Christmas at The Listowel Arms, A Poem, Mike the Pies shopfront update and A Book Launch

Listowel in December 2019

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The Listowel Arms at Christmas 2019

It's all red and green in The Listowel Arms this Christmas. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming. It's just another gem in our lovely Christmassy town.

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Kerryman of the Year

 by Noel Roche of Chicago and Listowel

To my brother, Tom, who makes me proud

He was born in 1945 on the third day of July

Another child for Dick and Madge, a little baby boy.

Rumour has it he was late, they thought he wouldn’t come at all.

When he finally did come out, he was soloing a ball.

Just like all the other boys, he always loved to play.

It seemed he was a natural when it came to GAA.

His heroes were the Kerry teams, those men so big and bold.

His dreams were that someday he would wear the green and gold.

And wear the green and gold he did in 1963.

He won an All Ireland medal and became a hero to me.

Soon he moved to England and left Kerry behind.

“Twas his body that left Kerry, Kerry would not leave his mind.

Tom can talk of anything under the heavenly sky

But when he talks of Kerry he has a twinkle in his eye.

If you want Tom to help, all you have to do

Is throw in the word Kerry and he will be there for you.

How much does he love Kerry?  To him its not a game

Tom has got a daughter and Kerry is her name.

And now I’m here tonight to cheer

As they name my brother Tom, Kerryman of the Year.

There is no better man and I will tell you why

When it comes to Kerry, Tom is do or die.

And if you cut him open this sight you would behold

There is no red inside his veins. His blood runs green and gold.

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Mike the Pies

Mike the Pies shopfront is still a work in progress.

Here is where Martin is at but there's lots more to do. It will be mighty.

Martin Chute, signwriter, at Mike the Pies on Saturday December 14 2019.

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Launch of The Very Best of Billy Keane

A book launch is a lovely family time. It's a time to make the people who love you proud. There was a lot of love in the room of The Listowel Arms Hotel on Sunday Dec. 15 2019.

Launching the book were Gabriel Fitzmaurice and Jerry Kennelly, here with Billy's able assistants, John Keane and Billy O'Flynn.

Billy chatting to his William Street neighbour, Catherine.

Liz and Jim Dunn were buying a few Christmas presents.

Laura Shine read one of the newspaper columns from The Very Best of Billy Keane.

Old friends turned up to support Billy.

Fellow author, Emma Larkin, took time out from the St. Seanan's celebrations to lend support.

Proud family, Elaine, John and Anne listen as Gabriel reads from The Very Best of Billy Keane.

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Another New Barber on Church Street

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Lunch in Lizzie's

We are so lucky in Listowel to have so many excellent cafés and restaurants. For a festive lunchtime treat there is no better food and value available anywhere than in Lizzie' s of William Street.

Helen Moylan, Celebrity chef Lizzie Lyons, Miriam Kiely, exiled in Dublin but constantly drawn "home" to Listowel and your blogger, Mary Cogan.

I had the Christmas pie of buttermilk-brined turkey and ham topped with puff pastry, followed by the flourless chocolate and almond dessert;  delicious food and great company on a gloomy wet Listowel afternoon.

Flavins Closing, Christmas in Athea and Listowel and A Minute of Your Time

Last Christmas 

In January 2020 a chapter will close in the proud literary history of Ireland's literary capital, Listowel. Flavin's of Church Street is closing.

D.J. Flavin of 30 Church Street is a shop and a family woven into the fabric of Listowel for generations.

I will miss Joan and Tony and their lovely shop when this  little bit of local colour and individuality has gone  from our town.

Thanks for the memories.

Joan serving, Christine, one of her regulars on December 18 2019

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They've Planted a Hedge

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Christmas in Listowel

Here are a few images of home for the diaspora.

My friend Rosie painted the lovely scenes on the shop windows here at  Spar on Bridge Road.

Lynch's Coffee Shop in Main Street always has some of the loveliest window displays.

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Christmas in Athea

(From Athea and District Newsletter)

That Time of Year

By Domhnall de Barra

Coming up to Christmas, my mind always wanders back to days of yore when the world was indeed a different place. There are huge changes since those days, most of them for the better, but there are also some good things that have been lost along the way. The biggest difference between the middle of the last century and today  is how more well off we are now. Today, thank God, there is little or no poverty in our area. Back then it was an entirely different story. The years after the 2nd world war were lean ones indeed with no employment and a real scarcity of money. Families were usually big; 9 or 10 children being the norm but some were much bigger. Small farms were dotted around the parish, most of them with 10 or 12 cows to milk, and they barely survived. The farm was handed on to the oldest son so all the other siblings had to find work. The only employment available was to work for bigger farmers, most of whom lived on the good lands down the County Limerick, or working for shopkeepers and publicans in the village or nearby towns.

There was only so much of this to go around so, as soon as they were old enough, the boys and girls from Athea emigrated to England or America to find a better life for themselves. There was many a tear shed at the railway station in Abbeyfeale or Ardagh as young people, who had never seen the outside world, embarked on the long trip to some foreign city, not knowing what they were facing. There was hardly a house in the parish that was not affected by this mass exodus of our finest young people. It was however the saving of this country because those who found work with McAlpine, Murphy, and the likes sent home a few pounds every so often to help the family left behind. The postman was a welcome visitor bearing the letter with the English or American stamp. People would also send home parcels, especially coming up to Christmas. You didn’t have much, growing up in that era. You had two sets of clothes, one for weekdays and one for Sunday, well, when I say Sunday I suppose I really mean for going to Mass because as soon as you got home the clothes were taken off in case they got dirty!.  The ordinary clothes were often hand-me-downs from older brothers and sisters and might have been repaired and altered many times. The mothers, in those days, were deft with sewing, darning and mending. When a shirt collar got frayed it would be “turned” and it looked like a new garment. The socks were made of thick wool and worn all the week. Naturally they got damp in the wellingtons, our main type of footwear, so we hung them over the fire at night . In the morning they would be stiff as pokers and we often had to beat them off the floor or a nearby chair to make them pliable enough to put on. There was no such thing as an underpants in those times or indeed belts for the trousers. A pair of braces did the trick and kept the trousers from falling down. That is why the parcel from abroad was so welcome. The new clothes they contained  transported us into a different world and we felt like kings in our modern outfits.

The food was also simple but wholesome. Bacon and cabbage or turnips was the norm at dinner but sometimes we would make do with a couple of fried eggs and mashed potatoes or “pandy” as we used to call it. The eggs were from our own hens and had a taste you will not find today. Sausages were a rare treat and of course we looked forward to a bit of pork steak and puddings when a neighbour killed a pig.

Education was basic national school level, except for the few who could afford the fees for secondary school so, all too soon, childhood was over and the next group took to the emigration trail. There was great excitement at this time of the year because most of those who emigrated, especially to England, came home for Christmas. Their arrival at the station was eagerly awaited on the last few days before the festive season and we were in awe of their demeanour as they stepped down from the train dressed in the most modern of clothes with their hair in the latest fashion. There was much rejoicing and a nearby hostelry was visited where the porter flowed freely as those who came home were very generous to those who had stayed behind and had no disposable income. It was now time for a change of diet because nothing was too good for the visitors and we gorged ourselves on fresh meat from the butchers and “town bread”.

Midnight Mass was a special occasion with the church full of people all wishing each other a happy Christmas. The crib was a great attraction for the children who  looked in awe at the baby Jesus in the manger. There was a solemnity about it and a sense of celebration at the same time. The Christmas dinner was a real feast with a goose or a turkey  filling the middle of the table surrounded by spuds, Brussels sprouts and other vegetables. Jelly and custard followed and it was like manna from heaven!  I don’t think many of today’s youngsters will be as excited as we were or cherish every moment in the company of family members who would soon take the lonesome trip back across the seas.  Even though, today, we have more than enough I would give anything to go back to that  time when I was a boy and experience the magic once more.

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A Poem from Noel Roche of Chicago and Listowel

In Loving Memory of my sister, “ Jack’

I wonder if you’re up there

Irish dancing on a cloud.

I know that when you sing

You’re surrounded by a crowd.

Mam and Dad and Dick and Jim,

And all who passed are there.

I wonder what God’s thinking

Every time he hears you swear.

I know in my heart

There is one thing you will do.

I know you’ll ask Elvis

To sing The Wonder of You.

I know there’s angels laughing,

They all think you’re great.

Heaven has not been the same

Since you walked through the gate.

You left behind a lot of stuff

Clothes, jewellery and rings.

Your daughter got the promise

That you’re the wind beneath her wings.

I know your friends are sad

I know they’re feeling blue.

But I also know they’re grateful

That they had a friend like you.

Your brothers and your sisters

Are going day by day

And trying to accept the fact

That you have gone away.

Your nephews and your nieces

Every single one,

Are struggling with the fact

That their favourite Aunty’s gone.

I’m here in Chicago

Many miles away.

I’ve got a hole in my heart

That will not go away.

I’m trying to get over this

And make a brand new start

I know that I am not alonw

You are always in my heart.

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A Heartfelt Thank You

I am truly grateful to everyone who has supported me by buying my book. This publication was a leap of faith for me. It was very different from my previous book which sold well to people who love Listowel.

With A Minute of Your Time I was much more exposed. I let down the crutch of our beautiful town and the huge volume of affection that people feel for it. I had to trust that people would buy me, my musings and my photographs. I am humbled and uplifted by the response.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who bought the book, to people who sent me lovely cards and letters, to people who stopped me in the street to tell me how much they love the book, particularly to the man who quoted, "Your attitude, not your aptitude will determine your attitude. Page 77." Classy, you made my day."

The book is available in local bookshops. I'm hoping that people home for Christmas will pick it up while they're in town. If you got a book token for Christmas, maybe you'd think of your hard working blogger.....

School's Folklore collection, Sewing and Tailoring and Listowel Food Fair 2019

A Blue Tit

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Schools Folklore Collection

Many of the contributions to the schools' Folklore collection were written in this type of copy book. This one comes from Derrindaffe.
Someone told me recently that one of the great pities of this project was that often it was the pupils with the best penmanship whose stories were submitted. Oftentimes, better more authentic voices could come through in the work of the "weaker" students. Teachers weren't to know that the day would come when the copy books would be digitised and handwriting would matter little.

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Sewing, A forgotten Skill

Once upon a time a lady would count hand sewing among her accomplishments. Garments were made by hand and repaired often until they eventually wore out.

The arrival of the sewing machine had a revolutionary effect on women. The job of sewing became so much easier that now a garment could be sewn in jig time, freeing women for other jobs around the house.

On Facebook I found the following

"Powder and lipstick" for sewing !!!!!

Of course sewing wasn't done just by the women. The Tailor was a valued tradesman.

The following is the schools'  folklore collection;

In Ireland, some years ago, tailors went from house to house making suits. They sewed everything by hand as there were no machines to be had.
The tailors use a big and also a small scissors, a bottomless thimble, an iron, a table, measuring tape, chalk, bodkin and needles and thread.
My grandmother, down in Killorglin, Co. Kerry always made flax shirts and sheets and they lasted for years.
Hardly anybody makes shirts nowadays. They are all bought readymade. Socks and stockings are also bought readymade as they take too much time to knit.
In Kerry some years ago instead of shawls, cloaks were worn by the women. They were terribly heavy and expensive. My grandmother had one for years and it was lined with black satin. The cloaks are sometimes mistaken for nuns cloaks.
A man said one time when he passed through our district that his arms were almost broken from saluting the "nuns" and great was his surprise when he found those he saluted were ordinary women.

This contribution came from a Dublin lady with roots in Kerry.

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Listowel Food Fair 2019

These are some of the stands at the Food Fair Fair in The Listowel Arms on Sunday November 10 2019.

These Ballybunion stall holders were keeping each other company during a lull in what was a very busy day for all the exhibitors.

My friend, Eileen makes some lovely clay earrings, tree ornaments, cake toppers and unique commemorative pictures and much more. Every item is unique and tailored to the individual.

I'm a bit of a sucker for a nice notebook and cheese were the nicest ever, all made from recycled materials and uniquely colourful and quirky. Every journal was covered in a recycled material with its own story.

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Christmas 2019

The tree is up and the first windows decorated.
Yes, it is only November 18th.