West Cork town to celebrate 200 years of saving lives at sea  

A celebration of 200 years of the Courtmacsherry lifeboat will take place over the June bank holiday weekend in the West Cork town.

The RNLI was founded by William Hillary in 1824, and the first RNLI lifeboat in Ireland was called The Plenty and arrived in Courtmacsherry in 1825.

A historical talk with Micheál Hurley, the author of the Courtmacsherry lifeboat history, Home from the Sea, will take place on the Friday night at 8pm in the community centre. Entry is free.

On the Saturday, there will be an open day from 2pm to 5pm on the all-weather Shannon class lifeboat, Val Adnams, and the Station House will be open to the public, with other sea-and-coast rescue services to attend.

Display

A display of model lifeboats will take place on the pier, as well as a sea safety talk from 7pm to 9pm in the Pier House Bar, followed by live music.

Sunday will see the unveiling of a 200th anniversary plaque by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, at 1.30pm on the pier.

A second lifeboat open day will take place on the lifeboat and at the Station House from 2pm to 5pm, the Defence Forces band will be performing on the pier at 2pm, and a fly-by will be performed by the new Irish Coast Guard fixed-wing rescue aircraft.

The highlight is at 6pm, an audio-visual performance of Courtmacsherry Rhythms in the Sacred Heart Church by the local Summer Songbook choir, plus friends. The piece was composed for Courtmacsherry lifeboat by Maire Ní Dhuibhir, whose father, the late John, was the lifeboat honorary secretary from 1962 to 1976. 

Tickets for this performance are available locally at €10, from Lislevane Post Office on 023 884 0123.

Local artist Margaret O’Dwyer has painted Lifeboats over the Decades and donated it to Courtmacsherry Lifeboat Station for its 200th anniversary celebrations.

Limited-edition, professional museum-quality prints of the painting will be on sale over the summer.