Growing up in Listowel in the fifties

Paths

The hedge is coming along nicely in this path into the Garden on Europe

 Daffodils are breaking through at the foot of the MacMahon Bay tree.

This tree stump must have been identified as a trip hazard. These two traffic cones have appeared around it.

Everywhere there are bare branches and carpets of fallen leaves.

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Happy Listowel Memories Continued

 by Maria Sham

The Canty family

Maria's brother Neilie's communion

My cousin Betty lived across the road from Nan and we would get together in Nan’s back garden and make a hut pretending that we lived there. We would make a fire and roast potatoes.  We never got food poisoning. That could be down to the cup of senna we had to drink every Saturday morning; the most dreadful taste ever.

Nan also had blackcurrant bushes and she made wonderful jam. When we had a cold we would put a spoonful in a cup with hot water and drink. Just like Ribenia today.

I was sometimes a bit naughty at Nan’s. When she called me for school, I would pretend to be up and tap my shoe on the floor. Of course I was still in bed. Nan would think I was up, then it was a mad rush to get to school on time.

 I was living at Nan's when I heard that my dad had to go into hospital in Dublin. He had damaged his eye at work. Dublin is a long way from our town so we could not visit. I was in the bedroom saying a prayer for dad and crying, when Cousin Betty barged in and then ran and told dad. I hated fuss and wanted my prayer to be private; I was embarrassed when dad arrived to comfort me. He told me everything would be all right. I also remember him coming home from hospital and bringing me a doll almost as big as myself and a sailor doll for Doreen. I can still remember those dolls now after all those years, mine with a china head and wearing a lovely bonnet and dress with flowers, Doreen’s doll had blond hair and had on a sailor suit.

My best friends growing up and at school were Siobhan Loughnane and Joan Slemon. We had great times; we would walk home from school by the bank of the river and pretend all kinds of adventures. We were real tomboys. We were The Three Musketeers!

Maria in her school photo

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A New Carpark

If you were wondering what the council were going to do with the Neodata site, here is your answer...for the time being anyway.

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Tae Lane is Changing

Corridan's Estate Agents has opened next door to Joe Broderick's

Garden of Europe in Winter, Memories of growing up in Listowel and a Kind Lady

Garden of Europe in January 2017

The Garden of Europe looks very bare these days. A lot of cutting back and clearing work has been done and we are in the fallow period before the spring growth.

Hydrangeas look ugly when they are dead.

Schiller looks exposed without his dress of yellow roses.

 The soil is wet and spongy.

A few last primroses add a hint of colour to the dead leaves.

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"....That best portion of a good's life; 

His little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and of love"  Wordsworth

These little caps for premature babies were knitted in Listowel by a lady called Eunice Perrin. Eunice loves to knit and she spends her evenings knitting these little caps which she donates to CUH Maternity hospital. She has knitted hundreds so far and the hospital is extremely grateful. 

As an infection control measure these lovely little handmade caps are used only once.

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Maria Sham Remembers    (continued)

 Maria's Nan

 A young Maria with her nan

I was 6 years when I went to live with my Grandmother Canty. She only lived at the other end of the road from mam. It was this year also I made my first Holy Communion. The nuns would treat us to breakfast as then you had to be fasting to receive Holy Communion. The breakfast was cocoa and bread and jam.

Maria on her first communion day.

Grandmother Canty was a dressmaker and I would sit under her old sewing machine and make rag dolls out of all the scraps. Nan, as we called her, would sew special long drawers for the local nurse and I was delighted to deliver them as I would get 2p for delivery.

My Grandmother Canty loved to go to the Sunday matinee in the cinema and I would have to accompany her. On Monday morning at school, Sister would ask who went to the cinema. I would have to own up and then get the bamboo on the back of the hands. So it went on every Monday, until I got wise and kept my mouth shut and some traitor in the class would tell on me and I would get double punishment.

At Nan Canty's we had a dog named Teddy, a mixed breed, and for some reason this dog followed me every place. It was like the rhyme Mary had a little lamb. Teddy would be waiting for me after school.  That was lovely! But it happened that one Sunday he followed me into the church when I had gone to Mass. My embarrassment when I saw Teddy up at the altar; well you can imagine the Canon calling to whoever owned this dog to remove him. Of course I was almost under the seat hidden by my friends. It took two men to get hold of Teddy and get him out. Some time later he had an accident and did not survive. Poor Teddy!

(more tomorrow)

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This photo of the Ballybunion Road at Convent Cross brought back happy memories to one blog follower, Marie (Nelligan) Shaw.

She sent me the following email;

Love the picture of Ballybunion Rd. The middle house belonged to my grandmother and I was mostly raised there. The first one belonged to Tim and Josephine O'Sullivan. And the third one, owned by Jack & Kate Thornton who operated a sweet shop. It was subsequently owned by Albert & Mary Kennedy who had a local grocery there.
Great memories of simpler times and fun filled days.
Thanks Mary,
Marie Shaw

Maria Sham Remembers Growing up in Listowel in the 1950s

Medieval Style

Mallow Camera Club organised a novel event for its members. Here are two of Jim MacSweeney's great shots from the event.


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Ballybunion Memories

Mairead Gorman found this and posted it on her Facebook page. Sr. Lucy O'Sullivan and some Ballybunion  girls on their confirmation day.


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Success for Pres. Girls

Presentation Listowel badminton team who recently won the County schools competition.


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If we could turn back time.....

Maria (Canty) Sham grew up  in Listowel in the 1950s. She had a very happy childhood and a few years ago she decided to write down her memories so that her English family would learn something about their Irish heritage.

Maria has very kindly shared these memories and her photographs with us. Her experiences will be similar to many others so I'm sure many in the Listowel Connection community will enjoy this trip down Memory Lane. I will serialise Maria's reminiscences over the next few days.

I was born on the 1st May 1938 to Bridget and Timothy Canty,

the third of their children and the first daughter. They had moved into 68 O’Connell’s Avenue and I was the first of the family born there.

 It was May Eve and mam always said the fairies brought me or maybe Duffy’s Circus which was in town that night. I was christened Mary Ellen after my grandmother Moloney. My brothers were Neilie and Paddy. My sister Doreen was born 3 years after, and our brother Junie came along 10 years later.

 We lived on a council estate, a very close and friendly neighbourhood. Everyone knew their neighbours and watched out for each other. The children all went to the same school and the same church. Neighbours would pop in to one another for a chat or to borrow something. I remember that we always left our door key on the door. There was never any crime.

I went to the Listowel Convent School when I was 5 years old and sorry to say hated every day. The nuns then were very strict and in those days were not allowed outside the walls of the convent.  I am sure if they had more patience I could have learned a lot more. My favourite subjects were History and English which I love to this day and later on the cookery class. I wish now I had paid more attention and learned to speak Irish; I found it very hard to get a grasp of.   It would be nice to be able to speak my own language.

Timothy and Bridget Canty

Maria's parents, her uncle, Peter and their next door neighbour, Jack Hurley

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.