Listowel Races 2019 and Kerry Hospice Coffee Morning in The Listowel Arms

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

My young visitors picked some of my apples for me before we headed to the races.

My house guests, Sean and Killian Cogan and Seán and Clíona McKenna met up with Mary Moylan in the Small Square.

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Photos I took on the Friday of Listowel Races 2019

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More from Kerry Hospice Coffee Morning on September 19 2019

Apologies for all the shadows. The sun was strong.

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Names for girls...Take 2

Hope I'm right this time

Front row Ann Gleeson
Mary Keane,Noreen Scanlon,Noreen McSweeney,Geraldine Flaherty
Angela Breen,Bride Given, Kathleen Kenny
Maisie McSweeney, Eileen Scanlon

Vintage Day at Listowel Races 2019, Killarney Jostle Stones and Culture Night 2019

All over for another year

My lovely boys gone back home after a few days in Kerry.

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Vintage Recycle Upcycle Day at Listowel Races 2019

The tent was full. There were some lovely outfits on show. The mens' competition seems to have attracted many more entries this year.

The organising committee on behalf od Listowel Tidy Towns were busy interviewing the entrants and hearing their stories.

The winner (on right )and first runner up

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Enjoying the Races and the Sunshine

Agnes and Jimmy were enjoying the Saturday race meeting.

An unusual and tragic event at the races. This is so sad for the owners and all associated with this poor horse.

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Jostle Stones Again

They have them in Killarney too. I'm getting a great thrill out of my blog followers spotting these for us around the country.

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Church Street Girls in 1958

Miriam Kiely has been in touch with the last name.

Eileen Sheridan sent us this photo and she had all the names except one. Here is the caption as Eileen had it;

It is summer 1958 and these are the girls

Front row Ann Gleeson
Mary Keane,  Noreen Scanlon, Noreen McSweeney, Geraldine Flaherty
Angela Breen, Eileen Guerin, ? ,Kathleen Kenny
Maisie McSweeney, Eileen Scanlon

Miriam thinks that the girl between Eileen and Kathleen is Bride Given, who lived with her family in the Garda Station.

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Culture Night 2019

Listowel had lots of music and singing on Friday September 20th. Ard Churam choir and the local Comhaltas musicians were all playing their part.

I was in the Small Square giving out free poems on behalf of Writers' Week. 

It's a sign of the times that  some people couldn't believe they were free and were reluctant to take them at first.

Then there was the other little issue of being mistaken for a Jehovah's Witness.

Two scenarios I had nor envisaged when I volunteered for the job.

Marie, Catherine  and Éilish were my fellow poetry distributors

One of the poems which was chosen by Writers' Week literary adviser and poet, John McAulliffe was called Corner Boys. This time it was not John B. Keane writing about this urban phenomenon but Bryan MacMahon.
MacMahon's Corner Boys were ex soldiers mostly. They had seen awful things and glorious things
..."the sun behind a minaret....`

I sympathised with them as I too stood stood on Main Street.

"Here the lonesome Kerry winds
Shriek up along draughty streets,
And how around the corner 
Where the corner boys are growing grey
Dreaming of sunny skies.

Woodford Pottery, Listowel Races 2019, Progress on The Greenway and North Kerry success at The Ploughing

Hands of a Master Craftsman

 Pat Murphy throwing a pot at his Woodford Pottery Studio in Sept 2019

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Saturday at The Races

Saturday September 14th 2019 was a gloriously sunny day on the island. The big screens were in place to show the All Ireland Football replay between Kerry and Dublin and the Tidy Towns inspired fashion event was taking place.

 The judges were out and about mingling with the racegoers in vintage gear. In my photo the judge is in white and the lady on the far left was chosen as the winner. The rules said that your outfit had to be genuinely vintage and to have been upcycled by you. You had to wear a headpiece. This elegant lady fulfilled all these requirements.

The lovely ladies from Oonagh Hartnett's were offering us sweets, some timely advice on sun protection, a squirt of perfume and entry into a raffle.

Another judge checking out the vintage of this lady's garments.

 My lovely former neighbour, Anne Leneghan, came second in this smashing suit which someone else had worn to a son's wedding. Anne had up-styled it with pearls from a broken pearl necklace and she had pinned down the lapels with a pair of pearl earrings. She was wearing her 90 year old mother's going away hat and her lace gloves.

The always stylish Betty Stack with her daughter Maria and their friend, Anne Leneghan.

 Noelle and her friends were studying form when I interrupted them.

Gemma and Mairead Regan gave me a tip they got "from some fellow on the way in". It won.

 Rose Wall was accompanied by her handsome son.

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Good News on the Greenway

This is the report from the council meeting:

A dedicated team in Kerry County Council is to be appointed to progress two greenway projects to completion.

The status of the North Kerry Greenway was discussed at the monthly meeting of the Listowel Municipal District.

Councillor Mike Kennelly called for all resources to be put in place to get the multi-million-euro greenway from Listowel to the Limerick border over the line.

The Fine Gael councillor pointed to bureaucracy with Government departments with such projects.

Listowel MD Manager, Joan McCarthy told Cllr Kennelly that nobody is dragging their heels on the project adding that it is protection of public funds and not bureaucracy.

Kerry County Council says a senior engineer has been appointed to oversee both the North Kerry Greenway and the Tralee to Fenit Greenway; a team will be appointed shortly to progress both projects.

Work on the north Kerry project is expected to begin later this year and will take 18 months to complete.

Regards,

Michael Guerin, Listowel

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Upcoming Events

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The Ploughing

Photo: Radio Kerry

Daniel Burke from Causeway and Derek O'Driscoll from Ballyheigue, who both claimed an All-Ireland title at this year's Ploughing Championships

I've never been to "The Ploughing" but I'm told it's possible to spend days there without seeing a plough or a ploughman. It's a place for shopping, socialising, entertainment and education. I was delighted to see that these young men have got back to what it's all about, celebrating the skill and art of ploughing.