Sir Bob’s dad’s former home sails into view

CORK harbour has been linked with the 1722-founded Royal Cork Yacht Club since, well, 1722, though the club’s name and even its location has changed a bit down the centuries.

However, the club has been long-established in the public mind with Crosshaven (a weighty and beautifully published history of the RCYC and a social document in its own right was published this summer for a cool €100 a copy), and one of the closest and older homes to the renowned yacht club are the trio at Westbourne Terrace.

No 2, mid-ships on the terrace, was once home to the hotel-manager father of ex-Boomtown Rat, campaigning activist and philanthropist Bob Geldof. Though born in Dublin, Sir/Saint Bob’s dad was a hotel manager who work for a number of years in Cork, most notably at the Grand Hotel in Crosshaven which is a stone’s throw from this handsome terrace.