A TRUE ADVENTURER
Kelly Willsmore, of Glenburn is a lady of many talents. She, her husband and children love their farm situated in the rolling hills and valleys of the area which embraces Glenburn, Flowerdale and Strath Creek. Professionally, Kelly is a highly regarded optometrist in Yea but at weekends and in holiday times she is a real adventurer.
Last year she went with her family to the Antarctic-prior to that she swam with the whales off the coast near Broome. Most recently she has enjoyed a weekend trip to Snake Island, a tiny uninhabited area of bushland and soft sand out from Port Welshpool. The picture shows Kelly and a dozen friends riding their horses at low tide to the island. Its about a four hours slog for horse and rider. The riders gear and food had gone before them by boat at high tide to await the group at the cattlemen’s “five star” tin hut. On the island all chipped in to mend fences and clear tracks. Singalongs and drink by the campfire were enjoyed by all.
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Beyond these sojourns Kelly and pals ride most weekends in the high country.
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IRISH EYES SMILING
Rory McIlroy’s dramatic win in the Augusta Masters delighted the Irish everywhere; and not least in Kilmore and local areas where a number of Irish exports celebrated including Nick Wogan, Kevin McGahern and Jim Balfe. McIlroy became only the sixth golfer to win the grand slam of the sport-the Masters, P.G.A, US Open and British Open. Television shots of pubs, clubs and even schools in Belfast and other cities showed fans erupting in delight as their hero sunk his final putt in the play-off to claim the coveted trophy.
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Kilmore Football Club women’s team, in its debut season in the Northern League has certainly got off to a flyer with huge wins in the opening rounds. Meanwhile the club’s senior men’s XVIII will be hoping to progress well in its bid to win promotion to division two. In 2024 the reserves took out the premiership.
EASTER CROWDS
There were large attendances across Easter at Catholic services in Kilmore and Broadford and Wallan. Father Andrew had a hectic schedule with nine services overall. Across Australia an estimated two million attended Catholic, Anglican and other Christian services. This number increases markedly over Christmas.
WHY 18 HOLES
Former ACK student Ron Pickett grew up in Wandong. A long old collegian he loves attending an annual reunion organised by Fred Le Deux. The latter captained ACK 1st XVIII, played for Geelong and is grandfather to the Cat’s Tom Hawkins. Ron Pickett is a keen golfer and Richmond F.C “tragic”. He and his wife Barbara are just about to publish no 18 of their small books titled “Footy and all That” – very readable they are. Last week Ron sent me the following story titled “Why 18 holes?”
I have found out that one bottle will fill a little glass just, 18 times, so it has been my custom to play 18 holes each afternoon, no more, no less. I see no ‘possible way of deviating from this custom, unless the bottles are made larger, which I fear would be too marked a change in our manufacturing life.”
So that’s why golf courses have 18 holes. If you don’t believe it, just take an ounce and a half jigger, fill it full but not too full and you will get 18 holes out of a fifth of Scotch.
Why couldn’t golf courses have 10, 13 or 21 holes? it seems that in 1858, the board of St. Andrews in Scotland sat all day settling this very question. There were then 7-hole courses, as well as 13-hole courses and 15-hole courses. At one time, St. Andrews was made up of 22 holes and Montrose had 25. Finally, after a full day’s discussion, it is said that one of the Scotish members of the board and a member on good standing, spoke as follows:
“Well, you good gentlemen have been considering this situation for many hours and I have been hoping you would decide along lines agreeable to me without any insistence on my part. I see, however, that I must speak for myself.
As you know, it has long been my custom to start out for a game of golf with a full bottle of Martin’s Scotch Whisky in my bag – not, you understand, for any reason except that the inclemency of our local climate makes it expedient for me to have a small medicinal nip on each tee. Now gentlemen, I have here a small glass which contains about an ounce and a half when not filled so full that a drop may escape. Naturally, I find it pleasant to play golf so long as there is a drink left in the bottle. On the other hand, it would be unhealthy for me to continue the game when the bottle is exhausted.
A CENTURY AGO
Geelong defeated Collingwood by 10 points in the 1925 Grand Final in front of a then capacity crowd of 65,000 at the MCG. The Brownlow Medal winner was Colin Watson of St Kilda. He won with nine votes, a far cry from todays winning counts in the high 20’s or even 30’s. The VFL operated from 1897 to 1989 before the game became the national AFL. For its 92 years existence the VFL consisted of mostly 12 teams-with six games played each Saturday. Later on, those evenings the then Herald and Sporting Globe covered all games. In 1970 a crowd of nearly 122,000 watched the Carlton Collingwood Grand Final. Thousands spilled over the fence and sat on the grass inside the boundary.
