Skerries Historical Society Skerries History Heritage

Programme for the months ahead

Papers delivered at recent meetings

Address to A.G.M. '03

Address to the A.G.M. Oct. '03, by Chairperson, John Harte

Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to the Skerries Historical Society Annual General Meeting of 2003. The annual general meeting gives us an opportunity to have a look at what was achieved by the Society during the year and to hear from a wider group of members than we would have at Committee meetings. It gives us an opportunity as well to check whether we are in tune with our mission as written in the Constitution and indeed to change the Constitution when sufficient members see fit to do so. Finally there is the matter of electing members firstly to continue the work of the Committee in planning and organising events and secondly to appoint members to a sub-committee whose task is to further the research aims of the Society.

The past year has been busy as usual. As our Hon. Sec. Roly has said there were 9 monthly public lectures here in the Bus Bar and a series of six lectures in Skerries Community College. There was also a special event on June 21st. when Joe Clinton spoke about St. Mobhi's Holy Well and Cemetery. Finally we organised the walk in conjunction with National Heritage Week. Most of the events were well attended and all were educational and enjoyable. ( See - List. and summaries. )

These were very varied and each attracted its own following in addition to the regular attendance, thereby making the work of the Society known to a wider audience. As always the social aspect was an important added extra which the audience supplied.

And in this context also I would like to thank Richard and Pauline Keane for their hospitality. We have been well looked after here for many years and we look forward to having the monthly meetings here again in the year ahead.

In the year ahead we have already arranged a full programme of lectures to take us through to June 2004. If requested we would favourably consider a request for a further series of lectures in Skerries Community College. Whether it will happen depends on the public demand for such series and also availability of lecturers. The Research sub-committee, which was set up a year ago at the AGM continued to function through the year and has accomplished some of its aims. There are just four members on the sub-committee now and we will again be asking for people to volunteer to take part in this worthwhile activity.

One of the areas, which could be improved is communication with members e.g.
· more regular news bulletins, even to the extent of having a short account of what's happening available to all who attend monthly meetings.
· A Newsletter available a few times per year
· Members who have an email address could be sent the newsletters by email

In conclusion I wish to thank all of the officers, committee and sub-committees for their attendance at meetings, which has been excellent throughout the year as has their dedication, hard work, and their loyalty to the aims of the Society.

John Harte, 14th. October 2003

Page updated 22 / 11 / 2004