Bumblebee feeding…
Photo credit; Paul Madigan, Blackwater Photographic Society
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In Kildare
Recently I spent a lovely few days in Kildare Town. Symbols of Kildare’s heritage are everywhere in The Square.
This building has been repurposed as The Kildare Town Heritage Centre.
St. Brigid presides over everything in Kildare town.
This is one of the many murals dotted all around the town. This one celebrates the town’s long connections with horse racing.
Utility boxes, litter bins, gable walls, it looks like every usable surface has a piece of public artwork on it.
The horse charging into town on this wall is part of there Legends trail.
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A Medieval Poem
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Sportstar with a Listowel Connection
While we are recovering from Paris 2024, here’s this from the archives.
On the left is Helen Lyons whom I photographed a few years ago with her lovely mother. Helen’s mother has passed away now. Her more famous brother passed away in 2018. Here is his Olympic story…
Pat Leane competed at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, appearing in the decathlon both times, finishing ninth in 1956. He also competed in the high jump and long jump in 1952. Leane won the 1960 Australian Championship in decathlon, and two weeks after that won the Victorian title with a personal best. In all, he won six Victorian decathlon championships, and also finished second at the 1957 Australian Championships in the javelin throw. In 1979 Leane was still competing, finishing 15th in the Victorian decathlon event, while competing alongside his sons, Brendan and Pat Jr.
Below is an article written a few years before his first Olympics. This was sent to me a few years ago by Monica and John Summers who live in Australia.
PAT’ S A STAR ALL-ROUNDER
Rugged Pat Leane has impressive records for almost everything on the athletic field. He has hopes of Helsinki
TWENTY – TWO – YEAR – OLD’ six-footer Pat-
Leane, of Oakleigh, 13 stone of Irish pluck, must be Victoria’s most versatile amateur athlete.
Australian Olympic selectors have so far overlooked him, but happy-go-lucky, curly-haired Pat hasn’t given up hope yet.
He’s going to make one last do-or-die bid to crash his way into the Helsinki team this month. And rugged Pat can do it if anyone can.
Tomorrow he will be in the last stage of
the stiff Victorian decathlon championship – the perfect outlet for his varied and out-standing talents.
Title-holder Leane‘s best total so far has been
5,886points. But he’s training hard daily, and is sure he can reach the Olympic standard of 7,000 points, provided he is not hampered by adverse weather or track conditions.
Talk to the star and you find him almost excessively modest, but his list of best performances easily qualify him as the
State’s leading cne-man athletic team.
Here they are:
High Jump: 6ft. 5¿in.
Broad Jump: 24ft. 23in.
Hop, Step, and Jump:
44ft. 6in.
Pole Vault: 10ft. 9in.100 Yards:
10.1sec.220 Yards: 23.3sec.
440 Yards: 51.7sec.
Javelin Throw: 165ft.Shot Put: 38ft.
Discus Throw: 128ft. 6in.120 Yards
Hurdles: 16.9 sec
1,500 Metres: 5.20
Pat has already proved him-self Australia’s best broad and high jumper this season, and recently became the only athlete to better the Olympic standard of 6ft. 4in. for the high jump.
When he’s not concerned with improving his
athletic form, schoolteacher Pat is also well up in the football world. A brilliant centre half-forward, he played
with Association club Oakleigh in 1947-48-49, and Golden Point, Ballarat, in ’50
For recreation he plays a keen game of tennis, and in his spare time plays the piano!
A natural athlete, Pat began picking up sport trophies
as a12-year-old at De La Salle College, Malvern. He was good at football, cricket, and handball,and school champion in the 100and 220 yards, high and broad jumps, and shot put.
He had some early tips from De La Salle honorary coach. BobWright, and now gets a little advice occasionally from
“Pop”Gordon, well-known University coach. Mostly, however, he trains by himself, and figures out his own schedules.
“It’s more fun that way,” he says.
Experts believe he has such terrific
potential that If he had been coached consistently over the last 10 years he would now be in top international class in any one of his strong events. But Pat, undisturbed, likes to have a go at everything,although he prefers jumping.
For his decathlon training Pat Is building up stamina with two six-minute miles once a week, and improving technique on five other days.
Pat‘s future is uncertain. His burning ambition is to represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
But if he doesn’t go to Helsinki, his athletic career may be cut short.
Pat’s engaged to a Ballarat girl, and a tempting offer has been made for him to play professional football with North Melbourne.
He makes no attempt to disguise his love for athletics, but professional football would help him establish a home. It
would also immediately disqualify him as an amateur.
Pat’s’ parents hail from County Kerry, and they’re mighty
proud of their son.
“But,” says Pat with a smile probably they reckon he’d be a world-beater at the good old Irish game of hurley.
“that’s one game at which I’d draw the line -it’s too tough!”
– Alan Trengove
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A Fact
You can buy cannabis in the U.S. …as birdseed!
The feathers of birds who feed on it have a glossy sheen,
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