The Meath Association AGM will take place on Tuesday 29 th April at 7:30 pm in Slane Castle. Alex Mountcharles will give a talk on the ‘Proposed Distillery at Slane’. Members will receive notification in the coming weeks, along with Copy of Social Calendar organised by Christopher Gray. This is Christopher’s last season unfortunately; he will be sorely missed for his intriguing events and expertise. We wish to thank him for the exceptional work he has carried out on behalf of the Meath Association. At the AGM there will be a discussion on how events can be organised in the future. If anyone has any ideas or would like to volunteer for the Social Calendar subcommittee please contact us.

Work is continuing on the maintenance and restoration of the Boyne Navigation. Recently the Slane Community Forum group (SCF) have cleaned the vegetation from Slane to Morgan’s Lock. It has been observed that water levels have been very low on this stretch of the Canal despite recent flooding. This was investigated by SCF and Geoffrey Clarke of Meath Association. It was discovered that there was a serious leak at the base of the concrete protective wall in Morgan’s Lock. This has been referred to the Boyne Navigation Branch (BNB) of IWAI for a solution and remedial works. The Navan Angler’s Group are also assisting the BNG with the clean-up at Athlumney.

Meath County Council’s Boyne Greenway section at Oldbridge is making good progress, An Taisce in conjunction with BNG provided technical and engineering input on the design of the Greenway. We recommend members to take a stroll along the Canal here where they can see the repair work to the retaining wall (damage caused by large tree growing out from the wall) and the installation of steps.

Tailors’ Hall have lodged an objection submission on our behalf with regards to a planning application on an archaeological sensitive area.

The Ellison Awards ceremony will be taking place on the first of November, venue has to be confirmed. This year we are accepting entries from both Meath and Louth and we are calling on all our members to nominate projects. The details of the competition will be announced in the coming weeks in the local press and on line.