30 years on rescuers finally get a home

By Anthony Murphy - Drogheda Leader 23rd April 2003

THE Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service have been given a plot of riverside land off the Marsh Road by Drogheda Borough Council to allow them build a state-of-the-art boathouse. The site is located on an acre of land beside the Boyne due east of the Viaduct.

Members of the BFRRS were joined by the Mayor, Malachy Godfrey, Borough Engineer John Dineen, Clir. Sean Collins and supporters last week for the formal handing over of the site.

"We're really delighted with this plot of land, we've been looking for a site for 30 years, and it's like a dream come true," BFRRS spokesman Michael Hodgins told the Drogheda Leader. "It's the best thing that's ever happened for us."

The group is very grateful to Mayor Godfrey, the Borough Engineer, Cllr. Collins and all the Borough Councillors who pledged unanimous support for the project last January.

The new rescue building will contain state-of-the-art facilities, and is to include a room for boat storage, a boat maintenance room, a meeting room and coffee dock, a radio control room, showers, locker room for divers, a recovery room and a morgue. There will also be emergency medical facilities.

Now that land has been given for the project, the Fishermen's group is looking for sponsorship and funding to get the facility built. An architect is currently drawing up plans for the facility, which the group hopes to have planning permission for very soon.

Mayor Malachy Godfrey agreed that the new facility would make their lives much easier. "Currently they have no boathouse, and they are changing in all kinds of weather. This new facility will make a tremendous difference," he said.

Currently, members of the BFRRS have difficulty doing simple things, like going to the toilet during a recovery search, and they do not have a base along the river from which tea and sandwiches can be made and delivered to rescuers and divers.

Borough Council officials and councillors have provided this group with a site. The fishermen, along with the River and Sea Rescue group, do marvellous work, and Drogheda is a growing town. We've had a lot of tragedies over the years, and these rescuers are totally dedicated, often working in miserable weather and even, as demonstrated last December, working on Christmas Day."

Cllr. Sean Collins said he was delighted to be involved in the project. He paid tribute to the members of the council who "acted so swiftly" in arranging for a site to be given.

"I admire the Fishermen for going forward with what I think is a very important project for Drogheda. They do tremendous work and it needs support. They were working under ridiculous conditions and we're setting out to rectify that," said Cllr. Coffins.

Michael Hodgins said that the group has ten divers and 42 members in total. "If anyone's missing, we'll be on the river from daybreak until dusk. The new boathouse will be manned all the time, 24 hours a day, and we're hoping to have it up and running before Christmas," he said.

The BFRRS would be seeking the assistance of local builders and carpenters to help get the project completed, and said a number of people had already offered their services free of charge. They would also be seeking financial donations from local business people.

"Fishermen have been involved in rescue and recovery along this river for a couple of hundred years. The Boyne Fishermen's group has been going for over 30 years, and in all that time we've been looking for a site," said Michael.

"Now we're going to have a state-of-the-art facility in the perfect location, close to the river and the sea, and we're really delighted with it."

The new building will also provide a base for training of new divers, which is ongoing all the time. The BFRRS is always looking for new members, and anyone wishing to join can contact Michael Hodgins on 087-2334256.

The group is in no doubt about the value of the new facility: "When it comes to rescue, when there's someone in the water, every second counts."

Families are grateful to the Council

FAMILIES who have lost loved ones in drowning tragedies are absolutely delighted that the Borough Council has allocated land to the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service for a boathouse, spokesperson Mary Johnson has told the Drogheda Leader.

"Families made a direct appeal to the Council on this matter," Mary told the Drogheda Leader. "They have given us a magnificent response."

"They have joined with the families and people of Drogheda, in showing their concern about saving lives and recovering lost loved ones," she said.

"Remember the people of Drogheda and families paid for a new paging system, switched on last year by Supt. Fergus Doggett and myself on behalf of the families."

"This system has saved many lives and recovered lost loved ones. The Gardal am doing great work coordinating this system with the rescue service and Caifrey's Cabs."

"Now the Borough Council has allocated this land for a boathouse, we cannot thank them enough. It shows what can be done when a community works together."

She said the race was now on to get sponsorship and donations for the boathouse project. "We, the families, are appealing for help from businesses and private individuals to help get this boathouse up and running."

How to make your donation

if you want to make a donation towards the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service's new building, you can make a donation through the BFRRS' bank account: Bank of Ireland, Laurence Street, Drogheda, alc no. 38800417.