Scores support this year’s Castle Island Charity Swim in Enniskillen

The all-inclusive event saw 87 people of varying ages enter the River Erne by the Broadmeadow, Enniskillen on Sunday afternoon (August 14) to swim the 750m distance around Castle Island.

The participants were cheered on by a large crowd of spectators who stood along the shoreline opposite the island.

Loads of people took to the water in aid of the local RNLI at the Castle Island.

The safety of swimmers was a priority for organisers, with RNLI crew present on the day and a number of marshals on kayaks and stand-up paddle boards positioned along the route.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Aidy Kelly, an RNLI volunteer and one of the organisers of the Castle Island Charity Swim, talked about the success of this year’s event.

“It went really well. Everybody seemed to enjoy it,” he said, commenting that he has always pitched the swim as very much a family and a community-based event.

“We’ll never get into the competitive end of it, so I think anybody that was there yesterday really enjoyed it. From my point of view it was great to see so many family members taking part.

“We had a great range of swimmers so it’s good to see a nice mix of people coming to it. It’s good that the competitive swimmers can come and take part in the swim and so can the families, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a fundraising event,” he said.

Members of the RNLI who were on the lake to keep an eye on the swimmers, back row Joe Donnelly and Barry Flanagan. Front row, Davy Reid, Richard McFarland, Stevi Ingrim, Killian Creggan, Seamus McHugh and Chris Cathcart.

“The Castle Island Swim is a general fundraiser for the RNLI, for both stations in the area, Carrybridge and Enniskillen.

“It’s important for this year in particular because we’re in a build year for the new Enniskillen RNLI station, so whilst there’s heavy investment from the RNLI, it’s also good that we are seen to be fundraising on the ground as well,” explained Aidy, noting that the event organisers leave the donations open to “people’s interpretation”.

“[It’s so that] that they can get whatever [people] can afford at the time. We wouldn’t want to stop people from taking part if it was over finances,” he added.

Talking about the history of the Castle Island Charity Swim, Aidy explained that the event was originally organised by the Blake family.

“They used to run it as a charity event through the bar [Blakes of the Hollow] and the social club that they had. We revived it [a number of years ago],” said Aidy, adding: “We ran seven previous events and then we were closed up for a couple of years because of Covid-19.”

To this day, Blakes of the Hollow remain a main sponsor of the event, along with support from other local businesses.

“We also work with Blue Green Yonder, and Mark Edwards of the Enniskillen Taste Experience promotes us all year round as part of his tour,” said Aidy, adding that the Castle Island Charity Swim committee comprises a small number of locals.

“We were just a group of friends who revived it and got it going again.”