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.

St. Bridgit's Duagh, A Poem by Pat Given and some old photos

My Favourite Art Galleries

My favourite art galleries are all free to enter and they hold some of the finest frescoes, mosaics, woodwork, statuetry and architectural features you will see anywhere.

We, in Listowel, need to look no further than our own St. Marys

Recently I visited Duagh's St. Bridgit's. It is lovely compact little church beautifully looked after by the local congregation.

There is a collection box in the hallway for used stamps and for old Christmas cards.

St. Bridgit's has many many statues, pictures and some beautiful stations of the cross which were sponsored by kind donors.

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A Poem from Pat Given's October Stocktaking

Philosopher

Pat Given

I’ll tell you what it is to be

A philosopher. To be able to recall

A personal feud of lasting enmity;

And smile on your tormentor after all.

To follow ambition with unswerving intent

From youth to middle years and onward still,

To know at last it’s unattainable,

And yet remain impassively content,

To make it mere routine to contemplate

That one day soon –too soon- you must forsake

The loved ones that your life illuminate;

And when the culmination comes, not break.

This is a philosopher, as I would think,

And, oh how far short of it I sink!

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Listowel Photos from the 1940s

I'm returning now to some old photographs which have featured here before. The story is that a Galway photographer came to town in the 1940s and he positioned himself on William Street across from McKenna's Corner and he photographed everyone who came within his orbit.

Years later, this photographer died and his family discovered all the old photos among his possessions. They sent the photos to Bryan MacMahon in Listowel. When The Master passed away his son Maurice undertook to try to identify the people in the photographs. We have had some success with a few of them but a few have remained elusive.

Margaret (Dillon) Ward has been diligent in the pursuit of the identities of these local people. Ned Sweeney has helped her to identify the people in three photos. I have also posted again a man whose identity still eludes us. As they say on Crimecall, its a good likeness. Someone must know him. Of course he might not be a Listowel man at all. Like the photographer, he might just have happened to be in town on that day.

David Bunyan of Convent Cross

David Bunyan and John Allen

Ned Faley and Jimmy (Salmon) Roche

This man's identity is still a mystery to us. All we know for certain is that he walked outside McKenna's one day in the 1940s.

a Kingfisher, Washday blues, Rattoo Tower, Gaelscoil rebrand and Convent Memories

This kingfisher was photographed by Timothy John MacSweeney on the river Blackwater near Kanturk in Co. Cork.

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The Bad Old Days

This is a picture of a washtub and a washboard. This was the washing machine of your mothers.
I dont know any man who ever washed clothes in one of these.

Picture it for a minute and count your blessings.

Monday was washday. There was no running water so water had to be brought in buckets from a water barrel in the yard. The water was boiled in a Burko, if you were lucky, or a big pot on the range or over an open fire if you weren't. The boiling water was then transferred to the washtub. The clothes were scrubbed on the wash board, using a big bar of Ivy or Sunlight soap. There was rinsing, blueing an starching to follow.

Washing was a day's work and hard work at that.
Now don't you feel privileged to live in present times?

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Rattoo

Photos; Bridget O'Connor

Rattoo Tower

A Poem by Pat Given from his anthology, October Stocktaking

A slender pencil pointing to the skies

I see you there. The story that you wrote

Erased by time, by men forgot.

But still you stand and still you tantalise.

The leather books compiled upon this site,

Are no longer legible to human eye.

But you, clear stylus still, endure to write

Their meaning on the uncomprehending sky.

To all who pause and contemplate this scene

These silent stones become a speaking tongue

Of God and man and Christ between,

And toil transmuted when for Heaven done.

O Tower, to each succeeding age

You preach more eloquently than printed page.

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Beatha Teanga í a Labhairt

For a language to live it must be spoken

Gaelscoil Lios Tuathail has rebranded

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Convent Memories

Whenever I mention the convent or post a picture of it on Facebook, it always prompts a flood of memories. 

Not everyone is on Facebook, so here are a few recent comments;

Sr Dympna must be turning in her grave. Not a lady to turn lightly without 'having a word' with the Man on High. (Kay Caball)

Great memories of this little church, first confession etc . (Máire Logue)

What a waste! Sr Dympna loved the gardens, with the help of a man named Mackassey. I remember walking around the gardens following the Priest with the Blessed Sacrament all of us in our white dresses. It was Corpus Christi. We had another name for it. Does anyone know what it was ? (Maria Sham)

About 15 of us started our school days there. It was known as Babies and High Infants. Sister Claire and Sister Consolata. with Sister Frances keeping a very close eye on us. The down side was when we went to the boys school into 1st class we got a very frosty reception. It is so sad to see this beautiful building going to wreck and ruin. (Jim Halpin)

What a pity, such a beautiful church ⛪ and left there to rot. Wanted to get married in that church but it was bought before we started planning  (Catherine Nolan)

These are just a few samples of the many responses to the pictures. I think Liz Dunne's comment summed up how everyone feels about the convent: 

 So sad to see it falling into decline - I wish I had the pennies to save it!