A Bike, Carriage Arches, "Consumption" in 1913 and Ballydonoghue grotto

Bike as advertising vehicle in Washington Street, Cork

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Bibiana Foran, Women's National Health Association

This article from The Kerry Sentinel of March 12 1913 describes some of Bibiana Foran's work for the promotion of women's health in her role as Lady Guardian.

Mrs B Foran, P.L.G, Listowel, and Hon Secretary of the Listowel branch of the Women’s National Health Association, and official lecturer under that association, continues the able lectures which she commenced some months ago with much ability and success. 

The lecturer who, perhaps, is one of the most popular and, at the same time, practical exponent of the ideas of noble Association with which she is and has been associated from its establishment, has met with hearty greetings wherever she visited in the perseverance of her noble work. The subjects with which she so easily and lucidly deals with, are the cause and the remedy of tuberculosis. 

Last week she visited districts within a few miles of Listowel, her headquarters, such as Coilbee, Lixnaw, Finuge and Irremore, where she lectured with very considerable effect, and where she was, as the Lady Guardian,’ very enthusiastically received by her rural admirers. In all cases and in all places the lectures were- highly appreciated, as enlightening the people how to successfully cope with the preventable, and, in many cases, curable disease of what is ordinarily known as consumption.

As a rule the eloquent lecturer starts off with : ” What is Consumption,” and ” How to Avoid the Contagion,” What to do with people so afflicted, and, as a member of the County Kerry Insurance Committee, she generally asks her audience to let her know whenever there is any suspicion of the disease apparent in any of their families in order that she might be prepared to be in a position to render her best assistance with a view to the prevention of the dread malady. But what the interesting lecturer lays special stress and emphasis on is the absolute necessity of people being sent for treatment the moment even the “suggestion of the disease evidences itself, for in cases where the evil had to any extent developed the chances of recovery were always against the patient. 

Everywhere the lecturer has appeared, it is needless to say, she has been received with a hospitality which is only considered consummate with the great and humane efforts which an able and philanthropic personage deserves at the hands of a grateful but stricken humanity.

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Carriage Arches

Because of Listowel's veritable warren of back lanes many of the old carriage arches have been left intact in order to allow access to the back ways.

The Square

This one is in Church Street. You can see what remains of the jostle stone at the right of your picture.

This carriage arch is in The Square next to Danny Hannon's. Its two jostle stones are still intact.

Carriage arch with fanlight at Listowel Arms Hotel

This is beside the AIB bank. This tall narrow doorway allowed a horse to get to there stables at the back of this building.

In Church Street

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Ballydonoghue Grotto

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Listowel, The Town that Keeps on Winning 

One hundred towns in Ireland have  made the long list for the prestigious Retail Excellence Awards, seven are in Kerry and five of those are in Listowel.

Listowel Garden Centre, John R’s, Lizzy’s Little Kitchen, McKenna’s, and Coco Boutique, all from Listowel, have been listed in this year’s Top100 stores.

According to Radio Kerry   "The Top30 stores will be announced on September 22nd, and that will be whittled down to the Top 3 finalists and winners in sectoral categories.

An awards ceremony will then be held on November 9th in the Great Southern Hotel, Killarney."

Bike as Ornament, Paradise Place in Cork and Christmas in 1909 Listowel and Jimmy Moloney Snr. R.I.P.

Bike at Yummy, Tralee

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A Corner of Cork

The Catholic Young Men's Society Hall is located at Paradise Place. It is no longer in use as a hall but is the location of several shops and services.

This is the inscription on the red and white utilities box at this corner. Terence MacSwiney was a Lord Mayor of Cork during the War of Independence. He was arrested and imprisoned in Brixton. His death in a British jail after a long hunger strike and unsuccessful attempts at force feeding, gained world wide attention for the cause. He had a huge funeral in Cork where he was regarded as a martyr.

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Christmas Party in Listowel Workhouse 1909

Jer. Kennelly has done a bit of research for us on Bibiana Foran and he found this account in The Kerry Sentinel of 1909.

Christmas 1909 Kerry Sentinel

X Mas Tree in Listowel Workhouse, presented by Mrs B Foran, P.L.G. UDC, she invited a large number of ladies and gentlemen to a party held at the workhouse. Toys, oranges, sweets and cakes were in abundance. Only one girl was sad her doll had a leg and a half, it was soon remedied by giving her another one. 

Mrs Foran assisted by Mrs Daly, also Misses O Shaughnessy, misses Lyons, Miss Lillie Cotter, Miss McElligott, Messrs Richard O Shaughnessy who took several photographs of Father Christmas Dan Aherne and the children of the institution, P O Shaughnessy and others also there.

Several songs and recitations followed with music by Michael Carmody labour master, on the violin, the temperance band could not come due to member being absent. Singers included, Misses Mandie Collins, The Misses Daly, Miss Lillie Hannon, Miss Katie Dillon, Miss Katie Buckley and Miss May Kathleen O Sullivan. Also present, Mr and Miss Cleary and Master and Miss Cleary of Provincial Bank. Mr Wilson and Master Boysie and Freddy and Miss Wilson of National Bank. Mrs O Halloran, Master and Miss O Halloran of Killocrim. Mrs Master and Miss Pierce. Mr T O Connor RDC, Tarbert Island. Mr Wm. And Mrs T Twomey of Church Street. P B Cronin PLG. Mrs Barry Billerough; Mrs Dillon and Miss Scanlon; Mrs T Collins and Miss Collins. Mrs Enright, Misses Buckley, Main Street. The Misses Buckley, The Square. Mr R and Mrs Walsh; The Misses D Browne Church Street. Messrs Tom and James Walsh. Mr John and Master Hannon, Mrs Callon, Mrs Fitzmaurice, Miss Cantillon. Mr Ned Healy, Miss Moore.

Child Ellie Doner aged 3 and a half sang Guardian Angel. Lizzie Power recited, Hole in my Pocket. Jack Enright , known as Jack the cot, an invalid, recited and sang in a most creditable manner. Entertainment continued with a splendid dance, just like a marriage ball. Mr T M O Connor, proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs Foran, bringing the nights pleasures to a conclusion.

 ( Isn't it beyond sad that a little lad known as Jack the cot, and we can guess why since he is described as "an invalid" sang and recited for the great and the good of the town?)

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The Late Jimmy Moloney

Jimmy Moloney passed away as he had lived, quietly, On May 28th last. May his gentle soul rest in peace.


Here is an obituary sent to us by his daughter, Maeve

Obituary for Jimmy Moloney, Snr

Jimmy Moloney, Snr, passed away unexpectedly at home on May 28th 2019, at the age of 75, 8 months after the death his beloved wife of 54 years, Anne (nee Scully). 

Jimmy was born in Listowel on April 2^nd1944, the youngest of three children of Dan (D.J.) Moloney (Lyreacrompane) and Margaret Moloney (née O Connor, of Springmount, Duagh). His earliest years were spent in the Bridge Road, Listowel. In 1948, his parents bought and restored Gurtenard House in which he grew up, brought up his own family and lived until 2006. 

As the younger brother, it was often said his more outgoing older sisters, Kay and Marie, overshadowed him. Quite the contrary; clever and reserved, Jimmy simply watched, observed, and quietly got his point across in his own gentle way. 

He was educated in the Boys’ School and St. Michael's College, Listowel and Newbridge College, Co.Kildare later studying commerce at University College Cork and engineering at Bolton St. College, Dublin.  

At the age of 16, he spent a summer in Ventry to advance his Irish language skills at the first Irish college of its kind in the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht. It is questionable whether his Irish improved, however it was there that he met Anne Scully (also 16, daughter of Dr. Paddy Scully, Dingle). His courting strategies included cycling his bicycle along the round topped stone wall opposite Paidi OSé’s family home and “borrowing” cars from Moloney’s Garage to meet Anne in Tralee for dances at the Brandon Hotel.

Anne and Jimmy had a Christmas wedding at Muckross Church, Killarney on 29^thDecember 1965, both aged just 21.They honeymooned in London and the south of Spain, where they would return many times. They lived at Gurtenard House and Jimmy successfully ran Moloney’s Garage in Market Street and William Street, Listowel until the mid-1980s. 

Moloney’s Garage, a Main Ford Dealership, had been founded in 1945 by his father, D.J., and was a thriving business and employer in the town for many decades. At a time when opportunities for school leavers in North Kerry would have been few, scores of young trainees arrived at Moloney’s Garage as apprentice mechanics, pump attendants, panel beaters, accountants and secretaries and learned their craft in their own hometown. The regard in which Jimmy and D.J. were held was deeply felt by the Moloney family at Jimmy’s funeral where dozens of former employees and colleagues from years gone by paid their respects and told stories of a wonderful workplace and how they “got their start” at Moloney’s. 

Not surprisingly, he was an avid fan of motor sports in all its forms. A founder member of Kerry Motor Club and its secretary for much of the 1970s, Jimmy was an accomplished rally driver in his own right, competing in rallies all over Ireland and the UK. He was a talented mechanic and restored numerous vintage and veteran cars as well as being an early and enthusiastic member of the Kingdom Veteran and Vintage Car club founded in 1979. The club, which celebrates its 40^thAnniversary this year, organised veteran and vintage car runs throughout the county and beyond, most notably the Annual Ring of Kerry run. There are many accounts from those times of blown gaskets, runaway cars, golf clubhouses being mistaken for hotels and many other (mis) adventures. In 2010 he was awarded the Automobile Association’s commemorative centenary award as Kerry’s longest serving member as well as having led numerous emergency rescues to car crash sites and breakdowns throughout the county for the association.

Anne and Jimmy successfully ran Gurtenard House as a Bed and Breakfast for over 20 years from the 1980s until their retirement to Cherry Tree Drive in 2006. Like Gurtenard House, the door in Cherry Tree Drive was always open and friends and family alike were welcomed for a chat and the inevitable glass (or more) of wine. 

Jimmy could fix anything and was as comfortable up a ladder as under the bonnet of a car. One of his many hobbies was woodturning, reflected in his numerous intricate sculptures and woodcarvings. An innovative problem solver, his many inventions included some unusual security and surveillance systems as well as a number of quite peculiar washing machines, ironing contraptions and pest deterrents.    

Widely read and widely travelled, Jimmy had been planning a tour of Holland, Germany, France and Switzerland at the time of his death, one of the highlights of which was to be a high-speed drive on the German autobahns with his son-in-law, Frank. 

On the Sunday evening before his passing, he had attended the count of the recent County Council elections and proudly saw his youngest son, Jimmy re-elected to Kerry County Council to represent Listowel and Fianna Fáil.

Jimmy Snr died as he had lived, quietly and without fuss. He will be sadly missed by his sisters Kay and Marie, sons Dan, Conor and Jimmy, daughter Maeve, grandsons Isaac, Oscar, Max and Tom, daughter-in-law Una, son-in-law Frank and his wide network of relatives and friends. 

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At the Conservation Seminar

At last week's conservation seminar in Kerry Writers' Museum, we looked at how we are doing so far with the work of maximising our existing heritage assets and how we can improve on things in the future.

We identified Childers' Park as one of our greatest amenities. It is the only green flag municipal park in Ireland.

Work is continuing on accessing the lios (ring fort) after which the town is named.

The suggestion to erect a tourist information kiosk in the Square was not proceeded with and "Tourisn Ambassadors" were appointed instead. Since Kerry Writers' Museum is already  a tourist information centre, it was decided to erect better signage to direct people there.

We have 400 free car parking spaces. These should be more than adequate for visitors and shoppers.

The work of the Tidy Town committee was widely praised and the Listowel Business and Community Alliance has already got stuck in and its new website, Listowel.ie will be launched in the very near future. A website with up to date information on what is going  on in town is a necessity.

The success of the recent Revival music festival was mentioned and all of the town's many festivals were noted a major assets to the touristm offering in Listowel.

Pauline Dennigan sent me the below photos

Kerry County Council staff and consultants with the mayor of Listowel Municipal District, Michael Kennelly and Julie Gleeson and Mary Hanlon of Listowel Tidy Towns Committee.

I met Martin Chute, master painter and sign writer at the seminar

Tralee, The Phone Box and some Cork Street Art

Kingfisher

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Tralee

These are some of the Rose dresses on display in Kerry County Museum until October.

These are some of the Rose bushes in the nearby Tralee Park. As you can see the new gardener   and his team are getting to grips with the sadly neglected rose beds. He has a huge task on his hands but the park is coming back to life again and, hopefully it will soon be restored to its former glory.

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The phone box

Mattie Lennon

A public phone in Foley's Bar in Castle

The US presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.(Anthony Burgess)

The day of the familiar Irish phone box is drawing to a close. Earlier this year the powers-that-be decided to reduce the number of post boxes from 4,850 to 2,699. Since usage of the public phone has fallen by 80% in the past five years, how long before the total demise of the phone box? The Kiosk, especially in rural areas, provided a valuable link with the outside world. But, in the words of Clinical Psychologist, Marie Murray, “ What of their psychological significance rather than their utilitarian worth? What role did they play in the lives of people? What privacy did they afford, away from the home telephone for those lucky enough to have a telephone in the house but unfortunate enough to have no privacy using that instrument at home?”Dr. Murray goes on to say that phone boxes , “ will become but quaint memories of an older generation regaling their grandchildren with tales of trysts at the local telephone box or romance conducted through whispered confidences in that semi-private box in the middle of the village or at the end of the road . . . ”

In the days when one went through the Operator there was the story of the Cavan man who phoned his friend looking for the loan of a tenner only to be told, “It’s a bad auld line, I can’t hear you.” When the request was repeated it was, once again, met with,“ I can’t hear you”. At this stage the Operator cut in with, “I can hear him perfectly”. The answer was ready, “You give him the loan of the tenner, so.”

The first “public” phone in our area was in the Post Office in Lacken where most of the calls were to the Priest, the Guards, the Doctor, the Vet or The A.I. man (or “the collar-and-tie-bull” as he was known.) The Post Office was also a shop which opened late so nocturnal communications pertaining to illicit relationships could sometimes be conducted, albeit in whispered tones. (Or so I’m told.)

Lacken eventually got a Phone-Box and conversations could be carried out in a stentorian voice without fear of “ear-wigging.” Some “coins” used were not Legal Tender (or even legal.) Washers of a certain diameter and “push-outs” from galvanised junction-boxes, used by electricians, would suffice. (Or so I’m told.)

By “tapping out” the numbers on the top of the cradle (1,9 and 0 were free) one could get through to any number. (Or so I’m told.)

When Decimal-Currency was introduced in 1971 it took a while to have the Phones adapted. The new Decimal 1P coin was exactly the same size as the old sixpence and worked very well. (Or so I’m told.)

Another favourite trick was to block the return-chute with a piece of rolled up twine and to return for the proceeds when a number of people had pressed “Button B” without getting any refund. (Or so I’m told.)

Nowadays when I hear the Dublin joke, “What do Northside girls use for protection? A Phone-box”, it reminds me that at times in rural Ireland the Phone-box was often utilised for erotic pelvic activity while parallel with the perpendicular. (Or so I’m told.)

When a not-too-well-liked person would be retiring it would be said, “They’re holding his retirement do in a phone-box”.

On one occasion, in a neighbouring parish, a female who was presumed to have contracted a “social disease” used the phone and civic-minded local woman immersed it (the phone, not the female caller) in a bucket of Jeye’s Fluid. This caused a malfunction which the P&T engineer couldn’t find a cause for. A local wag said, “you were poxed to get it workin’ agin.”

When Mobiles were getting plentiful and it looked like the humble Phone box would soon be redundant I made a suggestion to Eircom as to the possible utilisation of same . . as Condom-Dispensers. And I even had an idea for cost cutting in the area of signage; by using some of the existing logos and slogans. For instance; wouldn’t the Eircom logo, with very slight modification, look remarkably like a rolled-up condom? And where would you leave slogans like, “Let your fingers do the walking”. Do you think they acknowledged my suggestion? They didn’t even phone me.

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On a Cork Street

Dursey, Photo exhibition in 2007, Heritage Week 2019 and National Treasures from a Pharmacy

Dursey Island, Co Cork

My Cork family took a trip to Dursey at the weekend. It's a beautiful, unspoiled place.

This speed limit sign looks like a bit of a challenge. I think maybe it was placed there by some joker.

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Heritage Week 2019

So far I've been to a talk on The Power of Matchmaking, The Rose of Tralee Fashion Exhibition where I saw close up some of the gorgeous and unusual dress worn by Rose winners over the years. This exhibition is in the Kerry County Museum in Tralee. On Tuesday I was in Kerry Writers' Museum again for a seminar on architectural conservation in Listowel.

The highlight so far was a lunchtime talk, also in The Kerry County Museum by Tom Dillon on The Knights of Kerry. This knighthood, Tom told us, was awarded on the battlefield while the hero knight was still bleeding from wounds received in the service of the king.

That's me on the far right with four local North Kerry historians, Martin Moore, Declan Downey, Tom Dillon and Michael Guerin

Tom told us of the mother and father of all family rows between a Fitzmaurice and a Fitzgerald. We heard tales of political and religious intrigue, much bloodshed, imprisonment and skullduggery.
This knight from Ennismore near Listowel didn't fight his way or even talk his way to success. True to form for a man from the Literary Capital of Ireland, he wrote his way out of trouble and lived to tell the tale.
This talk was diligently researched, well prepared and eloquently delivered by the star (for me, anyway) of Heritage Week 2019.
And there are lots more Heritage Week events to come over the next few days.

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Listowel Castle

Be sure to take a tour before the summer is through.

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Photography Exhibition in 2007

Mattie Lennon visited this exhibition in St. John's and this is the account he posted online about it.

Earlier this year, Dillon Boyer passed away. This is a tribute to him.

Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man. --Edward Steichen

Ever since Joseph Nicephore made the first permanent picture with a camera, in 1826, photography has been evolving as an art form. But a different and separate one, unrelated to any other. 

In the words of Berenice Abbot,”Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself”. 

Saint John’s Arts and Heritage Centre

For the month of September, Saint John’s Arts and Heritage Centre (a former Church) in Listowel, will be home to the works of two Kerry-based photographers Tom Fitzgerald and Dillon Boyer. 

Seeing how the ordinary can become extraordinary, in a frame, one is obliged to concur with the words of Elliot Erwitt, “ . . .Photography has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” 

Dillon Boyer

DILLON BOYER who was born in Kent, England, has been interested in photography for almost sixty years. He was a member of Tunbridge Wells Camera Club where he won many prizes within the club and nationally. On retirement, drawn to the landscape and opportunities for portraiture in the Kingdom, he and his wife Mary moved to Listowel. 

He was a founder member of Listowel Camera Club with John Stack. Under Dillon's guidance it went on to become a major camera club within the Irish Photo scene, winning the National Shield in the mid-nineties, and also hosting the event in 1995. Dillon has won National Medals in the Nature category on two occasions in the 90's. He is also an accomplished Video and wedding photographer. The Canon is his favourite camera. 

Tom Fitzgerald

TOM FITZGERALD, a native Kerryman, has being interested in photography since the mid sixties when, as a young man, he started taking photos with a Kodak instamatic camera. He bought his first SLR camera, a Pentax K500 in 1974 and graduated to Nikon in the eighties. He was a reluctant convert to digital but won’t now travel (even to the shop) without his Digital Nikon SLR. A member of Listowel CC almost from its foundation, Tom has an extensive collection of photos of local people and places as well as prize shots from further afield. 

And his indexing system is just as baffling, to me, as quantum Physics. If you want a pictorial record of a moment frozen in time, be it a First Communion in 1970, Mount Brandon shrouded in mist, or Bill Clinton putting in Ballybunion, the image is produced in seconds. 

This is one Kerryman who doesn’t answer a question with a question. Your query about that shepherd’s cottage backlit by the rising sun will elicit a comprehensive account of the topography of that burgage, with the unpronounceable name, in the Scottish Highlands. And what about the shot of the two ponies on Glenbeigh strand? That was taken on Sunday the nineteenth of August 1979, when the wind was blowing from the east and Seefin illuminated by a waxing moon. 

Landscape (“the supreme test of the photographer”) features largely in the exhibition and includes the fruits of Tom and Dillon’s many trips to Scotland and England. And appropriately enough the exhibition (Which is supported by North Kerry Together Limited), is titled “Near & Far”. 

Sunset at Kerry Head

I attended the opening and it’s amazing the snippets of information the camera-illiterate such as myself can pick up at such a gathering. Amid terms such as “Chromatic aberration”, “Macroscopic”, “Reciprocity failure” and “Tonal range” I learned that the first photograph taken in Ireland was in 1848 and was of Young Irelander Patrick O’Donohue. 

Glen Inchaquin

David Hockney said, “ All you can do with most ordinary photographs is stare at them”. Well, these are not ordinary photographs and if you are in or near Listowel during the next month you call to Saint John’s and you can browse, buy or both. 

Waterville Lake

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Artefacts from a Pharmacy

From National Treasures on Facebook

"Array of Items from a Pharmacy. My father was a pharmacist and he bought a shop in Thurles in 1962 that was originally established as Pharmacy Way in 1889. The shop was in its original state and within it, he found these objects among many others. My father, Donal P. Sammon, never threw anything out and kept all the old artefacts he found. The objects include old poison bottles, powders, and a cut-throat razor. My father continued the shop as a pharmacy from 1962 to 2004. I took over from him then and the pharmacy is still going strong. As a pharmacist, I find these objects really interesting. Back then, a pharmacist had to mix medicine in the shop. Opium, cocaine, arsenic, and morphine were regularly used. Thankfully, we don't have to do that today!"

Thanks to Carmel Sammon

Visitors, Locals,Frederick Chute, Cobweb's Glory, a Thurles milestone and Work in Progress at The Harp and Lion

Visitors in Athea, Co. Limerick in July 2019

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Two Listowel Men Taking it Easy in Summer 2019

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Frederick Chute

LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK CHUTE

Frederick was born in Listowel, Co Kerry in 1944. He was the eldest of six children to parents Arthur and Betty Chute. Some of his fondest memories were of growing up playing Gaelic football and learning to swim in the River Feale.  He loved the seaside and Ballybunion was the scene for many a happy day at the beach.

He was educated at Listowel Primary School and later at Rockwell College, a prestigious boarding school in Co. Tipperary.    Frederick was athletic as well as academic and did well at school but was also prone to mischief and was caned often by the Priests who taught at the school, for not turning up in time for morning mass.  In fact he was caught a number of times sleeping in the dormitory cupboard during morning mass.    Despite these incidents he enjoyed school and did well in his exams, ultimately taking a place at Trinity College Dublin, where he studied Economics.  

In Listowel as a young man, he was very well known for his football ability and he played in the position of Right Half Back for Listowel and North Kerry.   This led to a lifelong interest in sports and especially football. 

He met his first wife, Irene, at Trinity College and they married and moved to London.  They spent many happy holidays in their camper van in France, Portugal and Cornwall.  The family grew when Charles was born in 1980 and Rachel in 1981. Family meant a lot to him and he absolutely idolised his children.

Frederick trained as a teacher in London and his first permanent position was at the Jewish Free School in Camden, where he taught economics.  The pupils loved Mr. Chute and his innovative way of teaching which was lively and entertaining.  He greatly enjoyed this job and was very popular with pupils and staff.

He went on to teach at Greenwich University and the London School of Economics and completed a part time course at Birkbeck College, London, gaining a Masters Degree in Economics in 1989. Unfortunately his marriage ended in the same year and he lived on his own in Ealing for the next 10 years.

With his additional degree, he gained his next and final job teaching in the City of London School for Boys. He taught sixth form boys, who were extremely challenging and intelligent. Frederick’s commitment to teaching was such that he always prepared well for class.  His creed was that he had to be quite a few steps ahead of the game. He was much beloved by his students and had a particular talent for preparing them for interviews with detailed notes and good coaching.  Many of the boys gained places at Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics.    The boys set up the Mr Chute Appreciation Society on the Internet, with many of his well-known phrases and quirky stories and they even videoed his lessons on their mobile phones in secret!

Frederick met his wife, Judith in 1999. The following year they moved to their present house in Queen Anne’s Grove.     He had many happy years there, and enjoyed numerous hobbies, especially bird keeping, fishing, carpentry, picture framing and after his retirement in 2007, his wonderful allotment where he developed a great passion for getting his hands in the soil and growing fruit and vegetables.   He so enjoyed having his own parsnips and carrots for Christmas dinner! He was also passionate about hard landscaping and completed several patios and fences on his two allotments.  Judith and Frederick also enjoyed travelling, driving from the East to West Coast of America, visiting family in the US and Canada, friends in Egypt and challenging driving and camping all around France, Italy and Switzerland for three months at a time. 

He was always busy, even in retirement, he always wanted to learn, being interested in the Arts, History and Philosophy.  He decided to study part time via the Open University and in his spare time he spent many hours in his study doing research and reading.  Seven years later he was awarded another degree, a Batchelor of Arts in History in 2015.  He proudly collected his degree with Judith in Milton Keynes at his graduation.

However his greatest love was football and he has supported Queens Park Rangers for over 40 years, going to as many games as he could.  He also loved Gaelic football and the highlight was going to the All-Ireland Semi Final and Final in Dublin, especially when Kerry were playing. 

 He enjoyed having his holiday home in Ireland and looked forward to spending time there every summer. He was determined to add joy to his life by acquiring a famous breed of Irish dog, the Kerry blue terrier.  Thus “Fritz” the dog entered our lives and brought Frederick a new dimension.  He was warned that these dogs “take you over” as they like to be the boss and needed strict training.  Frederick gave Fritz plenty of love, not so much discipline and the saying “Kerry Blues don’t have owners, they have staff”, became true.  Despite that, he was so happy with his beautiful dog.

Frederick’s health deteriorated over the last 4 years.   He had suffered with asthma and TB in his youth.  The condition was irreversible and little could be done to help him breathe. He had the most wonderful doctors at the Royal Brompton Hospital who looked after him.  He bore his illness bravely, not talking about it very much but just doing as much as he could with his limitations.  He still enjoyed life but at a slower pace.

In his last Christmas card to Judith, he wrote, “We have been together for a long time and for me it has been a wonderful and loving journey”

 Judith Chute

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An Old Playbill

Liam OHainnín found this old programme

I wonder if anyone remembers the performance or knows a date.

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A Milestone

This stone at Thurles railway station puzzled me. Two very kind readers helped me out. They both recognised it as a milestone. 

John Lenehan wrote from sunny California  "Hello Mary I believe the stone marker in Thurles indicates the number of miles to Dublin.  I often watched them go down in numbers as we got closer to Dublin on the train."

John had the right idea but he was going in the wrong direction.

I think Michael O'Sullivan is more likely correct. 

Michael wrote, "The milestone post at Thurles station is the distance from Thurles in miles from Thurles station to Kent station in Cork city."

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Coming along Nicely

Harp and Lion, Tuesday August 20 1019

One word; WOW!