Holocaust Memorial, Pres Girls in 1950s and Tim Kennelly Roundabout

Holocaust Memorial in The Garden of Europe

This is the only memorial to the Nazi Holocaust currently erected on the island of Ireland. It looks lovely in summer 2017.... a great place to stop and think and count your blessings.

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The Bad Old Days 

A blog follower rooted this up for our delight.   Words fail me.

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Third and Fourth Class 

This photo is of some of 3/4th Class. We would have been Leaving Cert 1977!!


40 years out this year! 
Back row Ann Neville, Ann Mc Elliott, Catherine O Gorman, Mary O Connor, Caroline Finucane, Ann Mc Auliffe, Miriam Walsh, Mary Teresa Kelly, Geraldine Gunn, Bernadette Canty, Brenda O Halloran. Middle row-Elizabeth Purcell, Geraldine Mc Carthy, Catherine Healy, Marita O Connor,Triona Croghan, Michelle Relihan, Sinead Barrett, Therese Linehan, Maura Harrington, Elmarie Gibbons, Sr Ronan, 

front row- Lucy Bambury, Geraldine Walsh, Catherine Bruder, Kathleen Walsh, Beata Sweeney, Deirdre Jones.

Maura Harrington Walshe shared the photo and the caption.

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At the Tim Kennelly Roundabout

The roundabout at the top of Cahirdown is dedicated to the late Kerry footballer, Tim Kennelly. It is at the entrance to Kenny Heights. This residential estate is named after the previous owners of the land on which the houses stand. It is a particularly picturesque corner of Listowel.

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Mo Léan!

What an irony. Lios Tuathail is  misspelled on this sign for the Gaelscoil at Upper Church St.

It's correctly spelled on the reverse of the same sign. Quality control, where are you?

a Kingfisher, Washday blues, Rattoo Tower, Gaelscoil rebrand and Convent Memories

This kingfisher was photographed by Timothy John MacSweeney on the river Blackwater near Kanturk in Co. Cork.

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The Bad Old Days

This is a picture of a washtub and a washboard. This was the washing machine of your mothers.
I dont know any man who ever washed clothes in one of these.

Picture it for a minute and count your blessings.

Monday was washday. There was no running water so water had to be brought in buckets from a water barrel in the yard. The water was boiled in a Burko, if you were lucky, or a big pot on the range or over an open fire if you weren't. The boiling water was then transferred to the washtub. The clothes were scrubbed on the wash board, using a big bar of Ivy or Sunlight soap. There was rinsing, blueing an starching to follow.

Washing was a day's work and hard work at that.
Now don't you feel privileged to live in present times?

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Rattoo

Photos; Bridget O'Connor

Rattoo Tower

A Poem by Pat Given from his anthology, October Stocktaking

A slender pencil pointing to the skies

I see you there. The story that you wrote

Erased by time, by men forgot.

But still you stand and still you tantalise.

The leather books compiled upon this site,

Are no longer legible to human eye.

But you, clear stylus still, endure to write

Their meaning on the uncomprehending sky.

To all who pause and contemplate this scene

These silent stones become a speaking tongue

Of God and man and Christ between,

And toil transmuted when for Heaven done.

O Tower, to each succeeding age

You preach more eloquently than printed page.

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Beatha Teanga í a Labhairt

For a language to live it must be spoken

Gaelscoil Lios Tuathail has rebranded

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Convent Memories

Whenever I mention the convent or post a picture of it on Facebook, it always prompts a flood of memories. 

Not everyone is on Facebook, so here are a few recent comments;

Sr Dympna must be turning in her grave. Not a lady to turn lightly without 'having a word' with the Man on High. (Kay Caball)

Great memories of this little church, first confession etc . (Máire Logue)

What a waste! Sr Dympna loved the gardens, with the help of a man named Mackassey. I remember walking around the gardens following the Priest with the Blessed Sacrament all of us in our white dresses. It was Corpus Christi. We had another name for it. Does anyone know what it was ? (Maria Sham)

About 15 of us started our school days there. It was known as Babies and High Infants. Sister Claire and Sister Consolata. with Sister Frances keeping a very close eye on us. The down side was when we went to the boys school into 1st class we got a very frosty reception. It is so sad to see this beautiful building going to wreck and ruin. (Jim Halpin)

What a pity, such a beautiful church ⛪ and left there to rot. Wanted to get married in that church but it was bought before we started planning  (Catherine Nolan)

These are just a few samples of the many responses to the pictures. I think Liz Dunne's comment summed up how everyone feels about the convent: 

 So sad to see it falling into decline - I wish I had the pennies to save it!

Listowel ladies in Lourdes in 1954, more from the May weekend and another poem from Jet Stack

An old treasure

I have photographed this old picture in smaller sections in order to make it easier to identify these local ladies in Lourdes in 1954. I'm hoping that some of my loyal followers will name them for us and I'll post them here if they do.  Memories, memories!

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May Bank Holiday weekend in Listowel

Military Vehicles were everywhere in the Square.

The children enjoyed posing with tanks and guns and other military stuff.

Real soldiers and people dressed up as soldiers were on the streets. Below are some photos of local people and visitors who enjoyed the 'fun'.

More next week…….

A team of Gaelscoil Lios Tuathail supporters sold some goodies to the hungry attendees.

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Listowel by Jet Stack

There among the green hills of Kerry.

Where the bells of Saint Mary’s Church toll.

On the banks of the Feale.

Where there’s beauty so real.

Stands that dear little town of Listowel.

Its streets and its square so spacious

and rare.

Its buildings of solid cut stone.

Though old times are gone,

Sure they still linger on

In that dear little town of Listowel.

Its castles so vast, they’re a link

with the past.

On history there’s written a scroll.

The bard and the poet

And writers of note.

Are at home in the town of Listowel.

The churchyard close by, where its

ancestors lie.

The schools where its youth comes to bloom.

On those in between those duties supreme

They’ll fulfill with God’s help we’ll presume.

As time marches on, we’ll have music

and song.

We’ll have tops, we’ll have pops by the score.

But let’s never lose sight

of those great pens of might

and may God bless the town of Listowel.

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Jimmy Moloney has put the minutes of the April meeting of Listowel Town Council 

HERE