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: The Pebble

A Poem, School Milk and a Night in St. John’s

By

On October 18, 2021

In Ballylongford, Listowel, Poem

The Big Bridge, Listowel in October 2021

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The Pebble

Remember Liz Chute’s story that inspired a Bryan MacMahon short story?

It also inspired a poem by Listowel born poet, Noel Roche.

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Halloween 2021

This year Halloween seems to be a bit low key. We seem to be skipping straight to Christmas. Maybe it’s time to abandon the Trick or Treating and fireworks and return to remembering instead our dead loved ones and visiting family graves instead.

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School Lunches!

Photo from Vanishing Ireland website

Did you bring milk to school in a Chef Sauce or YR bottle? If you did you’ll probably be about my age and you’ll be cringing in horror at this sight. No matter how much you washed and scoured, getting the smell of sauce or salad cream out of one of these bottles was impossible.

Don’t even mention breakages! These bottles were glass and broke easily. I remember the first Thermos flasks and their innards broke easily too.

Schooldays were the best days of our lives?

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Ballylongford in 1910

1910 Main Street, Ballylongford, Co.Kerry.

L to R John Thomas Carrig Sr. John Thomas Carrig Jr. M Mahoney, ? Dalton, The Kelly sisters.

Thanks to Geraldine Brassil for photo and information.

Ballylongford Snaps on Facebook shared this image and caption

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A Very Different theatrical Experience

There was something for everyone in the audience in St. John’s on Saturday night. We all got a taste of ” one he made earlier”.

Manchán Magan was our entertainer for the evening. Dressed in a tailored tweed trousers, grandfather style shirt and what looked to me like homemade pampooties, he told us in Irish and English about the connectedness of everything, about history, etymology and our close connection with the fairy world, all while baking a sourdough loaf and churning some butter.

It was an extraordinary evening’s entertainment brought to us by an extraordinary man. Manchán’s depth of knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for his subjects are a sight to witness.

After the show, he chatted, signed books and shared his sourdough starter and his delicious bread and butter.

It was my first night back in St. John’s since Covid.

What a show to return to!

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Believe it or Believe it Not

Once Gillette recalled 87,000 disposable razors because, thanks to a manufacturing error, they posed a cutting hazard.

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Ballylongford, A Pebble, a poem and a Very Clever Sculpture

By

On October 7, 2021

In Ballylongford, Listowel, Poem

Ballylongford Mill today; Photo by Breda Ferris

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It’s the simple things like sharing a donut….

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A Tribute to a Beloved and Missed Mentor

Elizabeth Carroll (Liz Chute) remembers Bryan MacMahon and his influence. The story is told in Liz’s screenshots from her Instagram feed.

The Pendant

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That Naas Sculpture

Helen O’Connor and Dave O’Sullivan filled me in on this one.

Title: Siren

Artist: By Alex Pentek

Location: Siren is located on the green adjacent to Naas Fire Station on the Newbridge Road.  

History of the project:
Over the last number of years, Athy and Naas have both opened purpose built fire stations.  A refurbishment of the fire station in Monasterevin has also taken place.  As part of the building programme, Kildare County Council engaged three Irish artists to further enhance each building by means of commissioning art works, through the Per Cent for Art Scheme.  The Fire Officer, Michael Fitzsimons and County Arts Officer Lucina Russell considered the physical building and their particular location when designing a brief for the commissions.   


Artist statement:
The sculpture shows how I think the sound of the fire alarm would look if it were not a sound but an object.  As the sound of a fire alarm broadcasts the message that the help of the Naas Fire Service is required, it is not a soothing sound, but a loud and shrill noise that forces anyone who hears it to consider their own personal safety for a moment.  As the traditional fire-bell has been replaced with the wailing cry of the air horn, the form of the proposed sculpture comprises of a series of fluted horns, pointing outwards in all directions as if to make sure that everyone gets the message.  

About the artist: 
Alex Pentek is a graduate of the Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork and currently works from a studio at Monard, Rathpeacon, Co. Cork.   

With the style of the work ranging from abstract to figurative, he have worked predominantly on large-scale public art sculpture commissions for outdoor locations using durable materials. Some of this work includes two life-size female figures from cast marble sand in Tralee, Co. Kerry; three giant leaves in cast bronze in Clonakilty, Co. Cork; and four giant seeds from carved oak in Tower, Co. Cork, to name but a few.  During this time he has also carried out several smaller scale, private commissions for both indoor and outdoor settings.

While continuously exploring aspects of Nature in a variety of materials ranging from sheet metals, cast bronze, ceramic, carved wood and cement, he also enjoys the challenge of new materials. 

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Spillane’s of William Street, Listowel Arms Hotel Then and Now and More Tennis Players

By

On February 21, 2019

In Uncategorized

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Clay Pipe

When Kay O’Leary was doing a bit of gardening in Lyreacrompane she came upon this artefact. She was curious to know where Spillane’s shop was. 

Vincent Carmody’s Snapshots of a Market Town has the answer.

“David Spillane came from Limerick in the mid 1860s to manage a store for Hugh Kelter. In 1876 David married Johanna Enright from Listowel. With the demise of the Kelter’s business in the 1880s, the Spillane’s took over the running of the shop.”

From the evidence in Vincent’s book it looks like Spillane’s stocked everything from a needle to an anchor.

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Then and Now



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A Trip Down Memory Lane to 2004




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A Listowel in Exile Remembers Listowel.


Liz Chute in far off Canada read the piece about Pat McAuliffe’s works from Ireland of the Welcomes. She was moved by the final paragraph which is the anecdote about Bryan MacMahon and the Clare painter.

Here is Liz’s email;

Mary, 

You have brought a lump to my chest and a tear to my eye . My father had once painted a ceiling  In the cafe/ house I grew up in . I don’t remember it but I remember my mam saying Bryan would  bring visitors from America over to see it .

Bryan or Master McMahon as I always called him was a GREAT and DEAR friend to me . He looked after me well growing up and I have countless references , cards , notes of introduction etc from him that I treasure . He wrote a short story about a pebble that David picked from the river and gave to me when we were 16 . Years  later David took the same pebble without my knowing and brought it to a fancy jeweller in Calgary 

turning it into a pendant . When I was looking for a name for my business a doctor here in Halifax  a man who had a huge appreciation for music , literature and who’s wife was a friend said 

“But Liz,  it has to be The Pebble ‘ that’s your story” . Twenty years later I still feel enveloped by Bryan  and hold myself to a high standard because of him and also my own parents . 

The  Pebble has been number one on Trip Advisor in Halifax for fifteen years ! 

You do tremendous work that is greatly appreciated ! 

Liz 

The Pebble Guesthouse

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Juvenile Tennis in 1987


More action shots from Danny Gordon




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