shield. We are familiar with it now in the title Sciath na Scol. So I’m guessing that the sciath refered to are flat baskets.

Another local man, Martin Sheehy, made ‘sgiaths” from “scallops” According to Michael O’Brien of Ashe Street who recorded the story, “he bended the sticks in and through one another until he had his sgiaths made.”

Bill Barrett of Beal made baskets from sedge which he used to harvest from the sandhills in Ballybunion. He also made hats and babies cradles. He also made “gads” for flails for threshing.

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This is how Listowel Races looked up to the 1970s  before all of the public were moved to the stand area. There used to be a cheaper option of attending The Races in the centre of the field on the inside of the racetrack. This option had bookies and a few carnival stalls and but no shelter.

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Job for an artist?


Job description

We currently have full time position for a **Sandwich Artist** in our store on Market St, Listowel Co. Kerry. Sandwich Artists have a positive outlook, thrive in a busy work environment and are keen to learn the art of great sandwich making. You will work well as part of a team, making delicious sandwiches to customer requirements. You will be responsible for serving customers, following health and safety procedures, and keeping the store clean.

The job will involve evening and weekend work so applicants must be fully flexible.

The job is going in Subway, by the way

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