Listowel Thread

AnBealBocht · 19-09-2007 04:05PM

Bob Dylan Fan wrote:

I have not logged in since July and it was such a shock when I logged in tonight - My heart felt condolences to the Sheehy Family

Thanks, Fan, much appreciated.

Marty Sheehy ( on behalf of the Sheehy family).

AnBealBocht · 19-09-2007 04:09PM

iBoards wrote:

Hey guys, first time I've found this thread. Doh!!!

I live in the center of Listowel and I update St.John's website each month with the new programme. Shall I begin posting it here each month - usually before it appears anywhere else in the press

iBoards, I think that would be a very nice addition to our Listowel thread.;)

Gweltas1 · 20-09-2007 04:36AM

I found this Listowel thread a few days ago, from a link in Mickey Mac Connell's site, and I have found it very interesting. It has evoked many memories of the past in going through all 53 pages of the posts here.

I particularly enjoyed your brother John's posts and I was really shocked and sorry to read of his death, when reading the most recent pages tonight. My sincere sympathies to you and to the rest of his family. I remember him as a vibrant young lad in Listowel in the early 1960's, but never knew what became of him as an adult till I found this thread.

I pray that God will comfort and console you and the family.

Kindest regards,
Gweltas1.

Cherry Tree · 20-09-2007 04:23PM

It is one of life's cruel ironies that what John so much wanted from this forum has happened after his death.
John wanted this to be a place where Listowel people all over the world would come together to reminisce.
He also wanted it to be the place where people went to see what was happening in Listowel today.
He would have been so pleased to read the recent posts from iBoards and Gweltas and he would have welcomed them with open arms to the forum. Maybe he is logging in from above.

Lovely writer · 21-09-2007 10:59AM

This Friday morning, September 21st 2007, I joined a group of people in the hospital chapel, Listowel, at a Mass to commemorate the life of John Sheehy (Sandhill Road). The Mass was concelebrated by four priests. After the mass, Jerry, John's twin brother, welcomed everyone and spoke briefly about John's two careers, in the Hotel business and then fulfilling his dream in the antiques business.

During the mass the priest spoke about the Apostleship of Saint Matthew in spreading the Good Word which was very appropriate considering John's tireless efforts in spreading the good news about Listowel to its scattered community.

AnBealBocht · 22-09-2007 02:32PM

Gweltas1 wrote:

I found this Listowel thread a few days ago, from a link in Mickey Mac Connell's site, and I have found it very interesting. It has evoked many memories of the past in going through all 53 pages of the posts here.

I particularly enjoyed your brother John's posts and I was really shocked and sorry to read of his death, when reading the most recent pages tonight. My sincere sympathies to you and to the rest of his family. I remember him as a vibrant young lad in Listowel in the early 1960's, but never knew what became of him as an adult till I found this thread.

I pray that God will comfort and console you and the family.

Kindest regards,
Gweltas1.

And thanks for those nice words about John.
Glad this thread evoked memories of Listowel for you.

Nice phrase Lovely Writer: Listowel's ' scattered communities '.

Jerry, Michael & Patrick were well-pleased with John's Memorial Mass in Listowel yesterday.

Once again, thanks everyone.

Marty Sheehy.

Lovely writer · 22-09-2007 03:15PM

Newsletter

28 Church St. · 24-09-2007 02:08PM

John Granville wrote:

Having Internet access to old and recent Listowel material would be of great interest to many. I particularly enjoy seeing old photos of the town, school groups, buildings etc. It has struck me though that I have never come across a photo of the old Boys' School. Are there any in existence? What a dismal limestone building it was. What modern Health & Safety Officer wouldn't condemn it outright? And yet I seem to recall that the then staff had a battle royal with the Dept. of Education for funding to replace it. As I remember, it had one stairway leading to the Senior School - no fire escape - and protective wire grill on the windows. Can't you just imagine the devestation and loss of life that might have occurred if a fire had broken out! The bare tinder-dry wooden floor boards and open fires were an accident waiting to happen. I'd still like to see a photo despite all that.
Hope I haven't given any of you 'Old Boys' nightmares!

I was deeply saddened by John’s death and my condolences go out to Jerry, Pat, Michael and Marty. This board seems to have come to life and John would have liked that.

I would like to add to John Granville’s comments regarding the old boys primary school. I was in the last 6th class in the school and I would also like to see a few photos of the place, inside and outside. A few "nightmaares" (good memories actually):

-Regarding fire: In 4th class one of the pupils made a bad decision to spit on the floor one day and the teacher, Taigeen Joe Flaherty, who was a stickler for cleanliness poured paraffin (or something inflammable) on the offending puddle and lit it. The result was a localized fire and a hole in the floor that was still there when the place was demolished.

-Regarding the wire mesh in the windows: When in high-infants (May Crowley), I was enrolled by two boys from a higher class to help with their plans to break in one weekend. I was small enough to squeeze through the window pane when the mesh was pulled back (the glass had been gone for some time). I opened the side door and we played around inside for a while. As far as I remember we did no damage. This was before I reached the age of reason and when my mother asked me why my clothes were dusty I told her, with great pride, the whole, which she relayed to Bryan McMahon. On Monday, the perpetrators were lined up in front of the whole school and given six of the best from Bryan who was a big man.

- In Babies (over the Library) Midge Scannel confiscated from me a toy black and yellow monkey on a swing that my father had brought from a trip to Dublin. It was placed at the top of the class along with all the other toys confiscated over the years. During my 1st year in St. Michaels, I walked passed the new school on my way back from lunch every noon. One day, I saw a boy from the new school coming towards me with a load of toys in his arms. The kids were moving all the stuff from the library to the new school. Sticking out of the load was a black and yellow monkey on a swing that I had completely forgotten about. I tried to explain to him that the monkey was mine but he would have none of it. For all I know it’s still in the Babies classroom (if there is such a thing).

- Does anyone remember the “potty break” in Babies. At a fixed time each day (maybe more than once) all the babies lined up and, in single file, trooped through a door on the second floor wall to the latrine that was at the end of a medal gangway and build onto the outside back wall of the building. It was all boys, of course, and you did your business and joined the line trudging back into the classroom. I can vividly recall the smell. The gangway was probably no more than 15 feet off the ground but, when you’re only three feet yourself, it felt like a big drop.

There must be hundreds of such recollections still in the collective memory of the past pupils of the Old School.

-David O'Sullivan (Minneapolis, USA)

John Granville · 24-09-2007 05:50PM

Just back from an enjoyable but profitless few days at the Races. I’m now convinced that the ‘thoroughbreds’ I placed my hard earned money on were, in fact, donkeys in disguise and the jockeys were chimpanzees in fancy dress! You’d think that after one day of drawing complete blanks in the betting stakes I’d have learned my lesson. Oh no! Back for more punishment the following day. “Suil le cuiteam ‘sea lomann an cearrbhach”. Did I get that right? I learned it, among many other proverbs, from Johnny Flaherty in St. Michael’s. Still the fun was good and the atmosphere special.
Not so special was the spectacle of so many drunken young(and not so young) people later in the nights. The German Ambassador would have felt vindicated had he witnessed the goings-on. Are bar owners not supposed to stop serving alcohol to people who are already showing signs of drunkenness? Or is the desire to make as much money as possible during Race Week too much for the greedy ones?
Maybe I’m just growing old.

John Granville · 25-09-2007 10:28AM

Some lovely anecdotes there from David(aka 28 Church St.) A life of crime nipped in the bud by a dutiful mother! Aren't you thankful? Six slaps seemed a bit much for a Senior Infant. Were you able to count properly back then? Maybe that's what the main culprits got? Was there no plea bargaining in those days?
The ritual of standing in line to perform as a Junior Infant at the top of the iron steps certainly evokes memories. Mrs. Scanlan's name was 'Pidge' I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The slaps reminds me of how Micheal Keane administered justice. He always nominated sentence before administering. "Dha cheann!" or "Tri chinn!". Thereby ensuring that a lesson in Irish grammar went side by side with the correctional lesson. Very effective indeed. As for Tadhg Flaherty - his stories were legion. I conducted a very unscientific poll some years ago among three or four of my former classmates. I asked them to answer very quickly which teacher they remembered best from Primary School and why. The answers were all the same - Tadhg Flaherty and because of his stories! Three or four out of a class of maybe 35 or more is hardly a representative sample but interesting nonetheless.
Hope someone comes up with some photos of the place.

Gweltas1 · 29-09-2007 12:27AM

In the hope that a lot more Listowel ex-pats read the Listowel thread than actually post messages here, I'm posting a message that they might pass on to their contacts abroad concerning the disappearance of John Kennelly, Kennelly's Travel Agency. The more people who know he is missing the better are his chances of being found..............

The family of an Irishman missing for nearly three weeks in the Paris has made a renewed appeal for help in trying to trace him.

John Kennelly, a 47-year-old Travel Agent in Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland, was last seen leaving his hotel (Hotel Méridien Etoile De Paris, Porte Maillot) at 7.00 am and walking in the direction of the Bois De Boulogne, on Sunday morning, September 9th.. He told his wife that he intended to return to the hotel at 10.00am. He had been in Paris attending a trade fair with his wife and two adult children, and was due to fly home later that morning. He was carrying a small bag, containing some books and his passport, but was not carrying his blood pressure medication with him.
John is 5.10
210 pounds / 15 stone
Bald with large reddish moustache.
He may be ill, and suffering from memory loss, and is currently out of Blood Pressure Medication.
He doesn't speak French.

French Privacy Laws prohibit publication of John's PHOTOGRAPH on TV stations, or in the Newspapers

Please foward John's photograph and description (see below) to anyone you may know in Paris, or elsewhere in the world, and ask for his photo to be posted in workplaces, etc... and to forward it to everyone they know. God willing, John will be found alive and restored to his loving wife and family. I would very much appreciate your prayers for his safety, and your help in trying to locate him. Thanks.
_________________________________________________________________
Missing Person - John Kennelly, Kennelly's Travel Agency, Market St., Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland.
MISSING PERSON

PERSONNE DISPARUE

John Kennelly, 47 ans, de nationalité Irlandaise, porté disparu depuis le dimanche 9 septembre 2007. Aperçu la dernière fois à 7h00 ce matin-là en sortant de l'hôtel Méridien Etoile de Paris, Porte Maillot. Taille = 1,78 mètre, poids = 95 kilos. Si vous l'avez vu ou si vous détenez toute information à son sujet, veuillez contacter la Police, l'Ambassade d'Irlande en France à Paris, ou appeler 01.44.17.67.19

John Kennelly, a 47 year old Irishman, missing in Paris since Sunday 9 September 2007. Last seen leaving the Meridien Etoile hotel, Porte Maillot, at 7am that morning. John weighs 15 stone and is 5'10" tall . If you have seen him or have any information, please contact the Police, the Embassy of Ireland, Paris, or call 01.44.17.67.19

Embassy of Ireland
12 avenue Foch
75116 Paris
Main Tel:+33 1 44176700
Fax:+33 1 44176750
Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 9.30 – 12.00

Sorry .......... I tried to copy and paste John's photo here but it didn't work. However if you go to : www.rte.ie/news/2007/0923/kennellyj.html there is a photo of him there.

Lovely writer · 29-09-2007 06:24PM

Newsletter

John Granville · 02-10-2007 12:03PM

Has anyone expressed interest in this proposal ? Seemed like a good idea. Also seemed like a great deal of work maybe.

John Granville · 02-10-2007 01:38PM

I was looking at the 1901 Census recently. http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlker/cenlist.html I came across a place called Newman's Lane in Listowel. I must confess that I had never heard of it before. Does anyone know where it was or what its called now?

AnBealBocht · 02-10-2007 11:45PM

John Granville wrote:

Some lovely anecdotes there from David(aka 28 Church St.) A life of crime nipped in the bud by a dutiful mother! Aren't you thankful? Six slaps seemed a bit much for a Senior Infant. Were you able to count properly back then? Maybe that's what the main culprits got? Was there no plea bargaining in those days?
The ritual of standing in line to perform as a Junior Infant at the top of the iron steps certainly evokes memories. Mrs. Scanlan's name was 'Pidge' I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The slaps reminds me of how Micheal Keane administered justice. He always nominated sentence before administering. "Dha cheann!" or "Tri chinn!". Thereby ensuring that a lesson in Irish grammar went side by side with the correctional lesson. Very effective indeed. As for Tadhg Flaherty - his stories were legion. I conducted a very unscientific poll some years ago among three or four of my former classmates. I asked them to answer very quickly which teacher they remembered best from Primary School and why. The answers were all the same - Tadhg Flaherty and because of his stories! Three or four out of a class of maybe 35 or more is hardly a representative sample but interesting nonetheless.
Hope someone comes up with some photos of the place.

And, as was often the case locally, she was most often known, by my mother's generation, by her maiden name: Pidge Pierce.

In her later years, I had the honour of visiting with her at her retirement home in Ballybunion, which she shared, if memory serves, with her daughter, Eleanor Scanlon. On the way down Sandhill Road ( where my mother had then purchased a home, St. Martin's, x 1967) when coming back from Listowel, the mother would insist on dropping in to say hallo to ' Pidge Pierce '. ' Mairtin ', Pidge would start, and launch into Gailge, which, by then, I was hard pressed to follow.
Forty + years onwards, such visits remain memorable.
Whether by fate or otherwise, it was my privilege to sit and talk with Bryan McMahon early in the New Year of his death; and visit with Bean UiCrowley at the Kennedy Nursing Home a few months before her death.
I attended the Memorial Mass for Frank Sheehy at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin in 1962/1963.
Such good people, sorely missed, but fondly remembered.

P.S. Thanks, David, for your kind condolences on John's death.---Marty.

ella23 · 03-10-2007 04:26AM

reic wrote:

LOL, whenever I'm in Listowel I take a walk past the tower, through the graveyard and around the park. The person I stayed with in Willow Close has now moved rural and moved into a house a few miles away near Duagh(?). I can't remember the townland name, begins with "T" but it's out in the "sticks"!

Have a feeling it could be trineareagh your talking about!

AnBealBocht · 04-10-2007 10:27PM

ella23 wrote:

Have a feeling it could be trineareagh your talking about!

My Dad ( Jack Sheehy) had a farm out there in them ' sticks ' opposite O'Keefe's farm and just down from Hussey's. It was like our back-yard, as the ' back-yard ' in 8 Main St. lacked size, & of that size 1/4 was occupied by the out-house!.
My brothers & I found it a bracing walk back & forth from Listowel out there to Trineareagh in Summer, where we spent several summer holidays.
The farm was sold following my father's death in 1966/7.

Cherry Tree · 06-10-2007 10:20AM

A new addition to the print media in North Kerry is on its way. It will be called "The Advertiser" and is the brainchild of some Listowel entrepreneurs. It's office is located at Crowley's old shop at the corner of Courthouse Road and Church St. It will be freely available at no cost in local shops. It will be funded entirely by advertising.
Hopefully it will have all the news from home for all you ex-pats and lots of happenings of interest to us locals.

John Granville · 06-10-2007 05:33PM

I read in Friday's newspaper of the death of John Perry, late of Church St. It's a name I had forgotten until I read of his death. I'm guessing that he would have been about 70 years of age.
As far as I can recall, John lived in Upper Church St. somewhere opposite Pierce Walsh's. His father worked in one of the banks. I'm not sure which one - Provincial, National or Bank of Ireland -as they would have been then.
I remember hearing that his mother died in tragic circumstances in London years before. John was a rather dapper fellow, unusual for young men of Listowel at the time.
Did anyone have any contact with the family in recent times?

Lovely writer · 08-10-2007 01:18PM

Church Newsletter

Snowacuse · 09-10-2007 01:54PM

I am new to this site and just came across it yesterday. It's interesting to read of the posts on different "listowel" themes. I have to say I was shocked when I heard a few weeks ago about John Kennelly, I knew him and his family when I was younger. I hope he's ok and will be home soon.

I was wondering if the new publication the "Advertiser" will be available online? I read the other Kerry papers weekly and would love to see this new one.

Thanks.

Snowacuse · 09-10-2007 02:04PM

I hope this isn't a duplicate message, I posted once but it does not show. Anyway, I'm new to the site and was wondering if The Advertiser would be an online publication also?

Thanks

Cherry Tree · 09-10-2007 09:22PM

Céad míle fáilte romhat isteach.
I'll drop into the Advertiser office as soon as I get a chance and ask if there are any plans for an online version.

Meanwhile you might like to browse around this site http://www.iol.ie/~coganj/

AnBealBocht · 11-10-2007 08:39PM

Cherry Tree wrote: »

Céad míle fáilte romhat isteach.
I'll drop into the Advertiser office as soon as I get a chance and ask if there are any plans for an online version.

Meanwhile you might like to browse around this site http://www.iol.ie/~coganj/

It would be nice if they had online access. It would be nicer still if they ' advertised ' the fact of this Listowel thread on Boards.ie ( &, maybe, what local interest there might be in a Listowel Historical Society.)

< http://groups.google.com/group/ListowelCoKerryIrelandHistoricalSociety >

Thanks.

Lovely writer · 12-10-2007 02:38PM

Newsletter

AnBealBocht · 12-10-2007 04:01PM

John Granville wrote: »

I read in Friday's newspaper of the death of John Perry, late of Church St. It's a name I had forgotten until I read of his death. I'm guessing that he would have been about 70 years of age.
As far as I can recall, John lived in Upper Church St. somewhere opposite Pierce Walsh's. His father worked in one of the banks. I'm not sure which one - Provincial, National or Bank of Ireland -as they would have been then.
I remember hearing that his mother died in tragic circumstances in London years before. John was a rather dapper fellow, unusual for young men of Listowel at the time.
Did anyone have any contact with the family in recent times?

Darn, I wish I had Ray Bailey's e-mail addy. I talked to Ray per phone from Key West, Florida about 3 years ago.

Ray's older brothers and sister ( Pat, John, & Carmel, RIP the latter) would have been good friends with John Perry, who, indeed, lived opposite J.R. Walshe's shop/bar and below Kennely's pub and just above Esther McAuliff's ( RIP.)
Mrs. Perry did indeed die in tragic circumstances some years back in the U.K., and John Perry's younger sister, Pat ( my contemporary), was, if I remember rightly, killed in an auto accident many years ago, also in the U.K.

Cherry Tree · 16-10-2007 04:25PM

Yes there are plans for a pdf version of The Advertiser on line but just at the moment the office is very busy with the print version so the online copy will take a little longer. The good news is that the first edition is now all gone and issue no. 2 will be in the shops on Friday.

listowel8 · 18-10-2007 07:25PM

John Granville wrote: »

Some lovely anecdotes there from David(aka 28 Church St.) A life of crime nipped in the bud by a dutiful mother! Aren't you thankful? Six slaps seemed a bit much for a Senior Infant. Were you able to count properly back then? Maybe that's what the main culprits got? Was there no plea bargaining in those days?
The ritual of standing in line to perform as a Junior Infant at the top of the iron steps certainly evokes memories. Mrs. Scanlan's name was 'Pidge' I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The slaps reminds me of how Micheal Keane administered justice. He always nominated sentence before administering. "Dha cheann!" or "Tri chinn!". Thereby ensuring that a lesson in Irish grammar went side by side with the correctional lesson. Very effective indeed. As for Tadhg Flaherty - his stories were legion. I conducted a very unscientific poll some years ago among three or four of my former classmates. I asked them to answer very quickly which teacher they remembered best from Primary School and why. The answers were all the same - Tadhg Flaherty and because of his stories! Three or four out of a class of maybe 35 or more is hardly a representative sample but interesting nonetheless.
Hope someone comes up with some photos of the place.

i have fond memories of being in tadhg flahertys class.i doubt if his son ever had tap water to drink when he was young.tadhg wouldbring water from his brothers well out the bally bunion road.one story that will stay with me always was the time some one in the class had the missfortune to pick his nose and was told to go wash his hands, as he was about to to put his hand on the nob of the door tadhg stopped him and made someone else open the door. then he proceeded to get a safety pin and tell the class to look closely at the head of the pin as there was a million germs on the head of the pin.of course no one said that they could not see even one germ on the pin no mind 1 million.those were the good days.

UpTheAshes · 18-10-2007 10:39PM

Tadgh Joe was indeed fanatical about germs. He would blame germs on "the Three D's"- Dirt, Damp, and Darkness. He had some interesting theories, although he probably had a better understanding of "germs" than a lot of people at the time. I think he lost half of his thumb to infection, when he was jabbed by a nib of a pen in his youth. He used to say that the missing thumb was to blame when he played a bum note on the fiddle. Either that, or the unfortunate boy (usually Billy O'Sullivan from Cahirdown) who was holding up the music page had moved while he was playing. We used to say "Tadgheen Joe,with his fiddle and bow", -not within earshot of course.
As for Michael "Mikey" Keane, it still brings a smile to me when I think of him saying "now boys, this is going to hurt me as much as you" before he would dish out the slaps.

Lovely writer · 20-10-2007 05:31PM

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