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Clare characters #1: old beardy homeless guy in Ennis

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  • 13-06-2009 4:20pm
    #1
    bowsie casey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 334 ✭✭


    I've always wanted to ask about this guy, and am sure there's plenty more "characters" out there to be discussed....(none more so than my namesake).

    Does anyone know anything about the old homeless guy with the beard who was around town for years? I think he died 5-10 years ago. He always gave the impression of being a down-on-his-luck nice guy rather than an out and out knack.

    Have heard rumours (Ennis is terrible for them :rolleyes: ) that he was from a rich family and left it all behind....usual crap.

    Does anyone know some facts ? ...if not, your own rumours / conspiracy theory will do, or just make something up !


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    #2
    Stuxnet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,735 ✭✭✭Stuxnet


    bowsie casey wrote: »
    I've always wanted to ask about this guy, and am sure there's plenty more "characters" out there to be discussed....(none more so than my namesake).
    so your not the real Bowsie c !! imposter :-p

    didnt he make a fire in some lane, the one across for enzo's on parnell street, he was bits drunk, and fell into the fire and killed himself


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    #3
    soccymonster
    Registered Users Posts: 9,553 ✭✭✭soccymonster


    when i read your post i thought you were talking about that old, beardy guy that used to always be singing around O' Mahoneys bookshop for money in the same clothes everyday with fabric wrapped round his feet??...
    i don't see him anymore...:(


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    #4
    branie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭branie


    Was he on crutches, and did he stand on O'Connell street, across the road from Supermacs?


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    #5
    asmobhosca
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭asmobhosca


    anyone remember Michael Tierney Ennis's most renowned Newspaper selling transvestite??? He used to sell papers outside mass at the cathedral....:D


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    #6
    MyPeopleDrankTheSoup
    Registered Users Posts: 2,711 ✭✭✭MyPeopleDrankTheSoup


    Anyone know the ennis guy with 80s style mullet, shorts and yellow rainjacket. I see him walking into and out of town on the Limerick road all the time, he gives a big wave to everyone who so much as glances at him! Seems like a nice guy


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    #7
    Claregirl
    Registered Users Posts: 531 ✭✭✭Claregirl


    He's not Ennis he's Clarecastle!!! Used to work in Tesco when it was Quinsworth! Don't wave back!!!


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    #8
    Insulting_Bitch
    Registered Users Posts: 109 ✭✭Insulting_Bitch


    Claregirl wrote: »
    He's not Ennis he's Clarecastle!!! Used to work in Tesco when it was Quinsworth! Don't wave back!!!

    Take her advice...DO NOT WAVE BACK.


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    #9
    Claregirl
    Registered Users Posts: 531 ✭✭✭Claregirl


    Just found video on Youtube that feature photo's of old guy by Mike Mulcaire see link http://www.youtube.com/user/FMONDAY


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    #10
    Hawk Wing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 314 ✭✭Hawk Wing


    georgiecasey wrote: »
    Anyone know the ennis guy with 80s style mullet, shorts and yellow rainjacket. I see him walking into and out of town on the Limerick road all the time, he gives a big wave to everyone who so much as glances at him! Seems like a nice guy
    Wears sandals aswell, even in **** weather


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    #11
    drunken_munky52
    Closed Accounts Posts: 636 ✭✭✭drunken_munky52


    Hawk Wing wrote: »
    Wears sandals aswell, even in **** weather

    Used to mop the floors in Quinnsworth, says hello to EVERYONE he passes, even when he was working there. Pure harmless guy, but yeah a bit cracked. Same routine everyday, walks into town for Clarecastle in his yellow mac and shorts, drinks coffee down the temple gate lane and mosies back in the evening, pure legend!


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    #12
    omahaid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,497 ✭✭✭omahaid


    Insulting_Bitch wrote: »
    Take her advice...DO NOT WAVE BACK.


    Why, what'll happen? I always wave back :D


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    #13
    drunken_munky52
    Closed Accounts Posts: 636 ✭✭✭drunken_munky52


    bowsie casey wrote: »
    I've always wanted to ask about this guy, and am sure there's plenty more "characters" out there to be discussed....(none more so than my namesake).

    Does anyone know anything about the old homeless guy with the beard who was around town for years? I think he died 5-10 years ago. He always gave the impression of being a down-on-his-luck nice guy rather than an out and out knack.

    Have heard rumours (Ennis is terrible for them :rolleyes: ) that he was from a rich family and left it all behind....usual crap.

    Does anyone know some facts ? ...if not, your own rumours / conspiracy theory will do, or just make something up !

    His was known as "Seamus the begger" I nearly sure. Used to call to doors looking for a bit of spare change. I can remember great wit and stories he would tell.


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    #14
    BLITZ_Molloy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,949 ✭✭✭BLITZ_Molloy


    There was the transvestite lived in Hermitage years ago. He was pretty cracked as well. Used to carry around bars of pink chocolate and give them to any kids that happened to talk to him. His house had 10's of cuddly toys in each window as well.

    Mullet guy from Clarecastle is kind of obnoxious. I think that's the main reason not to wave back. He's got a fantastic swagger about him though. And the haircut demands a certain amount of respect.

    There aren't that many proper oddballs around anymore sadly. Theres a very cool slim old guy who always sits outside the Country Kitchen in the morning. I'd say he's in his 70's or 80's. Always dressed immaculately in a suit, with a great head of hair, and chain smoking and drinking coffee. I hope I look as cool in my old age.


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    #15
    Hawk Wing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 314 ✭✭Hawk Wing


    Mullet man used to be a security guard in lifestyle before he mopped the floors


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    #16
    branie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭branie


    I was right, the old guy in the video was on crutches.


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    #17
    ollaetta
    Registered Users Posts: 1,641 ✭✭✭ollaetta


    Going back a bit here but does anyone remember "the Virginian"? He was a traveller who hung around town in the 70's and who used to wear a cowboy hat. Spent most of his time locked and ended up in a wheelchair.

    He had a very vocal missus to say the least. I remember them having a massive row in the street once and she wheeled him out into the traffic and left him there!


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    #18
    branie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭branie


    And who could ever forget Julia McDonagh?


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    #19
    bowsie casey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 334 ✭✭bowsie casey


    soccymonster wrote: »
    when i read your post i thought you were talking about that old, beardy guy that used to always be singing around O' Mahoneys bookshop for money in the same clothes everyday with fabric wrapped round his feet??...
    i don't see him anymore...:(

    That guy with the real deep voice singing sea shanty type songs....he's still around, I saw him a couple of months back.

    What about Whistler ? Old guy in his 70s used be around abt 15 yrs ago, walked around in a suit and a walking stick, always whistling. Used be around the library a bit. I remember someone calling him Whistler and getting a belt of the cane...


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    #20
    bowsie casey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 334 ✭✭bowsie casey


    georgiecasey wrote: »
    Anyone know the ennis guy with 80s style mullet, shorts and yellow rainjacket. I see him walking into and out of town on the Limerick road all the time, he gives a big wave to everyone who so much as glances at him! Seems like a nice guy

    He's a regular fruitcake.... every town needs a couple of them! He brightens up the place a bit, which isn't bad given all the depressing talk round here of feuds and hand grenades and violence in Ennis.


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    #21
    Stuxnet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,735 ✭✭✭Stuxnet


    lol best thread ever

    that tesco dude, he's called the champ, its all "..well champ.." with him, nut job always waving by that roundabout in cc
    michael tierney, the first tranny i ever saw when i was about 10, how could you forget the hats he used to where, and the black wig, i think my grandad was mates with him, should i even be saying that !!
    aaron esley the most infamous of clare characters, psychopath always bits in brandons
    there's plenty more,
    bowsie casey himself, the merchant of ennis
    anyone have good stories on him? he's renouned legand


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    #22
    Auldloon
    Registered Users Posts: 1,241 ✭✭✭Auldloon


    I was told the old beardy homeless guy had been a conductor with the national orchestra.
    His wife and two kids died in a house fire and he gave up.
    No idea if there is any truth in that.
    Pretty sure it was one of our teachers who told us that story in class one day.
    He seemed like a harmless ould fella.

    Edit to add
    Speaking to Aaron Esley in Brandons one night and he just kept repeating
    "I,m caught in a trap"


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    #23
    Teadrinker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 127 ✭✭Teadrinker


    bowsie casey wrote: »
    He's a regular fruitcake.... every town needs a couple of them! He brightens up the place a bit, which isn't bad given all the depressing talk round here of feuds and hand grenades and violence in Ennis.

    Yeah, nothing like having a bit of fun listing the troubled and the marginalised, past and present.


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    #24
    drunken_munky52
    Closed Accounts Posts: 636 ✭✭✭drunken_munky52


    Correction: That guy was "Sean the begger", I recognise him from the video. Wasnt he a teacher or sumtin?

    Does anybody remember the names "Wruggie" or "Blackjack"?

    Wruggie used to go around pulling his jacket over his head whenever he passed someone, i never actually saw his face! This was 15 years ago atleast, never saw him again. What happened him?

    Blackjack was hit by a train, fell asleep on the railway line blocked.


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    #25
    soccymonster
    Registered Users Posts: 9,553 ✭✭✭soccymonster


    bowsie casey wrote: »
    That guy with the real deep voice singing sea shanty type songs....he's still around, I saw him a couple of months back.
    yea thats him! i miss him..:p
    Insulting_Bitch wrote: »
    Take her advice...DO NOT WAVE BACK.
    WHAT? WHY!? me and my friends saw him one day and he took a photo with us :pac:.. he asked my friend for her camera so he could take a pick of us and she was like "eh.. your grand.."


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    #26
    ktc1
    Registered Users Posts: 101 ✭✭ktc1


    BOBBY wrote: »
    lol best thread ever

    bowsie casey himself, the merchant of ennis
    anyone have good stories on him? he's renouned legand

    A few stories on Bowsie:

    I heard from an accountant in Ennis (long deceased) about Bowsie going to meet the tax man in Limerick. Answered all questions along the lines of " I don't be knowing anything about VAT or tax sir, sure I don't be able to read or write sir, could you be explaining that to me sir", etc, etc ad nauseum. When the tax man actually came to the shop he chased him off with a hatchet.

    Bowsie built houses for his kids. He was sent to jail for refusing to tear one down that didn't have proper planning permission (think it was subsequently demolished) He was on RTE radio complaining (rightfully) that many other people who were pillars of society had done the same thing and gotten off with it.

    Bowsie bought a house on College Road near the Colaiste. Locals got together and gave him £20k to pull out of the deal.

    Some lads (my brother being one of them) were doing a business project for school that involved making and selling electric Christmas candles. Bowsie took a batch and subsequently refused to pay. "What candles, I don't see any candles, do you, etc, etc". They learned a valuable business lesson there.

    My Dad saw Bowsie asleep on a doorstep in town on a bitter windy snowy night and was sure he'd die of exposure. He wasn't going to wake him up as there was no knowing what Bowsie might do to you in an inebriated state, so he called the guards instead. He saw Bowsie still there early the next morning, he must have had some amount of whisky/brandy inside him to kep him warm and alive.

    Bowsie's wife (first or second?) is buried in Drumcliffe with an OTT headstone/memorial. The story is that Bowsie used go up to on a Saturday evening and spread out the money he had made during the week on the grave and tell her how well he had done, which in all fairness is quite touching. (wonder if he told her about ripping off my brother!)


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    #27
    BLITZ_Molloy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,949 ✭✭✭BLITZ_Molloy


    Heard a story about him going on holidays in france or someplace and getting arrested, this is back in the 70's or something. The gendarmes didn't have a clue what the **** he was saying, they rang the garda barracks in Kilmaley or wherever he's from originally and the gard on the other end says "Ah yeah, you've got Bowsie Casey banged up. Nice work. Ahaha" and just assumed it was a windup so it took forever for them to deal with it. Pardon the vagueness.. told this ages ago.

    Deep voiced sea shanty singer was in Cork city singing a few weeks ago. Might have moved down there.


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    #28
    bantee
    Registered Users Posts: 2,812 ✭✭✭bantee


    LOL! I used to work in Quinsworth with "the Champ". He is one far-out guy I can tell you.
    He used to stick to himself a lot but would always salute everyone at work and be friendly.
    He goes to all the hurling matches with his '95 jersey still intact.
    What a LEGEND.


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    #29
    Claregirl
    Registered Users Posts: 531 ✭✭✭Claregirl


    Anyone remember the Friar? He looked very much like Brendan Grace big jolly man. Did he run off and get married?


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    #30
    bowsie casey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 334 ✭✭bowsie casey


    Claregirl wrote: »
    Anyone remember the Friar? He looked very much like Brendan Grace big jolly man. Did he run off and get married?

    That was Fr Stan, known for the 30 minute mass. No idea what happened to him.


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    #31
    Precious flower
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,812 ✭✭✭Precious flower


    That guy that always singing and playing his guitar near the temple gate with that adorable dog in the basket.:D He has two dogs I think because I see a different dog sometimes when I pass.One of the dogs has a lovely black coat. I give him money from time to time when I pass.


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