Tramps' friend dies

THE HOBOES who tramp the highways of Wales have lost their best friend — a Carmelite brother from Dundrum, Co Dublin.
Brother Patrick Leo Joseph Maher, of St Winifred's Carmelite Church, Aberystwyth, died on the beach of the West Wales resort on August 3. He was playing with Bilbo, his beloved dog, at the time.
Brother Leo was known and loved by every tramp in Britain who had ever walked through Wales. They came to him not only for help but also as his friends. He was known throughout the length and breadth of Britain as the "Friend of the Knights of the Road."
His church was an accepted port of call for all the tramps who trudged through Aberystwyth — and Brother Leo was always on hand to brew up the tea and cut the sandwiches and settle down for a chat and a bit of advice if it was wanted.
After a period at St Albert's College in Rome and service at monasteries and churches in Kent throughout the war years, Brother Leo went to the Carmelite Fathers in Aberyswyth 21 years ago.
Earlier this year, at the age of 71, he and his inseparable Bilbo led a sponsored walk to raise money for the St Winifred's church building fund.
Bilbo is the presbytery dog. But like the tramps Brother Leo so loved, he had adopted the kindly Irishman as his own special "God's Knight of the Road."