June 25th 2022 will be an historic day for the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) with the official opening of its new Headquarters at Dunrovin, on the shores of Lough Ree, Coosan Point, Athlone.
IWAI HQ Dunrovin as the building will be known is co-located with the new RNLI permanent Lifeboat Station, recently commissioned. For the last six years, IWAI has worked with RNLI to deliver a strategic partnership project with the RNLI resulting in a permanent Lifeboat Station and an IWAI building on the site where IWAI was born in 1954.
Dunrovin is steeped in waterways history, being the spiritual home of IWAI. In 1997 Cynthia Rice, widow of Colonel Harry Rice and lifelong member of IWAI bequeathed Dunrovin the property and site to IWAI Athlone and the Association. As part of her Will, Cynthia’s bequest stated that the property should be “used in perpetuity as a clubhouse and meeting house for members”. Cynthia’s Will also mentioned the RNLI as an organisation close to her heart. She spent many years fundraising for the RNLI annually with her husband’s niece and close friend Rosemary Furlong, another lifelong member of the IWAI.
Dunrovin, was the summer house of Harry Rice and his first wife Beatrice Geoghegan, (fondly known as Peggy) and his daughter Betty (born 1924). Beatrice died in 1951. Two years later in 1953 Harry married Cynthia, his daughter’s best friend and for many years they lived in Dunrovin. It was here that Vincent and Ruth Delany and Harry and Cynthia Rice devised and hatched plans and a way forward in setting up the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, now almost 70 years old.
While Harry died in 1964, the property was used by his wife until her death in 1997. To safeguard the property over the intervening years, it was rented out to various tenants. The site was and is frequently used by several water-based sports clubs with the Athlone Boat Club holding their annual regatta at Dunrovin as their base. Athletes practicing for the Triathlon use the waterways directly in front of Dunrovin for their open water swim. IWAI Athlone held many branch meetings in the original dwelling that was the home of the Rice’s. Many active and committed members of IWAI Athlone gave their time and energy ensuring the property did not fall into disrepair and disuse. Over the years, it has remained a primary goal of the Association to honour and carry out Cynthia’s wishes. Now, twenty-five years later, the Association has fulfilled her wishes and has done justice to her very generous bequest and honouring Athlone’s, the Shannon’s, and Ireland’s inland waterways heritage.
The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) is a voluntary body representing over 3,500 enthusiasts, with 25 branches across the island of Ireland.
