Oisín Quinn, Union President 2018
Dear Pastmen and Honorary Members,
I wish you all a Happy New Year.
New Committee
It is a great honour to take over from Colin Murtagh as President of your Union for 2018. I want to personally thank Colin and Aidan Feighery (who has stepped down as Hon. Treasurer) and Johnny Lynch (who stepped down as Hon. Secretary) who all did such a great job last year and over recent years on the Committee. We are joined now by Jack Hurley as Junior President and Ian Garrigan takes over as Hon. Treasurer, with Cian McGoldrick becoming Hon. Secretary. Finally, Fintan Cooney has been elected as President Elect. I wish them every success in their new roles.
Events for 2018
As the New Year is now well upon us, I wish to outline the events planned for 2018.
Events can usually be booked through the website as the details become available. We are currently taking bookings for the ever-popular Business Lunch, which will be held on Friday 9 March at the Ballsbridge Hotel (formerly Jurys).
The Annual Dinner will be returning to Lansdowne Rugby Club and is booked for Saturday 13 October, 2018.
| 2018 UNION EVENT CALENDAR | |
| 9 March | Business Lunch, Ballsbridge Hotel |
| 30 March | Good Friday Retreat, College |
| 16 April | Union Debate, College |
| 27 May | Union Day, College |
| 14 June | Golf, Presidents Cup, Milltown Golf Club |
| June | Doubles Tennis, Fitzwilliam L.T.C. |
| June 16 | Castleknock 5km Run, Castleknock College |
| July | 5-A-SIDE Soccer Blitz, College |
| August | Golf, Keogh Cup, venue tbc |
| 27 September | Launch of Union Mentoring, Mason Hayes & Curran |
| 13 October | Annual Dinner, Lansdowne Rugby Club |
| 18 November | Pastmen Memorial Mass, College Chapel |
| 4 December | AGM, College |
Union Scholarship Fund
The Union is supporting a Scholarship Fund to assist students attend Castleknock who would otherwise not be in a position to do so. Each year a proportion of the subscriptions paid by pastmen will go towards this Fund.
Union Benevolent Fund
The Union holds limited funds as part of a dedicated Benevolent Fund for pastmen who may have fallen on hard times or are in unexpected difficulty. The Fund operates on a strictly confidential basis and decisions are made by the Trustees. Any enquiries by or on behalf of a pastman should be made in confidence to the Hon. Secretary who will refer the enquiry to the Trustees.
Union Mentoring
In addition to the usual events this year the Union plans on launching a mentoring service. Experienced pastmen from different walks of life are going to be persuaded to step forward and offer mentoring advice to our younger pastmen! If you are interested in this, please get in touch. Further details will be announced at the Business lunch in March.
Reunions
Finally, if you have a reunion this year the Union can help with class contact details, hosting of event notices, managing payments and subsequent galleries. So if an organiser of a 2018 reunion, please feel free to get in touch.
I look forward to meeting and chatting with many of you in the year ahead.
My very best regards and best wishes for the year ahead,
Oisín Quinn,
President.