Supporter gifts model lifeboat and painting to Lough Ree RNLI

The volunteer crew of the Lough Ree RNLI lifeboat service received personalised gifts from a great supporter of theirs at a presentation which took place in Athlone yesterday (Sunday) afternoon.

Limerick man Mark Conway (43) visited Athlone with his friend Tommy Corbett and key worker Ivana Kottesova.

The creative artist, who has honed his skills with the Brothers of Charity in the Treaty City, had contacted then-Operations Manager Tony McCarth earlier this year to offer a replica lifeboat as a gift to the charity.

At a special ceremony at the Lough Ree RNLI boathouse at Coosan Point, Mr Conway met Mr McCarth, as well as Operations Manager Jude Kilmartin, Treasurer Vincent Rafter, and members of the crew and families, and presented his metre-long model of an RNLI lifeboat.

During the visit Mr Conway had another surprise in store when he also made a presentation of his own painting of a lifeboat.

His key worker, Ivana Kottesova, said: "Mark has already made presentations to the RNLI at Lough Derg, Kilrush, Courtmacsharry and Kinsale and hopes eventually to visit all RNLI lifeboat stations on the island."

Lough Ree RNLI Operations Manager Jude Kilmartin expressed the charity’s gratitude for the presentation and said he was "looking forward to displaying the art in a place of prominence in the new RNLI boathouse," which is on schedule for completion later this year.

During the weekend trip to Athlone the Limerick visitors were guests of Viking Boat Tours for an afternoon on the River Shannon and Lough Ree, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

It's been a busy summer to date for the volunteer crew of the Lough Ree RNLI lifeboat. They came to assistance of no fewer than 25 people on stranded cruisers last week.

In total there have been eighteen call-outs so far this year for Lough Ree RNLI, and Operations Manager Jude Kilmartin advised boat users to "be aware of the falling water levels on the lake, which has made rock shoals on the lake more dangerous.

"The best advice is to always remain within the navigation markers," he said.

Pictured above: On board lifeboat: Tony Diskin & Ray Cregg (crew). Foreground: Patrick Walsh (crew), Jude Kilmartin (Lifeboat Operations Manager), Mark Conway (artist) Tony McCarth & Emmet Devereux (crew).