Photo by Peggy O’Brien of Mallow Camera Club
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Listowel Flowers July 2017
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Old Tralee
These photos of Tralee were shared on Facebook by the Tralee Historical Society
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When Listowel had a cutlery manufacturing industry
This Cole Cutlery catalogue was unearthed recently. I photographed the introduction by John B. Keane. It is a gem of colourful promotional prose.
Festive bike outside Eleanor’s Flowers in Tralee
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Blessed (now Saint) Oliver Plunkett
I came across this recently. It’s a relic of a relic; “a piece of linen that touched a relic…”
This prayer for his canonisation worked.
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Killarney, Christmas 2016
Killarney looks very Christmassy this year.
This is a brilliant idea. They have used the old phone kiosks to house defibrillators.
The key to access the life saving device is housed in a little box with glass door.
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Smart Boys
26 May 1877 Freeman’s Journal
CLEVER ESCAPE FROM A BRIDEWELL. An incident of a novel nature occurred
at Listowel on Monday, in connection with the cleverly planned
escape from the bridewell. A lad named Mulvihill, aged 13 year, had
been convicted about five months ago at Tarbert Petty Sessions, of
stealing a dog, and sentenced to five years in the Upton Reformatory.
On his removal, after leaving Tralee gaol, he succeeded in giving the
gaol officer the slip, and managed to elude the police until last
Saturday, when he was apprehended at Ballylongford, and lodged in
Listowel bridewell preparatory to being sent back to the reformatory.
His younger brother, aged about 11 years, visited him on Monday, and
while in the cell with him the prisoner exchanged clothes with him ;
and thus disguised, he was allowed to pass out by the official, who
naturally believed he was the brother who had passed in some minutes
before. The mistake was of course soon discovered. but the escaped
culprit had a good start, and has not been recaptured. The brother is
kept in custody, having been remanded to next petty sessions.
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Listowel Humans
Christmas is a busy time of year for these ladies, Kay, Nancy, Hannah and Eileen. I met them at the BOI Enterprise town expo but they are usually to be found with their fellow volunteers in the Second Time Around shop in William Street or at bingo or Meals on Wheels at The Plaza or out visiting and quietly helping the less well off at Christmas time and throughout the year.
They are the salt of the earth.
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Seán McCarthy’s Christmas
Christmas is often a lonely time for someone who has lost a life’s partner. Seán McCarthy puts it sadly and poignantly in this old song which I photographed from an old book among Junior Griffin’s treasures.
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Thomas F. O’Sullivan Update
Mark Holan contacted me to alert me that he has recently updated his blogpost about T.F. O’Sullivan of Listowel.
UPDATE:
I heard from Vincent Carmody of Listowel, a local historian and author. He writes that Thomas F. O’Sullivan and his book are not forgotten. Story of the GAA received at least five mentions in The G.A.A., A People’s History, a 2009 book by Mike Cronin, Mark Duncan and Paul Rouse.
Carmody continued:
When in Listowel, [O’Sullivan] was the driving force, both as a player and administrator of the local G.A.A. club. He later served as an administrator at both County and National level of the Association. He is credited with the proposal of Rule 27, of the G. A.A.s rule book. This came into force in 1902 and it read, ” any member of the association who plays in any way, rugby football, jockey or any imported game which is calculated or injurious affect our national pastimes, is suspended from the association” . This rule was commonly known as, The Ban. It was for a long time rigorously enforced, indeed in 1938, the then President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, was banned from the G.A.A. , for his attendance at an International Soccer match in Dublin. The rule was deleted in 1971.
The Voice of Ireland …Listowel Connection
This is Laura Enright from Glin. She is in the news because on Sunday night next she enters a “battle” to qualify for the live shows in the RTE 1 programme, The Voice of Ireland.
Laura’s mother is Brenda O’Halloran from Bridge Rd. Listowel. Laura is the granddaughter of the late Tom and Eileen O’Halloran. Laura is blessed with an exceptionally beautiful voice and is one of the favourites to go all the way in this competition. Listen to her blind audition
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Last train through Barna tunnel in 1986
Barna Tunnel
This photo was taken by Sam Kennedy in 1986
Sam was the driver. They stopped at the mouth of the tunnel for this photo. Shortly after this the tracks were removed and sold to the Iraqi railways. (Liam Downes)
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Great Listowel Camogie Victory in 1934
From July 7 1934 Kerryman
I don’t know who wrote the following poem but it’s a good one.
Camogie At Listowel.
LISTOWEL V. BLENNERVILLE.
GLORIOUS _ViCTORY FOR LISTOWEL.
There’s joy to-night in every heart from Tarbert to Kllflynn,
From Ballyduff to sweet Duagh, from Newtownsandes to Glin,
While bonfires bright blazed through the night by Shannon, Brick and Gale,
To welcome home those champions fine with victory in their trail.
As the golden sun was sinking fast behind the western hill,
The very air reeked with delight, although ’twas calm and still.
The streets with sheer excitement blazed, all woe was turned to weal,
As the clash of seasoned ash was heard roll down the River Feale.
When Blennervllle marched to the line it was a pretty sight,
To see the far-famed pink and green. mixed through the black and white.
With swords across we won the toss and hurling towards the town,
The magpies on Liz Kiely’s goal at once came swooping down.
Liz kept her fort to clear the rush to touch she drove the ball,
Where dark-haired Jenny Mulvihill applauded was by all.
But in a wink the green and pink was at the other end,
Where Maggie Foley showed the boys how well she can defend.
But Blennerville came down again more eager than before,
Till Kathleen Wilmott pulled them up and robbed them of a score,
Each time they pressed, she stood the test, in fierce but fair attack.
With lightning-like velocity, she met and drove them back.
And out before this stonewall back her gallant sister stood,
A hurler grand, with brilliant hands, to pass her nothing could.
No stag unloosed, nor hound unleashed, than Baby Joe more fleet,
‘Twas her defence that spanned the bridge ‘twixt victory and defeat.
At midfield where the battle raged we starred in the pink and green.
With the veteran Julia Mary Stack, the “Kingdom’s” hurling queen
Through forests of ash she’d dive and dash, when danger threatened there,
Her line intact she held, in fact, none with her could compare.
The champions broke the line again, they swept along the right,
And from this Ballaclava charge, sure things were looking bright.
They spoiled their chance by fouling here. Bride Foley took the free,
But Kathleen Stack pulled down the ball and filled our hearts with glee.
The pink and green were aggressive seen, and fighting for a score.
Nan Tyndall’s posts were threatened now more serious than before,
For Josie Kiely, dashing in was not on pleasure bent,
She fired a shot, a goal she got, then up the green flag went.
The pace was fast, the hurling fine, the strokes were quick and clean,
The Kerins pair along the left were to advantage seen.
For more than once they stopped the rush, backed by the Foleys two,
May Moynihan and Maggie Moore, Peg Connell helped them too.
With change of sides, the champions now were hurling down the hill.
And victory seemed within their grasp. showing extra speed and skill.
Joan Brosnan out-manoeuvred them in some mysterious way.
And beat Liz Kiely for a goal—she gave a fine display.
But nettled by this fluttering flag, the lovely pink and green
Took all before them in a charge and quickly changed the scene.
For through a bunch of shivering ash, brave Maureen Moran tore,
And pulled Nan Tyndall’s barrier down, she well deserved the score.
The sands of time were running out, the light was on the wane,
The magpies forced a fifty free, but failed to score again.
Fitzgerald May and Wilmotts two, across the goal were drawn,
And Blennerville’s best was beaten by the champions’ brain and brawn.
The Wilmotts two, I’ve still in view, with Julia Mary Stack,
With dash and vim they’re out to win, from nothing they’d pull back.
This gallant three, you’ll all agree, have never let us down,
They’re a credit to the dress they wear and to their native town.
Babe Holly over on the right was doing a lion’s share.
Likewise the dark-haired Peg O’Shea, the darling from Kenmare,
Nan Connor, thirsty for a score, a trier to the last,
This trio of sharpshooters their best form more surpassed.
The magpies made a last great dash, they came along the right,
Till May Fitzgerald called a halt, which closed the friendly fight.
The Sullivans true, both tried and true, and grand old Duffy Pat,
When extra steam was turned on, they gave us tit for tat,
But, listen! there’s the whistle, now the gruelling hour is o’er.
See a smile on faces here that never smiled before.
Old people bent, with sticks crawled in, to see their idols play.
With fair excitement now going out they threw their sticks away.
Give us your, hands, you gallant band, we’ll shake them every one.
from goal to goal, from left to right, all through the field you shone
We’ll follow you from field to field, we’ll sing; your praise aloud.
Dishonour never soiled your dress of you we’re justly proud.
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Interview with Listowel Playwright, Christian O’Reilly
There
is an awkward scene in The Good Father by Christian O’Reilly. Out at an Italian
restaurant, Tim decides to order the antipasti. Jane asks, ‘As a starter?’ Tim
hesitates. He doesn’t know what antipasti are. He’s never eaten them. Maybe you
haven’t either.
Tim’s a working-class boy, a
painter and decorator. Jane’s a middle-class girl, a solicitor. They’re
different. But he got her pregnant after a drunken night and they’re having a
baby together.
It’s often said that we don’t talk
about class in Irish society, and while the C-word isn’t used explicitly in The
Good Father, the play is founded on its tensions.
Written about 13 years ago, the
two-hander gets a lick of modernity from director Mark O’Brien at the Axis,
Ballymun, a playhouse but 20 minutes from Dublin city centre.
Does class matter? “I think it
can be an impediment to a relationship, certainly to people discovering each
other,” says Christian before a read-through. He seems nervous and happy
with his lot; he has a mixed accent. “Class is a façade that you wear as a
consequence of your upbringing. But underneath that is some kind of shared
humanity. I was interested in exploring how two people of a different social
class could find each other. He’s not as educated as she is, but he has an
emotional honesty and openness that she lacks. And her carapace is sarcasm,
barbed wit. But underneath it all there’s huge fear and quite low self-esteem.
“The play comes from my
experience of living in Dublin, studying at DCU but playing soccer in Fairview
and Santry. Soccer transcends class immediately. Everyone just accepts each
other because you’ve got a shared goal.”
Shedding class differences was part
of growing up for this playwright. Born in London, his family emigrated to
Listowel, Co Kerry when he was eight. “I was bullied a little bit, I had
an English accent and I stood out. Playing for Listowel Celtic Under-14s gave
me some kind of status as a young fella.”
Until he was 17 he wanted to be a
professional soccer player. He never had a trial, which he regrets because he
knows he would have failed: good practice for a writer. Writing was “a
wayward path”.
He tried short fiction and
screenwriting, attempted novels, “doubting myself”. He worked as a
researcher for his father (crime novelist Victor O’Reilly) and worked in
disability rights (he wrote the moving film Inside I’m Dancing). Then came a
Druid Theatre Company prize and the success of The Good Father. When it was
first staged in 2002, Irish Theatre Magazine praised it as “an Irish love
story with attitude, but with a disarming softness at its core”. Christian
says: “I remember at the time thinking I’m never going to write a play
better than this. This is a good play.”
But miserably, The Good Father left
him blocked for five years. “It kind of spooked me, because the bad
reviews really upset me and got to me, but the really good reviews also threw
me. I saw myself as a serious dramatist and took on all the pressure of that. I
found myself in a kind of wilderness. I struggled with my next play, because I
was trying to be serious and worthy, and to appeal to the critics. I really
lost the connection to why I write, and to the advice that John B Keane and my
sister had given me.”
His artist sister Ciara told him to
“put your passions into your work”; John B Keane told him to
“write from the heart”, when he used to visit him in his pub in
Listowel for a pot of tea to discuss writing. The playwright played a mentor
role from his barstool where he was often “singing, sitting and
listening”.
“Once I went to him and I was
really struggling. He just said to me, ‘Keep at it. Persevere’. Leaving, I
said, ‘Thank you for your help’. He said, ‘Thank you for your youth’.
“Often the struggle is
personal and to do with confidence, to find my way in that respect. Confidence
comes and it goes and it wavers. There are times when you feel your voice is in
full throttle, and nothing can stop you, and there are times when you can feel
quite crushed and small and frightened and anxious about writing, and it can
fluctuate. It can feed the writing too, because I often write characters who
are struggling with their own demons, who are low in self-esteem, hard on
themselves.”
Now married in Galway with two
small children, he can take the cut and thrust of winning and losing. His star
rose through Druid Debuts play programme. Now Druid are among those rejecting
his plays, and this drives him to write more; he laughs, “I’ve enough
rejections to decorate my house.” Classy.
Axis, Ballymun presents The Good
Father by Christian O’Reilly, March 10-21 www.axis-ballymun.ie
(Published in The Irish Independent March 1 2015)
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Denny Street, Tralee 1980s
This photo from the Cleary Archive was taken during the carrying out of massive drainage works in Denny Street.
Brrrrrr!! Early March 2015
Spring how are you?
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Remember when water was free?
I photographed this pump in Ballincollig. I remember when they were a feature of every town in Ireland.
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Interesting Tralee fact from Historical Tralee
Have you ever noticed the gate about half way down the railing in front of the houses at Day Place? Well, the wrought-iron railings on cut limestone plinth with iron bollard to gate were put in place around 1800 to separate the front area of the houses from the river which at the time still flowed over ground along what is now the road. The opening was for access to the river.
Princes’ St. was known as Princes’ Quay as the Big River flowed through it. The river was used at high tide to bring small boats up to the Dominican Abbey which stood where the Abbey Car Park is today.The Dominicans were originally situated at Abbey St. until the last prior, Thaddeus Moriarty was arrested and hanged in Killarney in 1653 by Cromwell’s soldiers. In 1864 the Dominicans moved to to their present site. They had a school at No.1 Day Place from 1862 to 1910, called the Jeffers Institute.
Day Place was built in 1805 by Judge Robert Day. The residents had direct access to the river through a gateway in the railings…this is still to be seen today. Ozanam house was the home of Fr. Paul O’Sullivan who established a men’s club called “The Tralee Catholic Library Society (T.C.L.S.), also still to be seen today.
Staughton’s Row got its name from a family who were large landlords in North Kerry.
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1932 Schoolboys
Paul Corridan visited his uncle, John Corridan, in Cork and this is what he reported back . John remembers his class well and he too has kept that photograph through all these years.
He said the year was 1932.
He also believed the following.
Back extreme left ; ? Sheahan
Back 2nd from left; Gerald Larkin Ballygrennan now the home of Jimmy Hickey. Was a butcher in Ballybunion.
3rd Row extreme left. ? Sweeney from Greenville
2nd Row Paddy O”Connor whom he believes was a genius , became a teacher , into the arts and when his time came he got 1st in Ireland in his Leaving Certificate
2nd row No.8 he says was not a Guerin but Paddy Dwyer from Church St
Front Row. I think you left out No.5 so it should read as follows
1Richard(Dick) Bolster, Bridge Rd. had a shop probably where Mulligans live next to Vincent Moloney. Opposite Cows Lawn entrance.
2 T Lynch Market St or Convent St
3 L O Brien (Willie)
4 Sean Kirby and so on to pupil no. 12
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Memories, memories
Do you remember that I mentioned the annual visits of the washer woman during my Kanturk childhood?
There were washer women in Listowel too but I can’t find anyone to give me a name.
Cathy Dunne has this memory of another such traveling tradesman.
…. we had a blind man called Mick Doody who came every year to take the horse hair out of the mattresses and “pull” it to let air through it and make it more bouncy. Then he would use the new “ticking” my mother would have bought to make the new covers, stitch them by hand with a sacking needle and put buttons into the covers and he presto a practically new mattress! All done by a blind man. We looked forward to Mick and his little terrier coming every year.
Anyone else remember him?
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Dan Paddy Andy Festival
What are John and Noreen up to?
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Grotto in O’Connell’s Avenue last week.
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That was then; this is now
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Horan’s Fruit and Veg
Can you have too many signs?
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St. John’s
I took the opportunity recently to photograph the stained glass window in the chancel of St. John’s.
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Regenerating Tralee town centre
A disused food factory site is to become an attractive public market area in the centre of Tralee, Co Kerry.
The former Denny bacon plant — seen as a catalyst for the regeneration of the centre of the town — was handed over earlier this year to the local town council, by the Kerry Group, without preconditions.
The 2.5-acre site, vacated in 2008, is to be cleared in the coming months and plans are to develop a facility similar to the Milk Market area in Limerick.
While plans are still at an early stage, the idea is it will include a farmers’ market, an area for new businesses and crafts and a performance area for entertainers.
Tralee mayor Jim Finucane said the development would rejuvenate the centre of Tralee.
The full story is in yesterday’s Examiner HERE
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