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: WIM 2015

Documentary photography,My Uncle Bernie and WIM 2015

The Square, Listowel

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This is The Clock House in Kanturk. This building is now home to the Credit Union but it looks pretty much the same as it did in my young days in 1950s and 60s.

My story today concerns a Kanturk man of whom I am very proud.

My Uncle Bernie



Bernie Brosnan of Ballintubber, Kanturk was my mother’s brother. He was a man who had a huge influence on my life, taking the place of my father who died when I was 7. The reason I am remembering him and writing about him today is because I was reminded of him when I wrote last week about the O’Sullivan family who brought a touch of USA glamour to 1960s Kanturk.

One of these O’Sullivan brothers brought a camera from America and he became what I am now, a documentary photographer. He constantly had the camera with him and he snapped anything that caught his eye in his travels around town.

Bernie Brosnan was an agricultural contractor. In those days few farmers had their own tractors or farm machinery and they would hire Bernie to do that aspect of their farm work.

Bernie had one of the first combine harvesters in North Cork. Before that the harvest was saved using two machines, a reaper and binder and a thresher. The first combine harvester had to be drawn by a tractor. Bernie was a great engineer and inventer.  He had a home made windmill generating electricity for his house long before rural electrification reached Ballintubber. Now he put his inventive powers to work in making this harvester self propelled, in order to free up the tractor. He was helped in this endeavour by his great friends, the Foley brothers who had a garage on the Newmarket Rd.

For several months one winter they worked on fitting an engine to the harvester  and getting it to work without  the need for the tractor. However, when the big reveal came and the harvester was to be tried out for the first time, they found that the harvester with the engine on board was too tall to fit through the door of the garage. The tyres had to be deflated and the harvester towed out with the tractor and then reinflated once outdoors. The self propelled combine harvester was talked about in farming circles for months after that and we, in the family, heard the the story of the great reveal told over and over again by my very proud uncle.

My uncle is long dead and I had forgotten these exploits of that summer in the 1960s until the O’Sullivan photo archive came to light and I discovered that Michael O’Sullivan’s uncle had recorded my uncle and that legendary day in photos that will keep the story alive forever.

The proud man on the right of this last photo is Bernie Brosnan and the man driving the harvester is Neily Foley; two man before their time. In the background of the photo is Neily Foley’s car and Bernie’s tractor is just visible on the left.  Great photos! Happy Days!

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More from WIM 2015


Tom Clonan

Dick Spring

As well as Tom Clonan and Dick Spring, Norah Casey and Olivia O’Leary were among the many big names in attendance in Ballybunion on April 18 2015.



Local people were out in force to enjoy listening to these celebrities on our doorstep. Above are Rose Wall, Eilis Wren and Madeleine O’Sullivan.

Johnny Cronin, dancer and teacher, Listowel Military Tattoo, WIM 2015 and A Memory of dead “heroes”

Saturday April 18 2015



This is where I was last Saturday morning bright and early. I was fitting in a trip to the beach before the wonderful WIM conferencein Kilcooly’s

This is as prestigious a panel of influential Irish women in media as you will find anywhere. They are Moya Doherty, Miriam O’Callaghan., Dearbhail MacDonald, Dee Forbes and Katie Hannon.

More on  my trip to WIM 2015 later in the week.

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European and World Irish Dancing Championships in Dusseldorf




This is Johnny Cronin at the World Irish Dancing Championships in Ennis in 1999.



Fast forward to 2015. Now Johnny is a very successful dancing teacher. Here he is  last week at the European and World Irish Dancing Championships in Germany. He is surrounded by his successful pupils.





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Military Tattoo 2015, May 1 to May 3



If you have enjoyed previous tattoos in Listowel, you will love this one. This is a festival which grows in stature each year. This year’s promises to be the best yet.

Here are some images from 2013. They were posted on Boards.ie by Mike Hn.

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Lest we Forget



 Graves of casualties of WW1 at Verdun. Every plot and memorial is the same. In death, officers and men are equal.

A poem about another battle by Robert Graves puts it well:

The Leveller

Near Martinpuich that night of hell

Two men were struck by the same shell.

Together tumbling in one heap

Senseless and limp like slaughtered sheep.

One was a pale eighteen year old

Blue eyed and thin and not too bold,

Pressed for the war not ten years too soon

The shame and pity of his platoon.

The other came from far off lands, 

With bristling chin and whiskered hands.

He had known death and hell before

In Mexico and Ecuador.

Yet in his death this cut-throat wild

Groaned “Mother, Mother,” like a child,

While the poor innocent in man’s clothes 

Died cursing God in brutal oaths.

Old Sergeant Smith, kindest of men, 

Wrote out two copies there and then

Of his accustomed funeral speech

To cheer the womenfolk of each.

“He died a hero’s death; and we 

His comrades in A Company

Deeply regret his death. We shall

All deeply miss so dear a pal.”

The old adage is true; The first casualty of war is truth

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Geocaching in Listowel



The following post on Boards.ie caught my eye:




“So, Listowel has recently become a
Geocaching playground.

Don’t know how many of you have
heard of it, but it’s basically an online treasure hunt, with millions of
‘caches’ hidden all over the world, and now thirteen in town (see map).

Listowel Tidy Towns are getting in
on the action, with a 2 hour Cache in Trash Out (CITO) event in the park on
Saturday at 12pm (followed by teas and coffees in the Community Centre). More
info on that here.

All
welcome to come and join us, and we’ll answer any questions you might have
about Geocaching”

It sounds like great fun for the children of the digital age. Happy hunting

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Dr. Francis O’Loughlin,Graham Norton and the Irish Anzac Project

2015 Lamb


(photo: Timothy John MacSweeney)

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Brave North Kerry man


The following great story comes from Historical Tralee, a page well worth visiting for anyone interested in local history.

Bravery of Titanic Surgeon Dr. William Francis Norman O’Loughlin

New York Herald

Monday 22nd April 1912

In accounts printed about the Titanic and the bravery of her officers little has been said of one who probably was the most widely known and best beloved of all classes. He was Dr. William Francis Norman O’Loughlin, senior surgeon of the White Star Line, who perished with the ship.

During the forty years Dr. O’Loughlin has been a surgeon aboard ships of that line he gained the close friendship of innumerable men and women of prominence. Known as one of the most upright and kindly men, he also was regarded as a leader in his profession and a student of the highest order.

Survivors say they saw Dr. O’Loughlin on deck going from one to another of the frightened passengers, soothing them and aiding them in getting into the lifeboats. As the last lifeboat left the vessel he was seen standing in a companionway beside the chief steward, the purser and another officer swinging a lifebelt. He was heard to say: “I don’t think I’ll need to put this on.” He was in the companionway when the vessel went down. From those who knew him well statements were obtained yesterday regarding the fine character of the friend all were mourning. All agreed he was one of the kindest men they had ever met. Many incidents showing his unselfishness were related. One of the friends said: “He was the strongest personal friend of every officer and seaman he ever left a port with, and he was a most thorough officer. He would give his last dollar to charity and was never known to speak ill of anyone. He was the most tenderhearted man I ever met.”

One of Dr. O’Loughlin’s intimate friends in the profession was Dr. Edward C. Titus, medical director of the White Star Line. He said: “Dr. O’Loughlin was undoubtedly the finest man that I have ever known. Kind at all times, his work among the persons he met endeared him forever to them. Always ready to answer a call for aid at all hours of the day and night, he would go into the steerage to attend an ill mother or child, and they would receive as much consideration from him as the wealthiest and mightiest on board. “He was one of the best read men I ever met. Dr. O’Loughlin was always doing some charitable act. Of his income I believe it will be found that he left little, having distributed most of it among the poor. There is no doubt that he died as he wished. Once recently I said to him that as he was getting on in years he ought to make a will and leave directions for his burial, as he had no kith or kin. He replied that the only way he wanted to be buried was to be placed in a sack and buried at sea.”

Dr. O’Loughlin was a native of Tralee co kerry in Ireland. Left an orphan he was raised and educated by an uncle. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. When twenty-one years old he went to sea because of ill health and followed the sea continuously thereafter. Prior to being transferred to the Titanic he was surgeon on board the Olympic.

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Listowel Writers Week 2015

Be sure to keep May 27 to 31 free for Writers’ Week. This year’s programme promises to be a cracker.

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The Early Birds and their Golden Tickets







Two happy ladies with their tickets to Graham Norton

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Irish Soldiers in Australia



This document was found by Ger Greaney on Irish Anzac Project If you are looking for documentation on Irish relatives wqho served in the Australian forces, then this is the site for you.



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 To answer your question; Bridge Road, I hear.



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Eigse Michael Hartnett



One of the highlights of this years NCW festival was a a session in St. Ita’s Retirement Hone with the inimitable Sonny Egan and friends. Jer Kennelly was lucky enough to be there and he recoded it for us.



Sonny Egan in St Ita’s April 2015




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