The feast day of St Brigid was a fitting day to start the official events of the 15th year of Naomh Brid. The weekend started with a celebratory dinner and awards ceremony just across the Lagan from the parish in the Ramada Plaza, where over 440 members, friends and guests assembled, reminiscing and catching up on the club’s activities over the previous year.
The early days of the club were captured with a display put together by Kieran Dillon, Paul Campbell and Club President Tom Walsh, and this provoked a lot of discussion amongst the members about the days when they had darker hair, (hair!) and how fresh-faced some of the current senior lads looked .
Inside the main ballroom two large screens projected more recent events of the club, with images of guest teas, Ceilli dances, chat nights and of course the on-field exploits of numerous teams put together by Niall Mitchell. It was great to see hundreds of different faces taking part in activates organised by the club.
The event was started with the senior ladies bringing in their trophies they had won during the year: the Antrim Intermediate Championship and the Antrim League Division 3 title.
Club Chairman Dermot Dowling congratulated the ladies on their achievements, before settling down to a fantastic three course meal. Following the meal, the club awards were presented, and after the raffle and auction, the dancing began and continued into the small hours. The organisers of the event Suzanne Bradley, Grainne McKay and Geraldine McNicholl certainly did a magnificent job putting together the night and the club’s thanks goes to them.
Saturday events focused on the Juvenile members of the club, club stalwarts James Loughrey and Deaghlan O’Hagan along with Antrim County Captain Kevin O’Boyle and Vice Captain Kevin Niblock put the U12, U14 and U16s boys through their paces with Coaching Master class in Queens PEC. The club really appreciated the visiting lads giving up their Saturday afternoon to take this session for the lads. The U12/14 ladies also held a training session after the boys making sure all the teams shook off their cobwebs for the season ahead. (See Photos in Gallery)
On Sunday there was a Club Mass at the 10.30am service, Fr O’Donnell’s homily paid tribute to the good work of the club in the parish and how the club had proved a very positive role model for the local youth. The weekend’s festivities ended with tea and coffee in the parish hall.
