Cheekpoint and the Three Sisters – The influence of the river on the community

The Cheekpoint Fishing Heritage Project will host a social evening in the Reading Room Cheekpoint on Saturday 23rd Aug 2014 at 7.30 – 10pm.  The event has a charge of €5 but senior citizens and children are free. Funds raised will go towards the running costs of the Reading Room.

Each year since 2005 the Cheekpoint Fishing Heritage Project has contributed an event to the annual Heritage week celebration.  The week focus’s attention on our country’s rich and varied heritage.  The first year we participated was to stage an event as part of the Ireland Newfoundland exchange and included the now infamous Prong race which can be viewed via you tube.

Subsequently we did static displays of fishing practices, presentations about the fishery including a history of artisanal fishing practices, a presentation on weirs and the origins, a number of guided walks around the village and strand and last year we delivered 10 symbols of our fishing heritage to our biggest group of attendees yet.

This year is again something very different.  We will host a social night in the Reading Room to which anyone with a song, poem or story about the fishery or our maritime past is welcome to contribute.  It will be an informal setting but will include a cup of tea and plenty of entertainment.

A number of people have generously offered to come along on the night and contribute something already.  To whet the appetite here’s a synopsis of what you can expect –

Music with a watery theme will be provided by a number including; Dylan Bible and Brendan Martin,  Tom Mullane, and Members of Passage East Community Choir

Waterford historian James Doherty – will tell of the remarkable WWII life of Patrick Hanlon who was sailing with the Merchant Marine and was a prisoner aboard the pride of the German fleet the Admiral Graf Spee.

Ray McGrath, who is working on a place names of the River project will present some of the outcomes, and possibly seek some further assistance, names such as the Lady’s Rock, Glassy’s Dock, Walsh’s mud, Sullivan’s quay and the White Stone are sure to feature

Eamon Duffin’s most recent work has been published with the Tramore writers group .  This is the second collection with the group and Eamon has been published elsewhere.  His writing includes our fishing heritage and captures the uniqueness of it beautifully.  Eamon will do some self selected readings on the night. 

Sean Doherty will look at the Weirs in the three rivers and talk about the use’s and the heritage attached to them.

Deena Bible will remember her summers on Cheekpoint Green as a child and her sleeping place when she stayed there – the salvaged cabin of a 19th Century sailing ship

We will also do a 5 minute slide show of the senior citizen Christmas dinners of the 1980’s and possibly a piece from RTE’s nationwide about prongs and punts which was broadcast in 2006.

For myself, I will do a piece about my father, who received an award with others from his crew, who rescued 6 sailors from the SS Bannprince from the river Mersey in the winter of 1955