Last night’s AGM was a very well attended affair which enjoyed excellent participation from the floor and healthy debate.
Honorary Secretary’s Address: Noel Guiden reported on a club which had enjoyed a successful 2012 and was in a very healthy state on performance, financial and social basis. He outlined the strides which had been made in the improvement of the club’s communications with its members and in particular the strides which had been made with the launch of the club’s new website but sought assistance of some of the younger members of the club with the operation of the club’s facebook and twitter feeds. He paid tribute to the members of the club who had assisted with the various club’s promotions over the year and also outlined the very successful promotion of the Morton Games and thanked all of the sponsors and partners in the Meet and in particular thanked the athletes liaison team of Killian Lonergan and Jeremy Lyons. Looking forward to 2013 he advised the meeting that work had already commenced on the planning of that event in which the club would be assisted by Athletics Ireland, both financially and technically and confirmed that Fingal County Council had already confirmed their agreement to remain as a partner in the Meet.
Club Captain`s report: Joe Cooper in presenting his report commented upon the outstanding year which the club had enjoyed, he commented upon the club’s new excellent website and reported that athletes had competed at Olympic, European, International and Domestic level throughout the year. He commented that the most exciting performance during the year came in the National Track and Field League final where Brian Gregan on the last day of the event, the 4 x 400 relay put in a storming last leg to propel the club from 7th to 2nd position to ensure that the National League Title was retained by a slender margin of 2 points to make it five national league titles in succession. He thanked all of the athletes and coaches who had worked so hard throughout the course of the year and in particular thanked Bart, John, Jeremy, Peter and Killian for their dedication. He also thanked the committee for their support throughout the year and made a special mention of the Meet Director of the Morton Games which was an outstanding pre-Olympic Track and Field Meet.
Honorary Treasurer’s Report: Paddy Tuite reported on the healthy financial state of the club which had been considerably enhanced over the course of 2012 by the club’s racing promotions all of which had proved to be profitable mentioning the Clonliffe 2, the Brother at your side Clonliffe Schools Cross Country, the ERP Christmas Cracker 5k, the Fingal 10k and Dublin Tunnel Run, he named and thanked all of the club sponsors throughout the course of 2012 and in particular Hireco, Brother, ERP, the various sponsors and supporters of the Morton Games and the various sponsors of individual races in the Grand Prix Series. The Treasurer then presented the annual accounts to the meeting which demonstrated the healthy position that the club was in and the accounts were opened to the floor for comment.
Ladies Captain’s Report: Pamela Cooper in her report outlined that the ladies section of the club continued to thrive at all levels, she outlined the notable achievements of the ladies section in 2012 citing in particular the winning by the ladies team of the National 10k Road Championships, 2nd in the National Half Marathon, 3rd in the National Marathon, 3rd in the National Road Relays and 3rd in the Dublin Senior Cross Country. She also outlined that the track and field team had competed in the premier division for the first time in some 15 years, she outlined that one of the goals for the current year was to recruit new track and field athletes to assist in the rebuilding of the team for 2013 citing the fact that the ladies section did not have the resources available for a track and field team as the men’s section has and thus the team would suffer badly in the event of any athletes being unavailable. She commented upon the individual successes of the athletes and in particular made mention of Ailish Malone, Sarah McCormack, Denise Byrne, Becky Woods and Caoimhe Morris. The ladies captain then thanked the coaches for their dedication mentioning Bart, John, Jeremy, Peter, Tony and Eugene for their endless time, energy and enthusiasm and paid a special word of thanks to Sheila Jones and Yvonne McDonald.
Juvenile Captain’s Report: Gladys Cooper in presenting her report outlined the fact that the juvenile section had grown substantially in membership particularly following on the Olympic Games in the summer, she outlined that the juvenile section had now been broken into three distinct categories and thanked the coaches who assist with the juvenile section: Gerry, Marian, Mick, Geraldine and Noel. She paid a special thank you to Colm Doran on his generosity in supporting the juvenile section throughout the year. The captain presented a two paged resume of the results and performances of the juvenile section over the course of the previous twelve months which made for impressive reading with numerous national champions and excellent team performances.
President’s Address: Paddy Marley in his address made particular reference to the number of foreign athletes, now living in Ireland, who had joined the club over the past twelve months who have already shown their commitment to the club and have been ‘like a breath of fresh air’. He reflected on the previous year and was complimentary to the work which has been carried out in the juvenile section by Gladys Cooper and her team, by Pamela Cooper and her team with the ladies section and Joe Cooper and all the coaches with the men’s section. He praised the individuals and sub committees who had been involved in the promotion of a whole list of events over the course of the year with in particular the Brother Schools Cross Country, the Christmas Cracker 5k, the Morton Games with the team of Noel Guiden, Killian Lonergan and Jeremy Lyons, the Grand Prix Series and in particular the work carried out by Maurice Ahern, Eoin Murray and Paddy Tuite, he thanked all the sub committees, the lotto group who worked tirelessly to fundraise, he thanked the treasurer Paddy Tuite who was stepping down from the task after a number of years in the position and he thanked him on behalf of the club for the work which had been carried out on the club’s finances, he thanked all the club’s sponsors in particular Hireco, Brother, Eugene Kavanagh, ERP, Last Lap Café, Commercial Hygiene Services, Behan & Associates, the Dublin Race Series and so forth and all of the individual sponsors particularly those club members who sponsored races in the Grand Prix Series. He thanked in particular all of the club’s coaches for their dedication to the club and he commented upon the upcoming 50th anniversary of the founding of the ladies section in 2013 and assured the ladies section that they will enjoy the full support of the committee and the men’s section of the club in fittingly celebrating that milestone.
Elections: The following officers and committee members were elected:
President: Paddy Marley
Vice Presidents: Jack Deegan, Colm Brennan, Tommy Griffin Senior, Johnny O’Leary, Maurice Ahern, Paddy Marley, Frances Mansfield, Noel Daly, Peter McDermott and Alec Sweeney
Honorary Secretary: Noel Guiden
Honorary Treasurer: Eoin Murray
Club Captain: Joe Cooper
Ladies Captain: Pamela Cooper
Committee Members: Frances Nic Reamoinn, Tommy Griffin, Stephen Harkness
Trustees: Maurice Ahern, Tommy Griffin Senior, Johnny O’Leary
Motions: After lively debate and input from the floor one Motion was withdrawn and the following two Motions were passed:
“That the juvenile membership in the sum of € 120.00 per annum be paid in one single payment in all cases unless by the specific agreement of the juvenile captain”.
“That rule 9 of the Constitution be amended to change the words ‘until death’ and replace with the words ‘for a maximum period of 10 years’”.