Street Names. Tae Lane, Women in Media and Construction at Greenville

Lidl on the John B. Keane Road, Listowel

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When is Main Street not a street?

Answer; When it's Listowel's Main Street. Main Street is in fact a square. Listowel people recognise this and they call this part of town The Small Square.

Unlike other Listowel streets, Main Street is translated accurately into Irish as Príomh Sráid. But that is not how some of the businesses translate it.

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The Tidy Town adjudicator loved this street name. Local people call it Tay Lane. No one says tea as in the beverage. The boutique goes for a combination of the Irish and English. It's Taelane

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Women in Media 2019

Will you look at me in exalted company, seated between two of the top women in Irish media, all three of us with a Kerry connection. Not really my new best friends but I was honoured to rub shoulders with them.

This years Women in Media conference had the usual line up of big names and in a trend I have noticed in recent years the events that draw the crowds are the political discussions featuring over- the -hill politicians.

Because it was such a huge weekend in this corner of the world I would have had to have bilocation or even triplication to attend all the events I wanted to see. I didn't get to attend as much of this festival as I would have liked.

Storm Hannah put paid to Friday night's opening event for me.  I would have loved to have heard Claudia Carroll, Sinead Moriarty and Felicity Hayes McCoy.

I made Saturday morning's panel discussion ably chaired by Katie Hannon. The topic was the future of journalism and the panel had some really influential journalists, some young and some more experienced ladies. If you haven't heard of Kinzen, look it up because it sounds like the future of journalism to me, quality trusted content tailored to you. You'll have to pay for it but if you paid for print newspapers, then you will be surely willing to pay for news from a trusted source.

Newspapers as we know them are on the way out. Journalists are finding themselves behind a desk, downgraded to content providers. All of the panel were agreed that as long as there are stories to tell, there will be a need for people to tell them. The question is not will journalism survive but in what form.

Four of the top journalists on the panel. Dearbhail MacDonald, Lise Hand, Ellen Coyne and Aine Kerr.

The other panellist was Susan Mitchell, Deputy Editor, Sunday Business Post.

Katie Hannon facilitated the discussion. No better lady for the job.

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Work Continues in Greenville

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Good News 

A rapid response vehicle, dedicated to medical emergencies in North Kerry and West Limerick, has been launched this morning.

It is being coordinated by Irish Community Rapid Response to help save lives in rural communities.

The rapid response vehicle involves volunteer doctors working alongside frontline HSE emergency services to respond to life-threatening emergencies.

Source: Radio Kerry

Church St, Piseógs, Ballylongford school and Listowel Tennis and Listowel Men's Shed

Main Street. Listowel in January 2019

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No Listowel Connection

I saw this on a Photos of Dublin site. It reminded me of something out of The Keystone Cops .

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Then and Now

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If you believe this, you'll believe anything

From Dúchas, the folklore collection

One night as a nurse was returning to Newtown after attending to a patient in Knockanure she was passing a fort when a man came out of it and asked her to come in to see his wife who was sick. She went in, and there were other people who used to dip their fingers in a pot of stuff which looked like soup in the corner and rub it to their eyes. When the nurse was leaving the house she did the same. A few days after that the nurse went to the fair and she met the man again. She shook hands with him. The people at the fair could not see him at all and they were surprised at what the nurse was doing The man told her to close her left eye and to see if she could see him. She said she could not. He then told her to close her right eye and to see if she could see him. She said she could. He struck her left eye with a stick which he had in his hand and she was blind in that eye ever after.

Collector- John Culhane
Informant- Dan Cunningham, Age 76 Address Newtownsandes, Co. Kerry.

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Ballylongford School

Photo shared by Liam O'Hainnín on Facebook

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Listowel Juvenile Tennis 1980s

Photo: Danny Gordon

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Listowel Men's Shed

What is a Men’s Shed?

A Men’s Shed is a dedicated, friendly and welcoming meeting place where men come together and undertake a variety of mutually agreed activities.
Men’s Sheds are open to all men regardless of age, background or ability. It is a place where you can share your skills and knowledge with others, learn new skills and develop your old skills.
New members are always welcome and can be assured that there is something of interest for everyone as the men have ownership of their Shed and projects and decide their own program of events. Good health is based on many factors including feeling good about yourself, being productive and valuable to your community, connecting to friends and maintaining an active body and an active mind. Becoming a member of a Men’s Shed provides a safe and busy environment where you can find many of these things. Also, importantly, there's no pressure. Men can just come and have a chat and a cuppa if that's all they’re looking for.

Some of the Listowel men taking a break

Listowel Men's Shed meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.00 in 56 Feale Drive. New members are welcome.

Photo and information from Listowel Men's Shed Facebook page

Below are some of the plasterwork projects they completed recently and you can acquire one for a reasonable donation which will go towards purchasing materials for their workshops.

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Shop Closure

Price Savers on William Street is closing down.

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Bill O'Flaherty

I posted this lovely old photograph yesterday and it struck a chord with local historian, Martin Moore.
Here is what he wrote;

Mary,

Further to email from John Buckley of Roscrea, and
Tanavalla, Bill Flaherty served as a weight master
in the market.

Before that he served as a policeman in the RIC.

His wife was Dwyer and her brother was a most prominent
policeman in New Zealand. In fact, the Dwyers had at
least 4 generations of policemen, including Michael
of Moneygall, mentioned by John.

Thanks John for sharing this.

The Well, Coburg St. Cork, Beano and Storied Kerry

Main Street, Listowel

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Water fromThe Well

The following extract is taken from Jim Costelloe's great rural memoir of Asdee in the 1940's and '50s

In the days before group water schemes were introduced to rural areas, domestic water was sourced from wells and pumps. If the water supply lasted through the summer and into October it was the sign of a good spring. I well remember trips to the local well with a white enamel bucket and trying to move the green moss on the surface of the well water so that it would not get into the bucket and make the water in the pure white bucket appear dirty.

Getting clear water into the bucket was a skilful job, between trying to avoid the green moss on the surface and the “dirt” at the bottom of the well. How wonderfully cool and refreshing a mug of water was straight from the well. There was always a mug beside the well and we often drank from it during those warm summers that we seemed to get long ago.

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Random Item

From Random Cork Stuff on Twitter

Incredible snap of Coburg St, Cork, with Shandon in the background, from 1905. (found by Joe Healy) Random fact: Coburg was the old family name of the British royal family before they changed it to Windsor to make it sound less German.

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When I Made a Little Girl's day

Yesterday I told you about my child minding on polling day in Ballincollig and the find we made in the charity shop.
These pictures were taken when we got home with our haul.

Oh to be nine again!

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Storied Kerry Meitheal Saturday October 27 2018

This man is Professor Joseph Sobol, professor of storytelling at the University of South Wales and, as far as we know, the only professor of storytelling . He was reluctant to claim that distinction as he sees everyone as a storyteller. He told us about story tellers who have influenced him and he told us how the story is centralised in all our lives.

At the seminar we were divided into eight districts to discuss where we go from here.

Mary Kennelly was the board member of Storied Kerry in charge of our North Kerry breakout group.

Here we are, ready to discuss the North Kerry story. We got a bit bogged down in the story of decline, pub, shop and post office closures, rural decline and rural isolation. We touched on the rambling house and festivals as a way of keeping the story alive. We decided on tourism as the most likely industry to keep our story going. we decided to meet again and to spread the word.