CRICKET FOR BREAKFAST, DINNER & TEA, THE SEQUEL - BLOG TWO

THE BOOK LAUNCH

In September 2023, I mentioned to Roland Bradley that I might write a history of Laois Cricket Club which covered the period, 1985 to 2018, and Roland suggested that it would be more relevant to commence at a different date so that references to the early days of the club in Tullamore could be mentioned. Roland was also anxious that I would acknowledge the indebtedness of the cricket community to the Midland League and the South-East Cricket Association.

By chance, I attended a coffee morning in the Portlaoise Library, and I met Seán Whelan who had been a few classes ahead of me in the school. He told me that his father had played cricket for Mountmellick, and that conversation was the catalyst for a complete change of direction. I decided to write about cricket in Laois from 1833 to the present day. In addition to having access to newspaper archives, I was very indebted to Roland and Liz Bradley who had done such magnificent work in maintaining and preserving minute books and photographs. I was also given access to the minute book of the Midland League, the Ashbrook Scorebook (1846-1848), and the Stradbally CC Scorebook for 1933 and 1934. 

On 19 April 2024, “The Story of Cricket in Laois” was launched in the Midlands Park Hotel by Teddy Fennelly, newspaper editor, distinguished author, and local historian. My immediate family, many of my relations, friends, members of the cricket community, and people with an interest in local history were present, and I will be forever indebted to them all. Great credit is due to Roland and Liz Bradley who looked after all the arrangements, and it is a tribute to their organisational acumen that the conference room was filled to capacity.

I am very grateful to Dr Pat Bracken for a very generous review and to Philip Smith, General Manager of Cricket Leinster, for his wholehearted support in publicising the event and in assisting with the distribution of books. I thank Michael Scully of the Leinster Express and Alf Harvey of the Nationalist and Leinster Times for the photographs which they took on the evening and for their permission to reproduce them. No report would be complete without a reference to breakfast, and one of my sons said that his breakfast was the best that he had ever eaten at a hotel.