Garden of Europe, a poem and Eamon Keane remembered the Carnegie Library when it was playhouse

Carrigafoyle castle near Ballylongford, Co. Kerry

Photo by Ita Hannon

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A Poem to raise a smile

The optimist fell ten stories

And at each window bar

He shouted to the folks inside;

"I'm doing all right so far."

(Author unknown)

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Path to the river

This path runs beside the Garden of Europe and leads to the River Feale.

This stand of trees is relatively recent, certainly within the last 20 years.

This seat will be surrounded by wild garlic in a few weeks.

The Garden of Europe is looking very bare these days.

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When is a Library not a Library?

This building at Upper Church Street, Listowel was at one time used as a classroom. But Vincent Carmody reminds us that it was also once used as a playhouse.

Here is a quotation from Eamon Keane's introduction to Vincent's Not Kerry Camera;

"I looked across at the old Library Hall last week and saw again, in my minds eye, Horatio, the old yellow poster on the billboard outside:  

For one week only- Anew McMaster and Full Supporting Company, In a Season of Plays Mostly by William Shakespeare'

As an entranced fifteen year old I had seen Mac as Oedipus (by Euripides) along with Patrick Magee and Donal Wherry playing in the same hall to a spellbound audience of locals, mountainy men and well- read countrymen. Some even sat on the window -sills, so packed was the auditorium"

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Weren't Healyracing a credit to Listowel on the telly?

I took this photo a few years ago of Cathy Healy and her beloved dad, Liam.
He would have been so so proud of her and of all his family on Nationwide.
In case you missed it, here's the link to the programme on RTE player

Nationwide from Castleisland and Listowel

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Cranes as Symbols of Recovery

Upper Church Street late February 2018

Doran's Pharmacy is getting there.

The view from Courthouse Road

West Clare Railway; a Listowel Connection and Ballincollig Fairy Trail

In the Gap of Dunloe

photo: Chris Grayson

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Every Picture Tells a Story

This photo was shared on a site about old Dublin. It was taken in 1917 in the Dublin National Shell Factory and it shows women transporting shells to a storehouse.

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In a Clare Railway Station

This photo is in the archives in Co. Clare Library and this is the caption;
Kilkee Railway Station, Mary T. Hynes and Mick Lenihan from Listowel, the last station master of Kilkee Railway station photographed in the station.
The year is given as 1956 and the donors of the photo to the library are Ignatius Lenihan and Mary T. Hynes

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I've been away with the fairies

Many towns nowadays are pandering to the demand for dwellings for  the fairy folk. Ballincollig has a lovely small trail with fairy houses and fairy stuff galore.

This is th waterfall Ballincollig Regional Park. The Fairy Trail is nearby.

As in real life, so it is in Fairyland. Some fairy folk are rich and have lovely houses, some have to work hard, repairing wings and collecting baby teeth and some just put their names on a door and disappear.

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Third Generation Healy is a Front Page Photographer

This photo of the Irish Field front page was tweeted by Healyracing. They are so proud to see the legacy is secure.
Someone in heaven is smiling right now.

Clifton Clowers Badminton, The Men's Confraternity and Barna Station

Beale Robin Welcomes the Spring

Photo: Ita Hannon

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"I don't care about Clifton Clowers…."

Have you ever wondered who this man mentioned in the song, "Wolverton Mountain was?

Wonder no more. Maura Brennan found the answer and the picture in an Appalachian Americans website;

Here is one of the "greatest generation" people who made this country great. This is a picture of Clifton Clowers plowing his field at the age of 100. Clowers was the subject of a Merle Kilgore hit song called "Wolverton Mountain." Mr. Clowers lived to be 102 (1891 - 1994) where he actually lived and farmed that land on Wolverton Mountain. A solid American who was just who he was, although he rubbed shoulders with a lot of famous people after the song was written about him. 

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Healyracing Took Some Great pictures at Tattersalls Recently

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When Listowel Men Retreated to Limerick


(photo and text: Vincent Carmody)

The Listowel Men's Confraternity and Limerick Retreat.


The Listowel men's confraternity had it's origins in the early part of the 1900's and it continued until its gradual demise and ending in the latter part of the 1950's. The ladies of the parish were attached to a religious movement named, The Children of Mary. 


The Men's Confraternity was attached to St. Mary's Parish Church. As part of its discipline, each member had a duty to attend monthly confession and communion. The confraternity, was divided up among the various streets and areas of the parish, with each area designated so many pews in the church, for the monthly mass. The first pew of each section, hosted a wooden standard with the name of the area, held in place by it's insertion into brass ring holders, which were screwed onto the middle aisle side of each pew. These brass rings remain to this day. Now some serve as flower arrangement holders on wedding days.
 The wooden standards carried, on top, a wooden, icon like board, on this was printed an image of a particular saint, whose patronage was bestowed on the different areas. When not in use, these standards were stored, mounted on frames, located in the inner porches, left and right of the main entrance of the church. Each section had a steward, his job, to maintain a confraternity notebook, into which he marked, like the old school roll books, the attendance record of each member. 
On completion of 25 years membership, one was presented by a medal of commemoration, by the  Bishop of Kerry.

A rare 1960s photograph above  was taken on a weekend retreat at the Redemptorist Retreat House in Limerick. Each year Listowel men of various persuasions, including, Retirees, Coach Makers, Harness Makers, Licence Vintners , Farmers, Builders Providers, Accountants, Schoolboys, Factory Workers, Electricians. Solicitors, Garage Mechanics , Agricultural Advisers, Post Office Employees, School Caretakers, Urban Council Employees, Confectionery Wholesalers, Plasterers, College Professors and Secondary School Teachers, Blacksmiths, Veterinary Assistants, Electrical Contractors and Electricians , Civic Guards, Firemen, Hardware store Assistants, Tailors, Footballers, Dancers, Building Contractors, Lorry Drivers and Creamery Workers, Actors and Play-Actors, Conformists and Nonconformists, Publicans and Tipplers, and many more, of different trade and political persuasions, would gather for a weekend of prayerful reflection, and as one participant later told me, 'for a peaceful and restful weekend away from a nagging partner.'

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Badminton Winners of Yesteryear

Anne Marie and Mary O'Donoghue with Majella Maher.

(photos: Junior Griffin)

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Liam Downes photos of Barna Railway Station Then and Now

St. John's, Berenice Holmes visits her Listowel Connections and I saw Room and was Wowed

From Time Travel Kerry

-St Johns Church Listowel-

This is a former Church of Ireland Gothic style church, located in the centre of the Town Square. In 1814 the site for the church was presented to the community by Lord Listowel. A Cork architect, James Payne designed the church and it was used by the faithful of North Kerry as a place of worship from its completion in 1819 until its deconsecration in 1988. The Church of Ireland community and the people of Listowel were keen to preserve the building and make it a centre for local cultural activities and heritage.
It now houses a fine Theatre & Arts Centre and also a Tourist Office. St. John's Theatre & Arts Centre features an annual programme of performances including theatre, music and dance, exhibitions and educational programmes and an annual summer school.

(Original photo, late 1800s, unknown)
(Modern photo - July 2014)
(Historical ref - Listowel.ie)

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A Visitor Who Fell in Love with Listowel

Berenice Holmes sent me this account of her very enjoyable trip to Ireland in 2015. It's lovely to hear a first hand account from a visitor who had a great time here. 

My name is Berenice Holmes and I get your Listowel Connection every day and enjoy reading through it. I thought it was about time I managed to share my wonderful trip to Ireland and Listowel with my husband Lionel last September 2015..

I started out a few years ago now asking on your blog how I could find out about my ancestors from Listowel. My Mum was always telling me all my life I needed to go to Ireland to see where her Grandmother came from in County Kerry which she was told was the most beautiful place on earth.

For a long time I had no idea where in County Kerry she came from but gradually I got more information and getting my Great-Grandmother’s Marriage and Death Certificate they both said born in Listowel. (Abt.1850).  My Great Grandmother was Mary McKenna and she emigrated to Australia around 1871
and married William Ives in Queensland in 1877. My relatives are the McKenna’s of Listowel. My ancestors go back to Thomas McKenna and Joanna Ffoulkes who have some stories written about them and the uprising around 1879.

I have always had a longing to come to Ireland but could not make the trip as I needed to look after my Mother who passed away on the 1^st November 2014 at 94 yrs.  She would have been 95 in January 2015.

We had the most wonderful 2 weeks driving around Ireland and looking at places where my ancestors had lived on my Dad’s side in Northern Ireland.  We eventually arrived in Listowel on the Sunday of Race Week in September.  We stayed for 4 days with Kathy Walsh at Gurtenard House.

That was wonderful. Kathy is just a great person.

Then we got to meet Jack and Sue McKenna.  Jack is Mum’s second cousin and mine as well.  We spent the afternoon with them and it was the highlight of my trip to Ireland to meet them both I just couldn’t believe we were finally here.  It felt like I had come home even though home for me is Australia.

It really added a another dimension to my family and for me filled in some of my missing relatives.  We spent the next morning with Sue and her son John and they took us to the old Kilshenane Cemetery to see some of the McKenna graves and up to see the old farm house.  This was again another wonderful experience for us.  The warmth and friendliness that we both felt from family, friends and anyone we met in Ireland was wonderful and really blew us away.

We had a wonderful time at the Listowel Races on the Wednesday for the Kerry National.  I have attached a photo of us at the races.  We really enjoyed being in Listowel over those 4 days and it was hard to leave.  We got to meet a couple of people while we were there – Damian Stack and

Billy Keane (outside his pub) and also Gerard Greaney of Forur Genealogy while we were at Gurtenard House with Kathy. We got to go out to Ballybunion and along to the Bromore Cliffs which we loved as we were there on our own and no tourist crowds crowding out the place.  We met the

Farmer and a good chat with him and got to give some attention to the beautiful grey horse out there.

We went down to Newmarket in County Cork for a visit to where my G.G.Grandfather John McAuliffe was born in 1836.  He emigrated to Australia around 1867.  He is my Mum’s G.Grandfather on her dad’s side.  While we were in Newmarket we were introduced to Maurice Angland and he took
about 2 hours of his time to take us around Newmarket and show us things about the McAuliffes the cemetery, the McAuliffe crest on the outskirts of the town and the new Clann Building they are restoring as a community centre there as well as use by the Clann and then shared coffee with us.
That just blew us away again on how people would go out of their way to help us.  It seemed every time we turned around someone was there to welcome and help us.

This trip has not satisfied my hunger for coming back to Ireland.  We are hoping to get back again maybe sometime next year and if so we will make Listowel our base and stay with Kathy at Gurtenard house again and get to see more of County Kerry and the locals in Listowel and get

to feel like a local.  We would dearly love to catch up with Jack & Sue McKenna if we can.  The only thing that would stop us coming back would be our health which is very good at the moment.  Lionel is 80 yrs and I am 75yrs. We don’t feel old.  It is a very long haul trip by plane from Australia but I am

sure we can do it.  Kathy is very keen for us to come back again.

Berenice and Lionel at Listowel Races.

Berenice's photo of Bromore.

Bart gives Lionel a warm Kerry welcome.

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Presentation Convent, Listowel had a really beautiful front garden

(Photos: Tim Griffin R.I.P.)

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Room is Brilliant

photo; Official poster

I saw Room this week. It's a long time since I was so blown away by a film. If the Oscar for best film was in my gift, there would not be a moment's hesitation before I awarded it to Room.

Jacob Tremblay as Jack stole the show. The twists and turns of this story of an exploration of human relationships was brilliantly depicted in this masterpiece.  See it.

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Done it Again

In the very competitive world of press photography Listowel's own Healy Racing are up there with the best.
The photo above shows a racehorse being hosed down after a race. It's this eye for the unusual shot that makes these superb photographers stand out from the pack.

Today, January 21 2016,  the Irish Independent have a heartwarming Healyracing photo on the front page. Once more this Listowel photographer has shown that unequalled eye for  spotting "the money shot".
The photo in today's paper is taken at the Races but not on the track. It's a heartwarming human interest photograph of a jockey signing an autograph for a young fan .   Respect!

Book Launch in The National Library, Apprenticeship, Auschwitz Remembered and another great Healy photograph

Building at Ballybunion

Photo; Ballybunion Prints


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Sometimes a Book can be declared a Treasure

When Vincent Carmody launched his great book, (pictured above)  in the National Library a few years ago, he was surrounded on the night by his family and by some illustrious North Kerry people who now live in Dublin.
The book is still available from Vincent and should be in every home with a Listowel connection.

Standing are Kevin Carmody, Vincent's son, who returned from the U.S. for the event and Sr. Maura, Vincent's sister who, sadly, passed away before Christmas 2015.
In front are Vincent and his wife, Kathleen

Back L to R ; Eamon OMurchú, Katie Hannon, Maurice Hayes, John Coolahan and Cyril Kelly

Front; Vincent Carmody and Jimmy Deenihan

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An Apprentice's Lot was not a easy one

Jackie Lenihan of Charles St. Listowel, grandfather of Donal Linehan, rugby player was a carpenter. He took apprentices to train in to the trade. One of these apprentices was James Enright, father of Mike Enright of Ballybunion. Mike has his father's apprenticeship contract. It makes interesting reading.

It reads more like a monk's contract to me. Apparently it was the standard agreement for all apprenticeships back in the day.

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Do you Remember when Mill Lane looked like this?

(photo: John Kelliher)

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 Bob Geldof's wedding to Paula Yates in 1986

Photo: Rare Irish Stuff

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Seventy Years ago this week

Photo: Alien West

This image, taken at the liberation of Auschwitz, is just as shocking today as it was then.
We need to remind ourselves often of this enormous inhumanity.  Our ancestors who fought in WW11 fought to put an end to this.

We will get a chance to remember all the victims of war everywhere at Listowel Military Tattoo 

April 29 to May 1 2016

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Wow,Wow,Wow

What a snap!

There are three heroes here;

A great horse, Killultagh Vic, who recovered from this mishap  at the last to go on to win his race at Leopardstown yesterday, January 17 2016,

A great jockey, Ruby Walsh, who employed all of his considerable skills to stay on board and steer his mount to victory once again,

AND

 Listowel's great racing photographer, Pat Healy of Healyracing who captured the moment for all time.

Well done all.