Great night for Britton

A life dedicated to surfing and further afield saw local man Brian Britton inducted into the Irish Surfing Hall of Fame recently.

The former Blackrock resident was among a trio of very deserving recipients at the Legends Surfers Ball hosted by T Bay Surf Club in Tramore.

Donegal native Brian was one of the first ever surfers in Ireland and was instrumental in the sport’s subsequent growth. His mother Mary unwittingly brought the first ever surfboard to the north west of Ireland and from that moment Brian and his four brothers were hooked.

From these early days, Brian was key to the success of surfing in Ireland, working tirelessly to develop the sport and way of life he loves so much.

An Irish team member many times over, Brian also filled roles as Irish Team manager, Irish Surfing Association president, European Surfing Federation president, International Surfing Vice president, and its special Ambassador.

He was instrumental in organising and bringing to Ireland many international surfing events which were all enormously successful. He brought the European Surfing Games to Bundoran in 1985 and 1997 as well as the Quiksilver Masters.

On the night Brian received a locally hand crafted pieces of glass incorporating sand collected by young surfers from beaches from every surfing county in Ireland. He also presented a contest jersey from the 1995 World Surfing Games in California to T Bay Surf Club with his eldest son Neil and proud granddaughter Jenna.

Other inductees to the Hall of Fame on the night were Roci Allan from Enniskillen, Roger Steadman and Margaret O’Brien-Moran from Tramore. Brian with his eldest child Neil and his eldest grand daughter Jenna Britton making their own presentation to Tramore Surf Club, where Brian was inducted into the Irish Surfing Hall of Fame.