Members of Cockle Island Boat Club in Groomsport near Bangor on Belfast Lough have had to cancel indefinitely the lift-in planned for 27th April and organised by Terry Graham, due to restrictions on the size of gatherings in the current COVID-19 crisis.
In last night’s communication to members, Sailing Secretary John Cathcart said, “Following the Prime Ministers' broadcast earlier this evening, and the prohibition on gatherings of more than two people, Terry Graham has postponed his lift-in until further notice”.
The harbour is one of several managed by Ards and North Down Borough Council and the club is unusual in that it doesn’t have a clubhouse but meets every week in winter in the old boathouse, which used to be a lifeboat station from 1858 till 1920.
Many of the 120 members’ boats are on swinging moorings in the harbour, sheltered neatly inside Cockle Island, after which the club is named.