IN the immortal words of the Londonderry Air - that's Danny Boy to you, kiddiewinks - the summer's gone and all the flowers are dying. And this is always a bitter-sweet time of the year in Beggarsdale.

The kids are back at school, the Bats are back at college, and many of the weekenders have locked up their cottages and won't be seen again until Christmas - and not then, if a single snowflake falls north of Watford.

For us locals, it is nice to get our village back. But now that most of the work has been done on the farm or in the garden, it is also time to keep ourselves amused.

So this week, the WI launched the new winter debating programme and, for once, it proved to be on an upbeat motion: "That Britain needs more heroines like Kelly Holmes."

Now this is a bit of a two-edged sword. The ladies like to have the occasional tilt at we fellas - it is, after all, their debating society - but, as usual, the debate is thrown open to the audience towards the end of the evening and we poor males did get the chance to get the odd word in edgeways.

No-one could possibly object to the classification of this mature woman - she's 34 - as a genuine, bone fide heroine because she fought her way back from serious injuries and setbacks to win her two Olympic gold medals, the first British middle-distance runner to do so in 80 odd years.

Her start in life was inauspicious, enough to put many kids on the downward slope as soon as they were out of nappies. But not Kelly. She had determination, a penchant for hard work and - a key factor - a teacher who spotted her talent even before the lass realised she had any.

And then came the character-forming asset which Owd Tom interjected into the debate when it was thrown open.

She had joined the army, become a PE sergeant instructor and that, Tom insisted, added the final quality which produces great champions: discipline.

This did not go down well with some of the ladies, Teacher Tess in particular, but Tom had set a hare running and it sprinted straight into the field of sport. And, in particular, a summer of sporting heroes.

There was Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, who overcame weight problems and sneers from the newspaper sports writers two years ago to help England score a record run of test match wins.

Jonny Wilkinson, last autumn's rugby superhero, is back on the field of play after a year of medical treatment to an injury which would have finished most sporting careers. But for almost maniacal self-discipline.

And our other Olympic athletes - the rowers in particular - pushed themselves to beyond the point of exhaustion. Mental toughness gave them the final edge.

Compare this to the debacle of the European soccer championship, when our £80,000 a week captain admitted he was only 70 per cent fit - and blamed his Spanish coach as if he had no personal responsibility for his own body.

And they won't speak to the media because they have been pilloried for earning vast sums but can't beat a team of yodellers who'd be lucky to get a game for Mar'ton.

And that took the debate to young Wayne Rooney, the one and only soccer star this sporting summer produced, who is now a millionaire at the age of 18, a lad who could retire in comfort before many of his contemporaries have actually started work.

* The Curmudgeon is a satirical column based on a fictitious character in a mythical village.