AGM Report 2013

Cumann Naomh Gall
Cruinniú Bliainúil 2012-2013
Domhnach 24ú Mí na Samhna 2013 Toiseacht ar a 2.00 i.n.

Clár
Adoption of Standing Orders
Minutes of previous AGM
Secretary’s Annual Report Financial Report
Chair’s Address

Election of Officers
Notices of Motion
Aon Gnó (A. O. B.)
Committee Nominations

Chairman         Monica Culbert

Vice Chairman           Gerard Higgins

Secretary               Sinead Mullan

Assistant Secretary     Brendan Gallagher

Treasurer               Roger Fox

Registrar               Priscilla McGreevy

PRO                     Ciaran Bradley

Development             Joe McCartney

Cultural Officer        Harry Murphy

Youth Officer           Patrick Flannagan

Player Welfare          Harry Bradley

Games Co-ordinator   P J O’Hare

In order to facilitate the proceedings of the Annual General Meeting the following Standing Orders will be rigorously observed

  1. An opportunity shall be afforded to a Member to explain the proposals enshrined in his motion
  1. The proposer of a motion or amendment to same may speak for 5 minutes, but no more than 5 minutes.
  1. A member speaking to a motion or amendment to same must not speak in excess of 3 minutes.
  1. The proposer of a motion or amendment to same may speak a second time for 3 minutes before a vote is taken, no other member may speak a second time to same motion or amendment.
  1. The chairperson may at any time she considers a matter has been sufficiently discussed call on the proposer for a reply, when that reply has been given a vote must be taken
  1. A member may, with chairperson’s consent, move “that the question be now put”, after which, when the proposer has spoken, a vote must be taken.
  1. Standing Orders shall not be suspended for the purpose of considering any matter not on the Agenda except by the consent of a majority equal to two thirds of those present and voting

Some interesting facts you may not know about Cumann Naomh Gall

The cost of putting our teams on the pitch this year and every year is:

Player Injury Scheme Insurance €7,100
Public Liability Insurance £14,850
S Antrim Affiliation Fees £1,900
County Fees £10,000
Handball Fees £472
Ladies Affiliation Fees £635
Ladies Insurance £2,900
In total £38,000 (approx)

Then we can start thinking about buying sliothars, camans, liathróidí and rigs!!

After that there comes fees for competitions and training facilities. Did you realise how much it cost to keep our club on the road?

And then there is

Pitch Maintenance

We are indebted to Davy for his control over the management and use of the pitch which has seen the pitch at its best ever this year. To Michael and his team of volunteers who cut, fertilise, spike, line and generally do all that is required to keep the pitch in this state of excellence . We are indebted to you for the amount of work that you have done and continue to do. Also the amount of money you are saving the club, thousands of pounds per year.

Michael has drawn up a list of volunteers who will be trained in the maintenance of the pitch next season. There are about 10 of them who will work to a schedule throughout the playing year ensuring that pitch is always ready for matches . This schedule will ensure the work load is spread out evenly. This is what being a member of Cumann Naomh Gall is all about.

During the Winter months there will be work done on the pitch and the surrounding area. As Sinead said in her report we had a lively discussion with CCC about our pitch and making it safe for matches. Imagine, at my age, being threatened with suspension.!!

We agreed to certain regulations re the pitch, which are actually good practice. We must also remember that it is our own behaviour which should ensure, no matter about the regulations, best practice at matches. These are the regulations which will be in place:

Spectator access by far side of pitch.

Signage of fence directing spectators and players

Bog meadows group will put in a pedestrian gate at far side of car park so that people can access the pitch there if unable to climb the hill

Our spectator area will be enclosed by palisade fencing which Gerard Sinead and I got in the Casement salvage

Stewards with bibs

The front of the fence will be enclosed with wire fencing

A shop unit will be in position at bottom corner of spectator area, we hope to make some profit during the season from this facility

Recently, we supported the Meadows group in an application for a grant, which they have just been granted. From this we will get:

Decorative and safe fencing surrounding their small carpark and the bridge at the side of our carpark

Yellow clearway boxes to keep entrance clear for ambulances A new pedestrian gate

Widening of path going up the hill Possible reinstatement of barrier

Possible tarmacing of road and tidying of approach area

I ask any one in the club who wishes to join our pitch maintenance crew to talk to Michael and then help. Michael will be in charge of pitch management and maintenance next year, so go raibh míle maith agat , Michael

Another new development and addition to facilities,

New Ice Bath.

We were very fortunate to have been gifted a new ice bath, which would normally cost thousands. For this past month or so Gerard Higgins, Joe McCartney, Sean Burns and Speedy have been preparing the changing rooms for this addition. A lot of preparatory work has to be completed before we can install the bath. This will be for use of our adult teams. We intend hiring it out to other clubs which will make it self sustaining.

Gerard and Joe have agreed to be in charge of the everyday running, maintenance and safety of the item. Any one who wishes to become a member of their team, feel free to offer your services

The bulk of the work for all of this maintenance and development is voluntary, we pay for materials and equipment only. So once again thanks to all of the above for their supreme effort in maintaining and developing our club

Development Group

In April, Kevin Sheehan initiated a group to look at having a large fundraiser in addition to the everyday fundraising which goes on in the club. We got a group of about 12 who were willing to sit down and talk about fundraising and for a specific purpose in mind. This purpose was improved/new facilities for our teams for training, changing etc and improving social club facilities, see the leaflet re Phase 1 of our development programme

Improving Club Facilities

In January 2014 we intend to:

Renovate the function room Put in new windows

Repaint

Install new lighting throughout the club Re upholster the furniture in main room Acquire new tables and chairs

New dishwasher

Renovate the gents toilets

We launched our plan in June and this development team have been promoting ballot tickets ever since and also liaising with different stakeholders re land, plans, grants etc. The effort by these people has been unbelievable and very successful.

Michael Gribbon, Gerard Higgins, Joe McCartney, Sean Kelly sen. spearheaded the ticket sales and Philip O’Neill is the Project Manager for our grants applications and development programme

The draw is over but the group is staying in place to forge ahead with the developments. As plans develop we will talk to and keep the body of the club informed of the way forward. There are exciting times ahead and we ask as many people as possible to come on board

Culture Report

Looking after Culture in our club can be very frustrating. So many members are eager to involve themselves in different aspects, particularly the language but find the time to properly commit is never easy. Having said that it has been an eventful year. Firstly though the chairperson Monica, who must be applauded for continuing and expanding the use of Irish in addresses at all club events. It keeps a focus on the language and makes it an acceptable norm at these events and beyond, as it should be.

For the past year there have been ongoing language classes for beginners and for which all participants received a ‘cúpla focal’ award after having sat an examination. Many thanks to Nuala McCabe for taking the class. We also saw Irish dancing in the club on a regular basis as the John Ferris school use the function room on Tuesday nights. This is a very successful dance school who compete regularly at all levels up to and at the world championships.

To celebrate St Patrick’s Day the dancers and the club held a Ceilí in the club which was a great success. Also with their help the club re introduced Ceilí dancing to the annual dinner after a long absence. Thanks must also go to the Loch Lao Ceilí Band for the great music at these events. They never let us down and indeed Scór na nóg is just over with Loch Lao musicians from Naomh Gall once again competing and playing outstanding music. How they didn’t go through to Ulster is a mystery and a poor reflection on Scór.

We also had a quiz team who were battling well going into the last round but couldn’t make up the gap on the leaders.

A couple of months ago we had a surprise cultural night with a difference in our lounge. A group of musicians from Moldova brought their music and dress into the heart of the Falls Road. Check out the club Facebook. This was a very unique and entertaining evening.

Everything can be expanded on of course and hopefully in the coming months and years culture will be a growth area in our club, especially with the number of young Irish speakers now playing for us with the boys and girls. So if you have a few words, use them and make it the norm.

Games

Well done to all our teams this year

An excellent year for our senior footballers who became 7 in a row County Antrim Senior Football Champions. I think we are a very modest club actually since we have been champions in Antrim 12 times in the last 13 years. What an achievement!!

Maith thú, Carl and your great backroom team. We look forward to next year and 8 in a row. Excellent Under 21 championship win as well.

The icing on the cake is:

Division One Hurling next year also. Comghardheas, Oliver, way to go!!

Division 2 league winners Promotion to Div 1 hurling

Anyone know the last year we had senior footballers and hurlers in Div 1??

A new era to which we look forward with excitement and hope !! South Antrim Hurling League winners

South Antrim Hurling Championship winners also

Well done to the management of ALL these teams and the players who were a credit to Cumann Naomh Gall this year

A successful year in juvenile also

Our Under 16 ladies were in championship final, Under 14 Footballers were in championship final Under 12 Footballers were in championship final

Under 12 Hurlers won the Nipper Quinn championship, maith thú Joe, Karl and Tommy

Under 10 Footballers won O’Donnell’s tournament Well done to all these teams and their coaches

It is great to see the ongoing improvement with our under 16 and minor squads. Hard work by the lads and management is paying off and hopefully the coming year will pay off for all of that work.

Our numbers increase in the ‘fundamentals’, our Under 8 supermen are having a great time and we are building up our strengths and numbers in our juvenile Hurlers with the addition of our new coaches of Under 8 and 10

We have a promising future with our juveniles and hopefully next year we will be coordinating our whole coaching process in a unified way

Handball Report 2012/13

May I thank the committee and members of Cumann Naomh Gall for their continuing support for handball, this is most appreciated by all involved. Your support has allowed us to promote and develop handball to such an extent where we now have the most successful juvenile handball team in Antrim. Not only in terms of numbers participating, but also in terms of success. We currently have Antrim champions at U12, U14, U16, U17 and U21 level. Ulster success has eluded us this year but we hope to improve this year.

At senior level we now have a team in every league division in the Ulster handball league. Our Division 3, Division 4 and Division 5 teams all gained promotion and our Division 1 team consolidated its position. In championships Jordan O’Neill, Mark Rainey, Lee McCann, Willy Woods, Tony Caddell, Tony Currie and Philip O’Neill all won their respective championships.

Our championship team of Jordan O’Neill, Connor Hartigan, Mark Rainey and Lee McCann have made it through to the Ulster final, and we wish them all the best against Saval from Co Down.

Is Mise Philip O’Neill

Registrations

The past year was again quite a good year for registration; we had an increase of 97 members in total bringing our membership from 504 to 601.

Many members opted to pay their membership via standing order this year; this benefits the club greatly in managing its monthly bills. I would encourage as many of you as possible to start paying by standing order. In order to fully realise the potential benefits for our club from membership fees we have decided that next year’s fees, if not paid by standing order, should be paid in full by end of May 2014.

Thanks to all of our members who paid their fees on time or as an ongoing standing order – it is you members who are the backbone of our club.

Go raibh maith agat

Fundraising /Social Events

During the year the fundraising group had a number of excellent functions:

Casino Night in December

Art Exhibition in February Cycle in August

Part of our idea this year was to increase member participation and the footfall in the club. I consider we have done so with the efforts of members and the excellent approach of our bar manager, Ciaran O’Connor.

Many teams were involved in their own fundraisers during the year which brought different groups of people together at different times. Hopefully we are going to have few fixed fundraisers in club on a yearly basis from this year which will increase in success.

Sept………………………… The Ladies 5 km run in the park

Dec…………………………. Annual Old Time Bazaar

April ……………………….. Car Wash

May………………………… Tournaments

Quarterly ………………… Juvenile disco

Finally

I would like to thank all who have supported this committee and club in any way this year. I have been helped by senior statesmen of the club, members of the club and the youth of the club.

To Davy and Kevin, who have decided to step down from the committee, go raibh maith agat for your advice and your efforts on the committee and your excellent work as games coordinator and cultural officer.

This is a new era, a senior football team, a senior hurling team. We have a lot of work to do to be successful in both codes but it is an exciting adventure to which we look forward . We are a unique club completing in football, hurling and handball, successful in all three codes so Naomh Gall abú

Is mise, Monica Culbert