2024 Historical AGM.
28th. Jan. Our first “One Club Model” AGM took place in Templemore Golf Club. The One Club initiative was introduced into Templemore Golf Club in 2024 encompassing both the former ladies and men’s separate entities. It proved to be a very successful evening with Chairman Declan Kennedy opening proceedings with the Welcome Address. The quorum was strongly met with a great turnout. The Honorary Secretary Kay Brennan read out the previous AGM minutes from both the Men’s and Ladies 2023 AGM’s. Both Lady Captain Caroline Fogarty and Captain Les Mason gave their reports on events throughout their captaincies and thanked sponsors, volunteers, members and all who helped make 2024 a great year for our club. Mick Keely presented the Financial Statements and with continuing work been done on the course, it was fair to say, we are managing finances very well. The election of new officers and Management Committee members took place and are outlined as follows: 2025 Officers for the Management Committee, Captain Sean Lee, Lady Captain Helen Hayes, Vice-Captain John Greed, Vice Lady Captain Michelle Hassett, Honorary Secretary Kay Brennan, Honorary Treasurer Eamon Connolly, Management Committee Members Chairperson Declan Kennedy, Caroline Fogarty, Mary Gilmartin, Jerome Ryan. Men’s and Women’s Committee Officers. President Mary Fitzpatrick, Men’s Handicap Secretary Michael Purcell, Women’s Handicap Secretary Josie Bourke, Women’s Competition Secretary Breda O’Connell, PRO Tony O’Toole. We would like again to thank all of our sponsors who partook in our Bronze, Silver and Gold Sponsorship Programme during 2024, and we look forward to your support during 2025. Golf is a great social activity as well as exercise, fresh air and will definitely test your patience but in an enjoyable way. We strive to attract new members and our support to each and every one of them is exceptional. Should you wish to join, please checkout our website on templemoregolfclub.ie or get in touch with any of our committee members.
Chairperson’s Address. It is both an honour and a privilege to stand before you this evening as the Chairperson of Templemore Golf Club. As we gather for our first Annual General Meeting under our new constitution, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to each and every one off you for coming out this cold January evening. Your commitment to our club is what makes it such a special place, and for that, I thank you. Before I reflect on the year just gone, I cannot but mention the fellow golfers and officers who have passed away during the year. A special mention of a founder member of the club in 1971, past President and Captain, Mr Pat Costello. May Pat and all fellow golfers and family members associated with this club, Rest in Peace. A minute’s silence to remember them in our thoughts. As we look back on 2024, we have much to be proud off. This was the first year of the “One Club Model” approach that is now enshrined in our constitution and it has worked extremely well. Men and women sitting at the one committee, making decisions together for the better of the club, this is the only way it should be. If one word captures this year it is “togetherness”, and I believe as a club, we should be very proud of the move we took. As this move was also essential for governance reasons and necessary for the eligibility of grant applications. The club has now achieved the Gold Standard in the “Women in Golf Charter” and the club was presented with their award earlier in the year by Golf Ireland. The “Women in Golf Charter” in a nutshell is a commitment to a more inclusive culture within golf. Golf Ireland states it aims is to increase women and girls’ participation and membership in golf, encourage more families to enjoy golf as a leisure activity and encourage more opportunities for women to work in the golf industry. The club introduced a bronze, silver and gold sponsorship initiative in 2024 to raise finance through the local businesses. This entitative was well supported and I would like to sincerely thank those business for all their loyal support and it is a great financial assistance to our club. We have provided a list of these business who sponsored Templemore Golf Club here tonight. We also will continue to support all local business in our community whenever it is possible. The club also applied for a Sports Capital Grant and received €40,000 for the purchase of new machinery. We hope to purchase some new machinery in 2025 from this grant to assist with the upkeep of the course. The club has now completed the drainage work scheduled from the previous Sports Capital Programme funding obtained. Extensive drainage work took place on the 6th Fairway this year, but still more gravel bands have to be completed on the 6th fairway when finance allows, this should significantly improve the playing surface. Work completed presently is having a positive impact on the course. The club introduced a new monitoring group on the course as it came to our attention over a period of time that a significant number of non-members were playing golf without paying fees. Following the introduction of this group there was a sharp rise in green fees paid. This group approaches monitoring in a more “Meet and Greet” method and not an adversarial approach. This is very important as our club has always been a warm and welcoming place for all. By having a presence on the ground, the club have also acquired new members that otherwise would not have joined. I tonight request those who have not yet signed up to this group to please get involved. All is required is one or two hours, every two to three weeks. We have just introduced a new sign in register in the lobby with Bank Card payment options for all fees. All golfers, women and men will now sign-in to the register in the lobby with all fees paid into the new safe installed. This new register will facilitate better monitoring of the course, but it is also necessary under governance guidelines for Health and Safety reasons, as the club are required to know who is on the golf course at all times. We now have more responsibility on governance of our day to day running of the club and this new register will now also assist us in our finance governance obligations. Another initiative the club undertook was to install CCTV in the lobby and the exterior of the clubhouse. Some signage to inform members of the CCTV is present but more needs to be acquired. The club also endeavoured to obtain a Community Employment position to assist Pat Shelly and Dinny Maher on the course, but unfortunately, we had no applications for the position. We will continue to pursue this avenue in 2025. None of the achievements of the club would be possible without the hard work and dedication of so many individuals. I want to take this opportunity to thank our staff Pat Shelly and Dinny Maher along with all the volunteers. Their efforts behind the scenes ensure that every event runs smoothly, and their dedication to maintaining our course and facilities is second to none. We are incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated people. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to our President, Tommy Foley. He was such a revelation this year with great energy and drive. Tommy managed the course volunteers, who completed a huge workload. He sourced sponsors for many competitions, organised a table quiz that was a very enjoyable night and a great success. Tommy has a few events already organised for 2025. He was also such a calm voice of reason at our management meetings and Tommy surely covered his role as President in style. Again, I want to express my gratitude to our two Captain’s, Caroline Fogarty and Les Mason. Caroline you were thrown in at the deep end and by God, did you swim. Les Mason graphics and competition results keep dazzling our members, sometimes you would think we were looking at the results from Augusta. You both provided huge commitment and covered your roles with such charm. Thank you for all your work for the club and the support to me during the year, it was a pleasure to work beside you both. I would also like to wish the very best of luck to our incoming President for 2025, Mary Fitzpatrick along with our two Captains, Helen Hayes and Sean Lee. I also want to express a huge thank you to the outgoing Management Committee and fellow members of the Men’s and Women’s Committees. They have provided unwavering support and teamwork throughout the year. Together, we have worked very hard to uphold the values of the club and continue to improve the experience for all members. Looking ahead, we have exciting plans to further improve and grow Templemore Golf Club. We are planning some course improvement such as further drainage, water conservation, new tee boxes, reduce the number of bunkers, new course machinery and clubhouse improvements. However, most of the above enhancements would be very dependent on grants obtained. The club would also like to establish a membership committee to encourage new people and groups to join the club. This committee would then support new members integrate into the club. This would create a welcoming environment to foster long-lasting friendships in an inclusive, and competitive environment for golfers of all levels. We are also focusing on expanding our community outreach and strengthening relationships with more local businesses and partners. The club also in 2025 hopes to create greater social media interactions with Facebook, Instagram and other media outlets to create better awareness of the club’s services to the local community. There are also many challenges the club faces. We now have more governance compliance obligations than previously that are complex and time consuming. We hope to address some more of our governance obligations in 2025. We welcome any individual that have specific skill sets in the club to assist us with implementing any of these policies or who can assist in any way. The Independent Golf Scheme that is now rolled out by Golf Ireland may impact our clubs’ finances. This scheme introduced by Golf Ireland will allow golfers to acquire a handicap through Golf Ireland without them being a member of a club. This is a new and a controversial scheme that we will continue to monitor closely. Financially, the club runs a very tight budget, and we continue to keep membership rates to a minimum to keep golf financially accessible to all. We are also very dependent on grants for course and clubhouse improvements and again these are complex, time consuming and sporadic. Overall, though, this has been a great year for golf. The weather was dull, but dry with playing conditions mostly perfect and the course never looking better. This was a year of growth, both in terms of our membership and the revenue received. Our competitions, social gatherings, and the improvements we’ve made to the course and facilities have truly enhanced the golfing experience for all our members. One of the most important aspects of our club is the sense of community we have built together. I encourage all of you to continue participating in the many events and activities we offer. Whether you’re a seasoned player or new to the game, your involvement enriches the experience for everyone. Our members are the heart of this club, and we are always looking for ways to engage with you further. If you have any ideas for events, improvements, or ways to enhance the club experience, please don’t hesitate to share them. As we move through today’s agenda, we will be electing new officers and committee members. I want to take this moment to thank those who will be stepping down from their positions for their hard work and dedication. Your contributions have made a lasting impact on this club, and we are very grateful for all you’ve done. I want to thank you all for your continued support of Templemore Golf Club. Our club’s success is a direct result of your participation, enthusiasm, and love for the game. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together in the coming year, and I am confident that we will continue to build on the strong foundation that we’ve established. Thank you for your time tonight, for your dedication to this club, and for making Templemore Golf Club a truly special place to be. Declan Kennedy,Chairperson.
2024 Captain Les Mason address to the AGM. Mr Presidents, Lady Captain members friends. I want to thank you all for allowing me the honour to serve as your men’s Captain for the 2024 it has been really enjoyable. This boy from the East End of London it was not in my wildest dreams I would I ever have believed it possible, and I can still vividly remember and thank Declan Kennedy for the call to ask me to be his Vice Captain. Allow me to thank my two fellow officials Lady Captain Caroline Fogarty and Volunteer Manager Tommy Foley two more dedicated, helpful and caring people I could not have asked to serve alongside. I would like to commend the work of the Management committee in inaugural year (One Club Model) we got through some fine work for the club. Two people that should be thanked over and over again and rightly so our superb course team Dinny Maher and Pat Shelly every member and visitor to the club should shake their hands for giving us such a fantastic course to play on. I would like to also thank and praise the members of the men’s committee in no particular order, Michael Purcell kept us honest not only as the Handicap Secretary but his calm manner so enhanced discussions, Timmy Tuohy for bringing energy and support to the meetings but keeping us secure by nightly locking the clubhouse after we have all had our fun. Thanks to Tom McGrath when he took on my cry nay scream for help in the inter-club competitions, now the men didn’t fare as well this years as in the past until we got the support of the ladies in the mixed events and then we did excel so thank you to all that represented us in the men’s and mixed competitions for making it happen. What can I say about Pat O’Connell he is the one that in many ways most members and visitors know from Templemore golf club I would be talking for ever if I listed all the things he has done for my year as Men’s Captain but two things I would like to single out his work as Competitors Secretary when the weather early in the year did little to make his job easier and we lost the Spring League. To everything he did to make the majors, Seamus Cody , scratch cups and classics such a success and bringing in the Autumn league to enhance our year end. His work alongside myself to make the Senior Men’s year a great success there was a great deal of fn and very balanced scores amongst the teams. The seniors are always happy to support our club and to that extent we were able to contribute €4226 to club funds or sponsored events. I know you join with me to thank Pat O ‘Connell for his 10 years in various roles and committee servitude as he takes step back to enjoy his golf. My last official action is to thank Sean Lee for accepting Vice Captain. When he offered his services, I proverbially bit his hand off. He has a deep caring for the club and its traditions his experience on sports committees and organisations over the years has been invaluable to me. He has supported me and the club throughout the year and I know he will give of his best and make a great captain for 2025. Lastly I have made mistakes over the year and I thank those that cared enough about the club and myself to point those out, my last words as 2024 captain may be one of those, from End of London I have never tried this before in Gaelic, “go raibh maith agat”. Les Mason.