Listowel Thread

Cherry Tree

Thank you Boroman. I wonder if Madame Kathleen has "gotta horse"

Here are two contrasting scenes from Sunday, Day 1 of Listowel Harvest Festival.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families of the three young men who so tragically lost their lives as they returned home from an enjoyable day at the races.

StompToWork

boroman wrote: »

Taken today outside Griffin's Butcher Shop (old Post Office).

This is the highlight of my year. Once a year, and only once, my mum still makes mutton pies on the week of the races. I'm heading down home this weekend, and will no doubt be treated to a dose of them. Yum.

boroman

Listowel Races, Day 2.
Yesterday (Monday) was well back on the correspondent day of a year ago. The day was wet, cold and miserable and only true blue racing aficionados’ braved the elements. Last evening and night the bars (some at least) were busy, one publican said to me, now your can really see the demise of Celtic Tiger.
Today has started promising and already there is a lively buzz around the town, the sun is making an occasional break through and hopefully the day will bring the crowds out.
Yesterday I mentioned Prince Monolulu in passing; to younger readers he was a coloured racing tipster who came over from London to the races during the 1960s, a bit curious I checked Wikipedia and the following is a condensed version of what they have to say.
“Famous racing tipster Prince Monolulu was born Peter Carl McKay on the island of St. Croix (now part of the American Virgin Islands) in 1881.
Arriving in London in 1902 where he done labouring work for some time, sometime later he found work as part of the chorus line in the first all -black West End musical show called “In Dohomey”. Been unemployed when the show finished he travelled Europe in a travelling roadshow and worked as a fortune teller, violinist, singer, lion tamer etc, etc. In Germany at the outset of World War 1 he was interned and remained in the prison camp for the duration of the war.
Returning to England he then embarked on a career as a racing tipster and took to shouting “I gotta horse” after seeing religious revivalist Gypsy Daniels shouting “I’ve got heaven” to attract attention and the crowds.
It was reported that he won £8000 when he backed an outsider Spion Kop to win the Darby. He would sell his tips in a sealed envelope for 10 shillings warning the buyer that telling anyone their tip would result in a loss, (very few of his tips won , however nobody ever complained).
During the following 5 decades he remained a celebrated figure at most of the well known racecourses.
His end came in 1965when he choked to death in Middlesex Hospital while eating a “strawberry cream” from a box of black magic chocolates which he had been given by a racing journalist who was interviewing him” I wonder was Monolulu in Bryan McMahon’s mind when he penned,
“They came from Castleisland, they came from Tralee,
And a black- looking’ devil, he came from Fiji,
We’d a Dutchman, a German, a Chink and a Pole,
Sure ‘twas more like Geneva than lovely Listowel.”
As I took the photograph of the fortune tellers caravan yesterday a lovely elderly local lady saw me and said that she went to a gypsy fortune teller over in the racetrack back in the early 1950s, She told me “I crossed the gypsy’s hand with silver and she said, you will meet a dark haired man and get married, you will have 13 children, to which I replied, God blast you.
Well I did get married to a dark haired man and the first night we went to bed together the fortune tellers prophesy came to my mind and all I could say to my husband was “in the honour of God Paddy, will you take me easy”
By the way my tip today is for an e/w on Drombeg Dawn in the 3. 25

UpTheAshes

Speaking of fortune tellers, there's a story about the fortune teller who came every year and set up in the Square years back. She would tell her clients among other things,"you will cross a body of water very soon" which of course would be true as the punter would inevitably have to cross the Feale on his way to the Island!

boroman

Listowel Races 2010, 3rd day.
Well, the good day yesterday brought out the crowds and the tote figures well up on last year. Last night there was a great buzz around the streets and the pubs were a humming. Hopefully this trend will continue for the remainder of the week.
Boroman met up with his old school pal Listowel8 and had a most enjoyable night in Mike The Pies, they were joined by other old pals from National School days, John (Sandy) Fitzgerald, Tae Lane, Sean Og Lenihan (Dublin) Teddy Sullivan and Sean Sullivan (Huddersfield) and about 10 other members of the extended Lenihan family originally From Charles Street.
My tip yesterday was a dud so I will take one more chance to emulate the great Monolulu. My fancy today is going in the Kerry National and is “Finger on the Pulse”, and once again last word to Lovely Listowel,
“There were Bookies and Bagmen and Bankers and all,
Biddy Mulligan was there with a green coloured shawl,
And a cute little boy pitching pence in a bowl,
Took me down for a crown in the Town of Listowel.”

“I GOTTA HORSE”

boroman

Listowel Races, 2010, 4th day
Well, the week is now half way through and as the days pass, the crowds and weather thankfully improving, Boroman paid his first visit over to the Island and must say had a most enjoyable time. The only setback was having plumped for Finger on the Pulse (and sharing the tip with the many readers of boards’) I decided to invest 10 euro e/w. Leaving the bar on the way to the tote who did I meet with but the Sheehy family from Yonkers, delaying too long I arrived at the tote window to find it shut. Tantalisingly I was obliged to watch the race unveil and my pick finish third. That was my total attempt at betting for the day.
After the last race there was live music at two locations in the enclosure.
Last night the pub crawl was limited to just the one bar, Mike the Pies.
I finish today with one verse from a song written in 1952 to honour the races, the song was called The Races In Listowel and was written by a Ballygologue man called Tim Leahy.
“I love to roam by Shannon side, (air, The Turfman from Ardee)
By Liffey and by Lee,
I love Killarney and its lakes,
And the mountains o’er Tralee,
But where I rest and like the best,
Is where with heart and soul,
The joy I’ll seek, I’ll find this week,
At the Races in Listowel”

boroman

Listowel Races 2010, day 5.
Crowds are great, weather good and there is a great feeling in town. I took a rest yesterday, but today is going to be very special, why you ask?, well I am about to introduce a grandson, Jack, aged 5 to the Listowel Races for the very first time. Preserving tradition is all important. The taxi, hackney and shuttle bus owners are doing a roaring trade as are the mobile chip vans which are all over the place.
Today is ladies day back on the course and of course tonight we have the wren boys, once described as the greatest free show on earth, so we can look forward to a late night. Tomorrow we will post the fillies and wren boys winners .

I finish with another blast from lovely Listowel.

“Oh, night time, how are you- the night sure ‘twas day,
And the stars in the sky they looked down in dismay,
And they sez to the moon then in accents so droll.
‘You’re done, for the sun shines to-night in Listowel”

Cherry Tree

Today I met these visitors, The lovely Sheehy family from the U.S. on the island

Lovely writer

Church Newsletter

boroman

Listowel Races 2010 day 6&7.

Well here we are on the final lap of what was a fantastic week for the town of Listowel. Yesterday (Friday) the crowd was it seems the largest ever at the famous venue, and I would also think the finest gathering of well turned out ladies ever assembled in Listowel. It was of course ladies day, and the winner was Catherine Keane of Finuge, wife of Paudie Keane formally of the Mighty Dollar in Market Street, in an older version of his ballad on the Races, Bryan McMahon must have had a premonition of Ladies Day when in this verse he wrote,

“And you’d travel the land to see maidens so rare,
With buckles and pearls and grace I declare,
In my troubles and toils there is one can console,
She’s a wife, be me life from the Town of Listowel”

Hopefully this will be first leg of a Finuge double of the weekend, Finuge play Gneeveguilla in the final of the County Intermediate Football final tonight in Tralee.
Last night the town was packed to the rafters for the Wren boys, the winners were from Tournafulla, and for those who might be interested, what one calls a gang of wren boys is not a gang, nor a group, nor a team, but a BATCH, now there!.

This morning my daily constitutional consisted of two rounds of the race track, the going was in racing parlance, sticky but drying out fast. It is a lovely experience to pay an early morning call and see everything slowly start up, stables been cleaned out, horses showered and groomed, deliveries been made and generally things been tidied up.
Tomorrow we have the football All- Ireland and hopefully Cork will bring the Sam back to his own county, even though he is much happier coming to Kerry, and I hope that the residents of a little rebel conclave in Cherry Tree Drive will be celebratory mood tomorrow evening.
In conclusion I close with a verse from each of the balladeers of the week, Bryan McMahon and Tim Leahy.
Firstly Tim.

“The street musicians at their best,
You’ll like them play, I’m sure,
With tentive ear, you’ll like to hear,
“The Vales of Knockanure”
They play their music off by heart,
And t’will delight your soul,
In future years you’ll see through tears,
The Races in Listowel.

And the final word to the Master,

My rhyming is over, God bless those who heard,
So I’ll take to the road and go off like a bird,
But before I depart, well you all must pay toll,
So three cheers for the Races and Lovely Listowel.

boroman

I wonder will the rebels in our lovely town now want to pen a new anthem ?
"My Silver River Lee"
Just a thought.
Come on you Reds!!

boroman

:eek: Walking home after having a few drinks with some returning Corkonians (from you know where) a sobering thought crossed my mind, if Cork go on to win the next 29 All Irelands in a row, they will have reached Kerrys TOTAL of 36. Do I have cause to worry!!. What do the readers think ?:D

UpTheAshes

boroman wrote: »

:eek: Walking home after having a few drinks with some returning Corkonians (from you know where) a sobering thought crossed my mind, if Cork go on to win the next 29 All Irelands in a row, they they have reached Kerrys TOTAL of 36. Do I have cause to worry!!. What do the readers think ?:D

I think Boroman will be safe enough on that. Although Cork were heavily favoured by all the newspaper pundits, they were lucky to come out on top. Paddy Power's odds were Cork 4/7 and Down 2/1 but the final score did not reflect those odds. However, Cork are a very good team. Donnchadh O'Connor stood out in particular. I don't know yet if he got man of the match but he would have got my vote. Of course everyone knows that his father is a Kerryman.

Lovely writer

Church Newsletter

perrylane

http://www.flickr.com/photos/perrylane/

here is some photos I took at the races in 2010 - I tried to post these already - cannot find the post , might be doing something wrong.

Been looking at Google Street View around Listowel just now. They cocked up a bit, instead of going up O'Connell's Avenue beside the telephone exchange they went up the SuperValu car park instead.

boroman

Interesting what you say about the street view, question? how does one access it.

Go here and drag the orange man on the left to an area of the map. You can then use the arrows to move about.

boroman

Thanks for the information

Lovely writer

Church Newsletter

xxyyzz

Anyone familiar with the Woodford area in Listowel? My wife and I were looking at buying a house and saw a lovely one there. Only concern is that there are a few other new houses nearby with caravans out the back. Another house has a caravan on the street in front of the house. What's the story there?

ejmaztec

xxyyzz wrote: »

Anyone familiar with the Woodford area in Listowel? My wife and I were looking at buying a house and saw a lovely one there. Only concern is that there are a few other new houses nearby with caravans out the back. Another house has a caravan on the street in front of the house. What's the story there?

What's the problem with caravans?

xxyyzz

I realise this is a sensitive issue so I will tread carefully, but have you been to Rathkeale/Askeaton? When I say caravans, I mean mobile homes on blocks at the back of the house.

michael999999

xxyyzz wrote: »

Anyone familiar with the Woodford area in Listowel? My wife and I were looking at buying a house and saw a lovely one there. Only concern is that there are a few other new houses nearby with caravans out the back. Another house has a caravan on the street in front of the house. What's the story there?

oh they live down the road from us,they moved here when the limerick regeneration started.i had a few reservations after reading the newspaper articles about there familys,but they seem to be alright.
that house that is up for sale is very nice,hopefully we can welcome you to our neighbourhood soon.all the best in the house hunting.

ejmaztec

xxyyzz wrote: »

I realise this is a sensitive issue so I will tread carefully, but have you been to Rathkeale/Askeaton? When I say caravans, I mean mobile homes on blocks at the back of the house.

Some people live in caravans while their houses are being built, and these are the only ones that I'm aware of.

siobhan.murphy

is there a horse fair in listowel tomorrow??

cyning

siobhan.murphy wrote: »

is there a horse fair in listowel tomorrow??

There is indeed

boroman

Horse fairs take place on the first Thursday of January, April, July and October each year from time immorial. A good day for taking photographs, hope the weather is good.

boroman

It was great to see one of the great old traditions of our town alive and well in the environs of Market Street this morning. A good number of tourists were mingling with the horsey crowd and locals. Along with horses of all shapes and sizes, people were selling donkeys, harnesses, light carts and even cages of fowl. However probably due to the downturn in the ecomomy business was slow. One man from Abbeyfeale who had a donkey and foal (2 months) was asking euro 500 for both. Some years ago he said that he paid euro 1100 for a donkey mare in foal, a year later he sold that foal at Puck Fair for euro 1200. Pubs in the vicinity were busy and a lively music session could be heard coming from the direction of The Mighty Dollar. I saw lovely writer busy observing and cherry tree busily snapping so I am sure a visual record of the fair will be on the Listowel thread shortly.

ejmaztec

boroman wrote: »

It was great to see one of the great old traditions of our town alive and well in the environs of Market Street this morning. A good number of tourists were mingling with the horsey crowd and locals. Along with horses of all shapes and sizes, people were selling donkeys, harnesses, light carts and even cages of fowl. However probably due to the downturn in the ecomomy business was slow. One man from Abbeyfeale who had a donkey and foal (2 months) was asking euro 500 for both. Some years ago he said that he paid euro 1100 for a donkey mare in foal, a year later he sold that foal at Puck Fair for euro 1200. Pubs in the vicinity were busy and a lively music session could be heard coming from the direction of The Mighty Dollar. I saw lovely writer busy observing and cherry tree busily snapping so I am sure a visual record of the fair will be on the Listowel thread shortly.

You forgot to mention the more than ample supply of horse-sh1t.