March 17 2013 in Listowel and a Glasgow Celtic connection

This is Listowel town square on March 17 2013 as the crowd waits for the annual parade to come up Bridge Rd.

some well known faces marching with the Gaelscoil

section of the crowd

Dromclough dancers

A Polish dog

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A clip of John Stack's dancers from St. Patrick's Day 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAC46zJ2LFA&feature=youtu.be

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Another event which took place on March 17 was a cycle from Listowel to Abbeyfeale in support of the extension of The Great Southern Way. I met this pair in The Square on their way home after their round trip.

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A very successful St. Patrick's weekend Gathering event was Tralee International Marathon

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In my old yearbook from 1992 I found a very interesting article where some girls wrote about their famous granduncles.

Here are two of the accounts

My great grand uncle founded Glasgow Celtic

Mairéad Mahony, 1 Bríd 

It wasn’t through Packie  Bonner, our famous football star, that I became a fan of Glasgow Celtic.  My interest began years before that as my great-grand uncle, Fr. John Foley (1860 – 1953), was one of the founders of the club.  He died in his native Tralee in the 93^rd year of his life and 64^th year of his priesthood.

            He frequently paid the rent of the club’s first pitch out of his own pocket.  Fr. Foley was in his younger days a crack athlete, a first-class boxer, cricketer, footballer and walker.  When he was over 60, a walk of twenty miles in four hours was nothing to him.

            He was a man to make you turn and stare in the street.  Even in his advanced  years he had the build of a giant and the springing walk of a perfectly trained athlete.

            I am really proud to see how well Glasgow Celtic, which he helped to found, has done since.

Bishop Patrick Joseph Keane, Sacramento

Ciara O’Connor, 1 Bríd 

My great grand-uncle, Patrick Joseph Keane, was born in Barraduff, Lisselton on 6^th January, 1852.  He was educated at St. Michael’s College, Listowel and later at St. Patrick’s College, Carlow.

             Pope Pius X1 appointed Fr. Keane as auxiliary to Bishop Grace of Sacramento on 10^th September, 1920.  After the death of Bishop Grace, Fr. Keane was appointed Bishop of Sacramento.  He was responsible for updating the historic Sacramento Cathedral.  Bishop Keane died on 1^st September, 1928.

            The family of Bishop Keane was indeed a distinguished one.  Bishop Keane’s brother was Governor of Assam from 1932 until he died at the age of 63 in London.  He had served as State Secretary in India from 1917 to 1921. 

            Bishop Keane had another two brothers, Rev. W. Keane who was Parish Priest in Killorglin, and Rev. John Keane who was a Jesuit in St. Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, Dublin.

            I am very proud of my great grand-uncles as, indeed are his relatives to this day in the parish of Ballydonoghue.

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For my Cork followers

The Coal Quay/Cornmarket St. 1905

Turf and the plight of our bog lovers due to EU regulations was a theme of the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Turf and the bogs from which it comes is deeply rooted in our DNA. The following photos from Bord na Mona show some of the lengths our ancestors went to to bring turf to everyone.

The Brush Dance, parade photos and Teen SpiriT

Watch these flying feet as a lovely  lass dances the brush dance on St. Patrick's Day 2013 in Listowel Town Square.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eqBxreqvdo&feature=youtu.be

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Tales from the Big House; David Norris meets the Knight of Glin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGrCCGLlBTk&feature=share

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More parade photos

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Jer Kennelly recorded the Teen SpirtiT  concert on Weds. night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me_JLLN4a8g&feature=youtu.be

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St. Patrick's day card from 1917

This is a Cumann na mBan card. The brass buttons depicted on the card were those of the Irish Volunteers. A harp was depicted separating the I and the V.

St. Patrick's Day in Listowel 2013 and some more 1974 ads.Old ads,

Fran's the man alright. A great start to his papacy. Let's hope the humility and empathy filters down the ranks as he follows in the footsteps of the fisherman.

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A short video I made on St. Patrick's Day 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5uUQsxMWJQ&feature=youtu.be

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A few more photos from the parade

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More ads from panto programme 1974

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Nice one!

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From the official website of the GAA to publicize the next round of the Allianz football league and the clash of the old rivals.

St. Patrick's Day in Listowel, Holyoke and Breezy Point

Two little girls in Kerry colours

Billy Keane M.C.

One of the many old cars

Scoil Realta na Maidine

Listowel Tidy Town Group

Boys Primary School

watching it all

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Fealegood"s video of the parade.  Enjoy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My3TjmDoTuU&feature=share

The Holyoke parade is here

http://www.masslive.com/st-patricks-day/index.ssf/2013/03/2013_holyoke_st_patricks_parad_3.html

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Breezy Point Irish united in building for the future
The Irish Examiner
By Mary Regan, Political Correspondent, New York

“It’s east Ireland over here,” explained Jim Killoran in his green baseball cap on his way to Mass.Others have nicknamed this place “the Irish Riviera”. But it didn’t feel like your typical St Patrick’s Day. 

Here in Breezy Point in Queens, New York, the mostly Irish residents have been coming to terms with the devastation left by Hurricane Sandy which battered down their seaside homes last October. Their St Patrick’s Day was not a celebration of craic and ceoil and culture of the old sod, but more a quiet appreciation of the spirit that has helped them slowly rebuild their neighbourhood — one of the worst affected by the severe weather that hit the East Coast of America five months ago. 

More than 700 were evacuated and some 126 houses here burnt to the ground by a fire that struck with the storm. The wrecked houses, most with battered American flags out front, now have marks of red, green or amber, showing whether they are still too dangerous to enter, or whether people could start moving back in.

The Irish community gathered in the St Thomas Moore Church yesterday and for the St Patrick’s Day Mass and prayed to “remain strong and generous” as they rebuild their “lives and homes”. Taoiseach Enda Kenny joined them at the church after taking a stroll along the streets where piles of rubble showed signs of the lives people had previously enjoyed in their homes


For Valerie Gilson, both the Irish tricolour and American flag mark the front of where her home once was. She is still waiting for the demolition of what remains of her house, which was bought by her family, who moved from Corbally in Limerick. 

“One of the things we found in the house that wasn’t destroyed was our Irish flag. We put it on the flagpole at the end of the wall — the American flag and the Irish flag — it helped us to see where our home was because all the landmarks had been destroyed,” she said. 

“It is one of the things that comes from the Irish. We always hung together, we always helped each other out, but also helped other communities that needed it. It was nice to see all that help coming back to us.” 

Brian Heffernan, from Waterford, and his wife, Carmel, from Limerick, who emigrated in the 1980s, are hoping to move back into their home here in the next two months. It was not destroyed, but severely damaged. Brian says there had been phenomenal support from Irish volunteers who have helped with gutting homes and reconstruction efforts. “There’s a lot of comradery in the community, everyone helping everybody,” he said. 

As the church gathering moved next door to the Monsignor Connolly Hall for tea and soda bread, the Taoiseach explained to them the meaning of the word “meitheal”: “It means the gathering of communities or a community effort,” he said. “That’s why what happened here, from an Irish perspective, is something that is deep with us, within our DNA if you like, to help others.” 

Meanwhile, Jim Killoran, whose parents came from Sligo, was chatting to people he has helped through his Habitats for Humanity volunteer group. He said the generosity of spirit has helped the people here through the difficult time and they “will rise again; we’ll celebrate next St Patrick’s Day with everyone in their home”. 

Valerie said that, regardless, some treasures of her Irish heritage have been saved. 

“My mother had from her great grandmother a little teapot that had come from Ireland. We took that out and some other things from my grandmother’s and we are just waiting for it to be demolished,” she said. 

But she hopes to be back in the house this time next year: “It would be nice, I hope so. But on St Patrick’s Day we will be celebrating, no matter where we are.”

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John Kelliher took this priceless photo.