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: St Patrick’s Day 2019

Listowel Square, Knitwits, Writers’ Week in the 1970s, March 17 2019 and a Marconi Centenary

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On March 22, 2019

In Uncategorized

Trees in Listowel Town Square

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Knitwits

Knitwits, Listowel knitting group meet in Scribes in Church Street on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 11.00a.m.

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Listowel Writers’ Week , The Early Days



John Pierse has this photograph of  a very early Writers’ Week Committee. 

Recently Aidan OMurchú donated a copy of Reality magazine from 1975 to the present Writers’ Week committee.

Aidan’s dad, Luaí OMurchú was an early chair of the committee. Under his pen name, Redmond O”Hanlon, he wrote an article for Reality about the  early days.

He quotes Seamus Wilmot’s definition of Writers’ Week as “A showing of the man to the boy, the writer to the aspirant, an examination and an evaluation.”

Bryan MacMahon saw it as “a bit of impertinence on our part.”

Hugh Leonard proclaimed it “a Kerry Baccinalia”.

“An orgy of sociability”  John Boland.

Listowel Writers Week is still all of these things and more. I popped into the office recently and I got a glimpse of the storyboard of this year’s festival. It was filled with “big names”. Everyone who is anyone in Irish writing today seems to be coming our way sometime between May 29 and June 3 2019.

I have just finished reading John Boyne’s Ladder to the Sky. Brilliant! My book club has read Kit de Waal’s The Trick to Time, a book that stayed with me long after I had put it down. I am reading a brilliant new Irish writer at the moment. Anne Griffin reminds me a lot of Donal Ryan. Her book is When all is Said and it is a great read. I can get to meet all of these writers in my own home town this summer. What’s not to love about Listowel Writers’ Week?

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Listowel St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2019




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Centenary Commemoration of Marconi Station in Ballybunion


One hundred years ago this was the Marconi Radio Station in Ballybunion. Today it is Coláiste Bhréanainn. On Tuesday March 19 2019 Ballybunion looked back at the historic day when the first east to west voice message was broadcast across the Atlantic.


Above are some of the artefacts which were on display on the day. I took my photos in black and white as a medium befitting the occasion.



This man was teaching the children how to send a message in Morse Code. He favoured the mobile phone himself.

There is a great video of the unveiling of the commemorative plaque here

Marconi Centenary

William Street, Nolan’s, an overdue library book and more from the 2019 Parade

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On March 21, 2019

In Uncategorized

William Street, Listowel

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Pat Nolan’s, Charles St.

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St. Patrick’s Day 2019



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A Patient Dog at Lidl, Listowel



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Caught on Camera


I was snapped taking a penalty against Elmo. Thank you Listowel Celtic!

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It was Roses Roses all the way






Denis Hegarty was having a whale of a time in New York on St. Patrick’s Day posing with mayors, Roses, gardaí and all

Mr. OShea and Tara who has family in Tralee

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Truth is often Stranger than Fiction



Local media this week were all agog about the return to the public library of a book that was overdue by 50 years.

Like all good stories this one is not without an ironic twist. The book was a biography of Andrew Carnegie, the founder of the trust that funded Listowel’s and other libraries around the world. Our library used to be known as The Carnegie Free Library and thanks to funding by the Carnegie trust the library service was free for years and years. Maybe the borrower thought that the books were free too.

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Meanwhile in Rattoo on March 17 2019




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Just a Thought



My last week’s Thoughts from Radio Kerry are at the link below.

Just a Thought

Ballyvourney, Listowel’s One Stop Sweet Shop, roadworks at the courthouse an the 2019 Parade

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On March 20, 2019

In Uncategorized

Jim McSweeney

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Séipéal Bhaile Mhuirne


I often pass through Ballyvourney on my way to Cork. It’s a lovely little Gaeltacht village full of old world charm and character. One day last week I took a pit stop in the village and I explored the lovely  church. The photos speak for themselves.



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One Stop Shop on Church Street



For all your confectionery needs

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Gas Works?


Last week they were digging up the pavement at the library plaza.

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Listowel St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2019



Some people were in Listowel and some people wish they were.

Steve Scallon LAPD from Monaghan ,Tony Curtin NYPD Clounmacon, Greg Sterns LAPD at the St Patrick’s Day Parade New York. 

(Photo: Facebook)

Philomena Kuhn at her home in Germany

Maria Sham celebrated with her friends in London

Bill Clinton in Listowel, Joe Murphy of St. John’s ,The Fancy Warehouse and St. Patrick’s Day 2019

By

On March 19, 2019

In Uncategorized

Jim McSweeney

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St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2019



You’d never know who you’d run into at the St. Patrick’s Day parade. On Charles Street I met up with neighbours and friends.


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2019 parade in Charles’ Street

Liam Brennan is a convincing St. Patrick  figure.

Proudly flying the flag for Listowel were this year’s victorious Tidy Town Committee.



The Listowel convent girls marching band are an essential part of Listowel’s parade.

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Bill Clinton Whizzes Through


What is it with U.S. presidents and golf?

Since Eizenhower in 1954 the White House has had a putting green. It’s been installed, allowed to grow over, reinstalled and eventually relocated by President Clinton, an avid golfer.

Photo of the then president and vice president in 2009 from the internet.

Flash back to September 1998 and US President Bill Clinton is on a visit to Ireland and part of that trip is a round of golf in the famous Ballybunion links.

The plan was for POTUS to stop in Listowel for a photo op. drinking the obligatory pint in John B.’s. His itinerary was known and a group of peaceful protesters gathered in the small square. US security got a bit windy for the president’s security and hastily changed the plan. Listowel was bypassed and the cavalcade instead stopped in Lisselton. It had to stop somewhere, else it would arrive ahead of schedule in Ballybunion. So Listowel’s loss was Lisselton’s gain and he was greeted enthusiastically by the lovely people of that borough.

Mike Guerin was out with his camera and here is his recording of the scene at McKenna’s Corner on that historic day.

Clinton’s Cavalcade Drives Through Town

Mike Guerin wasn’t the only cameraman present to record the day. Junior Griffin took a lovely photo of John B. at the door of the pub as he waited for the customer that never came.

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End os an Era at St. John’s



Listowel’s very own man in black, “Vicar” Joe Murphy, is in his last year at the helm in St. John’s. Anyone who knows Joe will agree with me that he is force of Nature. He has run St. John’s with charm, dedication, enthusiasm and lots and lots of hard work. The place wont be the same without him.


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The Fancy Warehouse


When I came to Listowel first in the mid 1970s this shop was called The Fancy Warehouse and it was run by a Miss O’Brien. It sold knitting wool, notions and other haberdashery. The name os the shop always fascinated me. Up to then I imagined a warehouse as a big store but this shop was tiny. If you look closely you can just make out the old shop name as it is stripped down for refurbishment.

Miss O’Brien’s sister ran a shop across the road called O’Brien Hartnett’s. That sold shoe polish, polish brushes and other small goods.

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