\u201cSilver Jubilee 1954 to 1979\u201d<\/a> published by Athlone Branch in 1979<\/p>\nTowards the end of 1951 the Irish Times published an article written by the late Vincent Delany which pointed out \u201cthe shameful neglect of the unrivalled facilities of our canals and rivers as a commercial mode of transport and as a boon to our tourism industry\u201d. \u00a0The article generated much discussion and correspondence throughout 1952 and 1953 with support focusing on the campaign being carried on in Athlone to prevent the erection of a low arch bridge to replace the existing swing arch bridge across the River Shannon. At the same time it appeared that the Shannon and Canal Navigations were being deliberately run down by a progressive reduction in maintenance, which would ultimately result in their closure. The late Harry Rice and the late Vincent Delany and other waterway lovers had been discussing the need for an Association to protect the future of the rivers and canals.<\/p>\n
Their deliberations led to the calling of a public meeting in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin on 7th\u00a0January 1954, with the purpose of forming an Association. \u00a0Over 200 people attended the inaugural meeting of the new association,\u00a0 The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland. \u00a0 Colonel Harry Rice was elected first President, and Vincent Delaney and Mr. L.M. Goodbody were elected Joint Hon. Secretaries.<\/p>\n
The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland was now a reality, and as the scope of the Association\u2019s activities was to be nationwide it was considered that the problems of the Shannon needed special and local attention.<\/p>\n
The notice of the Athlone meeting, on Inland Waterways Association of Ireland headed notepaper, in 1954 \u00a0read :-A meeting of the above Association will be held in the Crescent Ballroom, Athlone at 8.15pm on Friday, February 19th. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The aims of the Association are :-<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0To promote commercial traffic on our Irish rivers and canals.<\/p>\n
2. \u00a0To ensure that their attractions for boating, cruising, fishing and sailing are more widely known.<\/p>\n
3. \u00a0To oppose any obstruction to their free navigation.<\/p>\n
4. \u00a0To co-operate with other Bodies which may have similar interests.<\/p>\n
5. \u00a0To preserve historical records and safeguard cultural interests.<\/p>\n
The business of the meeting shall be to found an Athlone Regional Branch with representation on the existing Headquarters Council. \u00a0The Rules of the Association, which have already been authorised at an All-Ireland Meeting, shall be read.<\/p>\n
Members and intending members shall be invited to elect a Chairman and Officers. Other business shall include a discussion on how the affairs of the Branch may best be conducted in the interests of the National Association and the Athlone Area. We welcome not only the men but also the women of our district and hope they may come and give us their counsel.<\/p>\n
The annual membership subscription is 5\/-.<\/p>\n
The notice was signed by T.A. Marrinan, Acting Honorary Secretary. This led to the formation of the Athlone Branch five weeks later. The Athlone branch was formed on 19 February 1954 at a public meeting in the Cresent Ballroom Athlone.\u00a0 The first officers of the branch elected were<\/p>\n
Chairman W.A. Tormey, Honory Secretary T.A. Marrinan, Honary Treasurer C. Rice, Committee Fr. Moran, D. Lyster, Mrs J. Reid, Dr J. O Meara, J. Newell, J. Glennon, P.J. Lynott, P.C. Molloy, T. Gallagher, T. Hoggan, A. Fadden, F. Waters, J. Wheatley, J. Williams, P. Hanley<\/p>\n
Delegate Members: K. Kenny (Banagher), J O. Callaghan (Boyle)<\/p>\n
Projects put forward were<\/p>\n
a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The maintenance of a swivel bridge at Athlone<\/p>\n
b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Feasibility of establishing a holiday camp on one of the larger islands of Lough Ree<\/p>\n
c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The providing of landing stages at well known local beauty spots and at historical places on the Shannon<\/p>\n
d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reduction of freight charges on our canal systems<\/p>\n
e)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That a boat slip be erected at Burgess Park<\/p>\n
f)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the reclaimed land in the vicinity of the river Shannon by Messrs Gentex Ltd be cleaned up<\/p>\n
g)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Depeputation to Westmeath County Council to have Sandy Bay reopened to the general public<\/p>\n
h)\u00a0\u00a0 Letter to Westmeath County Council re the deplorable condition of the Ballyglass and Coosan roads<\/p>\n
i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To investigate the possibility of the carriage of heavy building materials by water from Limerick to Athlone and important centres<\/p>\n
j)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To plant trees on the lower bank of the River Shannon.<\/p>\n
Mr Sean McBride proposed that the meeting views with alarm the condition of the Clarendon Lock at Knockvicar \u2013 the lock was repaired and reopened to boating traffic in 1956. The first battle of the branch was to prevent the erection of a proposed low level, concrete fixed bridge in Athlone. Public opinion was not on the side of the new branch as additional tax payers money would have to be spent on any bridge other than the low level structure. The branch received considerable support from the Westmeath Independent.\u00a0 Following an active campaign by the branch a bridge was erected that gave the same clearance as the old swing bridge.<\/p>\n
The second achievement of the branch was encouragement of the introduction of \u201cSt Brendan\u201c and \u201cSt Ciaran\u201d\u00a0 two passenger cruisers by CIE. This suggestion was put forward by the branch to An T\u00e1naiste William Norton and the Chairman of CIE Mr. Courtney in August 1954 on a private trip on the Shannon organized by the branch. The arrival of the St Brendan in June 10955 was an occasion of great jubilation and the branch organized a flotilla of craft to escort her from Wrens island to her new berth.<\/p>\n
The branch then focused its attention on weed cutting between the two bridges. Following a lengthy campaign and dealing with a wide range of bodies from Athlone UDC, ESB, Office of Public Works, Department of Fisheries, the weeds were eventually cut by John Weaving. This poed another problem as the cut weeds clogged up the sluice gates and eel nets. The longer term solution was the introduction of more boating traffic. The branch failed in their effots to open up Sandy Bay to the general public but had success with Board Failte and Athlone UDC in providing landing stages at Clonmacnoise Athlone and Hodson Bay and piped fresh water and refuse bins on all keys used by the boating fraternity.<\/p>\n
Plans were made for a rally to the North Shannon and in 1954 two cruised were organized to lanesborop and Clonmacnoise and in 1955 a number of open boats traveled to Knockvicar. At that time the locklk was inoperative and the had to haul the boats over the weir and they journey continued to Lough key and Doon. By 1956 the Claredon Lock at Knockvicar was reopened and the way was clear for the first Shannon Boar Rally. Colonel Rice acted as Commodore and travelled by open boat to Carrick n Shannon.<\/p>\n
The branch has continued the tradition of work parties and have completed and maintained a number of important sites around the South Shannon.\u00a0 They have\u00a0 planted over six hundred trees, saved the trees on Carberry Island from damage, Mucknagh Wood, trees at Lecarrow, installed seven safe anchorages on Lough Ree from foul weather, clean up of Rindoon Castle, maintained Ballykeeran jetty and much more.<\/p>\n
Other minor achievements were the reduction of the Grand Canal and Dry Dock charges by half, the reopening of the Edenderry Branch of the Grand Canal, provision of pilot lights at Athlone docks and elsewhere, development of a large scale chart of Lough Ree (H. Rice and C. Rice), assisted in the running of the Shannon Swim, the Athlone Peoples Regatta, fundraising activities to help the Shannon flood victims, documented the historic monuments in and around Lough Ree and its Island led by Billy English, with the help of Board Failte and the Office of Public Works.<\/p>\n
The branch was actively involved in the prolonged campaign against the closing of the canals. At a general meeting in May 1958 the following resolution wsas adoptd \u201cThat this general meeting views with grave concern the provision in the proposed Transport Act 1958, now before the Dail whereby CIE is to be given the power to close any Irish Canal or Navigation under its control without further enquiry\u201d The campaign was taken to every politicial involved and as a results of the efforts of the branch the Bill was amended. The branch assisted other branches with other campaigns they fought especially the proposed closure of canals in Dublin to relieve the metropolitian traffic problem. It was not until 1964 that it was officially stated that the canals would not be closed.<\/p>\n
The Westmeath Independent published Thanks for the Memory by Col Rice in 1960 over a period of several months. The book related personal reminisces traditions history and navigational details about the river Shannon from 1954 to 1952. \u201cThanks for the Memory\u201d was reissued by the branch in a limited edition of 500 copies in 1974 and 1,000 copies in 1976.<\/p>\n
The branch worked closely with other water based organizations in Athlone such as sailing races in 1973 with Lough Ree Yacht Club, involved in the formation of Athlone Sub Acqua Club, involved in the formation of a branch of An Taisce, partnered with the Round table in the revival of the Athlone Peoples Regatta, encourages the setting up of the Tullomore branch of IWAI, fundraising dinner fro RNLI , funding to the Royal Restoration, assisting Athlone Anglers with developing a picnic shelter on Yellow Island, Membership of MERTA promoting tourism, barge week work in on the first stretch of the canal from Leitrim village, campaigning to open up and develop Lecarrow Canal, the support of the Lough Erne Rally in 1966, and the installation of a slipway in memory of Col Rice at Jolly Mariner.<\/p>\n
The branch in 1960 set up a junior branch and at one stage had fifty one members. Attendances fell away and the branch was disbanded in 1962. The Athlone Aeriel a branch newsletter was introduced in 1975 and is used to communicate branch policy activities, other local marine club activities, chandlery and boating tops and is still produced today.<\/p>\n
Vandalism was an issue on the River during the the late seventies. The branch formed a sub-committee and with wide consultation with local traders, chamber of commerce, Gardai, councilors, Board Failte, IBRA and developed a proposal to appoint a River Information Officer. The branch met with the County manager and other interested parties. The result was the appointment of the first River Warden in May 1978 with a view to addressing the vandalism.<\/p>\n
In recent years the branch has worked jointly with local organisations in bringing water projects to fruitition including the Athlone Canal, and provided financial support to Athlone Sub Acqua training room, maintained Dunrovin, the home of Col Rice and Cynthia Rice, the associations founding members, erected a commerative sculpture at the town marina, launched a new branch burgee, run many cruise in companies, lobbied local government on many issues, the inauguration of the RNLI rescue service for the South Shannon, the continued participation in the Shannon Rally and many more activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Athlone Branch of the IWAI is the oldest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-512","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branch.iwai.ie\/athlone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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