Rathmines AGM

The Rathmines AGM was held on Thursday, August 27th, 2009. There was a turnout of 24 members or so. Jack Killane (President) sat alongside Peter Bishop (Secretary) and John Maher (Treasurer) at top table and they very ably processed through last year’s minutes, the financial state of affairs, and other regular business. Thanks were given to Liam King for once again auditing the accounts.

There was one important financial decision: club fees would remain as they were in 2008.

The first highlight of the evening came when the members of the club applauded the announcement that Jack Killane and Paul Mogerley would be made Honorary members of the club – a very popular decision. Their contributions over many years is too considerable to fully list here – but includes Jack’s role as an officer of the club, captain, player, and general wit-about-town, while Paul has also contributed as a player and captain, comitttee member and did much work for the hosting of our annual Rathmines tournament.

Jack made a long and very witty speech. He started by quoting Kasparov before his world championship encounter with Nigel Short, when he said “Short it is and it will be short”. Jack – comparing himself at one point to Ronaldo – spoke of his love of chess and of competition. In a long career, Jack himself admits that he has reduced many an opponent to tears. “If his flag falls, tough titty” was his pithy phrase.

Paul gave a very touching speech of thanks, acclaiming the club’s friendliness and the members’ long-standing generosity towards him. He said he had “never met a kinder bunch of people” and their “gentlemanly approach was great”. His heart-felt thanks were warmly appreciated by the members.

A motion to honour the memory of our most recently deceased member and great friend, Kieran Cranny, was passed. (I should mention Jim Shaw, another member who is recently deceased.) The annual blitz tournament, run over three rounds in the early part of every year, will receive a Perpetual trophy, to be named the Kieran Cranny Cup. Winner’s names will be inscribed, backdating to the first tournament, held in 2005. Unfortunately, it was not possible to name one of our other trophies after Kieran, such as the Intermediate competition, which some members felt would have been a better choice. But the blitz tournament is extremely popular and most people felt that it would be a fitting tribute to Kieran. He always got a great kick out of watching the blitz event, even if he was not up to competing in it himself.

A decision was made to investigate the possibility of travelling to Belguim, to play some chess against the club of our ex-member, Stephan Meskens. We’ll be looking into the possibility of arranging this for some time in the near future.

Presentations were made for the various club competitions: Seniors, won by Tony Scannell, Intermediates won by John Gaffney, and the Juniors by Una O’Boyle. The ladder was won by John Maher, with Nicky Pierce second.

The committee was selected for next year: Paul Mogerley, James Osborne, Tony Scannell, Ciaran Byrne, Peter Lynch, Andrew McGrath, and Pat McEvoy.

The officers for next year will be President: Michael Kennedy, Vice President: Jack Killane, Treasurer: John Maher, Secretary: Peter Bishop, and Honorary Auditor: Liam King. Congratulations to those selected for these posts and good luck for the next year!

(PS: Sorry for the late post, but I’ve been very busy in my new job of late – which is a good complaint to have!)