Listowel Connection

Thursday, 7 March 2013

Old ads, Fun cycle and Pres.girls of yesteryear

Today March 7 2013 is World Book Day, so grab a book, make yourself a cuppa and rediscover the joy of reading. I'm reading The Bookseller of Kabul at the moment and it's brilliant. I would also highly recommend Jennifer Johnston's The Illusionist which I have just finished.

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Jer Kennelly went to Pallaskenry on March 1 2013 to see the relic of the founder of the Salesian order, Don Bosco. Here is the lovely video he made of his visit;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2cXPvdMTU4&list=UUvu6UB8pWOY7MMn5MxCtj-w&index=2

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I found a school year book from twenty years ago. Among the many fascinating items in the magazine were the ads. I was amazed at how many of the businesses advertising in 1992 are no longer with us.

Here are a few to jog your memory of Listowel twenty years ago/.

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Root out the old bike and oil it up. Get the helmet and bicycle clips ready. On St. Patrick's a fun cycle will start at Listowel Community Centre at 10.00 a.m.and make its way to Abbeyfeale. There you can join up with the hundreds of walkers, cyclists and pram pushers who are going to take a ramble along the Great Southern Trail.

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This is a photo of a happy group of Pres. girls. Surely someone will remember when where and why this photo was taken.

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Martin Sheehy formerly of Main St. is enjoying Vincent's book. He wrote:

"Having received Vincent's " Listowel " as a gift from brother Jerry in Listowel, it is a joy to read here in Phoenix, AZ. House by house, street by street he gives us a history of our town between 1850 to 1950.

Very nice, also, in the blog, to read John Fitzgerald's memories of Tae Lane. "

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Saint Philomena

Sr. Nora Carmody, formerly of this parish identified the mystery lady for us.
She writes
"A few years ago I read the life of St. John Vianney (Curé d' Ars), and it was then I learnt about St. Philomena. She was born in 291, died in 304, aged 13 but her remains were not discovered until 1802. She was honoured 13th Jan. 1837, and after that devotion to her increased. She is Patroness of babies, infants, children, and some more. So in the early 1900's Philomena became a popular name - My sister, Maura was christened Mary Philomena. "

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Spring, Convent chapel, golf and Perth rice

"When loud March blows
Thro' slanting snows her fanfare shrill
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.

Signs of hope

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Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

I am a bit of a fan of wee Rory McIlroy and I am very sorry to see him in such a bad place mentally at the moment.

I am going to take this opportunity to advance your knowledge of golfing terminology by explaining the etymology of the terms "birdie" and "albatross".

The word "bird" was once a word like cool, ace, super, champion etc. It was slang for "excellent".

A golfer named Ab Smith in Atlanta in 1899 hit a shot which came to rest just inches from the hole leaving him one under par. "What a bird of a shot!" he cried and there and then he and his companions decided to call scores of one under par "birdies".

An albatross is the completion of a hole in golf in 3 shots under par. It is so named because the albatross is an even larger bird than the eagle and much more rare...a bit like making 3 under par.

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Here is the last tranche of Dillon Boyer's lovely convent photos. So sad.....

The Sacred Heart stained glass window

I failed to identify this saint from the internet but I did learn that a palm leaf usually denoted a martyr. I'm sure someone local knows who this is.

Sacred Heart

Another work of art

St. Ann

St. Therese of Lisieux

door to the sacristy

plinth in the front garden

side altar with Sr. Cosolata's organ covered

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Michael Keane in Perth sent me an interesting email describing an exhibit at
a recent Perth festival,

Perth Arts Festival Exhibition

OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN ALL THE WORLD - TIMEZONE GMT +8

SAT 9 FEB 2013 - SAT 2 MAR 2013

As you enter you are handed a grain of rice. That grain of rice is you. There are a lot of other people there. Hundreds of millions. Each represented by a single grain of rice. In heaps and patterns and piles: all the people in our time zone GMT +8. 1.54 billion. 30 tonnes of rice.

In a hauntingly beautiful, constantly shifting, sculptural landscape, the sheer vastness of population is captured, bringing to life previously incomprehensible statistics and presenting them in eloquent visual form.

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

The convent chapel, Finuge and an old Emmetts photo

Presentation Convent had the loveliest little chapel attached to it. It was a place of worship much loved and now missed by the people of Listowel. In hindsight we should have fought for its retention.
Dillon Boyer send me some lovely photos of the church. Here are a few to remind you of better days for the nuns.

The convent as it looked in 2007

Entrance to the convent chapel

Grotto in the convent grounds

The nave from the balcony.

The main altar

One of the many beautiful stained glass windows.

Detail from another of the windows.

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This lovely olde world cottage in Finuge has burned down again. I sincerely hope that the money can be found to restore it once more.

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That was then, this is now

2011

2013

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This is a group of convent girls in the 1950s. I have no name at all so any help with names would be appreciated.

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Listowel Emmets officers and committee.

Monday, 4 March 2013

Way of Life, FCA, Con Houlihan remembered

Ballybunion in "ould God's time".

One for the diary!

From May 9th to 12th come join us for the Way of Life Gathering in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, a seaside town famous for its champagne air, it’s daunting cliffs, it’s golf-links and it’s unique sense of fun.

This Gathering aims to capture the essence of the Way of Life in Kerry from it’s friendly people with their strong sense of community, their love of literature, music, dance and having the craic, to a culture of top quality locally produced food.

Together with the people of Ballybunion and the surrounding towns we are organizing a series of events including Trad sessions, Ceili Dancing , Storytelling, a special Farmers Market featuring local food producers, a visit to the neighbouring Farmers Market in the town of Listowel, a Symposium on Irish Food hosted by a celebrity chef, cookery demonstrations of traditional Irish recipes and a tour of the Ring of Kerry.

In addition to the events being arranged, Ballybunion also offers a wide range of activities including: Golf, Surfing, Hiking, Swimming, Horse-riding & Beauty treatments.

There are people attending from Paris, Barcelona, Prague, London, Frankfurt, as well as from all over Ireland.

Wherever you are, come and join us for what will be a great few days in the beautiful town of Ballybunion, Co Kerry!

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FCA

F-Company, Listowel FCA at camp at base of Carrauntwohill 1987 .

James Kenny sent us this. I don't think he is in it but does anyone know the names of the lads who are?
Kay Caball recognised her uncle, Michael O'Connor in my last FCA photograph.

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The first Con Houlihan Summer Conference will take place in his native Castle Island on Saturday May 4th.
Tourism, hotel hospitality, the Gathering, changes in rural life, the economy, the social and economic programme of the Government, and the arts as an instrument of social inclusion are all topics that will be addressed at the conference.
The life and times of Con Houlihan will be presented in a humorous way by his friend and writer Billy Keane.
The conference will be held in conjunction with the Castleisland town festival and Carnival which will run from May 2nd to 6th. 2013.
Click here http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hed-keep-you-talking-till-dawn-29104214.html

to read Billy's lovely tribute to Con in the Independent.

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I challenge you to see this through to the end without shedding a tear.

http://hurryupharry.org/2013/02/27/sportsmanship/

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That was then, this is now

2009

2010

2013

Friday, 1 March 2013

Primovisto, Listowel Arms and Jimmy Deenihan

siliconrepublic.com picked a Listowel based company for its start-up of the week last week.

http://www.primovisto.com/ is a company run by Ed. and James Stack. This is what they said about Primovisto

Ed Stack

Our start-up of the week is Primovisto, a new venture based in Listowel, Co Kerry, that is creating limited edition accessories for iPhones and iPads.

Brothers Ed and James Stack came up with the idea for the new venture in late 2011 and then set up their websitePrimovisto.com.

At the moment, they work with designers create designs for Bamboo cases for the iPhone, 4, 4S and 5 as well as Bamboo cases for the iPad 2 and the third and fourth generation iPads.

"We then engrave these designs on our products using our laser engraving machine that works via CorelDRAW," explains Ed Stack.

Primovisto is also bringing out Bamboo book covers for iPads next week.

"The inspiration came from a personal liking for unique products and the need to give people an opportunity to buy a product that they know is an original," explains Stack. "The website and the idea in general is a bid to get away from mass-produced accessories."

The brothers work with around 15 designers who come up with designs. As well as Ireland, these designers hail from other countries such as the Philippines, Australia, Brazil and Greece.

"We have three Irish designers but we made a conscious effort to source designers from other places," explains Stack. "When we are looking to create a new design we contact one of our design team.

"We've created a designer toolkit that we give to designers so that they know the shape and the style of the designs that we are looking for.

"Once the design is ready it is made available on the site and the artist is paid on a commission basis per case sold," he adds.