Copyright The Lancaster Gardian, Reproduced here with their kind permission.
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Ship-breakers can get to work on a 'rotting old tub'
Death warrant for
Time is finally running out for the ship which was once the pride of old Ireland. It's death warrant needs only a signature and execution must be swift.
The "Clyde Valley", rotting since last summer on the mud flats of the river, near where Lime Road joins the Quay, can at last be broken up - if Lancaster City Council takes the advice of its plans committee.
The one time gun-runner got a reprieve from the breaker's clutches when the Bury firm of scrap merchants which brought her from Ireland found they had to get planning per-
mission to cut her up at the Quay.
The committee says they can go ahead but the work must be done within a year.
The "Clyde Valley", built in 1886 was used for smuggling rifles to the original Ulster Volunteer Force in the early days of the First World War. She did such sterling work that about seven years ago the Rev Ian Paisley brought the old tub from Canada, intending to make her into a memorial for the Protestant cause..
But perhaps Paisley found other more pressing priorities and the scheme fell through. So the "Clyde
Valley" languished in Carrick Fergus harbour, until the day she was towed away - proudly dressed in flags by Loyalists - for her last port in Lancaster.
And there she has languished, becoming rustier and more rotten as month followed month, and the breakers awaited permission to cut her up.
Then at Monday's meeting of the council's planning committee the "Clyde Valley" was dealt the deadliest insult of all:
"That boat is an eyesore, a menace and a nuisance," said councellor P.Summer.
He added that whole, or broken into pieces, the "Clyde Valley" would not enhance the Quay, where plans are afoot to make a riverside park. And he contended that there could be a danger of polluting the river from oil seepage, and other discharges.
He was supported by Councillor J. H. Ball, who added "It's rediculous to plonk a ship breaker's yard there."
Fearing that if they refused permission to break up the ship the scrap dealers might lodge an appeal, which might add to the delay, the committee
finally agreed on the maximum time of one year for the job, which they urged should be finished quicker if possible. This halved the limit of two years, suggested by the council's officers.
When the Guardian asked the Bury ship breakers if the job would be finished in the year allowed, a spokesman replied hopefully: "It'll soon start cracking when our men get on it."
Then the "Clyde Valley" may remain just a glorious memory for Ian Paisley. And no longer an eyesore to Lancastrians.
a gun-runner
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