Tullow Macra Na Ferime Club of the Year PRO Report 2011-12

Tullow Macra Na feirme was founded in 1946 by a group of farmers from Tullow and has expanded over the decades into one of the largest clubs in the country. Tullow is also the second oldest club in the country. This year Tullow Macra won the county round of Basketball and recently competed in the national basketball final held on the University of Limerick Campus. The Macra Na Feirme club in Tullow is a very active and every Friday night we play sports in the community school hall. This year Tullow has five new members and these new members have become very active in club activities.

Sarah Dodson Chairperson

Sarah has been involved in Macra for some time. She is in her first year a chairperson and is a very efficient chairperson to boot. This year she played on the girl’s basketball team that represented the club in Limerick. She has also previously representsented the county in the Queen of the Land competition.

Aoife Haskins Secretary

Aoife is in her first year as secretary and has previously served as PRO of the club. She has been a great help to me in my first year as P.R.O. Aoife has represented Tullow and Carlow Macra in many events such as the Miss Macra competition and Basketball. She also attends sports in the community school hall every week.

Philip Driver President

Philip is in his seventh year as a member of Tullow Macra. This is his first year as president having previously served as chairperson and treasurer. He also extremely active at county level. Philip has represented the club and county at numerous competitions. Philip has also encouraged his sister to join the club.

Peter Richardson  Treasurer

Peter is in his fourth year as a member of Tullow Macra. This is his second position on the committee having served previously as P.R.O. He has represented the club at numerous competitions. Peter was also one of two people from the club to go to club officers training in Enfield Co. Meath.

Patrick Jordan P.R.O

Patrick is in his second year as member of Macra. This is his first position on the committee. He was also one of two people to attend club officer training last October. Patrick also played on the panel of the basketball team that recently travelled to Limerick.

This year saw a massive increase in membership here are the names of the new members who recently joined

Nigel Hogan

Kevin o Brian

Shane Aughney

Clare Kealy

Hannah Driver

Laura Breanan

Niamh Kelly

July

·         We held AGM a number of people were elected to positions for the first time.

·         Aoife took part  in Miss Macra

August

·         Organised stand for Tullow Show, which also included bunking bronco

·         We also had a competition to count the amount of balloons in the tractor

·         Tullow also competed at the farm skills which was held at the show

September

·         September is when things start to get busy again in Macra Circles

·         The people who will attend club training was discussed

·         Started Planning for John Do’s 21^st

October

·         We had a number of meetings to organise John Does 21^st

·         Held it in the Hogan Stand Pub Tullow

·         As a result we gained new members

November

·         November for Macra was a very quiet month

·         The sports on Friday nights was in full swing

·         Took part in bowling competition in the dome Carlow

December

·         Despite Icy roads our night out to black toms still went ahead

·         Great night had by all especially the newer members of the club

·         Took a break for the Christmas period

January

·         Despite the winter season Tullow Macra was very active during this month

·         Tullow not only hosted the capers semi-final in the F.R Murphy hall, we also entered a team

·         It was quite a spectacle!

·         A number of people from the club also helped out on the night

February

·         Tullow Macra was preparing for the county round of basketball to be held the community school hall

·         Unfortunalty no other team showed up and Tullow Macra was declared the winners

·         Travelled to Ballymurphy to compete in the county round of the Volley ball

·         Unfortunalty we were not successful but there is always next year

·         we also held a quiz unfortunately it wasn’t a success but there is always other nights

March

·         Joe Behan from Rathoe coached us for the national basketball finals

·          Joe was of great help to us

·         We travelled up in cars to Limerick, leaving Tullow at 7am

·         The lads played a total of three games won two lost one,

·         The lads failed to get in to the next round on points

·         The ladies were also very impressive in their games they played in Limerick

PRO Report 2011/2012

First and foremost I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the committee and my fellow club officers for their help over the past year.  Offcourse I would like to give a special mention to both Peter Richardson and Aoife Haskins for the advice they gave me over the past year.

Tullow Show: Many people commented last year on the great stand Macra had at last year’s show.  This was greatly helped by the fact the show committee finally gave us a decent spot and the fact we also had the bucking bronco.

Club officers Training: Unfortunately I am of the belief that the P.R.O training could have been more beneficial.  However the afternoon session which centred on how to run a good club was most certainly worth the trip to Enfield.

John Do’s 21^st: This Macra event was given top priority after it cancellation due to the extreme weather conditions of December 2010.  However I am of the belief that we printed far too many tickets and should consider a more cost effective way of distributing tickets.

Capers: Tullow not only hosted the Capers semi-final we were also fortunate to have a rainbow team taking part.  Well done to all those who took part in the production and helped out on the night.

Quiz: This year the committee decided to hold a quiz as a fundraising event.  Unfortunately the event wasn’t a success.  I also wish to make the suggestion that if we plan to hold similar event we should consider an alternative night.

Basketball: Tullow was very fortunate to have two teams that went through to this year’s national basketball finals which were held in the University of Limerick.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank John Behan of Rathoe for taking time out to train us.

Club of the year: Unfortunately we were not successful in our bid to become Carlow Club of the year.  I would like to make the suggestion to the committee that perhaps we should examine our level of involvement in the local community.

Personal Highlight: For me the highlight of the Macra year was the Christmas night to Tinahely.  Despite the fact the bad weather conditions we all managed to travel and return home safely.

A word of thanks: I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words of thanks to to Paddy Hogan of the Hogan stand Tullow and all those who helped Tullow Macra Na Feirme over the past year.