Johnny Cronin, dancer and teacher, Listowel Military Tattoo, WIM 2015 and A Memory of dead "heroes"

Saturday April 18 2015

This is where I was last Saturday morning bright and early. I was fitting in a trip to the beach before the wonderful WIM conference in Kilcooly's

This is as prestigious a panel of influential Irish women in media as you will find anywhere. They are Moya Doherty, Miriam O'Callaghan., Dearbhail MacDonald, Dee Forbes and Katie Hannon.
More on  my trip to WIM 2015 later in the week.


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European and World Irish Dancing Championships in Dusseldorf

This is Johnny Cronin at the World Irish Dancing Championships in Ennis in 1999.

Fast forward to 2015. Now Johnny is a very successful dancing teacher. Here he is  last week at the European and World Irish Dancing Championships in Germany. He is surrounded by his successful pupils.


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Military Tattoo 2015, May 1 to May 3

If you have enjoyed previous tattoos in Listowel, you will love this one. This is a festival which grows in stature each year. This year's promises to be the best yet.

Here are some images from 2013. They were posted on Boards.ie by Mike Hn.

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Lest we Forget

 Graves of casualties of WW1 at Verdun. Every plot and memorial is the same. In death, officers and men are equal.

A poem about another battle by Robert Graves puts it well:

The Leveller

Near Martinpuich that night of hell

Two men were struck by the same shell.

Together tumbling in one heap

Senseless and limp like slaughtered sheep.

One was a pale eighteen year old

Blue eyed and thin and not too bold,

Pressed for the war not ten years too soon

The shame and pity of his platoon.

The other came from far off lands, 

With bristling chin and whiskered hands.

He had known death and hell before

In Mexico and Ecuador.

Yet in his death this cut-throat wild

Groaned "Mother, Mother," like a child,

While the poor innocent in man's clothes 

Died cursing God in brutal oaths.

Old Sergeant Smith, kindest of men, 

Wrote out two copies there and then

Of his accustomed funeral speech

To cheer the womenfolk of each.

"He died a hero's death; and we 

His comrades in A Company

Deeply regret his death. We shall

All deeply miss so dear a pal."

The old adage is true; The first casualty of war is truth

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Geocaching in Listowel

The following post on Boards.ie caught my eye:

"So, Listowel has recently become a Geocaching playground.

Don't know how many of you have heard of it, but it's basically an online treasure hunt, with millions of 'caches' hidden all over the world, and now thirteen in town (see map).

Listowel Tidy Towns are getting in on the action, with a 2 hour Cache in Trash Out (CITO) event in the park on Saturday at 12pm (followed by teas and coffees in the Community Centre). More info on that here.

All welcome to come and join us, and we'll answer any questions you might have about Geocaching"

It sounds like great fun for the children of the digital age. Happy hunting

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