How it all began.

For a number of years the club has been actively engaged with St. Aidan’s Church of Ireland, Glenavy Youth Project, Lisburn City Council, Lagan Rural Partnership and local stakeholders to bring a riverside pathway and fishing stands to the village of Glenavy. In 2013 the club received fishing rights and permission from St Aidan’s Church of Ireland in the form of a licence. When an application for planning permission was granted, the Glenavy Riverside Trail project began in earnest.  This project has been a joint funding initiative by Lagan Rural Partnership (DARD) and Lisburn City Council. The club and the entire local community are delighted with this new development and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders for supporting our project.

The location

The Glenavy Riverside Trail begins on the stretch of land behind the Glenaidan Centre which is located in Glenavy Village close to the War Memorial Monument.  The Glenavy Riverside Trail is open to the general public and all are welcome to use this facility. The centre has disability access and facilities that can support a variety of community activities and the new riverside trail fully enhances this facility.

Our pathway and journey takes us along a beautiful stretch of the Glenavy River, with it’s clear running water and triple arching stone bridge, against the back drop of St Aidan’s Church and grounds.Throughout the year a variety of birds and wildlife can be observed in this location such as Kingfishers, Cormorants, Dippers and Wagtails. Mallard ducks can be seen with their reared broods in Spring and the tall mature trees with bird boxes invite a variety of birds to nest in this area. The Glenavy Riverside Trail recently hosted a new arrival, a heron was majestically perched on a fishing stand, surveying the river and marking the beginning of something new.

A helping hand for our disabled anglers!

A disabled fishing stand is located at the beginning of the pathway, this new and welcome feature for the club permits safety for disabled anglers.

The fishing stands

A gravel pathway runs to the church hall where a further 2 fishing stands are located with descending steps to fishing platforms made of recycled plastic.  The fishing  stands are for members of the club and permit holders who will be insured under our membership scheme, with UAF affiliation. Membership application forms are available to download from our website www.glenavyriver.co.uk and at the Glenavy Post office, Bickerstaff’s Shop and Pet Zone in Crumlin.  Day permits will also be available during the fishing season 1st March to 31st October

Young Angers are welcome!

The club welcomes Young Anglers, a training and induction programme is essential for their safety. Youth participation is permitted only with Junior membership (adult supervision is required for under 16 age group 11-15 years.)

Keep our Trail Safe

Life buoys are placed at the location of each fishing stand for public safety, please be vigilant if you see anyone tampering with this life saving equipment, report this matter to the club.

Restocking and pollution

For many years the  Angling club have been actively cleaning and restocking the Glenavy River with the private donations from our local community and through a restocking programme with DCAL. The first restocking dates back to 2008 when our club was founded. The club was formed in response to a high level of pollution that occurred at that time. Since then the club has gone from strength to strength. Our membership includes 16 volunteer water bailiffs who give their time freely and continue to support us every year, warning of pollution incidents and unauthorised angling.

Catch and release, competitions and training schemes

The club enforce a strict catch and release policy ensuring we continue to build the fish stock with a responsible fly fishing only policy. The new fishing stands provide a safe area to provide coaching and training for young anglers, adult beginners and intermediate anglers and also permitting one to one training for anglers with disability. Competitions will be available in the coming season. This location will of course provide more experienced anglers access to the wider Glenavy River.

Conservation group

Our conservation members are at the ready and in need of support from our local community to tackle the overgrowth and create a community pathway that we can all be proud of.  A tree survey has been conducted and revealed a number of trees were diseased and unfortunately had to be felled, further monitoring of the trees will continue over time.

Community volunteering – your community needs you!

We are looking for volunteers to help maintain the river, the river bank and protect the wildlife species that live therein. We ask that all conservation volunteers become members, work towards our objectives, adhere to our policies and avail of volunteering insurance through the club. If you have any spare time to give us please get in touch by emailing info@glenavyriver.co.uk or call at the Glenavy Youth Project for information. The club runs a variety of training days and outings throughout the year to support our initiatives.

Get involved now, you will have fun meeting other people, benefit our community and build personal skills through volunteering. Our committee are always looking for new members with new skills to help develop our club, we are very interested in hearing from you. Please contact us by emailing us info@glenavyriver.co.uk or through our website www.glenavyriver.co.uk

Glenavy’s historical association with the leisure sport of angling will hopefully be restored for the future good of our community and bring tourism and economical benefit to this area.