Deerpark Diary
Carlow Golf Club’s Monthly Newsletter
Issue 10: 7th December 2015
The Captains’ Dinners
In this issue:
The Captain’s Dinner
Thos and his team
celebrate at the end
of a great year
News Flash!
Nuns run amok at
the Lady Captain’s
Dinner
Catwalk Glamour
Photos from
The Ladies Team-ofThree Event and
After-Party Fashion
Show
Above: Ber Shelley and Michael Hennessy with Captain Thos, enjoying the Captain’s Dinner
st
on the 21 of November. Below Lady Captain Ann Doyle and her committee pictured at the
th
Lady Captain’s Dinner on the 14 of November.
Changes at the Top
We congratulate and
welcome the new
Captains and officers
for 2016
Girls on Film
St Leo’s girls win the
Carlow Oscar
Club Notices
Santa’s coming to
Carlow
White elephants at
large
Andy’s winter
bargains
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A Night to Remember at Captain Thos Hennessy’s Dinner
Above (L-R) Pat Finn (GUI), Thos and Barry Doyle.
Below (L-R) Teddy Brophy, Dermot O’Driscoll and Tony Geoghan.
By all accounts the men's
Captain’s Dinner was a
thoroughly enjoyable night.
Our caterers James and Eilis
provided a very adventurous
menu which included a Wild
Game Terrine Starter and a Gin
and Tonic Sorbet.
Willie
O'Rourke joked that it was the
first time he had seen men
eating G&T with a spoon. Thos
was delighted that his father
and brothers as well as his
friends Steve Moore and Andy
Pendry from Edinburgh were
all able to join him on this
special evening.
The GUI was represented by
Mr Joe McNamara Hon.
Secretary of the Leinster
Branch.
Joe congratulated
Thos and his committee on a
great year. He complimented
Carlow GC on the course and
on its commitment to hosting
GUI events over the years and
he also praised the club’s
participation in GUI team
events.
The MC for the
evening was John Barry who
brought wit and humour to his
introductions.
Mr
Peter
Webster from Portmarknock GC presented a beautiful picture of his dad to the club and informed the
gathering of his dad's love for Carlow GC. Des Carberry regaled the guests with his store of stories
about Carlow GC. The toasts were proposed by President Richard Smyth; Hon. Officer, Mike Maher and
Vice-Captain, Willie O'Rourke.
John L Brennan presented the Monthly Medal Winners with their prizes and presented the Gold Medal
to Oliver Pender – he was over the moon and gave a great acceptance speech. Craig Bolger playing off 1
(.5) won “Player of the Year” and also entertained those present with a lovely few words.
The highlight of the evening was a speech by Captain Thos which was from the heart with a hint of
pride, gratefulness, humour and sincerity. We hear that Thos received a standing ovation and many
congratulations from those present. After the meal there was a fantastic buzz in the bar with Paul
Hennessy singing a few songs to get the party started. Thanks to Tom and the bar staff who looked
after the guests so well and to everyone who worked so hard to make the evening a success.
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(L-R): John Fitzpatrick,
Captain Thos Hennessy,
Michael Kirwan and Tom
Hennessy, pictured at the
Captain’s Dinner
Meanwhile at the
Lady Captain’s
Dinner…
Lady Captain Ann Doyle’s
Dinner was a wonderful
finale to a great Captaincy
by Ann. The delicious
meal prepared by the
catering team was a
promising prelude to the
fun to follow. After the meal Hon. Secretary Mary Farrell proposed a toast to the ILGU and Rosemary
Tully who was wearing both her ILGU hat and her Carlow Golf Club hat on the night responded to the
toast on behalf of the ILGU Leinster District. In her speech Rosemary expressed the ILGU’s vision for
ladies’ golf and highlighted that golf boasts more women players in Ireland than any other sport.
After the meal Lady Captain Ann presented the Gold Medal to Agnes O’Neill (below right) and the
“Golfer of the Year” award to Ann-Maria Kelly (below left).
On the pages 4-6 there are some photos of members enjoying the Lady Captain’s Dinner and on page 78 you’ll find some shocking photos taken when a group of lady members with strange habits infiltrated
the dinner!
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Enjoying the fun at the Lady
Captain’s Dinner 2015
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Swing out Sisters
Forget all you’ve ever learned about poverty, chastity and obedience. Our girls were having
none of it when they came out of the cloisters, dusted down their habits and performed a
polished song and dance routine to the delight of the guests at the Lady Captain’s dinner. It
wasn’t like that this when we were at school!
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People on the Move
Congratulations to Theresa Keenan on her appointment as Carlow Golf Club President for 2016.
Congratulations also to Carmel Roche who has been appointed as a Trustee of the Golf Club. Both
ladies are honoured to have been appointed to these vital roles and we know that they will do a
thoroughly professional job for the club. Carmel also has achieved the distinguished honour of being
the first lady member of Carlow Golf Club to be appointed to a Trustee role.
Willie O'Rourke is pictured here (right) addressing the Men's
Club AGM after his election as Captain for 2016.
Outgoing President Richard Smyth and outgoing Captain Thos
Hennessy are pictured below wishing Captain Willie O' Rourke
the very best in his new position.
Pictured below is our smiling
incoming Lady Captain Maggie
Ruth with outgoing Lady Captain
Ann Doyle and Trustee Barry
Doyle.
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Promoting Carlow – Meet our Amazing Ambassadors
Transition Year students from St Leo's
Carlow visited the Carlow Golf Club on
November 20th as part of a project to
make a two minute video promoting
Carlow as a tourist and business
destination for a competition sponsored
by Bank of Ireland. The girls covered a
lot of ground around the town and county
and they submitted a very good movie.
In fact, so good that we are delighted to
announce that they won first place in the
Bank of Ireland Carlow Business
Enterprise Awards.
The girls were
supervised by their teacher Sean O'
Flaherty who must be very proud of their
achievement. Thank you for promoting
Carlow GC girls, and if you would like to join the club and continue to enjoy and promote golf, there’s
never been a better time.
(Left) St Leo’s student Ciara Hennessy enjoys a hot chocolate
in Carlow GC after their film shoot on a very cold November
20th.
Pictured right are Noel Rea and Tom Mulhall who
won the Christmas fourball with 47 points. What
was unusual about their score was that Noel holed
out his third shot on the 5th for an eagle – with a
chip! Tom then eagled the 18th, holing out a three
wood for his third shot in very tricky conditions.
Well done guys!
A Passion for Fashion
Following the Ladies “At Home“, team- of- three event on the 27th of October we were treated to a
fashion show kindly sponsored by Serena Boutique Carlow and Bramley’s Jewellers, Carlow. The
compere for the evening was Mary Farrell and our fantastic models – Rosemary Tully, Catherine
Dempsey, Rose McEvoy, Paula Hughes and Leigh Bolger are featured on the following pages. Wow!
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Club Notices
It’s back by popular demand. Carvery lunch, dessert and buffet for only
€15.95. Come on down to the club and join us for live lunchtime jazz
sessions on Sunday the 13th, Thursday the 17th and Sunday the 20th of
December and munch to the velvety tones of jazz musician Ber Shelly.
Santa Claus is coming to Carlow Golf Club
The annual Carlow Golf Club party for children and grandchildren of members will be held on Saturday
12th of December 2015 in the Clubhouse from 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm. There will
be party packs, presents, music, dancing and fun and games. The tickets (€15
per child) are available at the bar and children must be under 8 years of age. As
Santa’s little helpers have to order the presents from the North Pole, please
help the elves by buying your little ones their tickets before Thursday 10th of
December. It’s so easy – you can even use your swipe card. But hurry – when
the tickets are gone they’re gone!
Watch out – White Elephants About!
The White Elephant is a much anticipated team-of-three event in the
Ladies Club golfing diary. It’s an opportunity for the members to play
the last 9-hole competition of the year and to raise some vital funds for
charity. Everyone brings a wrapped prize for the table – so everyone
gets a prize too. After the winter chill, traditional mulled wine, mince
pies and homemade fare is served. There is also a general prize-giving
when the winners of recent competitions are presented with their prizes.
This year’s White Elephant was held on Tuesday the 15th of December. You’re invited!
2015–2016 Winter Golf Instruction Programme
(1st of November ’15 to 31st of March ’16)
Get those mittens on! Resident golf professional Andrew Gilbert
is delighted to announce the launch of his Winter Teaching
Programme. Get your golf game into great shape for the New
Year by taking advantage of Andy’s special offer of 3 lessons for
the price of 2, and 6 lessons for the price of 4. For further details
contact Andrew Gilbert in the Pro Shop or call 059 9131695.
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St Lazerian’s Coin Round-up
You may have seen a large collection bottle on the Club’s bar counter in recent days. Now that
the state is phasing out the one and two cent coins and rounding up to the nearest five cent,
the team at St Lazerian’s National School are doing a round-up too. Please help them by
putting all your loose coins into the bottle. It’s for a really special cause.
Condolences
Carlow Golf extends deepest sympathies to:
Margaret Mc Hugh and the extended Mc Hugh Family on the recent death of
Margaret’s husband Barry;
Bernie Deegan on the death of her sister, Kitty Killoran;
Noeleen Kavanagh on the passing of her husband Joe Kavanagh;
Carlow Golf Club President Richard Smyth on the passing of his mother Norah Smyth
and
Pat Murphy and the Murphy family on the recent death of Mary Murphy who was an active
member of the Ladies section.
May they rest in peace
Deerpark Diary – there’s a new team in town!
This is our last time to edit the Deerpark Diary. We started the Diary in 2014 and now, two years and 20
editions later we are proud to hand over our toddler to the new
2016 media team.
Goodbye and
thanks so much.
We’re signing off!
The Ed’s…
We’ve had a lot of fun and we simply couldn’t have done it
without you, the members. Special thanks to Cepta Burke,
Sylvester McGrath, Karl McDonagh and Thos Hennessy for their
photos and news items and to everyone who helped Carlow Golf
Club to hit the golfing headlines in 2015. Please continue to email
the diary at [email protected] where the new team
will be delighted to hear your news. We look forward to an
exciting 2016 for Carlow Golf Club and we’ll see you out there on
the course!
The Ed’s, John Barry & Jean Cullinane
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