I Remember, Sr Austin R.I.P.

I Remember

This achingly sad short film is well worth 5 minutes of your time.

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22 of America's 44 presidents claim Irish ancestry.  Read all about them here

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=502993933076235&set=a.186594394716192.42310.174664185909213&type=1

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Especially for Karen; Fr. Michael and Jim Kiely

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This week I heard an interesting little anecdote from Kay Caball. Kay grew up in Gurtinard House. She read on the blog the story of Kilmorna House and the disappearance of the crown jewels and she was transported back to her childhood and a piece of mischief linked to that story.

 "A number of famous (and infamous) people have visited Gurtinard over the years - but one was Arthur Vickers'  wife who was brought in to Gurtinard  from Kilmorna when her husband was killed.   When we were young we had always heard this and being very imaginative, we decided that she had brought the Irish Crown Jewels with her and we would search and find them.  (We were obviously reading too many adventure stories).  So with time on our hands once, when my mother was out, we got a kitchen knive and attacked some of the beautiful pannelled wainscotting in the hall in the hopes of coming accross them, but no luck. .  As you can imagine, my mother was NOT impressed on her return and that was the end of us searching anywhere in the house  for the Crown Jewels."

Kay is currently researching the stories of the orphan girls sent from Kerry workhouses to Australia under the Earl Grey Scheme. She intends publishing a book on the girls and their descendants.

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Our twin town.

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I met Bríd and Bill Quigley out and about early on Wednesday morning.

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Coming soon to St. John's The Highest House on the Mountain.

I took my friends, Margo and Eamon Kelly on a tour of the town. Here they are admiring the Nano Nagle statue.

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+R.I.P. Sr. Austin +

DEATH took place on February 11^th  2013 of Sr. Austin Brosnan late of Presentation Convent Listowel and Inchabee, Farranfore and Fatima Home, Tralee. She was daughter of Pat Brosnan and Ellen Collins and was born on 22 April 1916 and called Margaret Mary. Sr Austin was professed at Oakpark, Tralee in 1939 and then went teaching at the Presentation Convent in Listowel. In the 1970s she went to help with religious  teaching and charitable work in California, returning to Listowel in 1991. Straight away she became involved in numerous charitable and religious activities, then he brother Monsignor John became ill and she cared for him for some time. Sr Austin Brosnan was  pre-deceased by her brothers, Monsignor John, Brother Carthage, Jerry and his wife Mary, Patsy and Dick and nephew Tom; deeply regretted by her loving Presentation Community, her niece Eileen, nephews Paddy, Ned, John, and Jeremiah, grandnieces, grandnephews. Requiem  Mass for Sr. Austin Brosnan was celebrated on Wednesday 13^th February ’13, Burial afterwards in the Presentation Convent Plot, St. Michael's Cemetery Listowel.

Listowel kids1994, Crusaders and GAA in 1880s

Due to the popularity of my previous young people photo here is another from the family album. This one is dated July 13 1994. Weren't they cute?

This was the previous photo and I have to apologize to two people I misidentified. The two girls I named as the Clifford sisters are in fact, Catherine Moylan and Mairead Regan (I think).

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This is The Square in Listowel on Saturday. Notice the people in the high vis tops. They are the Crusaders on their weekly run. These local people are a great example to  us all, a healthy lifestyle and lots of fundraising as well.

I "borrowed" this photo from Mary Toomey Roche's page.

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Do you remember this sound of summer?

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Timeline of GAA in Listowel from 1885 to 1899

June 27th 1885

Meeting to form G.A.A. Club was held. The following resolution was proposed and seconded: "That we, the people of Listowel in public meeting assembled, hereby establish a branch of the G.A.A." A club was then formed with the following officers: J. W. Keane was appointed President; M. Murphy, Vice-President; Richard Stack, Treasurer and M. J. Flavin, Honorary Secretary.

August 10th 1885

G.A.A. Club organised sports Meeting - no report.

November 1888

County Board formed: Listowel delegates present: Martin O'Sullivan and J. McGrath.

On Martin O’Sullivan's proposition T. Slattery was appointed chairman.

1889

1st County Championship

1st Round - Listowel (Feale Amateurs) defeated Irremore.

2nd Round. Tralee Mitchels defeated Listowel (Feale Amateurs)

April 28th 1889

First Town League recorded - William St. (Shamrocks) V Church St. (Amateurs)

1890

County Championship- Listowel defeated by Tralee Mitchels

1894

1st recorded Listowel team on print (Club History)

1895

Football Club split - 2 teams (Listowel Football Club) and Listowel Temperance Society Club (St Patrick's)

County Championship Draw: Listowel Football Club V Tralee Mitchels and St. Patrick's V Irremore

1896

Formation of Listowel Wild Geese.

1899

Opening of Listowel Sports field.

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The Real Taoiseach

Jack Lynch in 1957, dapper, as always

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JFK and family with dogs (photo from the JFK library)

Conferring of Diplomas in 1954, Super Valu and Horans

This is one of the photos in Vincent's Carmody's Listowel, Snapshots of an Irish Market Town.

A little known fact about Vincent is that he is related to two acclaimed writers, Richard and Stephen White. Below is what Stephen writes about Vincent's book in his Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/StephenWhiteBooks

"There seems to be no end to my writing relatives, or in the amazing number of writers who have roots in County Kerry, Ireland. I’ve written previously about my mother Sara’s background. She was born in Ballylongford in County Kerry and emigrated to Chicago during the Depression. Her life story on both sides of the Atlantic is chronicled in my older brother Richard’s book, "Ahanagran: A History of Stories." One of the important places in that history, and in my mother’s life, was the nearest market town to Ballylongford—the place my mother considered the big city, Listowel.

Now another relative—my second cousin, Vincent Carmody (his grandmother and my grandmother were sisters)—has written a glorious love letter to the Listowel of my mother’s youth. His handsome new book is called "Listowel: Snapshots of an Irish Market Town, 1850-1950." If you have any Irish in you, or in your background—or maybe just have a love of Irish history—it’s an entrancing look back at how your Irish ancestors lived, traded, and shopped. Consider taking a look."

High praise, indeed!

Vincent's book is available to purchase here

http://listoweloriginals.com/

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 From The Kerryman in 1954

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A few days ago I did a little photo essay of the refurbishment of this premises but I was reminded that I did not include a recent picture. So here it is, SuperValu as it is today.

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This is now, that was then....

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Martin Griffin's lovely old photo of his father, Andrew Griffin. In the background is the old mill in Greenville.

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A group of today's young Irish emigrants in Perth attempt to recreate the iconic image of Irish workmen in New York in the 1950s.

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 Trad Night is back

Friday night next in Tankers at 9.00 p.m.  A great session guaranteed.

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This is the way of the future

Massive kegs of Guinness being unloaded from boats from Holland at Dún Laoghaire on Monday night      (photo;  Emma McNamara)

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+  Eileen Larkin R.I.P. +

The death took place on 17 February 2013 of Eileen Larkin who was born at  Rathea, Listowel and was  Retired Public Health Nurse, Ballybunion. Requiem Mass for Eileen was celebrated on 19^th February 2013 in St. Bridget's Church, Duagh. Her body was donated to Medical Science, University College Cork.

Bord na Mona, Lidl in Listowel and Knitwits

This is the Whickham rail car which was used to ferry visitors around the Bord na Mona works. the passenger is Father Brown, the famous photographer of World War I and Titanic fame. He visited BnM in the late 1940s and took lots of photos. Here he is waiting for the visit to start.

In these 2 photos, Fr. Browne has alighted from the car and his hosts are moving it off the line and out of the way of the oncoming cart.

This photo from the Fr. Browne visit  is from Lyrecrompane or Barna . The McHenry lorry has "Kerry" written on its side. The lorry is being loaded with sod turf, probably for the Dublin market. At the same time a donkey and cart is also being loaded with turf for local delivery. The new and old way of delivering turf pictured side by side. 

Photos and text from

Bord na Mona Heartland

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Here is another of those old photos from Maurice MacMahon. On the right is Jim (Salmon) Roche. Another one for his family to enjoy at their upcoming family gathering. No one so far can name his companion.

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Lidl under construction

Excavating the site 2006

The walls have arrived.

August 2006

Lidl today


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KnitWits

To celebrate our 2nd. birthday and to coincide with our first Tuesday knit-in I will give you here a short history of KnitWits.

KnitWits, Listowel’s knitting and crochet group began life on February 12 2011.

Isobel Barrett put an ad in the library and in a few shop windows in town. We rang Isobel and she told us that the first meeting was organized for Saturday February 12 in Off the Square Café.

 10  knitters turned up. We drank coffee or tea and knitted away. Isobel decided on the name Knirvana. This name had been suggested to her by Martina in the library. It proved to be troublesome later when we established our web presence. People kept going to the website of the band of a similar name or else putting in Knitvana, so we changed to KnitWits, which is what Liam Hayes had always called us.

There are 6 of that original gang who still come regularly. People dropped out for various reasons but they are all welcome back at any time.

In 2012 the café closed and we were homeless for a few weeks before Isobel found us our new home in Scribes. We were very happy in Off the Square and we missed them at first but Scribes is a super location for us, bright and airy, comfortable, great food and lovely staff. Namir has become one of us and has made us all feel at home in his lovely restaurant.

Our numbers have swelled to roughly 20, 11 or 12 of whom come most Saturdays. We have a mix of ages but the majority of us are in the older category. We still remember the age when women knit all their families’ jumpers.

We count among us a goodly number of women who have lived most of their adult lives outside of Ireland. We have women who were born in England and Wales, women who were born in various counties of Ireland and were driven out by the last recession. We have blow- ins from Cork and other places further afield. This diversity adds spice to the chatter which is an essential part of our get- togethers.

What do we do between 11.00a.m. and 1.00p.m. ?

We knit or crochet, we exchange patterns, and we chat. We have a cuppa or a mini breakfast and we provide a support network for one another. We are friends.

We have adopted 2 charities, locally The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and globally Kozy Kaps 4Kids. We have got great pleasure and satisfaction from using our talents to help those less fortunate than us. So far we have raised €400 from our Christmas Craft Stall for St. Vincent de Paul and we have made over 100 caps for children undergoing chemotherapy.

We enjoy our sessions so much that we have decided to meet on two days per week in future. From this week, Knitwits will meet in Scribes on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 11.00 to 1.00. We welcome new people at any stage. While we do not give lessons, we are always willing to help a beginner or anyone who is encountering difficulties with a pattern.

We also reach out to our sister group who meet in The Family Resource Centre on Thursday nights. There is a significant overlap in our membership and we share an annual outing to The Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS Dublin in October.

We are on the web at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/KnitWits/134286519974162

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I got this email from Karen in the US

Hello,

Was wondering if you can help? We are trying to locate members of the Kiely family who we believe had a store in the town around the early 80s. May of been a son (?) of Cornelious Kiely and we think there may of been a brother who was a priest, possibly Michael. They had connections with the Kielys from Glin.

Any information at all would be very helpful.

Thank you very much.

Regards

Karen

I directed her here
http://churchstreet53.com/intro.html

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Kennedy's Bread, Vincent de Paul Society and KnitWits

Monday, Monday........


  Mid term break over, grandchildren returned to their parents and life is back to normal chez listowelconnection.

I was heading downtown on Saturday circa 10.45a.m. and the motorbike people were just gathering at The New Kingdom for their annual Nano Nagle fundraising run. They had a lovely day for it.

Further along Church St. I came across this other motor bike, a Garda vehicle waiting patiently

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KnitWits is 2 years old

This is the gang on Saturday in Scribes as we celebrated our birthday. We have grown so fond of our knitting and nattering that we are going to meet on Tuesdays as well. If you like to knit or crochet, why not pop in to Scribes any Tuesday between 11.00 and 1.00 and join us for a session.

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In case you missed it in the media, this is John Reidy's photo from last week's Kerryman accompanying a story telling of shocking levels of dependence on charity among our neighbours in North Kerry. The local conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society has seen an increase of 40% in demand for its services. Such is the number of people coming to them for help that they are opening a dedicated office, as the shop can no longer cope.

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I found this on Broadsheet under the title, "Yesterday's Bread Today"

"Kennedy’s Bread was a Dublin institution from as far back as the 1850s, when Peter Kennedy, the founder of the firm, took over an existing bakery in Great Britain Street (later Parnell Street).  Subsequently another branch was opened in Patrick Street. Kennedys not only survived with aplomb the Great Dublin Bakery Strike of the 1900s, but (unlike Bolands’ Mills and Jacobs’ Biscuits, which supplied their products free of charge and without consent) made a bit of a profit out of the Easter Rising by providing paid-for bread to the forces in the GPO.

Around this time the firm started manufacturing one of their most popular products, the Bermaline malt loaf (“brown bread that invites closer acquaintance… a crisp delicious crust which you will enjoy biting into… its flavour is altogether worthy of its looks”) to accompany that most popular Dublin staple, the Vienna Roll.
In 1938 Kennedys’ Well-Fruited Sultana and Madeira Cakes won first prize at the International Bakers and Confectioners Exhibition in the Royal Albert Hall, London, losing out narrowly to a rival firm for the Irish Challenge Shield.  And in 1953, just as rationing came to an end, the Kennedy Open Pan won first prize at the International Bakery Exhibition at the Mansion House, Dublin.
Things looked to be going well for Kennedys; but on Thursday the 3rd July 1971 breakfasters all over Dublin choked on their Bermaline toast at the announcement that the bakery end of the business, employing three-quarters of its 400-strong workforce, was to close.
Enter Brennan…

(Sibling of Daedalus)

Bread van

These boys were "guarding" the bread during the civil war.

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This is Martin Griffin's photo.

Back : Left to Right:  Michael O Connor, Jimmy ? Mahoney, Andrew Griffin and Ned Browne, all from O Connells Avenue  

Front is Vangy Hanlon 

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More from Bord na Mona

Visitors to Lullymore works on a Wickham railcar nicknamed "The Flying Commode". On the left is Griffith Owens, a Welshman who came to work in Turraun peat works in 1924. He then worked in Lullymore and was responsible for the development of the disc ditcher. On the right is CSV Smith of the Garrett Engineering Company, UK, who supplied some of the early peat machines. This was the first post war visit by Garretts to BnM.

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Plans to develop a primary care centre in Listowel have been given a go ahead. An Bord Pleanala has granted planning permission to Austin Dennany for the two-storey facility on Convent Road, Listowel. The plans comprise a regional primary care centre, a GPs care centre, and a medical suite, as well as 50 car parking spaces. Listowel Town Council granted planning permission, however that was appealed to An Bord Pleanala, which has now given the go ahead.

From Radio Kerry:

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+ Seán Óg OCeallacháin +

R.I.P. the voice of Sunday nights for so many years.