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: The Green Guide Series

Sign at Millenium Arch, MBC, Community Orchard and Tom Doodle men named

A lovely spot in Listowel Town Square

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Promoting their Business


As I was photographing the Tidy Towns seat, I spotted my friends, Briain and Deirdre and staff of MBC taking their own photograph outside their town centre premises.

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Newly repainted sign

The sign at the Millenium Arch now looks all spruced up.

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Community Fruit and Herb Garden

Our trees have beautiful apples ripening.

These are the herbs and wildflowers for humans and insects.

Herbs for all

They are not ripe yet but these apples look good enough to eat.

I think these might be the nut trees.

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The 1965 Guide to Listowel


Aileen Skimson sent us this guide. Here are a few more extracts

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Names from John Keane






L to R: Derry Tatten, Joe Walsh, an other, one of the Healys from Greenville, Gulliver Stack, Jimmy Moore, Tommy Murphy, Willie O’Connor and John B. Keane

Carrigafoyle, Dried up River Feale, Chute Family Painters and Tom Doodle Remembered

Carrigafoyle Castle in July 2018

Photo; Ita Hannon

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My Silver River Feale


I took a walk with Molly along the River Walk a few weeks ago and I was shocked to see how the drought had affected our local stream. I’m glad to report that all is changed now.

These extraordinary pictures show how the Feale looks in July 2018.

 The River Walk

This is the river by the bridge to the racecourse. If you were to “throw me down something’ now it would be very easy to find.

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Signs of the Times




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Ballyduff, Moyvane and Listowel according to the Green Guide of 1965


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Painting Listowel

It’ not just Fred. I have to give credit to Frances and Roly Chute for some lovely paintwork in Listowel. It’s a family thing.



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Tom Doodle

Recently we celebrated what would have been John B. Keane’s 90th birthday with a walk led by Vincent Carmody to places connected with the great playwright in Listowel.

We stopped at the statue to remember the great Doodle rally that was held in that very spot during the general election campaign of 1951

Here we are on Saturday July 21 2018.

This was the scene in The Small Square on the night Doodle arrived to give his election address.

“Use your noodle, vote for Doodle” was his catchy slogan.

We had in our midst people who were hearing the story for the first time but we also had people like Jimmy OQuigley who remembered the night because he was there  and Paddy Keane who grew up in Listowel hearing the story of the great night repeated often.

Aidan OMurchú also grew up in Listowel where the Doodle Rally was relived in song and story at an annual reunion ball of the Independent Cologeous Party.

This last photo is from Paul Murphy whose father was a card carrying member of the famous party.

Green Guide to Listowel 1965, Mosaics in The Garden of Europe and Bridge Road Then and Now

Listowel Town Square, July 2018

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More from The Green Guide



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Art Installations in The Garden of Europe

 Lovely pebble mosaics have appeared in The Garden recently. There is no artists credited with the pieces and there should be because they are beautiful.


Patrick Tarrant’s John B. Keane sculpture is looking lovely in Summer 2018.

The Holocaust Memorial is central to the Garden. Lest we forget….

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Sign Upgrading

This sign at the Millenium Arch was badly in need of a facelift.

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Bridge Road Then and Now




Photo by John Hannon



Photos by Listowel Connection

Nuns, The Green Guide to Listowel in 1965, Knitwits have a Visitor

St. John’s Listowel in July 2018

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Remembering the Nuns

I am very aware that I belong to the last generation of women who were taught almost exclusively by nuns. I went to a Mercy school. Most Listowel ladies were educated by The Presentation Sisters.

We owe them a lot.

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1965 Guide to Listowel


These are some of the advertisements in the green guide sent to us by Aileen Skimson


It looks like you could hire almost anything in Mckenna’s

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A Very Welcome Visitor to Knitwits

Una Hayes has been through a tough few months with ill health and bereavements. We were all thrilled to welcome her back for a visit recently. She was only socialising this time but it won’t be long now ’til she is back knitting with us in Scribes.

Mary Boyer, Mairead Sharry, Mary Cogan, Maureen Connolly, Kathleen McCarthy, Patricia Borley and Una Hayes. We had two other young visitors as well on the day of Una’s visit.




Nobody missed Una more than her great friend, Maureen. It warmed my heart to see the friends reunited.

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Tidy Towners take a breather




Everyone agrees that Listowel is looking in tip top shape these days and it’s all down to these and all the other volunteers at Tidy Towns and, of course, Kerry County Council outdoor staff who all do a fabulous job.

St. John’s, New Kingdom and a 1965 Guide to Listowel

Morning in Gurtinard Wood

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Stained Glass Windows  in St. John’s

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New Kingdom July 2018



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Aileen Skimson remembers her Roots


Aileen Skimson, Née Greaney, lives in a  small town in Canada. Her father grew up in Listowel and Aileen remembers with fondness her three visits to his hometown. She kept the “official Guide” she bought on her very first visit at age 12 in 1967. She is now downsizing and came across the brochure in her clearout. She thought of us and she sent me the pictures to share with you. 

The story then got a bit more complicated. Aileen sent the pages as pdfs and i cant manage them for the blog so I asked her to take photographs of the pages but that didn’t work out either . So the following photos and the others I will be sharing in the next while are brought to you thanks to the kind offices of Dave O’Sullivan who is a great friend of our blog.





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Sunset from Cnoc an Óir



liam Enright took these in July 2018

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Trees,  Penfriends and Schoolboys




Yesterday I told you about the absolutely magnificent trees on Listowel Pitch and Putt Course. I often walk by the course and I am always in awe at the beautiful trees. 

Neil Brosnan got in touch with a story about the trees. This is what Neil wrote on Facebook;

“I recall our St Michael’s and St Mary’s classes planting some of those trees, along with our counterparts from Listowel, Ontario, C1971. The Canadian red maples were to mark our pen-friendship since fifth class in primary school.”



According to Neil, Dick O’Flaherty, their fifth class teacher at Scoil Realta na Maidine in 1965/66 got a letter from his counterpart in Listowel, Canada asking if they could initiate a penpal friendship with the boys. Neil himself was a bit miffed because he got a boy penpal.



A delegation from Listowel in Canada came to town in 1971 and among the many events that were organised for that visit was a tree planting in the Listowel Pitch and Putt course.

I wonder does anyone have a photo of that or even a story from the pen friendship days.

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Replacing the Street Lights




When a street light  in Listowel blows now they replace it with an LED one.

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