January Horse Fair 2019, Badminton in its Heyday and a bit about Candles

An entrance to town which some older people call the Canon's Height or The Custom Gap.


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January Fair

Jan 3 2019 was the first horsefair of the year in town. I forgot all about it so my photos for you are stolen from Moss Joe Browne's Facebook page. If you like them, there are lots more where they came from

    Jason Rogers with Tom "Bawn"McCarthy and his granddaughter Saoirse and Pat Fitzgerald at Listowel horse fair.

The O Connor family from Listowel with Seán Hartigan at the Listowel horse fair.

Bernie O Connell with Pat Sweeney and his grandchildren at the Listowel horse fair.

The following account of fairs long ago is from Dúchas, the National folklore collection.

"Fairs are not held in this district nor does anyone remember fairs being held here. They are held in Listowel which is the nearest town to us. Very often before a big fair buyers or jobbers went around to the farmers' houses to buy calves and sometimes cattle. This is still carried on. There are no accounts of former fairs being discontinued or of fairs being held on hills, near churchyards, near castles, or near forts. In Listowel the fairs are held in the streets, in the square, and in the market place. No toll was collected in the streets but for every cow you’d carry into the square you’d have to pay seven pence and for every pig you’d carry into the market place you’ have to pay a penny. This money was given to Lord Listowel. Luck money is always given. It is called luck money. For every pig or bonham a schilling is given and for a cow half a crown. If prices are high a pound is given as luck money for a horse but if prices are low five schillings is given. When a bargain is made the seller holds out his hand and the buyer strikes it with his clenched fist. A piece of hair is cut out of the cows side to show she is sold. A dab of paint is then stamped on it. This is done sometimes on the cows back."

Baile an Bhunánaigh (B.) (roll number 16851)
Location: Ballybunnion, Co. Kerry; Teacher: P. Ó Hailin

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Ballyheigue Races

December 30 2019  Photo: Moss Joe Browne

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Listowel Badminton

I don't have a date but maybe it's just as well......

Photo and names from John Junior Griffin

(Many of the ladies would have married in later times but I list the names as I knew them then)

Front row, left to right; 

Katsy Kennelly, Noelle O’Donovan, Evelyn Breen, Marie O’Connor, Marina Behan, Pamela Behan, Mary O’Donoghue, Mary McCarthy, Sharon McAuliffe

Middle row;

Ian Nugent, Martin Stack, Michael Quelly, Mickey Kelliher, Derek Dillon, Liam Dillon, Sean Comerford

Back Row; 

Jnr. Griffin, Jimmy Dore. Brendan Behan, Tom Heaphy, John Dore

( Sadly, as you know, Martin Stack has since passed away. Many of the others are scattered worldwide)

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Candles

Candles were once a regular item on everyone's shopping list.



The following was recorded by a child in the Dúchas folklore collection;

My grandmother used make candles out of the fat of cows. She used buy the fat from the butcher and after they killed a cow for their own use. First of all she used put it into a mould and put a cord in the hole at the end of it and knot it. Then she used pull the cord through the mould and pour in the fat and leave it so for a day or two. The candles are about as wide as Christmas candles now.

Collector- Nora Shine, Address, Derreen, Co. Limerick (Kilbaha School)
Informant, Patrick W. Shine. Relation parent, Address, Derreen, Co. Limerick.

Candles were always part of Christmas fare in every house.

Junior Griffin told me this;

Just to follow up on your mention on the one pound Christmas  candles in recent times.

I would have sold a lot of those in my years in McKenna’s and before the age  of the modern electric candles these were very popular.

I used to do both the white and red one pound candle. The red was a bit more expensive than the white. On querying why so from the representive on  one occasion I was told that the white was looked upon as a “household necessity” whilst the red was in what was looked upon as being in the fancy goods department . You would be wondering where our civil servants get the brain storms to make decisions like these.

Badminton, Youth Culture and a Pat Given poem

In Listowel Town Square

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Badminton in The Community Centre, Sunday January 16 2017

The man himself wasn't there when I called to the community centre but his seat was reserved for him.

These three, James Sheahan, Margaret Healy and Mark Loughnane were busy running the show.

The prizes looked very impressive. Also very impressive was the collection of trophies in the County badminton photo which was on display.

Listowel's winning Division 4 team.

This brother and sister had come all the way from Valentia especially for the tournament.

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Bop It

This is my grandson playing Bop It. You've never heard of Bop it? Well, that's only the start of it. I learned a lot about young people's culture during my sojourn in Cork at Christmas. Let me share some of what I learned with you.

In this photo my three granddaughters are wearing JoJo bows.
Never heard of those? Jo Jo Siwa is a young girl with a You Tube channel and she is super at marketing. Every young girl in Cork seemed to be wearing these.

While we're on the subject of Youtube sensations, have you seen this man?

He also has his own Youtube channel and his Pineapple Pen song (It's hardly even a song, more of a jingle) is a viral hit. It was the audience participation song at the panto in The Opera House and, I kid you not when I tell you that every child in Cork knew it.

Do you know about the Musically app? Very young children are using this to make music videos and to lip synch and share their compositions with their friends.

And then there are Vines.

"A Vine is a download-only short-form video hosting service where users could share six-second-long looping video clips."   Wikipedia.

Here endeth today's lesson on Youth culture. I hope your head isn't too addled.

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A Poem

Helios; A Cork dog with French connections

Welcome 

by Pat Given...from his anthology October Stocktaking

When I returned after one week’s absence

Such rapture greeted me!

Now, some would say such open demonstration

Of affection is vulgar.

Others say; anything so overdone

Smacks of pretence.

But I say to the first,

Show me one other who greets me so,

To the second,

Deceit is not in the nature of a dog.

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Quarant Ore

Quarantore was the practice of 40 hours exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. It was celebrated in Listowel with a procession through the convent grounds. As people's memories of this annual event are being stirred, I am getting a clearer picture. We have the priest surrounded by altar boys, communicants strewing rose petals, nuns in their cream cloaks which were worn at funerals and other solemn occasions, Children of Mary and, now, according to Anne Dillon who remembers participating in the procession when she was in sixth class, all of the girls from the primary school. 

Wouldn't it be lovely if someone could find an old photo of this occasion.

Telethon, Cork, Killarney National Park and another Buckley visit to Listowel

Do You Remember the Telethon?

The telethon was a fundraising drive that took place ever second year in the late 1980s and 90s. It was televised and raised thousands of much needed pounds for small local charities.

In 1992 in Listowel, the local branch of the M.S. Society decided to spearhead this fundraising drive in our area by organising a local event.  The way the telethon was organised was that money raised locally was sent to Dublin and then it was channelled back to local charities. Anne (O'Connor) Brosnan came up with the idea of organising the longest Conga line in Ireland. The aim was the get 2,500 people to Conga around The Square. Other local organisations came on board with ideas for other fun events and soon it became a night of fun in Listowel Town Square. It was a great success.

The late Derek Davis with one of the baseball caps which was one of the promotional materials sent to those taking part.

Stickers with the People in Need logo were distributed to all the participants in the Conga line. There were 2846 people in all.

Recently Michael Guerin resurrected a video of the night which was shot by Patrick Guerin and Mike digitised it and uploaded it to Youtube.

Listowel People in Need fundraiser, May 7 1992

The singer is Louise Morrissey who kindly travelled from Tipperary to be the special guest on the night. She is still going strong. Louise is performing in the INEC, Killarney on Oct 1 2016.

Another special guest was Big Bertha, the oldest cow in Ireland who came from Kenmare to be part of it all. Bertha was a big celebrity at the time and raised thousands for charity.

Anne Brosnan, who filled me in on the details, is having a rummage for photographs of the night. If anyone else has photos or memories, it would be lovely to share them.

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The People's Republic

I spotted these recently by the side of St Augustine's church in Washington Street, Cork. I don't know who did it or what it's all about. I'm curious though.

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Heaven Reflects Killarney

Muckross on a glorious Summer Sunday.

Beautiful sleek Kerry cows, "the silk of the kine" shelter from the sun under one of the demesne's ancient trees.

We walked from the great House to Torc waterfall.

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A Listowel Connection

Recently I received this email from another of the extended Buckley family of Upper William Street.


"My name is Bill Boyle. I saw your recent post about John Carpenter's recent visit to Listowel in your blog.

Patrick's first cousin is Regina Moore Boyle (daughter of Johanna Buckley). I am Regina's grandson by way of her second oldest son, John.

Last May, I came over to Ireland as part of a college trip. We spent time in Dublin and Cork. Luckily, I was able to make an excursion to Listowel with my then fiancé (now my wife), Lauren.

We took the train from Dublin with Vincent and his wife. I've attached a few photos of our visit.

Regina turned 90 back on July 27th. We had a large group of Buckley descendants on hand to celebrate.

We weren't able to get a picture during the party (very poor weather), but I have a picture of Regina with her children and grandchildren at my wedding at the end of this past May. She is center right in the gold jacket."

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A Sporting Connection for the Moyvane class of 1989

Junior Griffin looked at this photo here the other day and he saw many people he  recognised. He got to know them as adults and he knows of another connection between many of these youngsters and their teacher. Here is what he says;

Looking at the names of that lovely photo of the 1989 Moyvane class which you posted last week I realised that I got to know several of them in later years as members of the very thriving Moyvane Badminton Club.

You mentioned that 4 of the class were married in recent times. Just to say that another member of the class was married last December  and I was an invited guest at that wedding.That was Timmy Hanrahan who married Catherine Murphy of the Castleisland Badminton Club. This was another romance that blossomed through the sport of Badminton and I have seen many of these over my 50 plus years in Badminton..

Another in the photo is James Sheehan. James has won the Kerry division 3 mens doubles County Championships for the last 3 years, each time with a different partner which is a rare achievement and he is the current secretary of the Kerry Badminton Association..

Their teacher, Mrs Goulding is the former Rita Groarke and she was an outstanding Badminton player also. She won a Munster under 15 mixed title with Listowel's Mike Kirby in the late 1970's and both were selected on the Munster team at that time. She also went on  to win Kerry titles at the division 2 and 3 grades.

Indeed her son, Jack Goulding, was a member of the Kerry panel that won the All Ireland minor football final in 2015 and this year, 2016, saw him starring on the Kerry senior hurling  team who had a great year on the hurling front.. Indeed, he is a valued member of the Ballyduff hurling team who will contest the Kerry County hurling final in Tralee on Sunday next.

Listowel Badminton, the diet of barn owls and Knitwits Charity knitting

St. John's, The Square, Listowel, March 2016

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Listowel Knitwits Knit for Charity

These are some of the hundreds of hats for premature babies that are knitted by a very kind lady here in Listowel.

There is an African charity that encourages knitters to knit these simple jumpers for African babies who would otherwise have no clothing. They ask us knitters to use colorful yarn as African people associate white with death and they love vibrant colorful garments.

Knitwits meet to knit and crochet on Tuesdays and Saturdays in Scribes Café in Church St. Listowel and everybody is welcome.

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Junior Griffin fills us in on more Badminton History

The story of Listowel Badminton Club continued

Some of the ladies who played badminton in the early  years were Mrs. Clem Crowley, Miss. Kit Medell and Miss Mary Scanlan, who was a carpentry teacher in the old Technical School at that time.  Romance blossomed here through badminton as Miss Scanlan became the wife of Seamus Wilmot. Mr. Wilmot in later life became Registrar of the National University of Ireland, was the first President of Siamsa Tire and was the author of many plays in Irish.

Mrs. Crowley was the wife of Mr. James Crowley who was the Sinn. Fein T.D. for Kerry North at that time.

It is known that in the late twenties there was two badminton clubs active in the town, then playing in the Plaza Cinema and the F.C.A. centre, known locally as the Sluagh Hall.

For a time badminton was played in a shed in the Market place which was owned by a body called the Irish Automobile Club.  This it seems was short term with the Plaza hall and the Sluagh hall   being the main venues.  Names to the fore at that time were Frank Sheehy, Mai, Matt and Harry Naylor, Frank Cotter, Mick Lynch, Paddy Walsh, Babe Jo Wilmot, the McElligott family and the Macauley family.

The early thirties saw a banking family arrive in Listowel by the name of Peard and they lived in the Square in a house which has since been demolished and it was to the right of the Catholic Church.

The Peards were very much into badminton and the mother and son, named Frank, were much involved in the local club.  The family were in Listowel from 1932 to 1938 and moved back to Dublin.  Frank Peard became one of Irelands leading badminton players and in mens' doubles was rated in the worlds top ten.

In his book “Sixty Years of Irish Badminton” he wrote of his time in Listowel and mentioned a Mrs. Macauley and a Gus Stack who he played with and who was his teacher in St. Michael’s College at that time.

Indeed, Frank Peard went on to be the managing director of Guinness Ireland and is still interested in badminton though in his nineties.

( I trawled the internet for a photo of Fred Peard and this was the best I could do.)

Mr. Peard gave great praise to the Tralee Clubs of that time against whom Listowel played several friendly matches.  In particular he remembered being very impressed by the Quinnell brothers of the K.P.H. club for the manner they received service. Both, he wrote, stood right up to the short service line and “threatened” the server.

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The Barn Owl and the Bank Vole

The bank vole painted by Michael Viney for The Irish Times.

"Barn owls in Britain feed mainly on field voles, a species that never reached Ireland. The range of the alien bank vole has spread widely across Ireland since its discovery near Listowel, in Co Kerry, in 1964. It had almost 40 years of Irish residence before that, having arrived with German machinery for the Ardnacrusha power project in the 1920s (a theory supported by DNA studies).

Bank voles mostly prefer woodland and hedgerow habitats, yet they now inhabit the southwestern third of the island, from the Co Cork coast to mid Co Mayo. Other Irish studies of barn-owl pellets show increasing reliance on the vole as prey, rather than the field mice and rats that used to dominate. The owl’s long legs reach easily into dense cover, but in a paper to be published in Irish Birds, the research journal of BirdWatch Ireland, the UCC scientists, led by Dr Sleeman, consider if the vole is spreading into open country, to take on the wider role that the field vole has in Britain."

I bet you  never knew that, unless, like me, you read Michael Viney of The Irish Times online.

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From Time Travel Kerry

-Ballygrenane Listowel-

Two views looking north over the town of Listowel from the hillside at the south. The comparison is approximate as I'm not sure if the white farm building is the original cottage or not, there has been many changes. Notice how the doors and windows on the older cottage are level but the cottage itself is built with the slope. Also the road surface hasn't improved much in between...

(Original photo - Lawrence late 1800s)
(Modern photo - January '16)

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St. Patrick's Windows