New national centre for Inland Waterways Association opens

By David Flynn

A bequest from the will of the late Cynthia Rice in 1997 has led to her family’s land at Coosan Point becoming the 32-county home of the Inland Waterways of Ireland. The headquarters, ‘Dunrovin’ was officially opened last Saturday morning.

Dunrovin was the Coosan home of Col. Harry Rice, who was one of the founder members of IWAI in 1954. Harry was the author of ‘Thanks For The Memory’, a popular book about life on Lough Ree. He was also the writer of the column, ‘Coosan Comment’, which ran in the Westmeath Independent in the 1950s.

IWAI HQ Dunrovin is the result of a strategic partnership project with the RNLI, and is adjacent to the new RNLI permanent lifeboat station, which itself officially opened two weeks previous to last Saturday.

Cynthia Rice had declared in her will that the area of ground should be used as a clubhouse and meeting place for members of the IWAI.

Dunrovin had been a summer house of Harry Rice and his first wife, Peggy (nee Geoghegan) (whose family owned the Prince of Wales Hotel in the early 20th century.) Peggy died in 1951, and some years later Harry married Cynthia and they too lived at Dunrovin. Harry Rice died in 1964.

On Saturday, the new premises were packed with members, including several past presidents and their families, who came to Coosan Point to witness the opening.

Peter and Geraldine Williams – the grandchildren of Harry and Peggy Rice were special guests on the day. They told the gathering the interesting story of the Rice family and talked about the efforts of volunteers in the last 25 years to bring the construction of the headquarters to fruition, following Cynthia’s bequest.

Peter told of the early days of Harry and Peggy’s marriage, and how they moved together to Bombay, India in 1921, where Harry had been stationed with the army. He also told the fascinating story of the origin of the ‘Dunrovin’ name. It was a version of Peggy’s term, ‘done with roving’, because she was no longer interested in long travelling, and was happy to settle in Coosan.

Damien Delaney, who is founder member of Lough Ree RNLI read to the gathering, an inscription, which was on an old stone plaque.

“It says, ‘Peggy and Harry Rice, Garden to the Glory of God, May 1948, Tread Softly on their Memories,” said Damien.

Martin Donnelly was Chairman of the Dunrovin Project, which brought about the building on the shores of Coosan Point, said: “We’re here and what a journey, not here on time, but here on budget.”

He explained “The Dunrovin project stemmed from the foresight of early presidents to do something with the site. We had to bring in many views of twenty-three branches.”

He said the cost of the building was €153,000 before VAT, and the build price was on schedule, and there was no overrun. He also thanked Westmeath County Council and said that the Leader programme gave €47,000 funding, and were very supportive.

Kay Baxter, President of IWAI also thanked the Development Committee members for their “hard work, vision, commitment and sheer doggedness,”.

“I have to acknowledge the legacy of Harry, Peggy and Cynthia Rice who set the ball rolling of this organisation with their love of inland waterways,” said the President.

She also paid tribute to the RNLI and thanked them for the work that they do saving lives.

Ms Baxter cut the red ribbon to officially open the Dunrovin HQ of IWAI which was followed by the raising of the association’s flag, which blew strongly in the breeze at Coosan Point.

Speaking after the event to the Westmeath Independent, Kay Baxter said that she was immensely proud of the project and said it’s wonderful for the association which is in existence so long, to finally have a headquarters to store their archives.

“It’s all testament to the Rice family and all the past presidents who worked hard here on these beautiful garden and building, which will have facilities to hold hybrid and virtual meetings and AGM, to all across Ireland,” she said.