Chairman’s address at CTT Alumni AGM/Dinner
About 30 alumni attended the AGM at the Royal Yacht Club, May 20, and enjoyed a fine dinner afterwards in the magnificent setting of the club. A report on the outcome will be published shortly. For now, we can announce that the Chairman, Frank O’Conor, agreed to stay on in his post, following heavy pressure to do so. No “Sepp Blatter”-type problems relating to Frank or his colleagues were mentioned, in public. However, the Treasurer reported that the balance in the bank account was somewhat diminished. The Chairman made the following comments:
Address to the 26th AGM of the CTT Alumni
1) Firstly, May I, on behalf of you Committee, wish you all a cead mile failte to this, our 26th. AGM and Annual Dinner. How the years have flown. Though we are smaller in numbers than in previous years, let’s all enjoy being together talking about our ex-colleagues and events of years past.
Can I ask you to stand for a minutes silence to remember those who are no longer with us but who were important, for numerous reasons, in our time in CTT.2) Thank you. Before continuing, can I pay tribute to my fellow Committee members whose company I enjoy and who have played a vital role in organising the various events we have enjoyed over the past year :
# John Maguire, the Michael Noonan of your Alumni whose financial acumen has kept us on the straight and narrow.
# Barbara Hurley who organised and coordinated many of our happenings
# Marjorie McHenry who is our communications guru par excellence.
# Brian O’Doherty, our North West representative who manages our Alumni website
#) Richard Pollard who organised tonight’s AGM and Dinner.
#Lorraine Egan for her thoughtful inputs into our deliberations
# Philip Regan for his wise advice and support.
# Rosemary Craig for organising a very enjoyable visit to Russborough House and who has agreed to organise similar cultural visits during the coming year.
You will be glad to know that your outgoing Committee has agreed to serve for another year with Rosemary Craig joining us and Derry O’Brien agreeing to act as an unpaid consultant. Against stiff opposition I managed to keep my position as your Chairman !!!!!!3) Last year was another busy one and we are planning something similar this year. Ideas we have in mind include :
#) A Summer gathering on the Liffey which, last year, was a great success, blessed with beautiful weather. Organised by Marjorie.
#) Our Annual Nostalgia Night in November in Gleesons being organised by Barbara.
#) A visit to the Hugh Lane Gallery being organised by Brian.
#) Other cultural outings ( including a visit to Kilkenny Castle ) to be organised by Lorraine and Rosemary in 2016
#) Our AGM and Dinner
#) Our very successful golf and tennis events being organised by Barbara and John
#) We have decided to discontinue our Memorial Evening due to very low numbers attending and to remember our deceased colleagues at certain events.Despite many pleas we do not get any feedback from our members as to what events they would like us to organise. For example, should our Annual Dinner be held outside Dublin, should we consider a trip outside Ireland ? We also need your views on the timing of our annual dinner and AGM as quite a few wanted to attend this evening but, due to other commitments, were unable to do so.
Your Committee finds it difficult to work in a vacuum and so I would repeat our plea for feedback both constructive and critical.
CORAS TRACHTALA ABU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have read the chairmans statement at recent AGM, which unfortunately i was unable to attend. Two points:
1) As the report did not include the names of Alumni who passed away during the year, i would be interested if they could be added to the website.
2) Annual Mixed Doubles Tennis Tournament. I have been giving consideration to organising the 2015 Tournament and planned to speak to Colum MacDonnell regarding availability of Fitzwilliam for Tennis followed by the “Tennis Lunch”, (which went down well in 2014).
I note in Chairman’s statement that Barbara and John were associated with organisation of both golf and tennis this year. I therefore wish to check if the Tennis Tournament is already planed by a member of the Committee?