LOVELY ANNE
Lovely Anne joined the club in November 2018. Volunteers and crew worked for 5 months to restore her and the boat was launched from Black Weir (where it was originally built) and sailed to her current home port of Claddagh in April 2019.
Built in 1884/5 by Patrick Brannelly, who also built An Tonaí and Morning Star. Lovely Anne is a 25ft gleoiteóg and gaff rigged.
She is thought to be named Lovely Anne during her years as a fishing boat in the west of Ireland. The boat initially was unnamed and a visitor to the area was surprised by this and thought Lovely Anne was a suitable name. The boat changed names during its life but after her restoration in 2019 it was renamed to her original name of Lovely Anne.
Lovely Anne spent many years in Galway mainly around Connemara and Aran Islands until she moved up to Killybegs where it worked as a fishing vessel for a number of years until it came back to Galway in 2018 where she’s currently moored.
Ross Forde, who is a great grandson of Brannelly, was very interested in getting Lovely Anne back to Galway and after some negotiations and trips to Killybegs he and some GHSC crew were delighted to be able to do this.
Over the last year the crew of Galway Hooker Sailing Club have maintained and sailed Lovely Anne. It’s also being used as a training vessel to give crew hands on experience on these traditional wooden boats that are such a strong element of our culture.
If anyone was involved in the project or has any stories or memories of Lovely Anne we’d love to know.