NKRO, Pavilion in Ballybunion, A Young Danny O'Mahoney and Listowel Streets

This sculpture stands in Listowel Town Square. It represents the river Feale and the fort or lios which gives its name to the town. It was designed by local artist, Tony OCallaghan. Tony was a teacher in Scoil Realta na Maidine. He was a skilled artist in copper. He was also a town councillor.

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NKRO Back in the Day

Local historians at one of the early meetings of NKRO

Vincent Carmody, Cara Trant, Joe Harrington, Mary Cogan, Ger Greaney and Kay O'Leary

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A Long Shot

Every now and again someone who is browsing the internet finds their way to Listowel Connection. Sometimes they contact me to see if I know any more about who or what they are searching for. Sometimes I can help or I know someone who can.

But this one has me stumped. The below message was left as a comment on an old post about showbands. The commenter did not leave a name or any means of knowing who it is.

I'm printing it here in the hope that the person who posted the comment or someone who knows them will be in touch.

"I'm an old friend of the late Buddy Dalton from 1962 when he played with his Dad in Ballybunnion We were Mc Faddens Stage Show and showed there all that summer 1963 I would love to get his C.D don't know where to look If you can help please it would mean the world to me Thank you"

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Bumpers at the Pavilion in Ballybunion

I love the nun and child in the centre car. This photo will bring back happy memories for many. It was shared on a Ballyduff Facebook page.

I came across this photo of Danny O'Mahoney on the same page. He hasn't changed a bit.

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Stay 2 Metres Apart Please

Hopefully these will soon be replaced and we can draw a little nearer to one another. When the story of the pandemic, Covid 19, in Listowel is written, these photos will tell their own story.

NKM Strike, MS Coffee Morning and Denny Factory is No More and some early spring flowers in Lyreacrompasne

Abandoned House; Photo; Chris Grayson

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Employment Unrest in Listowel in 1922

NKM on the banks of The Feale was going along nicely until 1922 . A strike at the factory caused the owners to relocate their business to Dublin leaving many in Listowel disappointed. Dave O'Sullivan did the research.

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There it is....Gone

Photo: Seán Lyons


The old Denny factory in Tralee has been levelled and the site cleared.

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North Kerry MS Coffee Morning

On Saturday February  16 2019 the North Kerry branch of MS Ireland held a very popular coffee morning in Tomáisíns in Lisselton.

I was there enjoying the fare and taking a few photos.

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Road Signs

At the junction of Charles St. and Courthouse Road

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February 2019 in Lyreacrompane

The green fingers  and the photographs are those of Joe Harrington and Kay O'Leary. Doesn't warm the cockles of your heart to see such beauty and such promise of Spring?

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Looking for Love Second Time Around

Tune in to First Dates Ireland  on RTE 2 tonight, February 28 2019 at 9.30. Pamela Behan, formerly of Listowel, is one of the ladies looking to find love.

Spillane's of William Street, Listowel Arms Hotel Then and Now and More Tennis Players

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Clay Pipe

When Kay O'Leary was doing a bit of gardening in Lyreacrompane she came upon this artefact. She was curious to know where Spillane's shop was. 

Vincent Carmody's Snapshots of a Market Town has the answer.

"David Spillane came from Limerick in the mid 1860s to manage a store for Hugh Kelter. In 1876 David married Johanna Enright from Listowel. With the demise of the Kelter's business in the 1880s, the Spillane's took over the running of the shop."

From the evidence in Vincent's book it looks like Spillane's stocked everything from a needle to an anchor.

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Then and Now

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A Trip Down Memory Lane to 2004

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A Listowel in Exile Remembers Listowel.

Liz Chute in far off Canada read the piece about Pat McAuliffe's works from Ireland of the Welcomes. She was moved by the final paragraph which is the anecdote about Bryan MacMahon and the Clare painter.

Here is Liz's email;

Mary, 

You have brought a lump to my chest and a tear to my eye . My father had once painted a ceiling  In the cafe/ house I grew up in . I don’t remember it but I remember my mam saying Bryan would  bring visitors from America over to see it .

Bryan or Master McMahon as I always called him was a GREAT and DEAR friend to me . He looked after me well growing up and I have countless references , cards , notes of introduction etc from him that I treasure . He wrote a short story about a pebble that David picked from the river and gave to me when we were 16 . Years  later David took the same pebble without my knowing and brought it to a fancy jeweller in Calgary 

turning it into a pendant . When I was looking for a name for my business a doctor here in Halifax  a man who had a huge appreciation for music , literature and who’s wife was a friend said 

“But Liz,  it has to be The Pebble ‘ that’s your story” . Twenty years later I still feel enveloped by Bryan  and hold myself to a high standard because of him and also my own parents . 

The  Pebble has been number one on Trip Advisor in Halifax for fifteen years ! 

You do tremendous work that is greatly appreciated ! 

Liz 

The Pebble Guesthouse

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Juvenile Tennis in 1987

More action shots from Danny Gordon

Ballylongford, The Price of a Bodhrán, Crubeens, Phone Boxes and Memories of Two Papal Visits

Ballylongford by Ita Hannon

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Lyreacrompane Honours Kay

Pat McCarthy, Duagh and Dublin, makes a surprise presentation to Kay O’Leary, who initiated the Dan Paddy Andy Festival twenty-one years ago, for her role in the community, especially for her work in building the Festival over the years.


Photo and caption from the Lyreacrompane website

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The Price of a Bodhrán

The late, great John B Keane was a Limerick Leader columnist for more than 30 years. This column first appeared in the edition of November 24, 1973

Awful price

“SEVENTEEN pounds is an awful price for a bodhrán,” writes Drummer of Sirand, who does not want his name mentioned but is a familiar face at wrenboy competitions all over Limerick and Kerry.

The remark was prompted by Sonny Canavan’s statement in last week’s Leader that he was charging £17 apiece for homemade bodhráns.

“I can walk into any shop,” Drummer continues, “and buy a span new drum for twelve pounds, a drum that will last.”

I showed his letter to Canavan and asked him to reply.

“Tell him buy the drum,” Canavan countered, “and let them that wants bodhráns buy bodhráns.

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Cork Heritage

Cork is doing its best to hang on to its distinctive vocabulary.
On August 18 2018 I had a langerload of Cork heritage.

This is a statue to the shawlies in The Coal Quay. The Coal Quay is the Moore Street or Covent Garden of Cork. It's nice to see the tradition of outdoor stalls continuing although most of them were not selling foodstuffs or, if they were, they weren't native Cork food stuffs.

One tradition The Cornstore revived for Heritage Day was the eating of crubeens.

They were serving them to us with a dollop of mustard sauce.

I did try one but there was nothing to eat, just skin, fat, gristle and bone.

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In Cork, A Spire and Phone Boxes

I spotted this along the quay before the Clayton Hotel. It looks like a kind of a crooked spire.

There is an old fashioned phone box on the pavement outside the mobile phone shop on Patrick Street.

The streets were very quiet. It was early in the morning but I think this no traffic lark is biting a bit.

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Knock Apparition

P. J. Lynch painted the mural depicting the apparition at Knock. Pope Francis visited and prayed there on August 26 2018.

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Just a Thought

Here is the link to my most recent set of Thoughts for Radio Kerry.

Just a Thought

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Listowel People who saw the Pope in Ireland

Lots of Listowel people went to Dublin to attend  the pope's mass. Members of the Listowel Folk group went to sing.

Eileen, Catherine, Mary, Tina and Mike were in The Phoenix Park in August 2018
But Junior Griffin was in Limerick in 1979. He took these photos as the pope landed by helicopter at Limerick Racecourse and took a jaunt in his popemobile before saying mass.