Chairperson’s Address
BARNA GAA
AGM 10.12.2017
Bail o dhia oraibh go leir agus failte go to dti ar cruinniu tabhtacht um trathnona.
Welcome.
Thank you for attending our AGM this afternoon.
During the meeting you will hear updates from the club’s officers to cover the period since the last AGM.
On behalf of all our members we thank the Executive Committee who spent a lot of time working in various roles over the past 12 months.
Betty Hernan, who began the year as Secretary, took a step back during the year, and John Connolly took over the role. We thank Betty for her Trojan work for the club in various positions over several years.
Huge thanks to all managers, coaches, and everyone who helped in any way in the hundreds of training sessions and scores of matches during the 2017 season. The hours put in by our volunteers in enabling our playing members to perform competitively are immeasurable.
To all our players – boys, girls, men and women, from as young as 5 to those in their 50’s. All players have worn the Barna jersey with distinction. As a club we strive to prepare well, play with pride and passion, and give it our all. Thank you. And keep up the great work.
A very special thank you to everyone involved in fund-raising activities in the club. This includes Sean O’Grainne and Murt Conneely who organise the weekly club lotto, along with all our weekly draw helpers and of course all our sellers.
Membership is also a key source of revenue for the club, and we thank Willie Golden, our Registration Officer, for his superb job in this regard, and each and every parent who registers their family as well as all individual members who pay their annual fees. This year we broke all previous records, and any club in the county or province would be delighted to have our numbers. 789 is the number of names on our register in 2017, and our membership fees for the year were €33,750, an increase of €8,240, or 32% over 2016.
Our annual Jersey Draw, which took place this year in March was another key fund-raiser. We thank our sellers who make such a great effort to reach out to businesses, and we equally thank each and every ticket buyer.
There was a host of other fund-raisers that took place throughout the year. Most teams will organise an event such as a table quiz, and every effort helps in bridging the gap between income and expenditure. Declan Mahon did a great job, along with others, in arranging club gear for many of the juvenile boys and girls teams, and it is lovely to see more of the club colours being worn around the parish.
We have a lot of local sponsors who give generously on different occasions and we thank them for their continued support.
Damien Kelly, our treasurer, keeps a watchful eye on all our finances and his Treasurer’s Report makes for positive reading later. Thank you Damien.
The aforementioned John Connolly has been a fantastic addition to the club’s committee, on many fronts. John took on the management of the Junior C team this year, he was very helpful in areas outside of the secretary’s role, and he did a superb job as MC at our recent Club Social.
Ger Butler was immense as our Vice-Chairperson again this year, while also doing a great job managing the minors.
Thanks also to Tommy Lenihan and Willie Golden who are heading up the Club Strategic Planning initiative, which is a very important item on our goals for 2018.
And last, and by no means least, Mark McDonagh, played an absolute blinder heading up the Pitch Development Committee, and of course scooped the prestigious Club Person of the Year Award at the recent Social.
Thank you one and all.
Top highlights in 2017 – a great year for the club
Day for Ronan. Our community came together to raise funds for Ronan, who, sadly has since passed away. We pray for Ronan at this time, and our thoughts go to his family who are facing into a very sad first Christmas without him. May he Rest in Peace.
Pitch Works.
Girls U14 County Feile Champions – Pat Boyle + Piaras O’Mainin
Seniors won promotion to Div 2 – awaiting League Final
Girls U14, U16 (x2), and U21 All-Ireland Winners with Galway – Caiomhe Cleary, Shauna Butler + Aoife Lynagh, and Caoire Lynagh.
Lads at Tedd Webb, U17 and county minor representatives with Galway
Cosmos Gilmore, U17 Galway Coach. Collette Butler and Johnny Lynagh – both involved with Galway ladies squads.
Club Social – committee led by Grainne McDonagh did a superb job and put in a huge amount of work to make the night a massive success. Over 250 guests attended and there was plenty of positive feedback and appreciation for the event.
Special Mention
Enda Flaherty and Michael Gill. 7 years managing the senior ladies. Best of Luck with your next endeavours.
3 wishes for 2017 were
- Our revenues will go up and our costs will go down – DONE
- We start and finish the Phase 1 works on the re-development at Clochscoilte – STARTED, not finished yet
- We will win at least 5 county titles – Girls Feile, plus a couple of county shields, and hoping to add Div 3 League Title.
Next Year’s Goals…………………
- Launch our 1st ever Club Strategic Plan in the first quarter of 2018.
- Pitches finished in Cloch Scoilte, and grass growing ahead of first use in spring 2019
- 5 more county titles (at least)
- Review of our coaching set up across all age groups.
Go raibh maith agaibh.
Thank you.
Tim McSweeney
Chairperson
10.12.2017