Laois hosted Ploughing 75 years ago

The National Ploughing Championships is one of the world’s biggest outdoor events and it is led by a proud Laois woman, Anna Mai McHugh.

Anna Mai has served the organisation for over 60 years as Secretary and has been its Managing Director since 1973.

By her side as able assistant is her daughter, Anna Marie, who also just happens to be general secretary of the World Ploughing Organisation.

Anna Mai was selected as the Laois Person of the Millennium in the Leinster Express Awards of 2000.

Last year the championships attracted almost 300,000 people to Screggan in Tullamore and this year almost a quarter of a million people turned up for the three day event, despite the misfortune of experiencing very uninviting weather for two of those days.

It is now established as the country’s primary agricultural event with 1,700 exhibits.

The first championships were held at Coursetown, Athy, in 1931 in a 26 acre field and attracting a few thousand enthusiasts.

While in the early years it was all about the ploughing competitions with a few side-shows, nowadays it has exploded into a huge tented town rather than village with lots of live entertainment, fashion shows, sheep dog trials and celebrity spotting.

Apart from the huge part Anna Mai has played in building the event, Laois has always had a central role in its activities supplying many noted national and international kings and queens of the plough.

It has also hosted the championships on a number of occasions. They were held in Ballacolla in 1995 and again in 2000, ’01 and ’02.

They were back in Laois in 2013, ’14 and ’15, significantly in Ratheniska, where they were staged for the very first time in the county, at Lamberton in 1943.

The chairman of the NPA, William Bland, Rath House, obtained permission from the owners of Lamberton Park, Count and Countess de Meers, to hold the event there.

Apart from his many other distinctions in the world of farming, business and sport, Mr. Bland was a founder member of Macra na Feirme nd its first President.

That was all of 75 years ago this year. World War 11 was at its height.

The German 6th Army had just surrendered after the battle of Stalingrad. But neutral Ireland was a much more peaceful place at the time, cocooned from the turmoil on mainland Europe with a strict censorship curtailing the flow of news from the bloody conflict.

Fuel and food was rationed and most commodities were in short supply but life carried on as close to normal as the circumstances allowed.

The big event at Lamberton was covered by the Leinster Express. This is the report:

Leinster Express - Sat. 13 February 1943

That the horse and plough have come into their own was emphatically demonstrated last Wednesday last when a crowd estimated at 6,000 flocked to Lamberton Park, Maryborough, to see the champions of thirteen counties do battle for the Ploughing Championships of Ireland.

From early morning the roads to the scene of action and every mode of conveyance was pressed into service while man made the journey by “shanks mare” all calling to mind Joseph Campbell’s poem, “I will go with my father a-ploughing”.

From the time the first “set” was opened till dusk the interest never waned, and every headland had its group of critics and “expert” judges all keenly noting the work being done.

The horse teams provided by Laois farmers looked powerful, steady and strong, and seemed just as eager to help in the success as did the ploughmen.

As the work proceeded, experts were heard to express an opinion that Kilkenny, Laoighis and Wexford were well in the running for honours and their efforts were really masterpieces of skill and finish.

The Munster counties of Clare and Kerry seemed to be doing well in the Junior Class, but one ploughman from the former county thought it unlucky for a spectator to slip across a plough.

The Kilkenny men were ploughing well showing that the men from the Mooncoin district could do more than hurl; but the Laoighis team were pleasing their supporters, who were of the opinion that they would not be left behind in the final total.

The catering arrangements were carried out by an energetic ladies committee, and the general field arrangements were perfect, with Mr Thomas Tynan, Agricultural Instructor, in charge.

Mr. C Delaney, the local secretary, had a busy day often being called into action for advice and help.

The “amplifying” arrangements were in charge of Mr T. C. Kelly, of Portlaoighise Radio and Sound Equipment, who kept all informed of the progress being made.

The jumping competition, musical chairs etc., all helped in the general attractiveness of a big programme, so much enjoyed by the huge crowd, while the many exhibits of seeds, farm implements, etc., held a great deal of interest for the farmers in particular and the public in general.

Dr. J. Ryan, Minister for Agriculture, who was a keen observer of the competitions, was received by a guard of honour provided by the Bearna na gCleite L.D.F. under Company Leader, Lorcan Brady.

The announcing of the results was keenly awaited by a big crowd in the vicinity of the Hibernian Hotel, and when Mr. J.J. Bergin, Athy, declared the winners as follows, there was a generous applause:

Senior Inter-County Contest

(David Frame Perpetual Challenge Cup and Minister for Agriculture Shield) Kilkenny (695 marks); 2. Wexford (668); 3. Wicklow (633); 4. Laoighis (614); 5. Carlow; 6 Offaly.

Junior Inter-County:

Meath (620); 2. Dublin (585); 3. Tipperary N.R. (582); 4. Kerry (571); 5 Waterford (563), 6. Kildare; 7. Clare.

Senior Individual Championship (Esme Perpetual Cup): Patrick Nolan, (Kilkenny).

Junior Individual Championship (The Drummond Perpetual Challenge Cup) Patrick Maher (Meath)

Minor Championships: John Doherty (Kilkenny) Senior Grade; B. Murray (Meath) Junior Grade.

Best Middle: Patrick Nolan (Kilkenny).

Best Furrow: Stephen Dempsey (Wexford).

RDS Cup (Best pair of Irish Draught Horses): J. Corcoran (Ballyroan, Laoighis).

Best pair of Farm Horses: R. Duff (Ballyknocken, Maryborough)

Jumping Events: (Williams and Woods Cup)

Miss Brandon; 2. John Bland; 3. Miss Walsh.

Open Jumping: Miss Brandon; 2. Miss Empey; 3. Mr. Smyth.

Mr. J.J. Bergin, Secretary of the National Ploughing Championships said the championships were successful and that the judges agreed that the standard was much higher than in previous events.

The dance on Tuesday night was an enjoyable affair at the Mental Hospital and was well filled.

The music was supplied by Toby Bannan’s Band and Mr. W. Davis was M.C.

The feilidhe at the Town Hall on Wednesday night was also a big success, the music being supplied by J. Miller’s Band.