Branch Annual General Meeting 2013 report

The branch A.G.M took place on Tuesday, October 23rd in the Shamrocks GAA clubhouse
Tullabeg.
Chairperson; John Gaffey declared the meeting open and welcomed all present.
Secretary; Mary O’Brien read out the minutes from the AGM of October 2012 which were
deemed to be in order.

Matters Arising:
Trad for Trocaire we plan to have a Sessiun during the Friday night music, song and dance
classes and it is hoped that everyone makes a small contribution, money raised will be
forwarded to Trocaire, the date for the event is 15th of November.

Secretary’s report:
Marys’s report summarised the events from the past year, which included the following:
January saw our branch participate in the New Inn Mummers festival where our junior
group won 3 overall entertainment awards while our Senior groups won 2 overall
entertainment awards and she reflected on the beautiful tribute we paid to Joe Monahan on the night.
The Offaly, Leinster and All Ireland fleadhanna saw many of our members and friends
doing very well in their respective competitions which gave great cause for celebration.
A word of thanks was extended to Kathleen O’Brien and Jackie Hennesey for their great
work with the annual Irish course, which took place during July.
The Joe Monahan Tribute concert was a great success and a word of thanks was extended to all involved. Next up was Rahan CCE’s return to Charleville castle for the summer Seisiun series
which far exceeded all our expectations and proved to us what a resilient branch we are.
Unfortunately our year was again tainted with the untimely death of one of our most experienced and talented accordion players Mr Eric Mitchell in September another massive loss to the branch. Mary thanked James and other members of the county board together with the branch committee members for their support and wished the new Secretary the best for the year ahead.

Chairpersons report:
John reflected on the great history of our branch to date and spoke of the setbacks following the loss of  Eric and Joe. He then remarked on the successful year which included mummers, Joe’s tribute concert, seisiun and the Tullamore show performance and how these and other events through out the year were a display of the strength of our branch and he thanked all involved. He then spoke of the transition in which the branch is going through at the moment, which is welcome and the need to make way for new blood so as not to impede the progression of the branch. He stated that Rahan CCE is in a good solid position now and as he would like to take a back seat he invited the new committee to take it to the next level.

Election of officers, which was overseen by our outgoing Chairman; John Gaffey.
Officers elected were as follows:

Honouree Presidents:     Tom Nolan, Michael Lynam, Joe O’Brien, Sean Monaghan and of course the late Eric Mitchell was posthumously elected.
Chairperson:                    Deirdre Byrne
Assistant Chairperson:     Breda Grennan
Secretary:                        Betty Digan
Assistant Secretary:           Bernice O’Brien
Treasurer:                         Karen Monaghan
Assistant Treasurer:           Maura Hickey
PRO:                                  Michael Grennan    
Assistant PRO:                  John Murphy
Youth Officer:                    Post to be filled in the next days
Youth Officer mentors:       Sinead Fulton and Paul Rice
Treoir Gaeilge:                  Breda Grennan
Assistant Treoir Gaeilge:    Marie O’Brien
Child Protection Officers:   Sinead Fulton and Paul Rice
Internal Auditors:              Ita Monaghan and Samantha Hughes
County Board delegates:   Carmel Mc’Conigley, Barbara Gaffey, Eddy Scully

Looking to the year ahead:
In addition to the classes noted above. We are going to look into the possibility of having a floating (in the maritime sense) seisiun event to take place during the next month or so, details of which will be posted when available. For 2014 we again have in our sights the Mummers festival in New Inn, we will be involved in the St Patrick’s day celebrations, fleadhanna and of course Sessiun to name but a few things to look forward to. Watch this space for details of all upcoming events.

Most of our branch officers for this upcoming year

Seated L to R: Eddy Scully, Bernice O’Brien, Betty Digan, Deirdre Byrne, Karen Monahan,Michael Grennan, Back row L to R: Barbara Gaffey, Breda Grennan, Marie O’Brien, Sinead Fulton and Ita Monahan.