|
|
Watersports expert revamps Moville
eyesore
23.06.09
by Linda McGrory
A Moville kayaking expert is breathing new life into
a 1950s building that had become a dangerously
derelict eyesore on the town's shore front.
Adrian Harkin has taken a five-year lease on the
building that once facilitated the diving boards at
Bath Green and has turned it into a water and
outdoor pursuits centre. The attractive building,
with its curved and arc-shaped lines, was designed
by the late Greencastle architect Liam McCormick.
The clean-up operation on the 1956 building,
however, was not for the faint hearted. Fourteen
tonnes of the most disgusting rubbish imaginable
first had to be removed from the water's edge site
that had become a magnet for underage drinking.
"The place was absolutely full of rubbish and every
corner was being used as a toilet. We took away 14
one-tonne trailer loads of rubbish including beer
cans and bottles and, would you believe, even a dead
fox," said Adrian. |
 |
|
The founder of Just
Kayak, Bogside-born Adrian got a favourable
reception when he went to Donegal County Council
with his proposal. He told the local authority he
would take the derelict building off their hands and
pay for the cost of cleaning it, refurbishing it and
insuring it, in return for a nominal lease fee. He
said former local councillor Marian McDonald and the
Council, in general, were very helpful to him. He
got planning permission for the refurbishment works
and the lease was granted in April. |
 |
He will pay the Council
just €10 a year for the lease until 2014, but his
outlay so far, not including his own labour, has
already reached €20,000.
He has installed a conference room; a fitted kitchen
and utility room and has cleaned up the male and
female changing rooms to include toilets, wash-hand
basins and electric showers. |
He also
had the place rewired, painted and has replaced the
plumbing. He has installed new glass windows and
wooden shutters and has fitted the slipway/compound
next door with steel containers to provide
safe-keeping for canoes.
Adrian, 39, who has lived in Moville for ten years
with wife Sharon and their two daughters, aged ten
and twelve, is delighted with progress so far.
He opened the doors of his new outdoor pursuits base
last Thursday to a group of 35 IT specialists who
were staying at an Inishowen hotel. The group were
looking for a team-building day out other than golf.
As part of the afternoon, Adrian, a kayaker of 25
years and coaching officer with the Foyle Paddlers
in Derry, took them orienteering around Moville
Green. On Sunday, he hosted a large group of
experienced kayakers for a session on becoming team
leaders and coaches. "I've looked at this lovely
building lying idle for years and wanted to do
something with it. No matter where you go in the
world, a place right beside the water like this
would always be used to its full potential. We hope
people in Moville will like that it's being used
again," added Adrian. |
|
