On Saturday, 11th November the local
Golf Club will hold the 2006 Captains Dinner in it's relatively new Club
House at Geraldine . The Captain this
year is Ger Ennis. A low handicap
golfer, he was honoured to be elected as the Club Captain during the Club's centenary celebration which
commenced earlier this year with the holding of a Club Committee meeting in the
offices of Athy Town Council. That
meeting was a symbolic re-enactment of the first public meeting held in the
Urban District Council offices in the Town Hall, Athy on the 30th
January 1906 when the plans for the setting up of a Golf Club in Athy were
first given a public airing. The meeting
one hundred years ago was called by John Corcoran acting in consort with a
number of local men. Because the records of Athy Golf Club have been lost, we cannot positively
identify the other men involved but it would seem that they probably included
M. J. Minch of Rockfield House, Rev. William Duggan a curate in St. Michael's
Parish Church and Patrick Lynch who lived in the Abbey in Emily Square.
The formative years of the Golf Club were
marked by the early retirement of it's first captain and the enforced
resignation of it's second captain all within the space of approximately
eighteen months. The Club quickly
regrouped and continued to develop even if somewhat slowly for the first few
decades of its existence.
Golf in the early part of the 20th
Century was the preserve of the well heeled members of society and even the
onset of the First World War which saw the enlistment of hundreds of local
working class men had no appreciable effect on the local Golf Club. However, the enlistment of club member such
as Dr. John L. Kilbride and Dr. Eugene Minch must have had some impact given the
small membership of the club at that time.
The remaining club members according to the report of the Irish White
Cross played their part in the war effort by putting on amateur shows for hospitalised soldiers.
The course at Geraldine was constantly undergoing
improvements but even as these
improvements were put into place, the club suffered a decline in membership to
the extent that it's continuing existence was in doubt. At a time when financial rectitude did not
condone the borrowing of money, whether small or large, the club found itself
with an overdraft. The monies owed to
one of the local banks was quite small but those in charge of the clubs affairs
were sufficiently alarmed to question whether Athy Golf Club could continue to
operate. That crisis was referred to by
Dr. John Kilbride in April 1938 on the occasion of a presentation to Dan Rice,
retiring Headmaster of the Model School, a founder member of Athy Golf Club and
for many years the Honorary Treasurer of the club. “Some years ago when it looked as if the Golf
Club would have to close down, Dan Rice was the person responsible for securing
for it a new lease of life” claimed Dr. Kilbride.
The financial storm was weathered and the
subsequent history of Athy Golf Club was one of
continuing success. That success
was ultimately marked with the extension of the original nine hole course to
become an 18 hole course and the erection of a modern clubhouse with restaurant
facilities. It is a matter of record
that the eighteen hole course came about as a result of a conversation between
the clubs landlord Brian Tobin and the club's President, Denis O'Donovan in
September 1990. This followed an earlier
unsuccessful attempt to provide a nine hole extension to the course for which
the Club purchased land which was later resold. Denis relates in an article he
wrote for the centenary history of the club how they met on the 4th
September 1990 as Denis was playing the old 8th hole and Brian was
working in the adjoining field. The conversation came around to the
“possibility of extending the course to eighteen holes” which could only be
done with the agreement of the landowner who himself was a member of the Athy
club. Ten days later Brian advised his
willingness to provide additional land for the course extension subject to
agreement on appropriate terms. The rest
is history and is retold in the centenary history book which I understand will
be launched at the Captain's Dinner on November 11th.
Denis O'Donovan's role in the development of
the eighteen hole course and the building of the new clubhouse cannot be
overstated. Denis has played a key role
in the centenary celebrations of the club and in particular worked tirelessly
for three or more years extracting newspaper reports of the clubs activities
dating back to 1906, which in the absence of Club records were used when
compiling the centenary history of the club.
Denis came to Athy from Limerick
in 1960 to work in the local asbestos factory believing that his time in Athy
was to be of a short duration before he continued on to Dundalk. He finished his working life in Athy,
retiring in 1995. A member of the Golf
Club since 1960 he has served on the Golf Club committee and is a former Club
President and Club Captain.
The membership of Athy Golf Club has increased
enormously over the years. From the
initial 15 or so men who made up the
Club Membership in 1906, it has grown to approximately nine hundred and ninety
members today. Perhaps one of the more
significant changes over the years was the recent admission of females as full
members of the Club. Another significant change, albeit one which came about
gradually as Irish society prospered, was the welcome shift in the publics
perception of golf and golf club membership as the preserve of the well off
members of the local community. Athy
Golf Club has a membership from all walks of life and is all the better for
that.
Tonight (Wednesday) a talk will be given in the
Town Hall, Athy starting at 8.00 p.m.by Zoltan Zinn Collis, a survivor of the
Holocaust whose book,“Final Witness – My journey from the Holocaust to
Ireland” has recently been
published. Zoltan has an amazing story
to tell and one which deserves to be heard.
The name Collis is that of his adopted parents who were William Robert
Collis and his wife. Robert Collis, as
he was generally known, was one of three remarkable brothers born in Dublin all
of who wrote books of commendable merit. John Stewart Collis, twin brother of
Robert served in the First World War and during the Second World War was a farm
worker who subsequently wrote of his experiences. His books which are highly recommended
include,“While Following the Plough” and “The Worm Forgives the Plough” both of
which deal with mans relationship with
the soil. I first came across these
books when they were recommended to me by a writer friend who in many ways is a
kindred spirit of John Stewart Collis. I
had earlier come across Robert Collis' autobiography “The Silver Fleece” written
some time before the Second World War and also a play of his with the never to
be forgotten title “Marrowbone Lane” which was specially written for the
Marrowbone Lane Fund founded to combat
T.B.. Robert was a paediatrician
who entered Belsen in 1945 with a Red Cross
team where he found the young boy, Zoltan Zinn whom he would take back
with him to Ireland. The third Collis brother was Maurice who spent many years
in India and whose writing was largely devoted to oriental topics.
The three Collis brothers were remarkable men
of letters. John Stewart the
Philosopher, Maurice the Orientalist and Robert the paediatrician and concerned
medical activist have left an honourable
legacy both in literature and in the arts.
Finally, I read of the recent death at 90 years
of age of Jim O'Flaherty of Greystones.
Jim was for a long time an
official with the post office here in Athy. It was here that he met and married
Carrie Glespen of Duke Street. He was a
founder member of Athy Credit Union Limited and indeed was elected first President of the Credit Union
by his fellow Directors following the inaugural meeting held at 82 Leinster Street on the 17th
May 1968. It's remarkable to consider
that in it's first year of operation savings in the Credit Union amounted to
“almost” £5,000. Nowadays Credit Union
savings are measured in millions and ensures that the objective of the Credit
Union “to save together for the purpose of helping one another” remains a key
element in its service to the community.
Jim O'Flaherty and those other men and women who were involved in the
setting up of the Credit Union will aways be remembered.
Frank Taaffe
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