Parents and Friends Garden Fete, the horrors of war and a quiet night in St. John's

Finally some photos from last Sunday's Garden Fete

The children did a great job on the scarecrows. There was a Suarez complete with an impressive set of gnashers and a  Paul Galvin holding a football in one hand and a duster in the other. There was even a real living scarecrow mingling among us.

There were great prizes for the Grand raffle. I got no phonecall so I'm presuming I did not win.

My friend and blog collaborator was browsing among the books.

There was money to be won in a variety of ways at this stall.

T

Some people just came to dance.

(More photos next week)

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NKRO posted this picture to set the scene for our wartime commemoration to take place on Saturday. This is a British position which has been captured by the Germans in 1917. The two German soldiers, probably cold and wet, are wearing British issue great coats and it looks like they took the boots off the feet of the dead soldier in the forefront of the picture.

Isn't war obscene?

Belgium 1917, the Menin Road, Passendale. The walking wounded straggle back to base past the prone bodies of injured survivors who are waiting to be taken to a field hospital.

Cherrytree in bloom in Cherrytree Drive, Listowel this week.

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This is a great article by Sean Carlson. He is writing about the global reach of an Irish village and the village he knows best is Moyvane;

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2013/04/25/the-reach-of-a-single-village/

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Interesting snippet I learned from The Kerryman.

Well known Listowel natives, Maurice (Monty) and Patricia Reagan are in the news again.
One of their horses, Falling Sky has been selected to compete in The Kentucky Derby tomorrow night. Having a runner in the race is a huge honour  as over 2,000 horses were originally entered to compete.
You can read all about it here :

http://www.kentuckyderby.com

And you can even watch the race live. We will all be cheering if the Newton Anner Stud Farm pair pull off a massive coup.

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One thing that never ceases to amaze me about Listowel people is this. While we have one of the loveliest little theatres in the world and we have one of the best literary festivals in Europe, why don’t Listowel people support theatre in town.

Joe Murphy brings shows to St. Johns that pack theatres elsewhere, but play to very poor houses in Listowel. It’s nothing short of a disgrace to us all.

 Are we so parochial that we will only support theatre if it’s a local play with local actors?

Are There More of You? was the very ironically titled show I attended on Wednesday evening.  It was a massively entertaining thought- provoking show, a tour de force by a brilliant playwright and actress, Alison Skilbeck…and she played in Listowel to 4 people.

Let me tell North Kerry people what you missed.

Alison played all the parts and she became a different person each time she changed costume.

The themes of the play were betrayal and redemption and there was a lot in it that referenced Macbeth:   an ambitious woman, a kind of witch, some bloody hands and a sleep that "knits up the ravelled sleeve of care."

Are there More of You? is a play about one  woman who is betrayed by her husband and redeemed by Art; another Italian -English woman who betrays her Italian Mama but finds redemption in her Italian roots, cooking and opera; a therapist betrayed by her client and finally an ambitious ball breaker of a woman who is redeemed through friendship.

This one woman show is continuing its tour so you can see it in Dingle tonight Friday May 3 2013;  in Birr on Saturday; in the Millbank in Rush, Co. Dublin on Sunday and all next week from May 6  to Saturday May 11  2013 in the Viking Theatre over The Sheds pub in Clontarf.

I strongly recommend you try to catch it.

The lovely Alison joined her audience for a chat after the St. John's show. That is she with the pink hankie. The audience is Noel Keenan, Helen Moylan, Jim Cogan and me behind the camera. 

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We have a new bishop of Kerry. We will be getting to know Raymond Browne in the near future.