Peter Lacey came to Killaloe from Dublin around 1928, he was about 17 years old, an orphan and was sent down here to work on a farm. He established himself as a painter-decorator, and more importantly as the man who taught 100s if not 1000s of local children how to swim. He was also a keen photographer; here we have a selection of his photographs, some converted from negatives found in a box in his house after he died in 1986.
If you would like to see Peter teaching children how to swim, have a look at this segment from the RTE Archives from 1971, it’s really interesting, and brilliant to be able to see and hear Peter doing what he loved most. RTE Newsbeat 27th May, 1971.
Killaloe-Ballina