Laois man (84) sets two amazing records
Peter Rogers has played at Abbeyleix Golf Club on Christmas Day since 1958. Photo: James G Carroll
A LEGENDARY Laois man has set two records to make 2024 an exceptional year to remember.
At the age of 84, Peter Rogers has clocked up 60 years with J L Bradshaw Motor Factors in Portlaoise, where he started work in 1964.
On Christmas Day 2024, he set another remarkable record when he completed his 67th festive round at Abbeyleix Golf Club, where he has played on 25 December for the past 66 years.
The Abbeyleix man played the course on Christmas Day 1958 and has kept up the festive tradition ever since. Even on Christmas day 2010, when fairways and greens were covered in snow during the infamous month-long big freeze, Peter still managed to maintain his determined annual outing, although he understandably lost a few golf balls on his way round the whitewashed course.
One half of a renowned golfing duo, as his wife Andrea (82) is a talented player and former Lady President and Lady Captain in Abbeyleix, Peter has broken course records at four different local golf courses in Abbeyleix, Castlecomer, Rathdowney and The Heath.
In a post celebrating Peter’s record achievements on the Abbeyleix community Facebook page on Christmas Day, local historian Noel Burke revealed that the Killamuck resident discovered the perfect way to begin a round of golf in May 1968, when he had a hole-in-one at the first hole during an open competition in Castlecomer.
Noel said: ‘He went on to break the course record that day, with a gross score of 66. Peter broke the course record in Abbeyleix on no fewer than five separate occasions in one year, recording scores of 69, 68, 68 and 69, after he had reduced the course record to 71 earlier that same year in 1968.’
Peter began his working life when he was hired by Frank Bramley, owner of the Abbeyleix Motor Works petrol station and garage on Main Street. A fellow member of Abbeyleix Golf Club, Frank recruited the young man whom he knew as an exceptionally good golfer.
After a few years, Peter went on to work for J L Bradshaw in Portlaoise. Photos show him standing beside the van he was given as part of his employment contract with the company on his first day in 1964, as well as a current image beside his J L Bradshaw van in 2024.
Noel observed: ‘Peter was assigned to this van on the day he first took up his new employment position in August 1964. This is now 2024 and it is very difficult to comprehend that Peter is still working for the same company at the age of 84 and still driving, granted it’s a different van.’
A man of many talents, Peter was lead singer with the Mighty Rhythm Kings, a hugely popular Abbeyleix showband that formed in 1960. Other members were Lolly Kavanagh, John Kelly, Jimmy Byrne, Danny Brennan, Tom Cooney, Paddy Walsh and Dick Kennedy.
The band was a big attraction on the thriving sixties showband scene and played support for top acts ranging from Jim Reeves to The Bachelors, Chubby Checker and Hank Loughlin when they toured the country.
A devout cinema fan, Peter enjoyed many visits to the Coliseum in Abbeyleix and became an avid collector of movies, particularly Westerns. He is well known and admired for his remarkable memory regarding the actors, directors and plots of thousands of films he has seen over the decades.
Later in life, he began collecting the movies he had seen in the cinema on VHS and later DVD. The only stipulation was that they had to be Westerns.
Noel said: ‘Peter has accumulated 1,600 plus Western movies since he first began collecting. Not only that but he can recall many of the names of the actors and actresses that featured in those films, without having to refer to his journal. Peter is a remarkable and interesting man, of that there is no doubt.’
