The Ballybunion thread

SandhillRoad

SNOWSCORPION;
I thought you were writing this yourself, it would have been submitted for LISTOWER WRITERS WEEK, but checked The Kerryman . How did I miss that issue! Mystery solved.
Did you read A90Six's mention of the town of Ballyb removing the
:o MONICA'S :o hairdressing sign from the hairdressers-I think that was opposite the Castle Hotel property- when Clinton was in town !That's a hoot .If there was a cigar store there would it have been closed for the duration of his trip ?;) !
Enjoyed your Bales of Hay Memories.

RevBlueJeans

Im surprised that the Ballybunion's vibrant beach culture has not been mentioned yet!

I spent most of the summers between 1978 and 1985 on the beach and got to know most of the lifeguards. There was an emerging surf scene event though it could get quite hairy out there.

The lifeguards used to hang out in JD's, the Marine (because it was the nearest place to get a drink) and the Exchange (to hear Chirs play his guitar).

The Collins family used to run seaweed baths on the Ladies Beach.

There was a council worker called PaJoe or something similar who fancied himself as "Beach Manager".

I vaguely remember an encounter with a guard affectionately called "Tomato Face"

Most of my recollections are shrouded in an alcoholic haze and may be faulty.

Anyway I enjoyed reading the thread and hope that it will continue for much longer.

RevBJ

A90Six

RevBlueJeans wrote:

Im surprised that the Ballybunion's vibrant beach culture has not been mentioned yet!

I learned to swim in the sea at Ballyb and, apart from two or three near drownings as a child, I always enjoyed the time spent at the beach.

Our spot was on the Men's Strand, all the way down the road to the beach then slightly back towards the Castle. There used to be a few small outcrops of rock there where we would sometimes find little crabs to torment.

We would change into our 'togs' with a towel wrapped around our waists to hide our modesty. There were no changing facilities then. The days of old Mrs Downey's changing-huts yearly sojourn to the Men's Strand ended when I was a very small child.

She would hook the ten or twenty huts together and then harness one donkey to the front of the train and another to the rear to take the strain on the downhill bits. The procession would begin at her house in Ahafona and with the help of some of the local kids the journey would begin. People would come to their doors to watch as the changing-huts would make their slow progress to the beach, the huge iron wheels clanging as they went. How they managed to get them down the steep road to the beach without killing man or beast I do not know.

Those that helped would enjoy free changing facilities for the season. For a small charge (sixpence I believe) you would get a towel, togs and a personal footbath (a wooden box filled with sea-water) outside the hut to wash your feet when you had finished. Back then, only the very well-off could afford the extravagance of owning their own swimsuits, which may only be of use five or six times a year.

My favourite place to swim was in the pools of the Black Rocks where the water always seemed clearer and warmer than the sea. Walking across there now, I wonder how no one ever broke their leg getting out there.

Now and then during the summer, there would be parties on the beach. The word would go around amongst the teenagers and people would begin to store bits of timber by the cliffs, just around the bend (Puleen Lackboy) on the Men's Strand near the Black Rocks. This would be for the bonfire on the beach, strategically placed so that it would not be seen from the main beach head. It was always a worry that the Gardai would arrive to spoil the fun.

Everyone would turn up, already half-drunk, with beer or spirits to drink the night away. At one party someone had brought a huge cartwheel to place atop the bonfire. We would sing and dance around the fire like eejits, and then play stupid drinking games. We would fill plastic cups with spirits, down them in one and then spin around until someone fell over. This unfortunate would then get a mock hiding from all the others and we would start all over again.

At some stage someone would get drunk enough to think they could go swimming. This was usually the time when the more sober-minded (those that had drunk themselves sober) would realise that the fire was dying and the party had ended. The last bit of fun was to be had scrambling up the cliffs, hanging on to the long grass and hoping that some drunken fool ahead of you didn't slide back down into you so you both had to start again.

We would all split up and go our separate ways home. The party would be the talk of the crowd for weeks. Those who went making way more of it than it was, and those who didn't kicking themselves that they missed it.

snow scorpion

At some stage someone would get drunk enough to think they could go swimming.

:eek: I saw a movie that started that way once. dun-dun....dun-dun....dun-dun ........dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun


Pulleen Lackboy



Hey, we got a new smilie --> :v:

snow scorpion

RevBlueJeans wrote:

Im surprised that the Ballybunion's vibrant beach culture has not been mentioned yet!

The Collins family used to run seaweed baths on the Ladies Beach.

RevBJ

How' this, Rev?




Damn! I'm good!

A90Six

snow scorpion wrote:

:eek: I saw a movie that started that way once. dun-dun....dun-dun....dun-dun ........dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun


Pulleen Lackboy



Hey, we got a new smilie --> :v:

The small headland, adjacent to the Black Rocks, where the Men's Strand ends and the Long Strand begins.

SandhillRoad

snow scorpion wrote:

:eek: I saw a movie that started that way once. dun-dun....dun-dun....dun-dun ........dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun


Pulleen Lackboy



Hey, we got a new smilie --> :v:

********************************************
I can name that movie in one DUN !

Always liked walking the Long Strand.
Used to be able to take short cuts across the Golf links from Sandhill Road to the Long Strand-a beautiful stretch of beach. Had my dogs RONNIE ( ran like Ronnie Delaney) and LIKA ,found lots of golf balls and sold them to the caddies.
Collins Seaweed Baths was also called Maggie Daley's- great sandwich and a cuppa there also.

Some times I went to the Black Rocks for seaweed and brought it home , for my aunt so she could have her own seaweed bath , she would give me 2 Shillings for dragging it back. There were some nice warm pools of water in the Black Rocks - a rough walk on the bare feet.

snow scorpion

Sandhill, A90, reic, Rev, alfa, tinkerball and all the rest of you lurkers, big news!

Really big news!!



So I'm wandering around flickr.com, right? It's a photo sharing site. And of course I see if there's any pictures of Ballybunion there.

Holy crap! There's a ton of Ballybunion pictures there!

The photographer goes by the name of FLYbyNIGHT. So I check his profile: his hometown ..... are you ready?






Sit down......






You won't believe it....





His hometown is .....






Ballybunion, Co. Kerry, Ireland!!


I sent him an email inviting him to stop by the thread. So you kids better behave yourself when he shows up!



Anyway, here are his pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ballybunion/

Aero

Hi all...

Many thanks for the invite.

A very interesting thread!

Some of your photos bring back happy memories of my younger days in BallyB.

I look forward to adding to your thread in due course.

Best regards,

AERO / FLYbyNIGHT. / Hong Kong.

Aero

A little bit of Ballybunion history...

http://home.hkstar.com/~koc/

SandhillRoad

Hello to AERO from SANDHILLROAD .
Opened the site that SNOWSCORPION suggested that had your photos. Many is the time I went into Mr.and Mrs. O'C for candy.
Do you remember Matt Sullivan and Molly Miller ?
I lived on Sandhillroad. USA now.
Will go back to your photos as I just viewed the first batch and recognised Mr. and Mrs.O'C !
Many thanks and keep in touch.

Aero

Hi SandhillRoad...Yes I do remember Matt Sullivan and Molly Miller. Wow...that was a long time ago!

Mr. O'C is still at home but Mom died last February.

Ballybunion truly holds memories for many of us...how about you? When did you leave?

SandhillRoad

Aero wrote:

Hi SandhillRoad...Yes I do remember Matt Sullivan and Molly Miller. Wow...that was a long time ago!

Mr. O'C is still at home but Mom died last February.

Ballybunion truly holds memories for many of us...how about you? When did you leave?

****************************************
I left the salt sea air of Ballybunion behind in 1972.

We lived in Listowel and moved to Sandhill Road in 1966 until my Mother died in 1988.
My sympathy on the passing of your own mother R.I.P.

As a teenager I worked for a few Summers at the Central Hotel when Matt owned it and Kenneth was the manager. Molly sang in the Rainbow Lounge ( what a place to work way back then!). we got room, board, pay ,tips, the beach and dancing at the Central Ballroom-'though sometimes we would head for the Ballerina Ballroom.
My Aunt and Uncle had moved to BallyB in the early 1960s from Listowel ( they lived in Salmon Lodge-opposite Cliff House Hotel for a while before building a house on SndhillRoad). My mother bought one of the Buckley's houses -after you round the bend after Allens .
The Darby's of Sandhill Road (Mrs.Darby, Essie (R.I.P) Meela and Ann are our distant cousins).
As children we stayed a week in Ballyb every Summer- Mac Mahons, Mulcaires ( the name may be wrong but this one was very close to Horgans the drapers) and around the corner on Church Road ( in Mickey Mouses?).
As a kid I pubcrawled with my uncle and aunt at Paddy Dowlings, Paddy Dwyers ( Mary Hanlons), Michael G Clancy's ( Railway Bar), The Marine ( Marjorie Woulfe ) and the Castle ( remember Miss. Pough?).
I have spent a very long time looking at your photos of Ballyb and family photos. They bring back memories of Miss. Hawney's and Cissy Mac , Dana's and your Mam and Dad's.
I have not been back since 1999, but keep in touch. Am due for another visit soon.
Now I shall go and read the Marconi papers, I do remember your dad had more than an interest in Radio.
Regards.

Aero

Many thanks for the reply SANDHILLROAD. I also left BallyB in 1972 to begin my travels (Limerick - 4 years, Dublin - 12 years, Manama/Bahrain - 6 years and Hong Kong - 11 years and counting). If I keep this up I should eventually circle the globe! Prior to leaving BB, for a summer job, I worked each year at the Castle Hotel. All the names you mention bring memories flooding back! I hope you enjoy your next visit to the town.
Brgds.

Aero

Aero

With thanks to the providers of the other pictures, I find it interesting to see Main Street from more or less the same location, with years between the pics. The location is Lower Main Street, looking up town.

SandhillRoad

More of Ballybunion
A90Six: check the changing boxes on the beach.

SandhillRoad

.
Thanks SNOWSCORPION:cool: . Got it at last !:D

SandhillRoad

snow scorpion

SandhillRoad wrote:

.
Thanks SNOWSCORPION:cool: . Got it at last !:D

You're more than welcome.




Got what?



What's the blue house? Something about it is ringing a faint bell way in the back of my mind. Maybe I know it or maybe it's reminding me of some similar house.

snow scorpion

Aero wrote:

Hi all...

Many thanks for the invite.

A very interesting thread!

Some of your photos bring back happy memories of my younger days in BallyB.

I look forward to adding to your thread in due course.

Best regards,

AERO / FLYbyNIGHT. / Hong Kong.

Aw, you're in Hong Kong. That sound you hear is my hopes being dashed upon the jagged rocks of reality. When I saw Ballybunion was your hometown I thought our small group of regulars here had found a connection for a constant stream of pictures.

Oh, well. Hope springs eternal and all that.

Welcome to the thread. It's good to see our little family continuing to grow.

SandhillRoad

snow scorpion wrote:

You're more than welcome.




Got what?



What's the blue house? Something about it is ringing a faint bell way in the back of my mind. Maybe I know it or maybe it's reminding me of some similar house.

**************************8888
Got uploading URL instead of an attachment all the time.
Shure Hong Kong is a hop skip and a jump from BallyB.

Blue house ,I think ,is on Main St. Ballyb. Used it as a test photo.

snow scorpion

SandhillRoad wrote:

**************************8888
Got uploading URL instead of an attachment all the time.
Shure Hong Kong is a hop skip and a jump from BallyB.

Blue house ,I think ,is on Main St. Ballyb. Used it as a test photo.

Oh! Once you do it a few times you don't even have to think about the steps, you'll just do on auto-pilot.

Is that a garage on the left side of the house?

SandhillRoad

That building is on the left side of the Golf Hotel.
The last time I was home it was the Post Office.
The garage part is the pulldown metal shutters.

SandhillRoad

http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/8968/mbeasleypostcard7mx.jpg

Postcard published by local man.

A90Six

SandhillRoad wrote:

http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/8968/mbeasleypostcard7mx.jpg

Postcard published by local man.

I have an almost exact copy of this pic on a postcard somewhere, but it's from 1916. I'll have to have a hunt round and scan it.

Meanwhile, here's a few web pics I found that I thought might be of interest:

The Ambassador

This is a print of an etching by W H Bartlett, circa 1840. I bought six prints myself and had them shipped direct to various family members. You can see that he has used a bit of artistic license as regards the beach dimensions (it's why I tried the squished beach shot in my own pics), but the surroundings and the shape of the castle are interesting.

Lartigue Lovers

Sorry, had to put this one in coz I thought it was a bit strange

SandhillRoad

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/4567/lartig3s4ga.jpg

A90SIX:
This view is I think is in Ballyb at the station stop there

SandhillRoad

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/2043/listowelstoplartigue2as.jpg
This was the Listowel stop ( houses in background are upper William Street).

A90Six

SandhillRoad wrote:

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/4567/lartig3s4ga.jpg

A90SIX:
This view is I think is in Ballyb at the station stop there

SR: I know where it ran into ballyb across the road at Ahafona and up the main road, but I have no idea where the end of the line actually was in Ballyb. Where are those houses behind the engine?

SandhillRoad

A90,
i am not too sure , but probably behind Golf Hotel (old Central Hotel).
Is there somewher in the back way / a road called Lartigue something or other ?