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: Presentation Convent Listowel Page 5 of 7

Bridge Rd., Junior Griffin’s Memories and refurbishment at the convent

By

On February 5, 2016

In Uncategorized

Bridge Road before the Posters Went Up

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Would You Sleep in a Hearse?



Junior Griffin on his way home from mass a few years ago.

The late John Griffin (Junior’s dad) of Bridge Road, Listowel  mended everything. He was a
great mender of umbrellas, clocks and watches and he was the go- to man if your
fuse blew and left you without power.

He once converted an old Chevrolet into a hearse for Danny Lyons.
Junior and his brother, Bert, vied with one another to see who would be the
first to sleep in the hearse. Junior remembers that a lovely man, John Kirby,
who was a manager at Latchfords and an uncle of our present parish priest,
Canon Declan O’Connor, settled that argument. Employing the wisdom of Soloman,
John offered the boys 3d.  (three pence) each to allow him to be the first. The boys readily
accepted the money and no one slept in Danny Lyons hearse while it was in the
Bridge Rd.

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Bill Kearney



Thanks to Jim Halpin for this one. The Bill Kearney of Listowel in the picture was very involved in Drama. He was a member of Listowel Drama Group.

Last year I posted here a story about Bill’s widow, Pat and my friends and neighbours, Will and Peggy Collins from Kanturk.

“People my age and older will remember Bill and Pat Kearney of this parish. Bill was very involved with the Listowel Drama Group. After Bill’s death, Pat lived on in Listowel on her own. One evening she was driving home from Cork when she got a puncture. In the days before mobile phones, the done thing in this instance was to call to the nearest house. Pat did. This house was the home of Willie and Peggy Collins, my lovely neighbours. Being the kind people they are, they brought her in and gave her a cup of tea and some of Peggy’s legendary delicious baking. They changed her wheel and ascertained that it would have to stay in Kanturk overnight for repair. 

Peggy and Willie would not hear of Pat driving home alone with no spare wheel so they drove to Listowel with her. Pat never forgot their extraordinary kindness to her and she mentioned it often to me. There would be none more delighted than Pat Kearney to hear  that the son of her Kanturk friends is now a famous scriptwriter and if she has any influence above, that Oscar is in the bag for The Cartoon Saloon gang.”

Another memory of Pat Kearney that comes to mind is her relationship with Rte’s Maxi. Maxi used to present the late night (or was it very early morning) music show on RTE. During the show she would read out letters and cards that had been sent go her by fans. Many of those cards and letters were from Pat Kearney of Listowel.

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Early days of flying


“….Since very few of the passengers had ever flown before, they were mostly terrified but putting a good face on it. There would be requests for large brandies before we had left the ground. Everyone would investigate the sickbag stowed in the pocket of the seat in front. Pre-pressurised planes lurched and bucked in patches of heavy cloud, even without the strain of an apprehensive stomach.”

This is a short excerpt from an article by Frances O’Donoghue on Writing.ie Frances was one of Aer Lingus’ first air hostesses in the days  when it was exclusively a female job, before they became flight attendants.

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Lily, A Brave Search and Rescue Dog


Photo: Kerry Climbing

This photos was taken at Hag’s Glen, one of the places where Lily , a search and rescue dog worked. Sadly, Lily passed away at the weekend after a short illness. The passing of any beloved dog is sad but the loss of such an experienced and brave working dog is a tragedy.

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Work Underway at the Convent


Reroofing going on here

A reminder of its former glory….2007

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Believe it or Not

This year February has 4 Sundays , 4 Mondays , 4 Tuesdays , 4 Wednesdays , 4 Thursdays , 4 Fridays , 4 Saturdays.  We will not see the likes of this February again since it will not occur again for 823 years.  (Thank You M.S. for this fun fact.)



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A Toast for Terry


Photo: Joanne O’Brien



The London Irish Centre held a commemorative event for Terry Wogan this week. Irish people in Britain regarded Terry Wogan as an Ambassador without portfolio. One lady who attended the commemoration  echoed the feelings of many who had worked and lived in England at the height of the war in Northern Ireland, said, “He made it easier to be Irish in Britain.”



Terry Wogan was a great supporter of the London Irish Centre.

St. John’s, Berenice Holmes visits her Listowel Connections and I saw Room and was Wowed

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On January 21, 2016

In Uncategorized

From Time Travel Kerry





-St Johns Church Listowel-

This is a former Church of Ireland Gothic style church, located in the centre of the Town Square. In 1814 the site for the church was presented to the community by Lord Listowel. A Cork architect, James Payne designed the church and it was used by the faithful of North Kerry as a place of worship from its completion in 1819 until its deconsecration in 1988. The Church of Ireland community and the people of Listowel were keen to preserve the building and make it a centre for local cultural activities and heritage.
It now houses a fine Theatre & Arts Centre and also a Tourist Office. St. John’s Theatre & Arts Centre features an annual programme of performances including theatre, music and dance, exhibitions and educational programmes and an annual summer school.

(Original photo, late 1800s, unknown)

(Modern photo – July 2014)

(Historical ref – Listowel.ie)

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A Visitor Who Fell in Love with Listowel


Berenice Holmes sent me this account of her very enjoyable trip to Ireland in 2015. It’s lovely to hear a first hand account from a visitor who had a great time here. 

My name is Berenice Holmes and I get your Listowel Connection every day and enjoy reading through it. I thought it was about time I managed to share my wonderful trip to Ireland and Listowel with my husband Lionel last September 2015..

I started out a few years ago now asking on your blog how I could find out about my ancestors from Listowel. My Mum was always telling me all my life I needed to go to Ireland to see where her Grandmother came from in County Kerry which she was told was the most beautiful place on earth.

For a long time I had no idea where in County Kerry she came from but gradually I got more information and getting my Great-Grandmother’s Marriage and Death Certificate they both said born in Listowel. (Abt.1850).  My Great Grandmother was Mary McKenna and she emigrated to Australia around 1871
and married William Ives in Queensland in 1877. My relatives are the McKenna’s of Listowel. My ancestors go back to Thomas McKenna and Joanna Ffoulkes who have some stories written about them and the uprising around 1879.

I have always had a longing to come to Ireland but could not make the trip as I needed to look after my Mother who passed away on the 1st November 2014 at 94 yrs.  She would have been 95 in January 2015.

We had the most wonderful 2 weeks driving around Ireland and looking at places where my ancestors had lived on my Dad’s side in Northern Ireland.  We eventually arrived in Listowel on the Sunday of Race Week in September.  We stayed for 4 days with Kathy Walsh at Gurtenard House.

That was wonderful. Kathy is just a great person.

Then we got to meet Jack and Sue McKenna.  Jack is Mum’s second cousin and mine as well.  We spent the afternoon with them and it was the highlight of my trip to Ireland to meet them both I just couldn’t believe we were finally here.  It felt like I had come home even though home for me is Australia.

It really added a another dimension to my family and for me filled in some of my missing relatives.  We spent the next morning with Sue and her son John and they took us to the old Kilshenane Cemetery to see some of the McKenna graves and up to see the old farm house.  This was again another wonderful experience for us.  The warmth and friendliness that we both felt from family, friends and anyone we met in Ireland was wonderful and really blew us away.

We had a wonderful time at the Listowel Races on the Wednesday for the Kerry National.  I have attached a photo of us at the races.  We really enjoyed being in Listowel over those 4 days and it was hard to leave.  We got to meet a couple of people while we were there – Damian Stack and

Billy Keane (outside his pub) and also Gerard Greaney of Forur Genealogy while we were at Gurtenard House with Kathy. We got to go out to Ballybunion and along to the Bromore Cliffs which we loved as we were there on our own and no tourist crowds crowding out the place.  We met the

Farmer and a good chat with him and got to give some attention to the beautiful grey horse out there.

We went down to Newmarket in County Cork for a visit to where my G.G.Grandfather John McAuliffe was born in 1836.  He emigrated to Australia around 1867.  He is my Mum’s G.Grandfather on her dad’s side.  While we were in Newmarket we were introduced to Maurice Angland and he took
about 2 hours of his time to take us around Newmarket and show us things about the McAuliffes the cemetery, the McAuliffe crest on the outskirts of the town and the new Clann Building they are restoring as a community centre there as well as use by the Clann and then shared coffee with us.
That just blew us away again on how people would go out of their way to help us.  It seemed every time we turned around someone was there to welcome and help us.

This trip has not satisfied my hunger for coming back to Ireland.  We are hoping to get back again maybe sometime next year and if so we will make Listowel our base and stay with Kathy at Gurtenard house again and get to see more of County Kerry and the locals in Listowel and get

to feel like a local.  We would dearly love to catch up with Jack & Sue McKenna if we can.  The only thing that would stop us coming back would be our health which is very good at the moment.  Lionel is 80 yrs and I am 75yrs. We don’t feel old.  It is a very long haul trip by plane from Australia but I am

sure we can do it.  Kathy is very keen for us to come back again.

Berenice and Lionel at Listowel Races.

Berenice’s photo of Bromore.

Bart gives Lionel a warm Kerry welcome.

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Presentation Convent, Listowel had a really beautiful front garden



(Photos: Tim Griffin R.I.P.)


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Room is Brilliant

photo; Official poster




I saw Room this week. It’s a long time since I was so blown away by a film. If the Oscar for best film was in my gift, there would not be a moment’s hesitation before I awarded it to Room.

Jacob Tremblay as Jack stole the show. The twists and turns of this story of an exploration of human relationships was brilliantly depicted in this masterpiece.  See it.

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Done it Again




In the very competitive world of press photography Listowel’s own Healy Racing are up there with the best.

The photo above shows a racehorse being hosed down after a race. It’s this eye for the unusual shot that makes these superb photographers stand out from the pack.

Today, January 21 2016,  the Irish Independent have a heartwarming Healyracing photo on the front page. Once more this Listowel photographer has shown that unequalled eye for  spotting “the money shot”.

The photo in today’s paper is taken at the Races but not on the track. It’s a heartwarming human interest photograph of a jockey signing an autograph for a young fan .   Respect!

Pres. Convent today and Con Colbert of Athea

By

On July 23, 2015

In Uncategorized




Very Sad State of Decline

The convent door photographed in July 2015

The same door in summer 2006

This is how the convent and chapel look today July 23 2015


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Con Colbert of Athea




“This slightly decolourised photograph of Con Colbert is included among the collection of papers of Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. which has recently been made available online at the Digital Repository of Ireland. Colbert was born on 19 October 1888. He was a founding member of the Republican youth organisation, Fianna Éireann. During the Easter Rising, he fought in the area around Jameson’s Distillery. A deeply religious man, Colbert was ministered to by the Capuchin friars of Church Street during his detention in Kilmainham Jail. He was executed on 8 May 1916.”    (photo and text : Facebook)

Con Colbert has streets named after him in Listowel and Abbeyfeale, a train station in Liomerick and a community hall in Athea.

Coincidentally  I read in Saturdays’ Irish Times an obituary to Sr. Íde Woulfe, who died in Belfast . Sr. Íde who was in her 100th year was a niece of Con Colbert. She came from a family of five children of Catherine and Richard Woulfe of Woulfe’s Pharmacy in Abbeyfeale. Her sister, Agatha, was also a nun and all three of her brothers were Holy Ghost priests.

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Summer weather, Áras Mhuire and a Grotto in Cork

By

On July 16, 2015

In Uncategorized

Lovely photos;  Shame about the weather


One day in July Elizabeth Brosnan photographed the weather story of summer 2015 in North Kerry.

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A Close Call


Photo: Timothy John MacSweeney

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A Presentation at Áras Mhuire



Last week I visited Áras Mhuire for the occasion of the presentation of a bequest from a long time resident of the retirement home who had passed away recently.

Seán Collins had lived in Áras Mhuire for 18 years. He had made his home there and he was among friends. The outstanding memory everyone has of Seán is usually his piety and his devotion to The Holy Rosary. It was fitting that his statue of Our Lady, adorned with rosary beads. should be the symbol to represent him at the little ceremony.  Trish Joy, Person in Charge at Aras Mhuire, accepted the donation from Eilish Dillane (sister of the late Sean Collins) and her husband Michael gave a lovely little speech outlining Sean’s time in the home and expressing the family’s  appreciation of the care he received there. John O’Keeffe represented the Board of Management.


John O’Keefe, Eilís Dillane, Trish Joy and Michael Dillane.

Some of the care assistants I met .

Some of the residents who were present.

I met an old friend, Eileen Fitzgibbon. She is pictured here with Claire Carmody who organized my visit.

James Gould took me to the  oratory and showed me the fittings which had come there from Listowel’s Presentation Convent Chapel.

This was the side altar in the convent chapel and the prayer stools came from the convent as well.

The Annunciation  and Presentation Windows once adorned the Pres chapel as well.



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A Peaceful Oasis in Cork


For my Cork family reading this, be assured, I’m only touching that flag out of politeness. The other flag bearer, Fr. Pat Moore is a proud Kerry man and well on his way back to The Kingdom. I found Fr. Pat in great form, definitely on the mend and only looking a little the worst for his recent ordeal. They say that faith can move mountains. Fr. Pat is living proof.

He is convalescing in a lovely spot, Mount Desert.

Cork is located in a valley and appropriately enough, Fr. Pat’s new abode looks down on that valley.

Just down the road from the gate of Mount Desert is this entrance to a magnificent shrine, a feat of engineering set back into the hill.

This extraordinary heart shaped  thing on top of the grotto  looks like it might light up at night. Should be worth seeing.

I looked this effigy up on Google and this is all I could find;

“Set of twelve freestanding rectangular rosary stations, erected 1952, comprising carved limestone plaques with incised pictures and lettering. Located at intervals against wall to roadside marking decades of the rosary and terminating in grotto to west. Grotto comprises stepped structure housing statues with limestone boundary walls and wrought-iron railings. Dedicated to Our Lady.

Appraisal
Marking decades of the rosary and terminating in a grotto, these plaques are a very unusual feature to the roadside. The plaques have been executed to a high standard by skilled craftsmen. Opened on Assumption day 1952 the grotto and plaques play an important role in both the religious and social fabric of the area.”

I spotted those “rosary Stations” alright. I’ll have to go back for a closer look. As they say on Facebook…..feeling fascinated.

John Kelliher photography,Convent closure and Ballyduff O’Donoghues

By

On July 7, 2015

In Uncategorized

John Kelliher took these great photographs of the final mass in the convent chapel. When he posted them recently on Facebook they brought back many memories of another era when nuns and convents were part of everyday life in Ireland. Alas, no more.

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Photobombing giraffe



Joe.ie got  this great photo from a Dublin couple whose photo was photo bombed by a fellow with a hard neck.

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Ballyduff O’Donoghues








If you have Ballyduff O’Donoghues on your family tree this is a great blog to follow:

Ballyduff O’Donoghues

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On the street




I met Mary Sobieralski in Main Street with her German visitors, her son, Mark and his girlfriend, Sabrina

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Something to Look Forward To


The  Kissane Gathering weekend is planned for 7th, 8th and 9th August. Jerry Behan who is a Kissane descendant is opening a new gallery at the Horseshoe in time for the event. A Photographic Exhibition of Black and White Kissane photographs will be displayed in the Gallery the week leading up to and including the Gathering weekend. This exhibition is being prepared by Eamon O’Murchú formally from Listowel. Eamon’s mother was a Kissane.  Some of these photographs are from as far back as the 1880’s. The Launch of the Photographic Exhibition will be the weekend before the Gathering. 

Everyone is welcome to walk in and view the photographs as the Gallery will be open everyday from 12 o’clock.

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That Match!



Great match, shame about the result.  John Kelliher was there and he got some great photos. Here are just a few. View the rest on his page by following the link above.

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