‘Killaloe is a gift of the Shannon’
Looking forward to Lua - an end of season celebration on the waterway
Our human relationship with wild water is ever-evolving.
In past times, water seemed to bear greater symbolic significance when a body of water represented a liminal interlude on the way to another world. It was used as a transport vector for cultural, pastoral, and material cargos in more recent times.
And so today, when our relationship with wild water has further adapted to encompass recreation, aquaculture and tourism, and when waterways get increasingly treated as nothing more than a cleaning fluid in our fast-growing advanced economy, rivers, once sacred, have been reduced to drains.
LUA is a weekend event to explore this evolving engagement with wild water and how best to individually and collectively irrigate a more beneficial relationship with it, both culturally and environmentally. LUA, a celebration of wild water, will unfold on the west shore of a stretch of River Shannon, on which the ancient settlement of Killaloe arose – to paraphrase that ancient Greek geographer Herodotus, ‘Killaloe is a gift of the Shannon’.
Indeed Killaloe, like many ancient Irish settlements, is found at a natural nodal point - a dynamic human intersection of time-honoured water and land transport ways. Thus Killaloe, the quintessential waterway town, is the perfect place to celebrate LUA's first and soon-to-be annual event.
On Friday, September 16, the Lough Derg Branch of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) will hold its end of season celebration with Commodores John and Sandra Lefroy, and Matt Daniels. Guest of honour: Mayor O'Brien.
There will be an art exhibition on the theme of waterway and environ at Saint Flannan's Cathedral, September 16 - 18 (Trish Taylor Thompson); 8pm, Norma Manly and band in concert - St Flannan's Cathedral.
Saturday, September 17: Presentation - Gary McMahon, Director, AK llen, sailing in Irish and international waters for over a century (St Flannan's Cathedral, 12noon).
Presentation - The Bells of Saint Flannan's Cathedral, 3pm (Martin Cooper). We honour also Bryan and Betty Brislane.
Concert - 8pm, ‘Killaloe: a musical celebration’, Mary Donohue/Paul Fitzpatrick andFriends (proceeds to the Lough Derg Coastguard and Killaloe Fire and Rescue Services).
Sunday, September 18: 9am - 10am, Tai chi by the waterside (Caroline Rainsford). This session is free and suitable for all abilities.
11.30am: Ecumenical Service, Saint Flannan's Cathedral; Blessing of the Waterways and Environ, followed by a presentation by Sandra and John Lefroy - ‘Phoenix’ (presentation to John and Sandra).
Closing celebration, Lough Derg Branch, IWAI.