Christmas in Galway, Listowel and Ballyduff, Turfcutting and Listowel Post office on the move

Galway, December 2014

(Photo; Tourism Ireland)

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Listowel, Christmas 2014

The door of the Seanchaí looks suitably festive

I met Junior Griffin on his way home from Mass. He is top of my hit list for 2015 to raid his photo albums and pick his brains for old Listowel stories….A great Listowel man who has given much to the town.

Maguires

Jim Halpin has a lovely window dressed in tribute to the Christmas truce of 1914.

Words are inadequate to describe this shocking loss of young lives.

It's the little things that tug at the heartstrings

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Ballyduff Church, Christmas 2014

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Turf Cutters in Good News Story

I read this story on Denis Carroll's page on Facebook. Last summer Damien Stack and the gang at the Stack Clan Gathering thought up a great novel activity for the visiting clan members. The activity took place on Seamus Stack's bog. Experienced turf cutters, 'helped' by some enthusiastic visitors, cut and footed the turf in the old fashioned way with sleáns and donkeys. The turf, when dried, was put up for sale and the money raised was donated to the Nano Nagle School.

 Seamus Stack on whose bog the turf was cut, Johnny Ryan who bought the turf and Damien Stack of the Stack Clan Gathering.             (Photo; Denis Carroll)

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On the Move

Listowel Post office is moving to a new location next week. It will now be housed in a premises in the Super Valu complex in Market Street.

Below is the Sluagh Hall which was sold this week. So that makes two William Street landmarks gone in a week.

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Listowel Railway Station is long gone from this corner of town

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A Different Kind of Christmas Photo

Another great Healyracing picture from Willie Mullins yard.

Some sights from a traditional Irish summer.

Stacks on the bog

As part of the annual Stack Clan Gathering which took place at the weekend, the troop took a trip to the bog where Seamus Stack and his family introduced the visitors to the joys of a day in the bog. Ger Greaney took these photos.

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Fleadh na Mumhan

This photo from Celtic Steps gives a good impression of the huge crowd that thronged Killarney's streets at the weekend for the fabulous outdoor concerts that were part of Fleadh na Mumhan 2014.

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Soccer Success

Photo; Gareth Maher

The Irish girls' under 19 team caused a huge upset in the European Championship by beating a fancied English team. Listowel Emmett's Savannah McCarthy scored one of Ireland's two goals.  The very talented seventeen year old is one of the big stars of women's football. Then to crown their victory against England they went on to beat Sweden last night. Savannagh scored one of Ireland's two goals. Roll on the semi-final

Another less well known Kerry connection to the team was told to me by Mike Lynch

"the manager of the Irish Ladies' Under 19 team, Dave Connell, went to Minard to learn Irish as a lad back in the 1970s.  He and his mates from the Cabra area enjoyed “The Gaeler” (as they called the Gaeltacht) a lot, particularly as Dublin were pretty good at Gaelic Football at the same time!"

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Meanwhile in Muckross

On Muckross Traditional farms, the hay is saved in the old fashioned hay and is brought home to the barn on an old style hay float.

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Old Post box

This old post box is at The Six Crosses

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Lovely film of some of the highlights of Listowel Writers' Week 2014

http://youtu.be/DCKFZFG47Y0

Summer 2013

One of the very successful Gathering events of 2013 was the Stack clan gathering. Stacks of stacks and half stacks returned to their roots in Listowel for  short week of fun, entertainment and learning.

I attended their barbeque in The Square with my 2 grandsons.

We ate a pig that had been cooked on a spit.

Stuart Stack provided the musical entertainment. Here he is with his dad, Damien. Damien is the brains behind the clan gathering and he is already working on next year's event.

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A sign of the times in 21st. Century Ireland

(from Irish Central)

The first ever celebration of Polish heritage, history and culture in County Clare will be held later this month.

The three-week long Polish Festival will take place at Clare Museum in Ennis from 20th September to 12th October and is being targeted at the region’s significant Polish population.

There are more than 2,500 Polish people living in County Clare with an estimated 19,000 other Poles living in the surrounding counties of Galway, Limerick and Tipperary.

Amongst the free public events being hosted at Clare Museum will be lectures on Poland’s World War Two experience, Polish film screenings, an exhibition of Polish modern art, and a lecture by a Polish descendant of two Clare men who were shipwrecked in the Baltic Sea coast during the 17th century. The Festival is being supported by Clare Local Authorities and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Jakub Kacprzak, Organiser of the Polish Festival, said: “We are very excited about hosting the upcoming festival, the first of its kind ever to be held in Clare, a County that has been home to hundreds of Polish people for a number of years during which they have become active and valued members of the local community. The upcoming series of events will not only celebrate Poland’s rich culture and heritage but also will showcase some of the many connections and similarities between the people of Ireland and Poland. We look forward to welcoming all members of the local community to Clare Museum during the festival.

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Some Listowel premises that got a facelift during summer 2013

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I spent a week in Dublin in August. I became a culture vulture for the duration. I saw Cats in the Bord Gáis theatre.  I enjoyed the singing and dancing but I would have liked a storyline as well. I saw Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince in Bewleys at lunchtime. It was brilliant. I hope Joe gets to bring it to Listowel during Writers' Week. It is as good as you'll get for lunchtime entertainment.

I spent a very enjoyable morning in The National Gallery. You can borrow this phonelike gadget from the desk and if you see a picture with a number beside it, you enter the number in your gadget and you will hear a short guide to the picture; brilliant for people like me who are not too well up on art.

I saw an great exhibition of photographs on the subject of life in Pearse Street in The National Gallery of photography.

Below are a few photos I took to bring you a taste of summer in Dublin.

First up is the Listowel connection. I called to The Kilkenny shop to view Eileen Moylan's http://www.claddaghdesign.com
jewellery up there with all the best in Irish design. This very talented Listowel silversmith goes from strength to strength.

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This gimmick was proving popular with tourists. There was no set charge. You were expected to give a donation. You take the photo with your own camera.

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This leprechaun had a whole new take on the Irish myth. In his version of the story, you filled his pot of gold rather than the other way round.

The statue of Phil Linnott was back in place. Below are two tableaux of human statues on Grafton Street. These never fail to amaze me.

An Rás leaves town, Busking Day and some gathering events

Photo by Denis OCarroll of Listowel's Big Bridge and the River Feale taken on May 23 2013. Superb!

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These are some of the musicians and volunteers who worked so hard to make Friday's MS fundraiser such a hit.

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On May 21, as The Rás came through, the boys from Scoil Realt na Maidine were safely positioned behind the wall at The Slua Hall.

The following photos are of local people out in the sunshine to enjoy the excitement. It was great to see such a positive buzz in town and everyone forgot about recession for a day or two.

Some people were working; John McCarthy is welcomed home by his daughter after the finish in his hometown, Listowel. Press photographer, John Reidy was snapping some local colour.

Some local media and local supporters.

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The Gathering

Dont forget tomorrow night Tuesday May 28 RTE will repeat The Gathering Homeward Bound with Tadhg Kennelly.

In conjunction with The Gathering there are lots and lots of Clan and family gatherings taking place.

On the left is Martin Griffin. He, along with the Lartigue crew, is planning a gathering of descendants of people who worked on the monorail. This is planned for later on in the year. I'll keep you posted.

Junior tells me that he is Griffin from both sides of his family. Both Griffin sides are planning a family reunion .

This is Damien Stack's photo of his family shop which was established in 1910. The gathering of the Stack clan back to their Listowel roots promises to be a great hooley.

The Stack Clan and all its branches and adopted sons and daughters will make their way to Listowel  from July 19 to July 22 for a packed weekend.

https://www.facebook.com/stack.clangathering?fref=ts

Meanwhile in Dingle all this week a week of events to welcome scattered descendants of Corcha Dhuibhne emigrants is taking place.

I read all about it here:

Find your Kerry Ancestors

"The Dingle Peninsula has a unique and complex history.   A lot of damage was inflicted on the Peninsula during the course of the Second Desmond Rebellion, the Nine Years War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Its remoteness and isolation may have protected it from the worst excesses of the Williamite War and the 1798 Rebellion.  

 It is one of the places in Kerry thas has experienced the highest level of emigration over the past  three hundred years.   

 It was particularly devastated during the Famine, with up to 5000 people dying in the Dingle Workhouse alone.   The Kerry Examiner of 8 February 1847, records ‘The state of the people in Dingle is horrifying.  Fever, famine and dysentery are daily increasing, deaths from hunger daily occurring.  From all parts of the country, they crowd into the town for relief and not a pound of meal is to be had in the wretched town for any price’.   

Thankfully all these wars and famines are behind us and the Dingle Peninsula has survived.

This year, the year of The Gathering, the people of the Dingle Peninsula are taking the opportunity to welcome back our diaspora from all over the world so as that they too might experience The Corca Dhuibhne Peninsula, the Gaeltacht, the friendliness of our people, the goodness of our food and the wealth of our culture, language and heritage.  
Corca Dhuibhne – one of the most beautiful places on earth. 

 23rd May to 30th May 2013."

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Joanne Dillon sends us this link to a very poignant article from Irish Central.  It tells the fate of many Irish immigrants who died in quarantine.