Published: Tuesday, 24th February, 2009 9:00am

Sir John Betjeman, Sir John Piers, and the Westmeath Examiner!

Did you know that the former British poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman, had his third ever poem printed by the Westmeath Examiner, back in 1937.

Some 150 copies of 'Sir John Piers' were printed for Betjeman, who wrote it under the pseudonym Epsilon, by ourselves.

The poem is based on the true story of Sir John Piers of Tristernagh, who engaged in a bet with a friend, that he would seduce the new wife of a friend of his, Lord Cloncurry, who lived at what"s now The Lyons Estate, near Hazelhatch, in Kildare. The Annals of Westmeath report that this affair had its conclusion in the Court of the Kings Bench, where Lord Cloncurry, the injured party, successfully sued Piers for 'criminal conversation' a euphemism for something a bit more....private, say, than conversation.

Piers scarpered to the Isle of Man - losing his recognisances in the process, and was eventually forced to pay up everything he had. He did return to Ballynacargy, he eventually lost the cottage he had built himself there, in the Encumbered Estates Court.

The poem, suggesting the words Piers may have used in his seduction of Lady Cloncurry says:

'I love your brown curls, black in rain, my colleen,

I love your grey eyes, by this verdant shore

Two Derravaraghs to plunge into and drown me,

Hold not those lakes of light so near me more.'

It refers to Lough Ennel, to Lord Belvedere, to Glencara, to Sunderlin of Baronstown, to Portloman, to Tristernagh.

Well worth a read, and you can read the text on: http://library.uvic.ca/site/spcoll/Betjeman/webcon/wholeweb/b10wrev.txt1.htm

Spotted an 09 yet?

You may not yet have seen your first 09 WH car: but rest assured, they are out there.

According to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, there are, at least, 173 people out there, in Westmeath, who seem not to be worried about money, as that"s the number who registered new cars in January.

Nationally, just three cars short of 11,000 were registered in January, but Westmeath was among the quieter counties. Neighbouring Offaly, for example, with fewer people, had 178 new cars registered, Meath, a whopping 457, and Kildare, 609.

Longford"s dealers must be feeling the pinch however, as just 76 new cars were registered there.

During January, there were, in addition, 11 goods vehicles registered in Westmeath; 107 second-hand vehicles; four new, and three secondhand motorcyles.

Thirty-six of the new cars registered were Toyotas, 29 were Ford, 19 were Volkswagen, and 13 were Nissan.

But there were sales at the luxury end of the market too: three BMWs were registered in Westmeath in January (none of them belonging to the author of this column!), and five Mercedes Benzes.

Gardaí to 'beat it'?

We hear on the grapevine that a number of Gardaí with their thirty years" service notched up in the force, and therefore eligible to retire on pension, are thinking of calling it a day, in light of the Government"s decision to introduce the public service pension levy.

As it stands, members qualify to retire at fifty once they"ve notched up 30 years" service, and rumour has it that those still in the service, but eligible to retire, are now asking themselves why they should keep on working - and paying in for a pension for which they are already eligible.

RTE

Great excitement down at Johnny Owens"s houses at Coill Rua in Greenpark on Sunday, as filming got underway for the RTE programme 'Showhouse'. Two designers - one of them Ineke Owens, who happens to be Johnny"s sister-in-law - had each to do up a similar house on the estate, and members of the public had to then tour the houses, and decide which they preferred.

Valerine King, of ERA King Auctioneers, who are handling the sale of the estate, was thrilled with the turnout.

'We had about 100 people there to view the houses,' she says.

Technical problems meant that it took longer than anticipated for RTE to allow people in to view the designers" work, which meant the Examiner had to leave before getting to see the end products, due to a prior Sunday roast-lamb engagement (very tasty!).

Now, our noses are out of joint because Valerie, the soul of discretion, is sticking rigidly to the RTE rules and refusing to tell us whether it was Ineke, or her opponent, Dublin designer Sadhbh Fitzgibbon, that came out trumps on the day.

We"ll just have to tune in to RTE on Thursday April 2nd to watch the show.

Free tree!

Not much going for free these days - but if you get in quick, you may get a few of the 360 native tree saplings that Westmeath County Council and the Tree Council are giving away for National Tree Week, which runs from this coming Sunday to Sunday week, March 7.

The trees have been sponsored by Coillte and O2, and priority will be given to schools, community groups, Tidy Towns Associations, residents" associations and youth groups.

To get your name on the list, contact the Council"s Environment Section on 9332226.

Good to live in

Mullingar!

There are a helluva lot of great reasons to live in Mullingar: the lakes, the scenery, the craic locally; the history associated with the area.

And there are a helluva lot of even better reasons that never make it into the guidebooks.

We intend, each week, to let you into one of the more 'secret' reasons it"s good to live in Mullingar. But ssssshhh: don"t tell the tourists. Keep them for ourselves.

Also, feel free to let us know why YOU think it"s great to live in Mullingar.

To get the ball rolling, here are five... see what you think:

1.We"re not promoting smoking here (particularly in the week of Ash Wednesday!) but, the smoking area in Danny Byrne"s. Has to be the best anywhere: the fairylights, the sofas, great heaters, the tent....and of course: the bed!

2.The veggies in Con"s. Nope, we"re not doing a Spitting Image-Maggie Thatcher thing here, but if you want a good substantial 'proper dinner', with spuds and turnips, it"s got to be Con"s. We"re big fans here. It"s almost as good as mother"s dinners. (See ref, above, roast lamb!)

3.Take-away Caesar salad and wedges from Oscar"s. Just €7. Healthy handy - and bloody tasty!

4.The dog track. A great night out. You don"t have to dress up, and you don"t have to bring loads of dough. And the long-time staff there add to the experience!

5.The Full Irish Breakfast at Ilia. (Gosh, a lot of great food around, when you think of it....)