Greetings members.

As stated in my welcome letter I am keen to keep all abreast of the goings on in the main club executive and development group to let everyone know what is happening around the club. I will try my best to keep this as regular as possible and also brief where I can.

I recently had the honour of Chairing my first Main Club executive meeting where we discussed plans and overall goals for the coming year. 

Increases in the cost of living and heating/lighting expenses have been felt by all and the club has not been excluded from that.

The reality is that we are not earning enough through our day to day income, including subscriptions, rental and bar income to meet our day to day expenses.  We are continuously relying on additional fundraising to balance the books.

Last year our fundraising goals were not met, with losses on both the Whats the Craic festival and the Car raffle. Tribfest saved the day and we thank all of those that dug in and supported all of these efforts. As shown in the Treasurer's report presented at the Club AGM the clubs financial position is not where we would wish it to be and our discussions were focused on ways to get the club to a point where the money raised from the festivals and other activities is purely for Capital projects and not for keeping the lights on.

Plans for this year's Tribfest are underway and this year there is a plan to add a family focused day on monday also to add to the lineup. You will all soon receive a club Survey form through Clubzap and I would encourage all to get involved and help out in any way you can.

Some of you may see some work going on around the club in the next few weeks as we are engaging engineers to survey the car park to develop a parking management plan to increase the safety and efficiency thereof. Additionally a second survey will be performed soon relating to drainage, which needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

I am sure all are looking forward to the weather improving and the return of the longer evenings. As our winter sports, Rugby and Hockey, conclude, I wish their teams the best of luck in the business end of their seasons and also welcome back our Summer sports. I know also that Tennis, Bowls and Archery look forward to shedding their oilskins and getting back into their warm weather routines.

Finally the club is looking for a new PRO to help our outward engagement through both digital and print media so if anyone reading this believes they may be in a position to help please contact me or your section president.

Yours in Sport

Mark Seery