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 Secondary School Listowel Page 2 of 10

A Dog Picture, an Old Story or Two and a new one.

Blooming Cherry Tree in Ballincollig, Co. Cork

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Humans with an animal head

I was completely behind the times on this one. I have just discovered that a friend of mine commissioned such a picture for his fiancee for her birthday.

The picture was done by Van Woof. Isn’t it cute?

If you are stuck for a present anytime soon, here’s an idea.

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Browsing through the Newspapers Online

A friend of this blog found these;

THE ST. PAUL GLOBE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20, 1898

FIVE OF THE MOST SINGULAR RAILWAYS IN THE WORLD

There Is a “single-line railway” now working In Ireland. 

The Listowel & Ballybunion railway sounds like the Invention of some mad humourist;

but such a place as Ballybunion really exists. It is a very popular seaside resort in the southwest of Ireland. The distance between this point and the other terminus at Listowel is ten miles, and there is one Intermediate station—that of Lisselton. The system on which this railway is worked is called the Lartigue single rail elevated railway, and was the invention of a French engineer.

This single rail line, it should be explained at once, is not a single track railway, but actually has only one rail for trains to run on. This rail is supported on iron trestle work at the height of three feet three inches from the ground, and the locomotive and carriages are actually balanced on it.

And

18 Feb 1986

Nyack NY Journal News 1986 01759_1.pdf

By WILLIAM DEMAREST

Staff Writer

A retired New York City police officer from Haverstraw has been named Grand Marshal of the Pearl River St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which is to be sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Rockland County.

John Scanlon, 57, will lead the celebration of Irish-American heritage down Central Avenue in Pearl River on Sunday, March 23. Honoured three times for bravery during his 25-year career with the New York Police Department, Scanlon is the treasurer of Division One of the AOH in North Rockland. “He has been a dedicated and faithful member and can always be relied upon to get the job done,” said Thomas Keyy, an AOH Division One spokesman, of Scanlon’s selection as grand marshal. A resident of the village of Haverstraw, Scanlon was born  in Lisselton, County Kerry in Ireland, where he was educated in local schools. He is a graduate of St. Michael College in Listowel. County Kerry, where he was a classmate of popular Irish playwright John B. Keane.

Before moving to the United States in 1949, Scanlon was a farmer. He served in the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1952 in Korea. Soon after his discharge from the Army, Scanlon joined the NYPD, finally retiring in January 1985.

The father of five children, Scanlon is the husband of the former Mary Browne, and they have three grandchildren. He works in the security department of St. Agatha’s Home in Nanuet.

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People I Met

I met this lovely couple on the street on Saturday April 30 2022. They were in town for a wedding the day before.

They are from Rossmore in Co. Cork. and they were looking for John B. Keane’s pub. They weren’t in need of a drink. They just wanted to see the place where Sive and so many of the playwright’s famous plays were written.

The name Rossmore may not be familiar to you but for lovers of amateur drama it is the location for a very popular drama festival. Year after year one of the entrants is a John B. Keane play. This year it was Sive.

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Pres. Yearbook 1983

Chorus lines were recruited and our gallant first and

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+Niall Stack R.I.P.+

I took this photograph a few years ago at Writers’ Week Opening Night. Niall had just met up with his friend Anthony Gaughan.

Niall Stack Passed away on April 29 2022. May he rest in peace.

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Listowel Players 1996

Praying for Peace with the People of Ukraine

St. Mary’s Church Listowel..photo by Éamon ÓMurchú

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A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant

Jer Kennelly found an old play programme.

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1930s Listowel

8 Church Street Listowel , Co. Kerry

Photo copyright; Tipperary Studies Photographs of Munster Shops

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From Presentation School Yearbook 1991

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Some Famous Faces at Writers’ Weeks Past

Com Tóibín and Brendan Kennelly R.I.P.
Fergal Keane
Catherine Moylan and Graham Norton
John McAuliffe
Joe Stack

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Rattoo, Arizona and Kildare

Photo: Rattoo Round Tower in 2022 by Moss Joe Browne

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Sr. Consolata was in Arizona in 1997

Sr. Consolata and me in 2019

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(Continued tomorrow)

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Listowel Badminton has a rising Star

Grade E ladies doubles winners Bríd Murphy (Kingdom/Castleisland) and Deina Vesko (Listowel), on the left, along with runners-up Helen Browne Moyvane and Samera Hayes (Killarney) and Munster Badminton President Michael McGrath at the Munster Badminton Championships at the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre Killarney last Sunday. Photo by Tom Bradley

Deina Vesko was the star turn at the Munster Senior (Premier) and Grade E Badminton Closed Championships in Killarney Sports & Leisure Centre on Sunday with the Listowel woman winning three provincial titles on a day when the host county’s players performed extremely well.

(Kerryman)

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Aoife’s Christening

Aoife McKenna was baptised in the lovely White Abbey Carmelite church in Kildare town. I’ll tell you more about my trip to Kildare later on but I couldn’t resist sharing a few pictures of my gorgeous granddaughter on her first big day.

Aoife posing with her Daddy. No, she is not standing. She is being held.

Me with 5 of my 6 grandchildren. Róisín had a trial for a soccer team, so, unfortunately, missed the big day.

Aoife sitting on her godmother’s lap and getting to know her cousins.

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War and Judo

Photo; Kieran Cogan, Mallow Camera Club

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An Image of War

Soldiers attending mass in Notre Dame Cathedral in 1945

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From 1990 Yearbook

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Tae Lane, January 2022

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Old Dublin

From Photos of Dublin

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At The Listowel Arms

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It’s Back

Revival has been revived.

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Soap, a Bridge and a Ferry

Photo: Jim McSweeney, Mallow Camera Club

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When Soap was Soap

If you remember this, you are as old me. This was ‘household soap”. It was manufactured by Lever Brothers in Port Sunlight outside Liverpool. it was used everyday for hundreds of jobs. If anything, and I mean anything, needed washing this was the go-to soap.

Scrubbing the doorstep, indeed scrubbing floors generally, was an activity undertaken by some on a daily basis. The scrubber knelt on the floor and with scrubbing brush and soap scrubbed every inch of the floor, mopping off the excess moisture with an old rag. These poor women (they were always women) ended up with a condition known as “housemaids knee”.

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We’ll go racing again

We’ll cross this bridge again in 2022. I was delighted to see the sign advertising a June meeting and The Harvest Festival of Racing for September has been erected at the River Feale entrance to the racecourse.

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Old Tarbert Ferry Postcard

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From Pres. YearBook 1990

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A Well Travelled Trip Adviser

(From RTE on the internet)

A Kerry man has made it into the review history books, as he’s named the best-travelled reviewer on Tripadvisor.

The review site has published a break down of its stats, as it reaches a milestone of publishing one billion reviews and traveller insights.

User @damienstack, from Listowel in Co. Kerry, Ireland, was revealed to have posted reviews for 176 different countries. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he has actually visited all 193 countries in the world!

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