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: Peggy Sweeney

A Christmas Story, a Craft Fair and a New Poetic Voice

By

On November 20, 2024

In Duagh, Listowel, Poem

Church Street, November 2024

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Kerry in 1901

I found this picture of a market day in Killarney in 1901 on the internet. Houses are thatched. Horses and carts are where tractors would be nowadays.

Meanwhile in Tralee

The local painting and decorating firm of John J. Foley painted this magnificent ceiling in the convent chapel at Balloonagh.

The market place is constantly changing. Art is forever.

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A Christmas Story

By Maura Laverty

Charity shops are full of treasures. This is the marvellous Christmas book I found in St. Vincent de Paul charity shop in Listowel. It dates back 50 or 60 years and is an insight into a world that is fading into memory.

The following story from Maura Laverty is a gem.

Turron is very like nougat. It is thought to originally be a kind of halva brought to Spain by the Moors. It was a confection of honey, egg whites and nuts.

Now read on.

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Listowel Food Fair 2024 Craft Fair

On the Sunday of the Food Fair there is always an exceptional craft fair held in The Listowel Arms. Here are just a few of the highlights.

The lovely entrance bower set the scene for the picturesque displays within.

Mom’s Porter Cake business is about so much more than just porter cake. The mom here, Sherley, is not the mom who gave her name to the business. Sherley’s mom inspired her and now she is passing on the skills and the recipes to the next generation. She sells every kind of confection from Christmas cakes the size of cupcakes to huge celebration cakes. I bought a little porter cake and it was delicious.

Josie is always a pleasure to meet at a craft fair. I raised a false rumour here that she was retiring from knitting. She told me she was. But thanks to the miracle of cataract surgery she is back in business and knitting more than ever. Her babies’ cardigans and toys are heirlooms to be treasured by generations. Lovely lady and lovely craftwork! If you want a unique handmade baby present, Josie is the woman to meet.

I love this man’s honey. He is Jean louis Valentin and his honey is called Trieneragh Honey, after the home address of his bees. He is also a skilled craftsman in wood, producing beautiful wooden products. He is a previous winner at Listowel Food Fair. Jean Louis is always up for a chat. He is a great people person and his stall is always a treat for the eyes as well as the taste buds.

The hard working Sarah Fitzgerald took a minute off from organising Food Fair 2024 and selling her Green Green Gate Kombucha. Sarah posed for me with mom, Peggy, and aunt, Carmel, three lovely ladies, always a pleasure to meet.

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A Poem

Today’s poem comes from a lovely new anthology by a new poet, Anne Donegan.

This beautiful stylish little book is in the local shops now. It has many charming poems, some with a local flavour, that will bring a memory, a tear or a smile.

Here is an example;

It took a poet to see the potential in this heart shaped stone and to craft this lovely thought provoking poem.

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A Fact

The name of the legendary Lady Godiva’s horse was Aethenoth.

(You can thank me when it comes up in the table quiz.)

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Out and About with Camera

By

On August 29, 2024

In History, Listowel

Time to write…Display in The Listowel Arms

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People I Met

I met Mary and Cathriona McCarthy and Joan Buckley on Friday evening on their way to Revival.

I met Mary McGrath and her lovely daughter on their way to visit Peter.

Jessica and Áine were taking a break in Market Street Kitchen.

Three Mountcoal ladies, Chrissie, Eileen and Peggy were having a cuppa and a catch up.

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From the Archives

21 Sept 1912

New York NY Irish American Advocate

Chicago News;

A very pretty wedding was celebrated In this town last week when Mr. Patrick J. Buckley, of Clounmacon, Listowel, Co. Kerry, and Miss Josephine Sheehan, of Tarmons, Tarbert, Co. Kerry, were joined In wedlock. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. F. Quigley in the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Albany avenue and Jackson Boulevard. Miss Sheehan was dressed In white silk, and carried a bouquet of Killarney roses. Mr. R. Walsh acted as best man, and Miss Marie McKean as bridesmaid. After the ceremony at the church the young couple and their friends drove to 1039 Oakley Boulevard, where breakfast was served, after which the young couple went on a honeymoon trip to California. The presents from the friends of Mr. and Mrs. Buckley were numerous and beautiful. On their return they will be at home at Monroe and Ogden avenue.

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A Poem we Learned at School

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Ogham

This is the stoney corridor in UCC. It is the most marvellous free museum. Along the walls are stones/ boulders which have been removed for safe keeping from several locations in Munster.

Before there was paper, there was stone. People actually wrote on stone. Obviously if you were chiseling out every letter on stone, you wouldn’t write much.

These Ogham stones have the names of chieftans and important people carved on them. The name was carved in a morse code like system of scratches in the edge of the boulder. The name, I am told was read from the bottom upwards.

It is marvellous to have these great artefacts within touching distance. Of course we mustn’t touch them. We must show them the respect their longevity and historical significance demands.

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Caring for their Customers

This is a good idea. Be sure to tell the youngsters, just in case….

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A Fact

The longest place name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia (muk-an-hand-ra-do-dauter-hal-i-a). It is a 470-acre townland in the civil parish of Kilcummin in County Galway, Ireland.

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Horsefair, Peggy Sweeney, Some Shark Facts and three local people snapped on Bridge Road

By

On July 19, 2019

In Uncategorized

Church Street, Listowel, July 2019 with Fitzpatrick’s new bay window in place.

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Pictures from July Horse Fair 2019

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Peggy Sweeney  by Mattie Lennon


Continued from yesterday 

… Peggy  has also judged competitions. That is not her favorite exercise either but her advice to young singers is: “Enjoy what you’re doing, I like to see a child – or an adult – enjoying their song”.

She tells beginners to pick a simple song and work up from there. She believes that a child competitor should always be put at ease and not pressurized into competing, by anybody. 

Although she grew up among a lot of famous people (Bryan McMahon, et alia) from Listowel and the surrounding area, she says that she didn’t see them as famous; she knew them all so well.

Talk of John B. Keane brings her to her other great love, amateur drama. She says,”I love being somebody else for a couple of hours”.

I didn’t have the neck to quote David Mamet for a second time. And anyway I can’t vouch for the validity of his claim that ” … .the person onstage is YOU. It is not a construct you are free to amend or mold. It’s you. It is YOUR character which you take onstage”.

The great thespians of the world might not agree with Peggy’s claim that to do one of John B’s plays you have to be from Kerry. “The only accent that would lend itself to one of his plays would be the Kerry accent”.

She sang for Presidents … but her fondest memory is of the night she performed in the National Concert Hall with the late Eamon Kelly. She says; “I was nervous but Eamon was twice as nervous”.

She made her first album ” The Songs of Sean McCarthy” in January 1991, just two months after Sean McCarthy had called her to his deathbed and requested that she record his works. This was followed by “The Cliffs of Dooneen”, “The Turning of the Tide” and “More songs of Sean McCarthy”. “The Songs of Sean McCarthy” was released on video in August 1999. 

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(Of course any Kerryman will tell you that there are only two Kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry).
“One is not of this world and the other is out of this world”
Well, now there are three. “A Kingdom of Song” is the title of Peggy Sweeney’s new album of Kerry songs. As. The sleeve of “A Kingdom of Song” appropriately shows a map of Kerry. The 15 songs take you on a musical trip from Duagh to Dingle and from Tarbert to Rathmore.

“The Valley of Knockanure” (that all too familiar story of young Irishmen shot by the Black-and-Tans) has been recorded by many artists. But when I heard this version I couldn’t help thinking that the song was just waiting for Peggy Sweeney to sing it.

Mick McConnell’s “The Tinkerman’s Daughter” and “Brosna Town”, two very moving songs have taken on a new lease of life.

“The Hills of Kerry”, “Lovely Banna Shore” and the Jimmy McCarthy composition, “As I Leave Behind Neidin” are the stuff to moisten the eyes of an exile.

“Ballyseedy Cross” and “Lonely Banna Strand” tell further tales of men who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom.

It features a refreshing rendition of a song that I hadn’t heard for decades; “The Young Youth Who strayed From Milltown” as well as “The Wild Colonial Boy” and “Killarney and You”.

That old favourite, the universal anthem of Kerry, “The Rose of Tralee”, “Lovely Banna Shore” written by Peter Kelly and the Stack brothers, John and Pat and “The Wild Flower of Laune” written by Myles Coffey and Peter Joy are all given suitable treatment by the woman that this reviewer calls “The Voice of Kerry”.

And there is of course that tribute to her own native town land, mentioned earlier, “Rathea in County Kerry”

I’m sure almost everyone in that close-knit community around Rathea would agree with the letter, which Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun sent to the Marquis of Montrose et al:

“…….if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation”.

Maybe you can’t make the laws of a nation…..or even write a ballad but you can enjoy the best recording of 15 Kerry songs that you are likely to hear.

Kerry, A Kingdom Of Song is now available on Cassette and CD from www.kerrymusic.com. It will also be available early next year on Video with the breathtaking scenery of Kerry added to the singing of these wonderful songs.

The perfect diction and beautiful voice moistened many an exiles eyes during her several tours of Britain, as Bean-a-Ti, with The Irish Rambling House Concert group. She agrees with Charlie Landsborough that the ability to give a spititual message through songs is “a Blessing from above”.

When her old school friend, Kay Forristal, brought out her book of poems New Beginnings Peggy wrote the Foreword.

“Spirituality is free flowing and ever changing. This aptly describes the connecting relationship between Kathleen and I. We have known one another since childhood yet, neither time or distance has failed to quench this unseen dimension of our lives.

“Our spirits have been inextricably linked through the medium of verse and song. Through this thought-provoking book, we celebrate decades of true friendship and inherent spirituality”.

What (more) could I say about Peggy?

© 2002 Mattie Lennon, printed with permission. 

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Today’s Fun Fact


How does a shark track you?

Sharks have the most astonishing sense of smell. They can detect blood at a concentration of 1 part in 25 million, i.e. one single drop of blood in a 2,000 gallon tank of water. If you are bleeding, no matter how slightly, a shark will know. Sharks are brilliant swimmers and they swim at speeds of 25 mph  so a shark who smells your blood from 400 metres away can be on you in sixty seconds.

Sharks also have excellent hearing and sight.

In case I’ve frightened the bejesus out of you, the book also has this interesting fact. Research from all US coastal states, averaged over the last 50 years, show that you are 76 times more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightening then by a shark.

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Something to Look Forward to




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Snapped on Bridge Road




On an early morning walk with my canine house guest I met John Bunyan, Martin Chute and Carmel Moloney taking a coffee break.

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Fancy a Walk, this Weekend?



Dandy Lodge, Peggy Sweeney, The Saltiest Water and a Corner Stone

By

On July 18, 2019

In Uncategorized

The Dandy Lodge in Listowel Town Park. Beautiful window boxes in place for the upcoming Entente Florale judging.

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Harp and Lion

Restoration work has started on this great Listowel icon. I’m looking forward to seeing it restored to its former glory.

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Today’s Pearl of Wisdom from my Charity Shop “Find”

Is the world’s saltiest water in The Dead Sea?

No, it’s not, according to this fascinating book. The saltiest water in the world is in Don Juan Pond in the Dry Valleys of  north eastern Antartica. It’s also known as Lake Don Juan. It’s a tiny lake whose depth is only 6 inches. It’s water is so salty that it doesn’t freeze even though the air around it is -50C.

The water is a whopping 40% salt, more than twice as salty as The Dead Sea. The water in Don Juan didn’t come from the sky. It’s too cold and dry there for rain or snow. The water seeped up through the ground and the upper layer of water evaporated leaving this salty residue behind. The lake was only discovered in 1961.

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A Reminder of Slower Times


Patrick O’Shea, who had a Listowel mother, was curious to know what this is. He saw if at a junction in Cork and he asked Facebook what it could be. He learned that stones like these were placed at the entrance to lanes and small roads to prevent horse drawn carriages from riding over the corner of the nearby building and wearing it away. The corner stone forced the horse to swing wide into the entrance and to take a straight path into the side road.

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Peggy Sweeney



When I posted this photo of Peggy and her family a while ago, Mattie Lennon saw it and remembered a lovely piece that he had written about Peggy and her relationship with the great Seán MacCarthy. Mattie sends us the piece here and I’m going to give it to you in two instalments.

Peggy will be singing the songs of Seán MacCarthy at the memorial weekend on the August bank holiday in Finuge…well worth a visit.

What could I say about Peggy?
Nothing but the truth.
I loved her songs and her singing
I heard away back in my youth.
Her songs were food to my Soul
Her voice was a thrill to my ear.
I loved her then as a child,
It was mutual and sincere.

I love her today as a friend
And the memories shared together.
Her songs still lift my soul
Like the lark warbling o’er the heather.
What can I say about Peggy?
Thanks for the joy she has given.
Blest be the dawn of our friendship
When Peggy was only seven. —-
Dan Keane

The above, written in perfect Copperplate, was handed to me by octogenarian Kerry poet Dan Keane when I told him I was writing a piece about Peggy Sweeney.

When I met and talked to the singer herself she spoke in equally glowing terms of Dan. But, then, she struck me as the kind of person who would have great difficulty speaking unkindly of anyone. Any mild criticism of a fellow human being seemed to be invariably followed by. “Ah … he (or she) is alright”.

Peggy was born in Rathea, Co. Kerry, the second youngest of seven children.

My hinted request for a D.O.B. [Date Of Birth] was met with Kerry specificness; “In the second half of the last century”.

When I point out that David Mamet, in his book True and False, claims that nobody with a happy childhood ever went into show business the tumultuous reply is like the Smearla river in flood. I am left in no doubt about her happy childhood, despite the fact that her father died when she was only six. Her grandfather was a very good fiddle player and by the time Peggy was a year-and-a-half old she was able to hum the tunes that he played for her. Her father was a dancing teacher and her mother, a beautiful singer, (who was very much a woman before her time), taught her all her songs.

She emphasizes that she grew up in a house of laughter, song and dance “which brought us all a long way, the day wasn’t half long enough for us and if I had to do it all over again I’d do the very same thing”.

Peggy can, in the words of Thomas Prior, ” … answer to the truth of a song”. When she sings “Rathea In County Kerry” written for her by cousin, Brian Burke, you get an example of that.

When I think of the days that once I spent
In the hills of County Kerry
Those happy days before I went
And took the Holyhead ferry.
Well we danced and we sang
‘Til the morning shone shone,
Though my grief I try to bury
For our lives were free in good company
In Rathea in County Kerry.

A story emanating from the Presentation Convent in Listowel has a two-pronged connection with W.B. Yeats (first it brings to mind his line:” I made my song a coat”). When Sister Austin asked Peggy to recite “The Sally Gardens” the quietly confident child recited a line or two and got stuck; only to then volunteer, ” I can’t recite it Sister … .but I will sing it”.

From an early age she competed. But competition is not her forte and she says: “I had to compete.” Adding modestly, “I won a couple of All-Irelands with the Lixnaw branch of Comltas”.

She competed, as a member of Scor, and left unbeaten in Kerry or Munster and believing that competition destroys the love of singing. “When I reached the age where I didn’t have to compete any more that’s when I really enjoyed singing”. 

More tomorrow.

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A Poignant Tarbert Story


from Tarbert.ie on Facebook

Tarbert.ie posted this photo with the following caption;

In 1985 a man was waiting for the Ferry in Tarbert when a group of children spotted he had a camera and asked him to take a picture of them…. the result was the below picture! 

He kept it safe over the next almost 35 years and now wants to reunite it with its subjects! 


Jennifer Scanlan saw the photo, recognised her brothers and their friends and solved the mystery;


The children are Derek R.I.P and Thomas OGorman with their friends, brother and sister, Josephine and Thomas.

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