A DAY IN THE LIFE: Lock keeper Timothy Connolly serving Athlone for 47 years

'A day in the life' is a summer series exploring the working day of locals with jobs that are unusual or rare

By Rebekah O'Reilly

At 9am, before the first cruiser noses towards Athlone Lock, Timothy Connolly is already checking water levels, recording rainfall and preparing for another busy day on the River Shannon. By lunchtime, dozens of visitors will have passed through his hands. After 47 years, the work on the locks has become second nature.

Now 66, Tim is preparing for his final season as Athlone's lock keeper before retiring in October. Looking back over almost five decades on the river, he reflects on how the role has changed, the people he has met and why, after 47 years, he still enjoys coming to work every morning.

A typical day in the role starts at 9am and finishes at 7.30pm, with an average of 20 to 30 boats passing through the lock each day.

"There could be a couple of hundred people going through in a day, depending on the weather and the time of the year," Tim said.

"You're meeting different people, giving them the ropes, making sure everything is safe – that's the job really."

Depending on the size of the vessels, six to eight boats can pass through the lock together during each cycle. "It all operates from a switchboard," he explained. "You're bringing them in, closing it, raising or lowering the water levels, and then letting them back out. That's the cycle of it."

Today, the hydraulic lock takes around five minutes to complete the process, but when Tim first arrived in Athlone in 1979, it was a very different story.

"When I started here in 1979, it was all manual. There were big handles you had to crank, and you needed two people to work it. You'd come in, and you'd have to wind it. Everything was done by hand back in them days."

The lock was converted to a hydraulic system in 1990, removing much of the physical strain from the job.

As well as operating the lock, Tim's day begins with checking water levels both upstream and downstream and recording the readings.

"You pass on the information to Met Éireann, and it's used for monitoring and reporting," he said. "There's also a rain gauge here which they use. It's all part of the daily routine."

Safety has also become a much bigger part of the role over the years.

"You do need to explain things clearly to people coming through, especially if it's their first time in a lock. It's all about safety now, which is a change from years ago," he said.

"People are required to wear a life jacket inside the lock. You have to keep an eye on everything because it is a narrow space."

Beyond operating the lock, Tim has become something of a tour guide for countless visitors arriving on the River Shannon each year.

He regularly advises boaters on routes, weather conditions and the safest places to travel.

"It's part of the job to help people out and make sure they're going right," he said. "For a lot of people, the lock keeper is the first person they meet when they come onto the river.

"They'll ask you where to go, what the weather is like, if it's safe to go out on the lake. If the weather is bad, I might advise them to stay around Hodson Bay or at the Marina, where they're close to the town."

Originally from Kiltoom, Tim is married to Catherine, a former employee of Athlone Apparel, and together they have two daughters, Jacinta and Christine.

The son of a farmer and a farmer's wife, Tim is the first in his family to become a lock keeper.

His career on the River Shannon began in 1979 when, at just 19 years of age, he joined the Office of Public Works, then known as Shannon Navigation, working initially in Hodson Bay.

"We always had an interest in fishing and being around water, but nobody in my family worked at it," he said.

"That time you had to be on the dole to apply for the job, and it was with Shannon Navigation as it was called then. I didn't think I'd get the job, but they started me in Hodson Bay, and after a couple of months they brought me here as a lock keeper."

Tim credits his predecessor, the late Percy Hewitt, with helping shape his career. The pair worked alongside each other for many years with Tim as assistant lock keeper.

"He was like a father to me. He was a gentleman, and I learned a lot from him."

The Hewitt family had served as Athlone's lock keepers for four generations before Tim took over.

"There were four generations of Hewitts here before me, including Percy and his father Bobby," he said.

Seasonal lock keeper Ken O'Carrol currently works alongside Tim for the busier summer season.

Over the decades, Tim has welcomed visitors from across Ireland and around the world. Among them have been German and American tourists, along with political leaders including Mary Robinson and Michael D Higgins.

"It's not about the famous people, it's the everyday people," he said. "You get people coming back year after year, you see the children and the grandchildren, generations of families coming through. That's what makes it."

After 47 years beside the River Shannon, Tim is preparing to close the gates on one final chapter when he retires this October.

"I'll be 66 in October so it's time really. It'll be strange not to be coming down every morning," he said.

Instead, he is looking forward to spending more time with Catherine while keeping busy with some of his favourite hobbies.

"I'll do a bit of fishing. We have a campervan so I'll do a bit of travelling, and a bit of cycling. I won't be sitting at home anyways!"

He added: "I've always enjoyed coming to work, I just hope the next person enjoys the job as much as I have."