News Archive
CLASS: GALWAY HOOKER FESTIVAL
There are now only 2 Gleoteoigs left sailing in the Claddagh in Galway, and by next year it looks as if there will be none. In the mid 80s, there were at least 10 of the locally owned traditional craft sailing out of the Claddagh. Despite the success of the traditional boat revival around Connemara, [within the Gaeltacht],with new boats bieng built and old ones bieng restored, Galway city and the Claddagh will soon have no resident traditional Galway Hookers, for the first time in generations. Like the old thatch cottages of the Claddagh, Galway is about to lose another part of its heritage.
The Galway Hooker has been part of the tradition, culture, and heritage of Galway city, through the Claddagh, for generations. The old Craft played a hugely significant part in the commerce of the City before the development of the road infrastrucrure and the arrival of trucks. The Hooker logo is widely used by companies, hotels, and government departments, eg the Corporation, and Galway Co.Council , not alone in Galway, but all around the West. Uduras na Gaeltachta provides much needed grant aid for the restoration and building of the traditional sailing boats in the Gaeltacht.The same boats that are based outside of the Gaeltacht are excluded from this grant aid.
The boat owners in the Claddagh are finding it financially too difficult to maintain their boats. The same applies elsewhere but the problem is most immediate in the Claddagh..Presently there are Gleoteoigs rotting away in the Claddagh for want of rebuild or repair, as there were around Connemara in the 50s and 60s, before the "revival".
It is not too late to rescue those boats, so that they will remain a living part of Galway City, and not confined to museums for future generations.
To highlight the problem within Galway, and as part of Cruinniu na mBad, Kinvara which is sponsored by Cityjet, the fleet of sailing craft from Spiddal to Kinvara, will sail into Galway Docks on Thursday 17 of August to join the last 2 Gleoteoigs from the Claddagh.
Northabout, the first sailing boat to make an east/west circumnavigation of the Arctic will be there, with the recently restored Manx Nobby, "Vervine Blossom", Scottish Zulu "Fairy Queen", West Cork Lobster Boats, and many more traditional craft.There will be a debate on the issue at 1930hrs followed by music on the boats and in Sheridans {Padraigs] bar.
On Friday, the fleet will sail at 1300hrs form the Calddagh to Kinvara for the annual Claddagh Cup and the start of Cruinniu na mBad.
For Details Please contact:
Michael Brogan ,Cruinniu na mBad - 0872510922
Michael Lynskey - 0879111731
Coilin O Hiarnan - 0876601725
Joe Gormley - 0872368631
photos Ger Ryan - 0876537898
http://www.galwayhookerassociation.ie/cruinniu_english.htm