O’Dwyers GAA Club
2024 Exec Monthly Update
May 2024
May was an extremely busy month across all areas of the club with a large number of games played, blitzes, fundraising activities and culminating in a Club day on the 1st June. Well done to all that participated and supported
Best of luck to all club members sitting their Junior & Leaving cert exams
We are still working through the motions raised by members during the AGM in 2023
- Club Policy Audit & Review to be commenced
- Club 5 year Plan; information gathering has commenced and is in progress to be completed by year end
- Recruitment of Player officer role has been paused due to no candidates, so the function is moved into C&G Schools committee
As always we would still like to hear from you.
If you have any points, queries or topics which you would like raised with the Exec please email Secretary secretary.odwyers.dublin@gaa.ie in confidence and we will endeavor to respond to you as soon as possible. Alternatively reach out to a member of the Exec Committee and topics can be raised to the Exec meeting agenda for review.
Club membership for 2024 is now overdue
- Membership 2024 is now closed and any outstanding memberships are overdue. currently we have 1,051 members registered which is an increase year on year and we have seen 22% growth in club over the last 3 years, for any new players reduced partial membership is now available only via Club Registrar Karen
- If there are any players on your team that have difficulties in paying the membership, please raise this with the Registrar team in confidence and the individual case will be reviewed in order to agree upon viable option for the individuals
General Club Updates
- O’Dwyers does Video Music Awards - May 2024: We had a very successful Video music awards, achieving the funding targets set by the committee, but also it was a another great club event with over 50 participants, with support teams helping them through the process & countless hours spent to deliver a great event enjoyed by all that attended on the evening. Well done to the Fundraising committee for their tireless work.
- [ New ] Golden Jubilee Celebrations: The club took part in the 50 year celebration of Dublin winning the All Ireland in 1974 and our two club players George Wilson and Stephen Rooney it was a great day reflecting on the success of this era for Dublin and O’Dwyers
- [ New ] Africa Day Celebration: As part of our efforts to further diversity & inclusion within the club, members and the D&I officer Malachy Quinn attended this event to promote the club and GAA to the wider community in Balbriggan, it was a huge success and there was a lot of interest in the club and how we can work together with other groups into the future
- [ New ] Club Day Celebration: In partnership with the Balbriggan Summer Festival committee we joined forces to have a club day we had a busy day of activities commencing with Beach penalty competition, Ogdwyers, Junior & Senior Puc Fada competition ( which we will expand on and make an annual event ) Senior Citizen picnic and a very interesting presentation of the club history by Pauline O’Hare closed off by a great trad session with Irish dancers.
- [ New ] School Blitz: The C&G and Schools team hosted school blitzes in May, which brought over 1,200 kids from the local schools to take part ( some their very first time ) in GAA, there was a lot of excitement and buzz around the event, particular well done to Denise & Gary for leading the charge, Hopefully over the coming weeks we will see more kids coming along to take part in GAA
- [ New ] Club Monthly Draw: Has recommenced for 2024, the draw commenced again at the end of May with 111 participants. A total of €450 in prize money won each month. If interested in joining or more information contact Freda Smith 086 3249476
- [ New ] Celtic Challenge: Congrats to the Club hurlers that were part of the panel for Dublin u16 Celtic Challenge who were beaten by a strong Cork team over the weekend.
- Assistant Player Coach roles Are in place and have been recruiting within a number of schools, if you have a new player can you track how they came to your team and feed that info back to Denise - So we can track the success of this pilot
- 2025 Summer Camps - Our Club summer camp ( First ) is now on sale, the Kellogs Cul Camp is now sold out. We are looking at options to schedule further camps during the summer so keep an eye on Social media & ClubZap. Our Summer camps are kindly sponsored by Primtac Personnel Ltd will be the main sponsor
- Website Development - Refresh is in progress, so watch this space for new content. Are you a wordsmith or interest in getting involved with the content refresh on the website, get in contact secretary.odwyers.dublin@gaa.ie
- Taylor Hill Pitch development - We have been in contact with Fingal Co. Council and the final snag list is in progress and the process of handover from the Glenveagh to Fingal is in progress and we expect to get an update on allocation in the coming weeks of June.
- JP McManus Club Donation; Fund [€13,500] allocation is still under review and details will be shared upon final decision from Exec
- Hurling & Camogie workshops [ Moving on Up ] with Humphrey Kelliher completed in May with a number of recommendations which the committee are in progress of reviewing and implementing.
- New development Services We have received a number of proposals for the provision of services [External Coffee/Tea facility] in the new development, we are reviewing these in relation to a number of criteria and hope to be in a position to make a decision in the coming weeks.
- Club team fundraising efforts commenced in April & May. It would be great if all teams could participate so we have a good opportunity to release funds for team activities at year end ( Max ask for each team is to host two events in a calendar year )
- Club promotional locations if any members can secure prominent locations for additional temp or perm club signage please contact secretary.odwyers.dublin@gaa.ie with details of location for consideration
- Upcoming club celebrations;
- All Ireland Championship “Up for the Match”
Keep an eye out for future information on activities
New Development Progress Update
Progress has been steady on the build and is still on target for build completion in mid Summer. The exact date is to be determined although it is still subject to the below points and progress with partners.
Progress to date and pending Areas
- New entrance design and planning to be complete by mid/end of May and this is on track to be awarded to the contractor upon which time a final data can be provided and alignment with the overall build completion.
- Sewage solution way leaves submitted and agreement pending and dates to be confirmed
- Design & feasibility in progress for upstairs meeting room and function areas
Further Updates
- We have a number of grants in progress and pending decision for elements of the new development which we hope to receive confirmation in the coming weeks and an update regarding out submission for Sports Capital grant award in Autumn
Monthly Decisions
- Grass mower for main pitch has had to have a number of repairs over the last number of weeks it is now fully operational and regular cadence of grass cutting & pitch marking will take place twice a week
- A new mower for non-pitch areas of the new club development has been purchased through award of grant funding and will be kept in storage until move complete, further investigations are in progress for full solution for pitch maintenance in new development
- Revised sponsorship policy completed and will be updated to the club website as part of the website refresh project.
- Audit of club mentor safeguarding & certifications in progress and corrective steps required in advance of club audit
- Roles open for two new CE workers and interviews ongoing for General Maintenance & Club admin roles
- Club President nomination to be planned for Club AGM
- Re-Turn scheme launched in the club with installation of recycling bins all funds raised will go directly to the day to day running of the club activities.
