Twenty Rose hopefuls had their first official experience of being the Rose of Tralee, last Saturday when they toured the county visiting the competition’s many sponsors and visiting Mountmellick Hospital.

BROADCASTING legend and popular TV personality Gay Byrne will be visiting Portlaoise this May when he brings his one man show to the Dunamaise Arts Centre on Thursday May 17.

History was made last weekend when the first Portlaoise and District ploughing match took place last Saturday, February 18 in Ratheniska on the land of brothers, Cathal and James Greene.

PRESIDENT of Laois Heritage Society and Portlaoise resident Michael Parsons has been appointed to the Heritage Council of Ireland, and he already has high hopes that he can advance a big project to revitalise one of the most historic parts of the county town.

A FRANCIS Bacon portrait, which enjoys a unique connection with Roundwood House, has sold for £21.3m (€25.4 million) in London. The titular subject of the ‘Portrait of Henrietta Moraes’ lived at Roundwood in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

This year’s Laois Rose hopefuls will get the taste of what its like to be the Rose of Tralee for a day when they undertake a bus tour of the county this Saturday.

The forecast said no rain, but a steady drizzle still fell for much of Sunday morning in Kinnitty last week.

TALENT runs in families, they say - but for the Hoey family in Portarlington, talent not only runs, it jumps, cycles and bobsleighs, too.

A collection of short stories written by the Laois VEC Adult Learning Creative Writing Class was launched recently by poet and publisher Pat Boran, at the Dunamaise Arts Centre.

Paddy Fleming, 1894-1952, was a revolutionary, job creator and industrialist. The Swan man ended up in nine prisons, escaped three times, and in later years brought hundreds of jobs to his native county.

Two Laois guesthouses have made the 2012 Bridgestone guide for the top 100 places to stay in Ireland.

A SECOND class student in Abbeyleix South School has been shortlisted in the Doodle for Google art competiiton. The competition allows primary and secondary school students from around Ireland to make their own doodles using the Google logo, and Orla McCorry’s piece ‘The Amazing Musician’ has been picked from thousands of entries.

Wicklow may be the Garden of Ireland but county hall is about to embark on a big project to attract garden tourists to Laois.