Thursday 30 April 2020

Listowel in Lockdown, April 2020


April 2020.....Glimpses of a Town in Lockdown


Cherrytree in bloom in the closed Pitch and Putt course



The cinema is closed and the old Walshe's Ballroom doesn't presently have a business .

 Upper William Street from the old Casa Mia to the old post office.

 St. Vincent de Paul shop closed.




No music at Mike the Pies


 Not a living soul, hog, dog nor devil, on the street


Carmody's Corner and Charles Street



 Royal China are operating a take away service only. In the age old fashion of Chinese restaurants, it's all about numbers. You get a number when you place your order. When your meal is ready they display your number on to the inside window sill and you collect at the hatch.




The Mermaids


 Tracey Grimes', that used to be Moriarty's


William Street, Listowel in lockdown


Billy is still flying the flag at John B.'s.


Market Street



McKenna's and Chemco



Customers are not allowed in the shop at McKenna's but you can collect your order at the door.


This is the corner where John B.'s famous corner boys hung out.



Lower William Street


This window reminds us of happier times. There will be no Tidy Town competition this year but our town looks spotless anyway.



Looking into Main Street, the sign on Broderick's Pharmacy window reminds us to wash our hands. Hand hygiene is one of the three main planks of our fight to slow the progress of Covid 19. The others  are social distancing, staying at least 2 metres apart,  cough etiquette and cocooning the vulnerable members of our community.



The kids are all indoors. Confirmation Day has been and gone and Communion Day will pass without a day out too.



Ah, Revival! Not cancelled yet but big question marks hang over it due to the difficulty of following  social distancing guidelines




Lower Church Street



Main Street


At Listowel Racecourse



No June race meeting this year and the Harvest Festival meeting is in question as well.

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Life in Isolation

Stuck at home / safe at home

I have not felt the touch of a human hand for the past six weeks but  I have been touched, supported and loved by means I didn’t even know existed two months ago.

Covid 19 has been an enormous learning experience for us all.  I can use words and phrases like serology testing, R0 rate, herd immunity, community transmission and comorbidities. I could certainly now pick Dr. Tony Holohan or Dr. Philip Nolan out of a lineup of suited gentlemen.

Best of all I have learned how much I am loved and appreciated. My family have come up trumps. The love that was always there has taken concrete form in daily phone calls, postcards and endless text messages and memes. My neighbours, my friends and my former colleagues are a constant presence in  my life. People I have not heard from in years have rung or texted. The Christmas card list has come to life in April.

Things will never return to how they were. Almost overnight constants in our lives like work, church, school, the gym, the restaurant, the pub,  the match were all swept away in a surge of social distancing, working from home, self isolation and lockdown.

We will eventually emerge from this to a new normal, much chastened by our experience and hopefully, with a new appreciation of the little things.




Wednesday 29 April 2020

Rattoo, Sr. Ignatius Moore, River Walk, An Gleann Footballers and Claddagh Design

 Sunset at Rattoo


Photo: Bridget O'Connor

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Pushing up Daisies



I took this photo in St. Michael's Graveyard  in Listowel. I apologise if this is your family grave. I mean no disrespect by the caption.

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An Extraordinary Irish Missionary Sister

Southern Cross Adelaide, SA - Fri 20 Mar 1931

VETERAN NUN OF INDIA WHO TAUGHT FOUR GENERATIONS.
Madras (India) .—One of the most remarkable missionary careers of modern times came to a close with the death at 91 years of age of Mother Ignatius Moore, of the Presentation Order, at Kodaikanal, Diocese of Trichinopoly, India, on January 11. 

Possessing a striking personality, the
venerable nun was well known throughout Southern India, and four generations of children passed through her hands in her 67 years of active life spent in the country. She never returned to her native land of Ireland after leaving it in 1863. When Bishop Fennelly, vicar Apostolic of Madras, visited Ireland in 1863 seeking workers for his mission, Mother Ignatius offered  her services, and set out with a small group of Sisters for the perilous journey. The shorter route through the Suez Canal was then unknown as also the swift and safe steamers of the present day. 

The voyage” to India was made in a sailing vessel via the Cape Of Good Hope, the trip covering five months. 
Mother Ignatius was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal by the Government in 1917, in recognition of her long and meritorious services in the cause of education. In 1922 she celebrated her diamond jubilee, which marked the close of her 5oth year-as a religious.
When the pioneer Nun arrived in Madras there was but one Presentation Convent. Now there are six, besides the one at Kodaikanal. She lived to see the great-grandchildren of her former pupils, to see Madras develop from a small seaside town to a great 
 modern city, and to see the immense progress in almost every field of missionary endeavour in Southern India.

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River Walk



This photo was taken on the footwalk under the bridge about 5 years ago.

I took that walk again recently. The level of water in the river was very low


Has anyone any idea what this is? It was in the river.

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An Gleann photo shared by Noel Roche. I have no names or year.

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They're Back

Behan's The Horseshoe and John R's foodhall are open again.

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Never out of Fashion




Listowel's Eileen Moylan's timeless jewellery business is featured in the Fashion section of this week's RTE Guide.

Claddagh Design is open for business throughout the pandemic and Eileen ships to anywhere in the world where shipping is allowed during the crisis.

I am a great fan of Eileen's work and I am the very proud owner of several pieces created by her.


This is the beautiful bracelet I got for my birthday.


My family worked with Eileen on the design and materials for this piece which is made from my late husband's wedding ring and a sapphire from the first ring he gave me.

As well as her bespoke pieces, Eileen makes off- the- shelf treasures as well.


You may remember Eileen in Craftshop ns Méar as she introduced her very popular Listowel range which, with the blessing of the MacMahon family, she called "My Silver River Feale".


I have featured here before some of her gorgeous one off pieces.



Eileen also does big pieces like awards, mayoral chains and presentation pieces.


The Kerry Chain


Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Brendan Kennelly at Listowel Writers' Week



Listowel Writers' Week award to Edna O'Brien.


 Eileen also makes wedding jewellery.
She works from her studio in Co. Cork but she is still very attached to her Listowel roots.

Tuesday 28 April 2020

New York Kerry tean 1926, Covid 19, Writers Week 2019, Finuge and A Song



Statue of Schiller in Listowel's Garden of Europe in April 2020

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Football in New York in 1926


Tom Fitzgerald sent us this great photo of the New York Kerry football team in 1926. His uncle is third from the right in the second row. People may know some of the other players.

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Strange times indeed!


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If Only!


Mary Fagan holds the microphone for Clíona McKenna during the Saturday morning walk at Listowel Writers Week 2019. Just about now I should be contacting my able assistants and putting this year's Walk together.

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Sheahan's Cottage, Finuge



A Phoenix from the ashes, Sheehan's cottage was rebuilt following the devastating fire.


Photo; John Kelliher

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Hope in Troubled Times


Mattie Lennon with The Seanchaí, Eamon Kelly


There’s a Brightness

As a child I remember small farmers
Being depressed at some times of the year,
With climatic conditions uncertain
Turning hopes of their harvest to fear.
Whenever they cursed the bad weather
As the elements failed to rescind
My father, with wisdom, would tell them:
"There's a brightness at the butt of the wind".


When teenage ambitions got twisted:
My identity crisis would loom.
Rejection and fantasy   mingled,
Resulting in pictures of doom.
Then.........the Power of Good to the rescue
To counter each negative trend.
My thoughts would somehow be diverted
To that brightness at the butt of the wind.


           Chorus;
When the weather of life it looks hopeless;
And dark clouds with disaster seem twinned,
Remember that God will send sunshine.
There's a brightness at the butt of the wind.                 

When the storms of anguish are beating
And I'm lashed by the gales of defeat
When the forecast of life holds no promise
It's still not the time to retreat
A fresh glow appears in my vision
Like a night sky by bright stars sequined.
Then I know then I haven't forgotten
That brightness at the butt of the wind 

At last when I'll see the horizon
And that mist (self-deception) has cleared
I'll ponder the journey before me
And confront all the things that I've feared,
Expecting a turbulent crossing
As the Clergy point out that I've sinned
But knowing that Salvation is certain
By the brightness at the butt of the wind
                  Chorus.

(c) Mattie Lennon 2005



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Old Papers




Damien Stack found this from 1941 when the carnival was in town.