Seán McCarthy Weekend, Queen's Old Castle/Dealz, Pitch and Putt, Sand Art and A Dresser

A June Wedding

June is high season for weddings. I attended a lovely wedding in Cork on June 21st. The beautiful bride is a cake maker. Her own was a triumph.

Wedding favours when you are from Midleton

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The Late Great Seán McCarthy

This is Peggy Sweeney's songbook. Peggy is the acknowledged best interpreter of a McCarthy song.

Peggy is on the far right in this photo with her sister and her sister in law.

Sean McCarthy was born in 1923 in Sandes' Bog outside Listowel. He was one of ten children. His was a poor but happy family. His house was always filled with music and singing. It was in the U.S to where he emigrated, that Sean developed his gift for writing and composing. His early childhood in Listowel and his friendship with Bryan MacMahon, who recognised him from the start as a having a special gift, had sown the seeds of a great writing career. He wrote many ballads, poems, books for children, humorous essays and many articles for The Kerryman. His soft Kerry voice was familiar to listeners to Sunday Miscellany for many years. He contributed to many many TV and radio programmes.

He is commemorated every year in Finuge at the festival that bears his name. Find out details of this year's weekend on their Facebook page

Sean McCarthy Memorial Weekend

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Spotted in Cork

How the mighty have fallen. I remember it when it was The Queen's Old Castle.

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A Few Photos from the Munster Championship

Listowel Pitch and Putt course looked splendid for the big competition.

The scamp on the right told me he was playing. He wasn't.

This local player was playing alright.

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Fun New Event in Ballybunion

( Photos from Wild Atlantic Way, Ballybunion sand art events on Facebook)

A new record for a new event; the most people doing the same sand art picture at the same time. The record which stands at 207 will, no doubt, be broken before the summer is over.

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An Old Dresser

Do you remember when every kitchen had one of these or one very like it?

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Tarbert's 1916 Memorial

Old schoolbooks and a poem to make you smile

Christopher Bourke of Mallow Camera Club went whale watching in Union Hall and he got some great photos.

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Youghal's Clock Tower artefacts

On one floor of the restored clock gate house in Youghal are lots of bits and pieces, relics of life in this residence in years gone by.

This is a shaving station.

An old manual sewing machine and inch tape. Every house had a sewing machine back in the day when we made do and mended.

This old wireless ran on a battery in the days before electricity.

This cheesey poem was  typical of some in this old  English primer.

Bhí fear ann fadó agus is é ainm a bhí air ná Séadna. I remember it well. It is the story of a poor shoemaker who makes a Faustian pact with the devil but in the end outwits him and escapes with his life.

I remember this one too. It was full of essays like Lá sa Phortach.

Gateau of Mutton in the Cookery Book sounds more appetising that it was.

Take half a look at these ads. How did we survive at all?

Through the window at the top of the gate house, you can see twentieth century life going on as usual.


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Share a Smile

This poem by Spike Milligan is doing the rounds on the internet. In case you missed it, here it is

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Feale Sculpture in Listowel Town Square

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Stylish Local Wedding



I slipped into St. Mary's Listowel on Saturday July 29 2017 to get a peak at the very stylish nuptials which were in progress. Anne and Micheál and all their wedding guests looked resplendent.

This was the beautiful entrance setting.

I met Liz and Mags of Finesse Bridal just leaving the Square having helped put the finishing touches to another beautiful Listowel bride.

Lucky guests were treated to freshly made ice cream cones after the ceremony.

Family Wedding in Listowel

Cliona Cogan on the balcony of  the bridal suite of The Listowel Arms Hotel on her wedding day, May 20 2017. In the background is The River Feale and Listowel Racecourse.

Saturday May 20 2017 was a popular day for weddings. In the U.K. Pippa Middleton, sister of the Duchess of Cambridge married her fiancé, James Matthews,  in Kenmare Alannah McGurk, daughter of Miriam O’Callaghan and her ex-husband  Tom McGurk married former Galway footballer Fiachra Breathnach and in Italy Lottie Ryan, daughter of the late Gerry, married her husband Fabio Aprile for a second time (the first time was a low key civil affair which the couple did in secret). The wedding of the day with a Listowel connection was the McKenna Cogan wedding in St. Mary’s , Listowel.

Let me tell you without fear of contradiction that Listowel is the best place in the world to organize and hold a wedding. St. Mary’s is a beautiful church which can be downsized to accommodate a small ceremony as well as being the ideal venue for a huge wedding. The hotel and all the local wedding suppliers are the cream of the crop.

My Kanturk family posing outside the church for the "real" photographer.

I’ll tell you a bit about the wedding day suppliers we dealt with.

The Listowel Arms Hotel were a delight to deal with from day one. Patrice, Asyia and all the staff were super efficient and obliging . The hotel itself is charming, warm and welcoming.  Asyia took lots of lovely photos which reached us long before the official  ones.  Her photos at the hotel entrance show how intimate, local and compact the place is for a wedding.

The dining room was stunning. The backdrop of the racecourse and river Feale lent an exotic air to the snaps of the top table.

 The food was delicious, the service excellent, the speeches were short and entertaining, the favours of Lily O’Brien chocolates (from Newbridge) and my book (from Listowel) were appreciated by the guests.

Dancing to Kildare band Transmitter went on until the wee hours and, in a lovely local touch, Damien from Jumbos made a late night delivery of some local delicacies beloved of the bride and her friends and mentioned in the groom’s speech.

Weddings nowadays are two day affairs. We all decamped to the Cliff House in Ballybunion for our day 2 and there we had a night of chat, finger food, some music and a few drinks. The happy couple headed for  a London minimoon on Tuesday. Highlights of this included 2 afternoon teas which were gifted to them by wedding guests. Andrea and Alexandra treated them to tea in The Shard. This is “the height of fine dining”. The restaurant where they ate is on the 32 nd floor and the food is as spectacular as the views.  Alex and Andrea are Erasmus friends of Clíona’s and their friendship has stood the test of time and distance.

Many years later here they are in St. Mary's Listowel with Alex's daughter Aoife .

The second teatime experience was  in Harrods. They even got a complimentary chocolate cake for dessert in view of the fact that they were on honeymoon.

A far cry from Jumbo's Listowel!