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Meath Foroige District Council Minutes 4 - Thursday 28 Jan 2010 in Navan at 8pm Attendance: Clare O’Connor (Chairperson), Michael Nolan (Secretary and PRO) 087 – 6462914
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Dunshaughlin Intermediate, Barry Molloy (Treasurer) Dunshaughlin Youth Cafe, Deborah Murphy Ratoath Senior, Dawn Tolan Dunboyne, Helen White Ardcath, John Clare Syddan Apologies: Joe-Anne O’Brien (RYO) and Amanda HoganRatoath Junior 1. Minutes and matters arising · The minutes were emailed to leaders from the last meeting. Barry proposed the minutes and Clare seconded them. 2. Correspondence · Joe-Anne sent on her correspondence to the meeting. A new Club has been set up in Navan called Oaklawns Foroige and the leader is Christine Boyle. Clare needs to sign the Recommendation Form that Joe sent to the meeting. The Club is looking forward to the St. Valentine’s Disco and meeting the other clubs. · Joe-Anne’s cover letter had details for a proposed event for older teens organised by Head Office. It will be on March 13th or 16th but the venue has not been decided yet. It may be a themed event comprising a dinner followed by a band and DJ. It is open to all counties and there will be a limited number of tickets. Individual clubs will get information on the event closer to the time. · Michael passed round the item from the Weekender which reported on the Regional Conference but didn’t have the photo of the elected Reference Panel members as it was too dark. A photo taken outside the Snailbox with members attending from Dunshaughlin was used instead. · We got a ‘Thank You’ email from Seamus Casey for all the clubs that helped fundraise for the Irish Wheelchair Association. Together, the clubs between Louth and Meath raised €3054. · We received information on “Well-Being” talks for teens run by the Samaritans on dealing with life issues. The contact is Anne Forerty on 041 – 9843844. · We also got information from Trocaire on fundraising during Lent for the charity, possibly as part of a club’s Citizenship Project. Call Jen Murphy on 01 – 6549125 for details. Development Team personnel are available to come to a club night to explain the role of Trocaire in the developing world. · Clubs got an e-mail of the Meath Comhairle na nOg Youth Council AGM 2010. It is very similar to the Foroige Regional Conference that our members just attended. We couldn’t see the benefit of attending it. · Michael passed round copies of the Dunshaughlin Foroige Intermediate Club Newsletter that was published this week by the committee, to give people ideas for their own clubs. It would be good public relations to have a newsletter from your club to show parents what their young teens are involved in on club nights. If the whole committee get involved in this, it gives great support to the PRO in the club. 3. Regional Conference Report on the Day – · Joe-Anne said in her letter that the feedback from the Regional Conference was good, was well attended and everyone seemed to like the food. Seamus Hogan from Curraha and David O’Neill from Donacarney were elected to the Reference Panel. · Feedback from our meeting was not so positive. Michael struggled to get the young people to attend and had to come early to pick them up when they texted from the meeting to come get them. Dunboyne and Ratoath had a similar experience. Dawn said never again from her members in Dunboyne. Dunshaughlin Seniors refused to go at all as some has been to 2 or 3 Conferences in the past. · John suggested a different format for next year and revert back to an older format where the young people come for a half day and part of the time is taken up with Bowling for other similar activity. They are just not interested in the wider Foroige picture of District, Region and National activities. It is a big thing for them to give up a whole day and then just sit around. We agreed to look into it for next year. 4. Inter-Club Event - St. Valentine’s Disco in Syddan · John reported on the plans for the Disco and said that we should change from a ‘Famous Couples Night’ as it was felt to be too restrictive on members. We decided on a ‘Club Jersey Night’ instead as no one would have difficulty in getting a team jersey. · The Disco will run from 8pm to 10.30pm and the cost will be €3 per head. Clubs should get word on numbers to John by the weekend before the event so that Syddan have an idea of the numbers attending. · Syddan have the DJ organised. There will be novelty spot prizes on the night and the club will run a shop for members. John will email out directions to the GAA Hall to clubs as there are road-works on the Slane road out from Navan for the next 5 weeks. 5. Finances Update · Barry is signed over as Treasurer with the bank in Navan. · Michael got the cheque from Christine Hogan for the Affiliations from Head Office amounting to €1,500 which he passed on to Barry for lodgement. · The Balance Sheet of our account, which was not printed out for our last meeting’s AGM, was circulated to everyone tonight. 6. Training · Training for Foroige ‘Youth Cafe’ Leaders in Dunshaughlin should go ahead in the next few weeks to complete the training for this group. · There are a number of new leaders in clubs in the past few months who have not received training and we will ask Joe-Anne to link up with the various clubs to ensure that no one is forgotten. Dunshaughlin have 8, Curraha have 4, Dunboyne have 2 and Ardcath have 2. 7. National conference in Tullamore at Easter · The Conference is on the weekend of 26-28th March at the Easter break. We would like to encourage a substantial turnout at the Conference this year. · The format of the conference is based around a bit of work, a bit of fun and lots of food. There is an informal Welcome Dinner on the Friday night followed by an inspirational talk or workshop. This is followed by a get together in the bar for a quiz or other game. On Saturday the morning is taken up with the main conference and possible split into working groups. After lunch there is free time to explore or relax round the town or hotel. The highlight of the weekend is the formal Gala Dinner and dance on Saturday evening. Sunday is taken up with the AGM of the organisation followed by the farewell lunch. There is plenty of time to mingle and chat throughout the weekend. The only downside to the weekend is that in order to keep costs low delegates are asked to share twin rooms and spouses/partners are not encouraged to attend unless they are involved in Foroige activities. · The District Council will support people attending the conference up to €1,000 for the group. We would hope that six or eight people from the District will attend. Clare O’Connor, Michael Nolan and John Clare have said they will attend. 8. Calendar – The dates that were agreed at out last meeting still hold for the Interclub events. · Michael gave out the Wall Calendar to 6 Clubs at last month’s meeting. The cost of the Calendar is €15 to each club. John, Helen and Clare paid for theirs tonight. If any club wants to have a copy of the Calendar, give Michael a call on 087 – 6462914. · Dunshaughlin are hosting the Talent Show on 23rd April in the Community College. Clubs will be allowed one act to enter so this may mean clubs holding a Heats Night in their club to pick an act to go forward to represent the club. · Ratoath are hosting the Achievement Night in the GAA Clubhouse on the 21st May and will follow the same pattern as last year. 9. News from the 15 Clubs round the County · Ardcath – Members picked out and chopped down a Christmas Tree to erect and decorate for the village square. The club did a ‘Sing-Off’ against the church choir which was great fun. They finished up with a Christmas Party on Christmas Eve. Looking ahead, the club hope to go to play basketball with the Irish Wheelchair Association on 6th March. There is still a problem with not having enough leaders. · Carlanstown – KC, KC2 and Senior – There was no one from Carlanstown at the meeting. · Cormeen – Club seems to have disbanded. We need an update from Joe-Anne · Curraha – Members had a talk on getting more involved in the community and as a result they took part in the Christmas Fair and collected after Mass. They helped out in the hall last Sunday with the Cake Sale for victims of the Haiti earthquake. Seamus Hogan was delighted to be elected to the Foroige Reference Panel at the Regional Conference. The club are in the middle of planning their Citizenship Project for this year. They are thinking about doing something with planting flowers and designing a seating area for an open piece of land in the village. · Duleek – There was no one from Duleek at the meeting. · Dunboyne – The recent snow delayed the club getting back after Christmas. Dawn reported that the Community Garda gave a talk and demonstration of Garda equipment at a recent club night. A Citizenship sub-committee has been formed to work on ideas. The club had a MAC make-up artist visit the club which was very popular. The boys had Playstations on the same night and everyone finished off with Pizza. Tomorrow, Grace is heading off for a year and the club have come together to get her flowers. · Dunshaughlin Senior – Barry reported that the Youth Café is up and running in the new Pastoral Centre and they are settling in well. The venue is good for them as it can accommodate a variety of activities at one time by using the different rooms. The format is a bit more relaxed than the normal club night. The young people can chill out more and there is no emphasis on formal activities. It is not like a drop-in centre however, as when they come for the club they must stay for the night. The Club went Bowling for their Christmas outing and had a Pizza Party. Some of the members went tobogganing on Tara Hill during the recent snow. A Dad of one of our members has set up a website for the club that we hope the committee or interested individuals will keep up to date. http://www.foroigeyouthcafe.com · Dunshaughlin Intermediate - The Club had a Winter Barbeque and Soccer Blitz one night during the recent snow as the planned trip to Tara Hill didn’t happen due to icy roads. We had some items donated to the club at Christmas and we raffled them off between the leaders. We are having some difficulty in selecting our Citizenship Project for this year. Popular ideas are difficult to implement and more realistic alternatives are seen as too much like school. We need to make head way on this soon or give Citizenship a miss for a year. We keep our website updated every week with our activities http://community.meath.ie/dunshaughlinforoige and the committee came together to produce a Newsletter of all our events since the club began in September using this information. · Kildalkey - There was no one from Kildalkey at the meeting. · Ratoath Junior – Deborah read out a report from Amanda on activities in the Ratoath Junior Club. The club had a Pizza and DVD night recently and went to the Spin Roller Disco in Blanchardstown. There was an issue with not being able to have food or drink at the Roller Disco but it was sorted out on the night. The club have had a talk on Drug Awareness. The members are looking forward to a ‘Bake Night’ in the Fairyhouse Cookery School. · Ratoath Senior – Deborah reported that numbers in the club are good; some are even coming back to the club. The members went to TGI Fridays in Blanchardstown at Christmas and on to Quzar afterwards. They got a good deal on the meal at €10 a head. The club are going to go to Tara Hill again this year once the weather improves. They wear old clothes and head off with torches to go round the hill. With chips in the village promised afterwards, they have no trouble rounding up the stragglers on the night. The club still hope to go to Oakwood in Wales for their outing in May. · Syddan – Junior and Senior – John reported that the club held a Fancy Fair for Christmas on Friday 5th Dec and Santa came too. It was a great event and made a huge amount of money. The members went to Funderland after Christmas and then to the Bru Bar and Bistro in Drogheda for something to eat. There was an unfortunate incident with one member who felt faint on one ride and had to be taken to the Mater Hospital on the way home. He was fine afterwards and his parents came down but John said it showed how important it was to have the right number of adults at events as it meant that the rest of the members could travel on to the meal in Drogheda, while he stayed in the hospital. The club are entering the St. Patrick’s Day parade again this year as it has become a tradition for the club to enter. The theme this year is going to be ‘Mama Mia’ and the club are putting great efforts into it. Members are going to the new ECO Adventure Centre in the An óige, Knockree Hostel in Wicklow for their outing in May. 10. AOB · Clare said that Curraha have bought a mobile as a resource for their Secretary to text members about events. · Dawn said that Dunboyne want to run a small Disco to give them experience. If clubs close to Dunboyne could come on 26th March they could let Dawn know soon so that it can be arranged. The possible clubs are Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Ardcath and Curraha. Next Meeting Thursday 25th February 2010 in the St Anne’s Resource Centre, Navan at 8pm __________________________ Michael Nolan (4 Feb 2010) Secretary and PRO Meath Foroige District Council |
