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Guinness flows from Killaloe to Limerick


A RETIRED Killaloe boatman toasted the 50th anniversary of the last Guinness cargo to travel by canal to Limerick with a pint of plain last Thursday.

Bertie Conroy, Andy Maloney and Seán Anderson help load Guinness onto the 68M at Killaloe.Bertie Conroy also helped to load six barrels of Guinness from the canal bank in Killaloe with two of his former colleagues who worked with the Grand Canal Company – Andy Maloney from Banagher and Seán Anderson from Newbridge.
After completing the loading, the trio joined the crew of 68M for the trip down the headrace to Ardnacrusha renewing acquaintances along the way.
The event was organised by the Heritage Boat Association (HBA) to mark the final leg of the historic journey from Dublin to Limerick, after most of this voyage was competed by the 51M earlier this year.
During the journey, the three men were in much demand to answer questions on times past and the waterways, including stories of what life was like on the canal and rivers in the 1950s.
It was a voyage of rediscovery while for many others, such as Seán Hynes from Whitegate, it was a voyage of discovery. Seán has spent his life farming on the shores of Lough Derg and often wondered about the Shannon Scheme, something that came into place the year he was born. Last Thursday, he finally got to see it first hand.
“It was a great trip, wasn’t it great that I lived to experience it,” he noted after the voyage.
The trip was supported by Dolans’s Pub on the Dock Road in Limerick. After Ardnacrusha, the 68M passed down the Abbey river, through Sarsfield lock and onto the tidal Shannon Estuary before heading into Limerick Docks where Arthur himself came aboard to sample the cargo before it was brought to Dolan’s for the 18.59 worldwide toast on Arthur’s Day.
Working on water was a labour of love lasting 47 years for Bertie. His father Jimmy worked for years on boats on the Grand Canal using their home in Roberstown, Kildare as their base and when Bertie retired as skipper of Waterways Ireland’s ship Coill-an-Eo in 1991, his son, PJ, who also lives in Killaloe, took over this post until he was forced to give up due to a building accident in 2003.
Growing up in Roberstown, Bertie quickly became immersed with working on the inland waterways with his father and after moving to Killaloe, became a familiar figure on numerous pleasure craft.

 

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