Miss Walsh again, 1950s girls and the latest from Craftshop na Méar

Retirement presentation to Miss Bríd Walsh in 1972.

This photo was prompted a few emails. I am going to share this lovely message from one of Bríd's grateful past pupils, Elizabeth Brosnan.

The teacher was Bridgie Walsh who lived in Courthouse Road in Listowel. She taught me from Junior Infants to Second Class. 
There is only one of the people in that picture alive now and he is in his mid eighties. I think the parents in the picture were in the then Board of Management. They are as follows from left to right: Michael (Mikey) Kennelly, Coolaclarig, (grandfather of Tadhg and father of Timmy etc.) (Rip), Gerald Mulvihill, Shronowen (Rip), Fr. Michael Stack, Ballydonoghue (Rip), Miss Bridgie Walsh (on occasion of her retirement) (Rip), Thomas Flaherty, Coill, (alive and well) & Jeremiah O'Carroll,Tullamore (Rip).
 I cannot remember what year Miss Walsh retired, but I will find out. She lived well into old age, and spent her final days in the Kennedy Nursing Home.  She wrote me a lovely note every Christmas, as I always sent her a Christmas card. She was a very nice teacher. 
One of my classmates was buried today, following a car accident and we were reminiscing on our Tullamore school days (the awful days in particular), then I came home and saw your e mail. How fitting!

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Another old one

This group of girls attended the convent primary school sometime in the 1950s. Bernie Carmody who gave me the photo is not so great on names and dates . This is the best she could do but maybe someone else will fill in a few more.

Back: Patricia Tatten, ,…Carmody, ….    , Kathleen Rohan, …..     ,….Flavin

Front: Marie O'Sullivan,……, Ann McGrath,…. Carmody, Geraldine Trant,…..   ,…..

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This is Charles St. last week. Every street in town is being dug up to install water meters.

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St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching and the crafters in Craftshop na Méar are getting ready. 

If you are in town you should drop in and pick up something green for the national holiday.

Ballydonoghue Legion of Mary 1930, Storm Darwin 2014, Aoife Hannon wins Kerry Milliner of the `Year

Some more storm damage

My friend, Joan Kenny, pointed out to me that when I was taking my stroll through the graveyard I missed the destruction that was done to the burial plot of The Presentation Sisters.

Roofs took a bit of a battering as well and roofers are busy these days.

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You win some; you lose some

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Ballydonoghue Legion of Mary 1930

 (photo; Jer Kennelly)

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1940's manual for employers

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Apparently we have seen the last of this guy. This image will no longer be used in Birds Eye's ads

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We have a winner!

Milliner of the Year at The Kerry Fashion Awards is Aoife Hannon of Signatures, Lstowel

Weather damage in Listowel in Winter 2014

Spring IS on the way:

I snapped these this week on the path in the Cows'  Lawn beside the Town Park.

Remember this scene after Storm Darwin in Denis Carroll's photo?
Below is how it looks now.

There is still much storm damage visible in the graveyard and in The Garden of Europe:

What lies beneath?

A reminder that our beautiful Garden is built on the old town tip; proof that it takes forever for plastic to disintegrate.

Everywhere I looked on my walk there were tree stumps.

Life goes on. These early morning walkers are now used to viewing the damage.
There was lots of debris at the bridge and what looked to me like most of a grown tree in the river.

Fallen Arch!

These trees by the river survived.

The River walk is closed until the debris is cleared.

Listowel Town Council decided at Monday's meeting to have all the trees in the Park professionally assessed and treated before the next storm.

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Postcript:  Tom Coffey R.I.P.

Junior forgot a name. The man standing at the back with the quiff (second from right) is Tom Coffey.

Our finding of this old photo was timely because Tom Coffey, who was a teacher and playwright passed away recently.

Junior sends us this memory of him:

Having a look at this week's Kerryman  I see an obituary on page 20 for the late Tom Coffey, very sorry to read about his recent death. You will see him in the back row of your recent photo.

They write about his time In Kerry but no mention of the time he spent here in Listowel. Now I started work in McKenna's in Sept. 1953 and as  time went by struck up a friendship with 2 work colleagues, Willie Barrett and Pat Somers. Indeed, Pat who lived in Billerough, just before the Six Crosses, used to call for me in the morning and give me a bar up on his bicycle, a fine strong lad he was.

It must have been the following year that we decided to do an Irish evening class in the old tech and our teacher was none other than Tom Coffey. Irish dancing was another one of his subjects and those ladies in the front of your photo were also involved.

The Kerryman obituary mentions his first play called Luiochan, Irish for Ambush, and it seems it won an Oireachtas award.

In actual fact, it was a group of us that put on that play first. We did it in Moyvane, Ballybunion and Listowel, hence our presence in that photo. He decided to enter it for the Limerick Drama festival and we were highly commended by the judge, who happened to be a brother of Gay Byrne but we did not receive a prize due to the fact that we were the only Irish play taking part that year and we were not in competition with anyone. 

I honestly believe he was here in Listowel for 2 years, maybe the school terms of 1954 and 55. The obituary says he was in Dingle in 1955 so, if correct that could be starting the school term of '55.

I did learn a good bit of Irish dancing from him but I most certainly did learn that I had 2 left feet.

He was a lovely man, I never met him after he left Listowel.

May he Rest in Peace

(Thank you, Junior. You have some of the best stories. Keep 'em coming)

Dublin Zoo, dolphin watch at Bromore and Bridget Walsh of Tullamore N.S.

This photo was taken in Dublin Zoo in 1963. The elephant's name was Komali. We have no names for the children. The photo is from a site, Photos of old Dublin.

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Cabra Outdoor Baths in the 1950's. Before swimming pools came to every other town in the country, people swam in unheated outdoor pools and rivers. This one in Cabra, Co. Dublin seems to have been well fitted out and popular.

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Denis Carroll took this photo of a tree felled during the recent storm. The tree has now been chopped up and drawn away and the path is clear again.

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Mile Flahive took this photo last week. It shows the Carrigaholt Dolphinwatch boat at The Devil's Castle off Bromore Cliffs.

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Did you know that  the Catcher in the Philadelphia Quakers Baseball Team in 1886 was Limerick born Andy Cusick (second from the right, back row).

Source; http://www.limerickslife.com/


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Both Vincent Carmody and Aidan OMurchú contacted me after they identified this lovely lady who retired from Tullamore School in 1972.
The lady in question is Bríd Walsh who taught in Tullamore for many years. She lived in Courthouse Road next door to the ÓMurchú family and Aidan remembers her as a "lovely lady".

Aidan also knew the man on the far left. He is Tim Kennelly's late dad. Michael Kennelly.

Vincent identified the others in the photo as :

Gerald Mulvihill, Fr. Mundy Stack P.P. Ballydonoghue, Bridget Walsh, Thomas Flaherty, Jeremiah O Carroll.

Thanks lads.

Listowel Drama Group in 1956, basketball and Ring in 1925

 This photo appeared in The Advertiser. Junior Griffin can name all but on of the people in this. Here they are in Junior's own words;

Might be out a  Christian name or two out but can name all but one.

Front row;

Frank Murray(Young boy); Joe Kelly (Barber at Quigley's), Willie Barrett, Beatrice Stack, Mary Cahill, Maureen Stack (sister of Beatrice), Siobhan Cahill (1st Grandmother in Sive),

Maria Nelligan, Mona Duggan.

Second row;

Michael Kennelly, Jnr.Griffin, Patsy Somers,Brendan O'Carroll, Betty Anne Keane Stack, Hilary Neilson, Andy O'Mahony, Eddie O'Flaherty, John Kirby(uncle of our current PP.,FR Declan), A.N.Other, Dick O'Flaherty, Arthur Page, John O'Flaherty,Bryan McMahon (partly hidden).

Back Row:

Leo Kennelly, Paddy Maher, Bill Kearney, Nora Relihan/Ryle, Renee McAuliffe, Mickey Relihan, Pat McElligott, Kilflynn (who provided the amplification)

AND Junior promises to tell us the story of the night in due course.

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Denis Carroll posted this happy shot

And he gave basketball lovers a hint of good things to come with this photo.

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As we near Seachtain na Gaeilge here is a lovely photo from 1925. It is from Scoil na Leanaí in Ring Co. Waterford. It is part of a collection of photographs of old Waterford which appear regularly on Twitter.

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Old ad for a Limerick shop as posted on Twitter by Limerick 1914

Dr. Michael O'Connor on cigarettes, Bob Dylan on weather and Galvin's shopfront

Bryan MacMahon said that a teacher leaves the track of his teeth on a parish for 3 generations. I think the same is true of a doctor.  Certainly, this man pictured above, Dr. Michael O'Connor of 24 The Square, Listowel keeps coming up in folk memory here.

Today my titbit is an old letter that my good friend, Anne Moloney, unearthed for us. The quality of the copy is poor so I'll transcribe it for you.

It is dated  13.12.'22 and the address is The Square, Listowel and it goes:

Dear Sir (or Madam),

It has been brought to my notice by a tobacconist in this town that some soldiers in Listowel Barracks have been using my name as their excuse for refusing to buy Irish made cigarretes, stating that the Doctor said, "Irish cigarettes caused skin disease". This slanderous allegation is, of course, entirely untrue and was never uttered by me. Indeed there is nothing, as far as I know, in Irish or any other cigarettes likely to cause skin disease.

It is a poor specimen of a man or a soldier who has not the moral courage to say, when purchasing cigarettes made by Irish girls, that he prefers those made by foreigners.

                                                                                                       M. O'Connor M.D.

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This photo appeared in The Advertiser a while ago with the caption. Tullamore School. It looks like a retirement.  Any further information welcome.

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Mike Enright's lovely photo last week of a calm Cashen inclines me to think that Spring may finally be on the way after this oh so inclement winter.

Our recent fascination with the weather sent me to my copy of Brendan MacWilliam's Weather Eye .

Here is a fascinating piece of useless knowledge for you all:

"Dr. Alan Robock of Rutgers University, new Jersey has examined 465 songs performed over the years, by rock singer, Bob Dylan, and dicovered that the word "sun" appears in 63 of them; "wind" turns up in 55, "rain" in 40, "sky" in 36,  "cloud' in 23, "storm" in 14, "summer" in 12 and "snow" in 11. Other weather words occurring but scoring less than 10, include hail, winter, lightening, thunder, flood and, of course, "weather" itself.

According to Dylan, the answer to many vexed questions is "blowin' in the wind" and " You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing".

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Market Street premises then and now

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The Frank Lewis Saturday Supplement on Listowel is available here;

http://www.radiokerry.ie/podcast_series/saturday-supplement/

One of the many great Listowel stories you will hear on the programme  concerns this building. During The Troubles it was forbidden to have a shop sign in the Irish language and for years this shop had Galvin's name in English over the door. During a much later refurbishment, this beautiful mosaic sign was uncovered. Apparently, some master tilers who were in town working on mosaic work in St. Mary's were employed by Galvins to do this magnificent shop sign. Luckily it was not destroyed to comply with regulations.  The wily owner just covered it up for future generations to enjoy.

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Listowel girl honoured

Savannah McCarthy ( Listowel Celtic)  was chosen as the under 17 Player of The Year at the recent FAI Player awards.

Moloney's Garage , The Lartigue and The Man from Clare

Staff of Moloney's Garage 1950 or 1951

Front: Moss Lyons, Michael Moore, Eilish Furlong, Margaret Moloney, Dan Moloney,Delia Dwyer, Albert Kennedy, Ina Sheahan, Denis Kelly

Second Row: John Finucane,……, Dermot Lynch, Jimmy Connor,….., Neily Canty, Dan Cantillon, Patsy Kelly, Patsy Barry, Bob Barry, John McGredy, John Kinsella

Third Row: …Hussey, Tom Canty, Emmet McLaughlin, Jack Canty, Ed Flaherty, Jimmy Molyneaux,
….Barry , Thomas Grogan

( A big thank you to Jimmy Moloney for ferreting out all the names. If you can fill in the gaps please do.)

Many of the same staff members are in this 1956 photo. It also includes some Ford personnel as it was taken as part of a Ford promotional visit.


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This photo from the Lawrence Collection shows an advertisement for The Lartigue.

This photo with Jimmy Deenihan is of relatives of people associated with the Lartigue. It was taken at the official opening of the restored section of line and locomotive.

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I found this poster on a site called Limerick 1914. The message is not immediately clear to me unless it's that if one economized on bread or butter one would be helping the war effort.

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John B's The Man from Clare in St. John's

I saw the play on Friday last and it was great. My last trip to drama in St. John's was a bit of a disaster. I saw a woeful one woman stand up comic play to a tiny audience who squirmed in our seats at her woeful lack of connection with us. Friday night was different.

The auditorium was packed with an eager audience ready to be wowed again by local people interpreting John B.s genius.
As I watched Con Kirby's portrayal of the over the hill football hero, I was put in mind of Paudie O'Mahoney whom we have recently seen 'transformed".  Padraig O'Dea (The Man from Clare) was looking into the same abyss at age 35. His playing career is over. His status in the local community,which was built entirely on his success on the football field, is now greatly diminished. He is facing a life of fishing and loneliness, living on memories of his glory days as Cuas's greatest athlete.

The play had everything, hilarious comedy and bucket loads of pathos in the shape of the delusional Morisheen Brick. His clumsy matchmaking worked in the end and we had a happy ending. This part was played to perfection by John Looney.

The irony of putting a band of over the hill footballers on stage to play over the hill footballers was a brilliant stroke. Robert Bunyan was convincing as the trainer, struggling to accept the decline of his best player/ nephew.

Everyone on stage did a brilliant job but I have to compliment especially my friend, Cathy Healy, who was drafted in at short notice to play the part of the "rip" from Kerry who steals Clare's best man. Her Elsie was suitable cheeky and irreverent and her smugness once she has snared the talented but gauche Jim Flynn was heart achingly credible.

John B. wrote this play in the 1960's before it became popular for footballers to have model/actress girlfriends. He well understood the tribal rivalries that make football in Ireland so passionately followed. Best of all he understood people and he made a particular study of his own Kerry people whom he portrayed so well in plays like The Man from Clare.

If there are any tickets left, I'd recommend you get one.