ROCKWELL COLLEGE UNION GOVERNING BODY

ANNUAL REPORT
2000 / 2001

Introduction
The President and Governing Body of the Rockwell College Union are pleased to present the 76th Annual Report of the Union. The main aim for this year was to increase membership, as it is the key to the Union's success both in relation to funding for the College and to increase the involvement of past students with the Union and its functions.

Membership
The membership committee continued to address the huge programme of work they had set themselves last year, the achievement of which is ongoing.

Bernard Flusk and the membership committee continued progress-increasing membership substantially during the year to c 950.members - subscription income increased by some 12% to IR£11,017, which is a credit to Bernard and his committee.

Last year we increased the subscription to IR£25 and we are gradually trying to get all our existing members to pay the new amount to enable us to give the College more financial assistance. This was also the year in which we enlisted the help of Jim Holmes wife Bernie in assisting us with collating and packaging our various circulars. This has been a great help to us and we thank Jim and Bernie for their efforts.

A successful membership drive took place at the April meeting that many governing body members attended and brought their mobile phones. Bernard's project of extracting all the valuable information from the Rockwell annuals was completed during the year. As usual the computer system ran very well under the stewardship of Brendan Sutton.

Our very special thanks go to Bernard Flusk and Brendan Sutton and the committee for their ongoing very important work on membership. It is with much regret however that we accept Bernard's request to relinquish his role as membership secretary after 'more years than we can remember'. But he goes with our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for all his work down through the years much of which was never known. He will thankfully remain however on the governing body to give us the benefit of his wisdom and good humour. Many thanks Bernard.

It continues to be the governing body's belief that membership must remain at the top of the Rockwell Union agenda for the years to come as there is much to be done to bring more of our past students into the Union. This view reflects its vital importance to the Union and the substantial amount of work that has to be done. The aim is to get subscriptions up to a monetary level where we would be able to provide much greater financial assistance to the College while encouraging more members to attend Union functions.

 

2000/2001 Programme

AGM
The 75th AGM of the Rockwell Union was held on the 30th May 2000 in the Tara Towers Hotel. Mr. Brendan Sutton was elected 76th President of the Union with Brian Goff as Vice-President and the Junior Vice-President role was left to be filled. Sean Tobin was re-elected secretary and Tom Madigan was re-elected Treasurer of the Union.

Prize Day
As usual the President's first official engagement was to Rockwell College for the 136th prize day on 24th May 2000. Brendan Sutton as President attended on behalf of the Union. The guest of honour was Senator Maurice Manning. Brendan's address focussed on what being educated in Rockwell meant - that you got much more than an academic education, it gave you a good grounding in life skills, an ability to build relationships with others, an appreciation of the value of recreational activities, an understanding of oneself in a spiritual environment. He complimented Fr Sean Broderick, the principal Pat O'Sullivan and the teaching staff on the success of their students and on behalf of the Union presented The Student of the Year award to Brendan Crowley. The James Joy Senior Debating Gold Medal was presented to Mark Hanly and the Thomas McDonagh Literary Award was presented to James Maloney.

Fr Casey’s Departure From Rockwell
Fr Casey informed the June meeting that he would be leaving Rockwell to go to Blackrock where he would become President. Fr Broderick would be taking over as President of Rockwell & Fr McCool would be returning from America. A limited company had now been set up for all five schools with approved charitable status which would help ensure the future development of the schools. On behalf of the governing body and the President Joe Moran we thank Fr Casey for all his help to the Union.

Reunions
The President attended the reunion of the " SCT teams of the 50's" which was organised by Kevin Prendergast in Woodenbridge in September. This was a most successful event which was attended by 40+ who played golf and later attended a dinner which was followed by a sing-song which went on till the early hours!! What stamina.

The class of 1990 had an extremely well attended reunion in Rockwell last September. This reunion was organised by Yvonne Kennedy, Mark Smyth and Daragh O'Neill.

Presidents Prize
The Presidents Prize in Newlands was abandoned due to bad weather resulting in the course being waterlogged. It was then rescheduled for the spring and fell foul to the Foot and mouth threat. The intention is to have the Presidents prize in September. Following the passing away of Willie O'Neill past president & very good friend of the Union we were informed that he had bequeathed IR£250 from his estate to the Rockwell Union. It was agreed that the money be put towards a cup for a new golf prize between Past & Present students to be organised in the College annually for the new Willie O'Neill Cup.

Following the passing away of Willie O’Neill past president & very good friend of the Union we were informed that he had bequeathed IR£250 from his estate to the Rockwell Union. It was agreed that the money be put towards a cup for a new golf prize between Past & Present students to be organised in the College annually for the new Willie O’Neill Cup.

The Rockwell Past Pupils team of Andy & Eddie Butler, Jimmy Gardiner & Michael Butler got 2nd Prize in the Union of Irish Schools Competition, Well done to our team.

Business Lunch
The Business Lunch took place on the Friday 20th of October 2000 in Elm Park Golf Club and was once again a great success. We had c.70 guests in attendance and our Guest Speaker was past student Mr Ronan Reid, of Dolmen Butler Briscoe who gave an excellent speech incorporating his experience of building his stockbroking company along with a few share tips. The President Brendan Sutton presented him with a Dublin Crystal bowl inscribed with the Union crest to mark the occasion.

Our thanks to Martin Taylor of Dublin Crystal for his continued support. For organising the event so well, special thanks go to Ken Maguire and Brian Goff.

Annual Mass
The Annual Mass for deceased past students took place on Sunday 26th October 2000 at 10.30am in St Mary's & was attended by 20 people. Our thanks to Fr Sean Broderick for celebrating the Mass for us together with Fr Downes & Fr Lehane among the concelebrants. We extend our appreciation again to our hosts St Mary's College. For the future, as well as putting it on the website, it was suggested we might send a card to the families of deceased past students to make them aware of the Annual Mass.

Diary
Our 2001 Diary was printed in December. It was a fine publication and was well received by our members. We had 40 ads amounting to c. IR£6,500 in advertising revenue, which meant it covered the cost of 1,200 diaries at c. IR£6,500. 150 copies were given to the College for the community and 6th & 7th year students. We also sent 100 diaries to non-members who attended Union functions in the hope that they might join the Union to which we had a good response.

Brendan Sutton reported he had received many congratulatory calls & cards regarding the diary & in particular several from the advertisers. Special thanks to Jim Holmes who organised the outlay and printing and to Sean Tobin & Bernard Flusk for arranging the advertisers. We thank our sponsors without whom the publication would not have been possible.

Governing Body – Christmas Dinner
The Christmas dinner took place on Monday December 4th in Elm Park after the governing body meeting. As usual we had a very enjoyable night.

Sean Cronin - Anniversary Mass
An anniversary Mass for our esteemed Past-President Sean Cronin took place in the Loreto Convent Dalkey on Saturday 24th February 2001.

Annual Dinner
Our Annual Dinner was to have taken place on Friday 23rd March 2001 at the Alexander Hotel prior to the English match. However it was not to be as the effects of the 'foot and mouth crisis' overtook us and unfortunately we had to postpone. It was a great disappointment to us as it was to be our first Annual Dinner where past students could bring their partners. But as so often in life every cloud has a silver lining and our rescheduled dinner on 19th October 2001 in the Alexander Hotel will have a very special attendee for the first time since 1985 - the Munster Schools Senior Cup. Our thanks to Ken Maguire, Yvonne Kennedy & Brendan Sutton for all their work to date.

College Rugby
This was a year to remember with our Senior cup team reaching the final for the second year in a row against St Munchins after defeating the cup-holders Christians in a memorable semi-final. It was indeed a special occasion that day in Thomond Park where so many past students congregated hoping to see us win the Senior Cup having last won it in 1985. It was an epic encounter with Rockwell running out eventual winners 17-5 . There is great credit due to Alan Rutherford and those who had the foresight to appoint him for the work done to produce such a display combining discipline, good defence and an ability to take the opportunities to score that came their way.

Annual Retreat
The Annual Retreat this year was very well organised again by our Risteard O'Colmain and we thank him for his efforts despite the 'foot and mouth' situation. It took place from Holy Thursday at 6pm until Good Friday at 6pm and was thoroughly enjoyed by all the pilgrims who made the trip. . We extend again our gratitude and appreciation to the College for their hospitality. As with the Annual Mass perhaps we need to circularise members by e-mail on this event in the future which is a most enjoyable "24 hours of timeout" in the peaceful athmosphere of the "old school".e.

Careers / Mock Interviews
These were to have been held in the College in the spring but because of the teachers dispute had to be posponed this year. Our thanks to Jim Holmes for the time he put into this.

Regional Committees
Our President Brendan Sutton stated that he was very concerned that we do something to begin a process of bringing the Union closer to our past students in the regions. To that end Brendan has suggested that we identify committed & loyal past students in each region to drive membership & local functions in their immediate area - perhaps a representative in each county (with a small support base) who would liaise with a governing body member/committee on a monthly basis to provide feedback to the governing body on local progress might be an appropriate way forward.

The regional committees will be encouraged to focus on four main areas - updating our database - encouraging membership - informing people of the Union's events & organising local events. If anyone has any names to put forward please contact Brendan.

Brendan has already made great progress in having set up a Tipperary committee on a recent visit and gathered many willing participants for other regional committees. It is hoped that an event in the College will be announced shortly.

Missionary/Rockwell Burse
This year the Union will make a disbursement of IR£3,000 to a Rockwell project selected by Fr Sean Broderick.

The union has also supported the rugby fundraising and the Goal/Aidlink collection.

Development of Rockwell College Union
The focus of the Rockwell College Union this year has been membership – it is the lifeblood of this organisation. Therein lies the future development of the Rockwell Union.

Without new members we -

• have less money to donate to the many worthy causes both in the College and attached to the College, and

• lack members to regularly attend functions, and thus promote friendship, social interaction and networking within the Union.

Our new Union website 'rockwellunion.com' is going very well thanks to the efforts of Barry Sheehan. Barry is awaiting text & news stories and can be emailed at barry@sheehan.ie.

This is probably one of the most exciting developments in the history of the Rockwell College Union. It will mean that our nationally and internationally dispersed past pupils will be more contactable by and with their Union than ever before with new membership potential. Our special thanks go to Barry.

Appreciation
Our very sincere thanks to Fr Sean Broderick and Fr Pat Downes who made the long journey from Rockwell to be with us at our monthly meetings throughout the year.

Conclusion
In conclusion I believe it has been a very successful year. We ran successful events and produced a diary for our members.

The future is in keeping it as simple as possible - running our existing events as successfully as possible while producing a diary and/or newsletter which is repeatable from year to year. This will result in a workable Union where our governing body members are not being overrun with Union business in these busy times. Therefore, I would hope a shape for the future of the Union will follow my tenure. This coupled with new faces particularly from among the 70's, 80's & 90's and in particular ladies from the 90's on the governing body together with strong regional committees will ensure that the building blocks for a representative and successful Union are in place for the new millennium. My thanks to everyone for their support during the year.

Obituary List
The Rockwell College Union notes with regret the deaths of the following past students during the year:

1926	Fr James Brett CSSp	1953	Patrick Moore
1945	Des Cahill	1989	Kevin Murphy
1924	Thomas Chawke	1945	David Nunan
	Sean Cleary	1930	Fr Timothy O'Brien
1941	William Condon	1943	Michael O'Brien
1950	Edmund Cronin	1939	Padraig O'Connor
1942	Fr Peter Dinan CSSp	1933	Michael O'Donoghue
1958	Thomas Egan	1920's	Dr Michael O'Donnell
1951	Christopher English	1931	Canon Michael O'Dwyer
1946	Jim Farrell	2000	Cian O'Mahony
1964	Kevin Fraher	1933	Tadhg O'Sullivan
1953	Paul Gallagher	1940	Philip Roche
1939	Fr John (Alfie) Hanrahan	1993	Dwyer Ryan
1942	William Hartnett	1940	Fr Patrick Sheridan CSSp
1982	James Kelly	1934	John T Sutton
1936	Maurice Kissane	1952	Brendan Thompson
1997	Jonathan Maher	1950	Denis Wall
1954	James McGillycuddy		James Ward

We especially remember Brendan's father John Sutton who passed away recently.

Brendan Sutton
President
15th May 2001

Sean Tobin
Hon. Secretary
15th May 2001

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