Thursday 30th August 2012
Winner of President's Prize : President Mary Howley presenting her prize to Phil Moran.
We are delighted to have
Rosamund Jennings - Regional Secretary of the Contract Bridge Ass. of
Ireland and Mary Kyne of the Retired Teachers Association with us
to-day. You are both very welcome and I hope you are having an
enjoyable morning.
This is the 1st
anniversary of the Galway Education Centre Bridge Club or The G.E.C.
Bridge Club.
Our Bridge club started
from very humble beginnings. Spring of 2009 Carmel was encouraging
me to take up Bridge as I was newly retired. She invited Mary Smith
and I to Kinvara to observe bridge being played or so we thought. It
was a beautiful day in April - sun shining - no rain - just retired
-life was good! On route I said to Mary “What’s wrong with us, a
fine day and we heading for Kinvara to look at that
Bridge Crowd playing bridge?”
I had pre-conceived misconceptions about Bridge
and Bridge players
I remembered my husband’s
description of golf clubs (I can’t repeat it in good company) and I
had categorized bridge clubs in a similar vein. However I remembered
my aunt’s advice “Play bridge before it’s too late,” and at
93 she was complaining about
her doddery 86 year old bridge partner
when they only came 2nd in a bridge competition, and at 94 she was
actively involved in a campaign to save their bridge club premises,
when other more aggressive groups in the parish, wanted their room.
We arrived at the Merriman
Hotel in Kinvara- the observation of bridge was short lived. By the
time the first hand was dealt it was straight into our first lesson.
We soon discovered Dummy/ Partner, No-trump
and so on. It sounded a bit complicated but how could it be? All you
need is a pack of cards, a table and 4 players. Simple really- what
is all the fuss about? However we discovered Bridge was exciting and
no wonder it is called the Rolls Royce of card games. We found its
lure irrestible and we made many trips to Kinvara that summer.
Subsequently, we suggested
the Bridge Lessons for retired teachers to Mary Kyne – an avid
bridge player herself and Bridge classes were on the agenda for that
Sept. 2010. The classes commenced and the rest is history.
To quote Churchill”
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the
results”. Let me remind you of ours.
Sept.2011, the club was
founded and I was elected president of the GECB. It was a great
honour to be chosen. Mary Smyth was elected secretary, Kathleen
Campbell, treasurer and Eileen Mulkerrins, Tournament director. It
was “Game ON”
We registered with the
Contract Bridge Association of Ireland and I believe we have reached
our first milestone- we have completed year one as novices.
We bought Bridge tables
and all the necessities for a Bridge Club.
We held weekly bridge
classes for beginners and improvers, followed by a game for the
novices.
We enjoyed our Christmas
party - certificates, sandwiches, cake, and a cyclamen plant –
still blooming on some kitchen windows I'm told!
As Christmas drew closer
we overnighted in the Abbeyglen Hotel in Clifden where we played
bridge, had good food and a night of music and song.
Following that, we
visited Oughterard Golf Club, organized by Mary Kyne, more Bridge,
and a delicious meal in the warm and cosy atmosphere of the club.
Some even considered joining a golf club!
Next, we headed for Inis
Mor and cycled to numerous heritage sites in bright sunshine, climbed
Dun Aonghasa at dusk, to arrive back to Man of Aran Cottage to the
tasty- organic food and wine of that establishment.
Blooms Day saw us visit
the house of Nora Barnacle, in Bowling Green and we got a fascinating
talk form Francine, a Joycean expert- after our Bridge of course!
During the summer we
played our Bridge in Menlo Park Hotel – all facilities free,
courtesy of the hotel. Not even the Races deterred us!
And of course we are a
very cosmopolitan club – playing bridge in far -flung and exotic
places like Sri Lanka, South Korea and Taiwan while on tour.
And to finish the year
Here we are in the
G Hotel at the President’s Gala Day, playing
Bridge, receiving a gift of a bottle of good Reserve wine, looking
forward to an appetizing lunch and the
president’s prize. And the company is
second to none. Aren’t we living the good life?
I would like to thank
sincerely the committee for all their support and hard work during
the year. A special thanks to you all, our members who made this year
so memorable. Bridge enthusiasts travelled from Carraroe, Tuam,
Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Nth. Clare, South Galway, Oughterard, Galway
city and suburbs, every Thurs to play Bridge. Without your
commitment, the club would not have flourished as it did. We can all
be very proud of our achievements. We have enjoyed fun and laughter,
friendship and bridge. Aren’t we the lucky ones?
Our thanks must be
extended to-Bernard Kirk the superb director of the Education Centre,
Jackie former sec., Pat, the caretaker, Dolores, Maura and Orla,
secretaries, for the accommodation, and for the hospitality they
extended to us. We are welcomed with open arms- given teas, coffee
and fresh biscuits, and photocopying facilities, 2 rooms set up for
us in a friendly welcoming ambiance. We are very fortunate indeed.
We are indebted to Marie
Hannon -Healy and her brother, John, manager of Super Valu in
Limerick for arranging the Reserve wine at a great price for the
club. Carmel and I collected it in Limerick. We are very grateful to
Marie and John and we will remember them fondly when we are sipping
the wine at home!
A word of thanks to our
Bridge teacher Carmel Murphy, the best bridge teacher in the world
who is patient, knows we could work much harder, still understands we
are in it for the fun and inspires us, so we do our best, according
to our abilities and circumstances.
We are very grateful to
Mary Kyne- Secretary of the Galway Branch of The Retired Teachers
Ass. for all her advice and support. She is a wonderful
administrator and we are indebted to her for her big-heartedness to
the club. Enda Kenny would be” laughing out
loud or rolling on the floor laughing” if he had her as Minister
for Finance! Anything we mention, Mary supports it for us – no
need for lobbying groups or delegations to her office.
To quote Winston
Churchill again, he said “that meeting- US President Franklin
Roosevelt- for the first time was like opening your first bottle of
champagne; knowing him was like drinking it.”
That’s how it was for
all of us- knowing Mary and Carmel. They have added to the joy of our
lives.
But we can’t rest on our
laurels and so it will be onward and upward for next year.
Our strategy for the next
12 months will be:
Better Bridge
play more,
read more,
more BBO,
more new members,
more outings
a crest for our club and a
motto.
The President's plaque
-research has been carried out on this already
In October we hope to tour
Kylemore, dinner and overnight in Renvyle House Hotel, next day climb
the Diamond Hill, walk in the grounds and dinner in Ballynahinch
Castle, and generally enjoy ourselves.
2013 we hope to visit the
Aras and President Higgins. It will be a community visit and I have
it partly organized but a date has to be arranged. We will stay
overnight in Dublin, visit the Gate Theatre and some interesting
sites, before returning late next evening.
However we need to have
personal insurance for those trips.
A new committee has to be
elected at our AGM on 13 Sept. I will not be the new president as I
feel we all must take ownership of the club but I’ll help and
support the new president, emulating the help and support given to us
by Carmel and Mary.
Next year we’ll have at
least 5 tables every week. I hope that we progress to a more
professional status without losing the fun element we have.
Life has never been the
same for me since that fateful trip to Kinvara. No boredom, always
trying to improve, finding time for the odd game on BBO without
neglecting the family! My family members keep complaining that, all
they can hear is the click, click, click of the BBO and I won’t
concentrate on them. I claim that I can listen, talk and play BBO all
at the same time. Complaining but
never about our partners! I even find
myself looking forward to the Irish winter and our sojourns to the
Galway Ed. Centre to play Bridge on Thurs. mornings.
We must not forget Daithi
O Broin, one of our early members, who died. We loved Daithi’s
company. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dhilis.
We wish Nollaig Osborne a
speedy recovery and look forward to having her back among us in Sept.
We miss her smile, her stories and joie de vivre greatly.
My wish for you all is:
May
you have warm winds on a cold evening
A
full moon on a dark night
And
a smooth road all the way to your door
May
you have old wood to burn
Old
books to read
Old
wine to drink
And
old friends to trust
May
the roof above your head never fall in
May
the friends beneath it never fall out
Health
and life to you
Joys
of your choice to you
Land
without rent to you
Agus
bás in Éireann
Agus
Go mbeirimid go leir beo ar an am seo aris , le cunamh De agus le
cheile.