At the Fourth Annual General Meeting of the Celtic Irish Cultural Society, held at The Hawth, the re-elected Chairman John Nolan took time to reflect on the last 12 months and declared 2006 as “a YEA year” a YEAR of EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS.

He went on to explain how he felt that:

the last 12 months has been a busy and very successful period with numerous exceptional achievements

Highlights of 2006 included:

• The Crawley St Patrick’s Parade in March in which more people took part than ever before
• The renamed Crawley Celtic Weekend in August, which saw a new event on the Saturday night specifically aimed at a youth audience
• The Crawley Fleadh Week, which was re-scheduled to run in November for the first time, and offered a host of events, including Gaelic football coaching in senior schools, together with Irish story telling and Celtic art in the junior schools and for adults, Irish language classes, set dancing classes and Irish Cookery classes.

John Nolan said that the success of the CICS was in no small way due to its supporters:

They provide funding and loan us equipment so we can organise ourselves in moving forward. We could not survive or get to where we are today without their help. There are far too many to mention here tonight but should not be forgotten and deserve our thanks. This busy year could not have been achieved without the assistance of the many volunteers and helpers. Time and again they have come out (in all weathers) to assist in everyway possible”

However, John was keen to stress that the CICS was planning to move forward with a new committee in place. The new committee comprises of John Nolan as Chairman, Leo Beirne as Vice-Chairman, Carol Collins as Secretary, John Lyons as Functions Officer, Tony Green as Publishing Officer and Mia Phillips will help with Fundraising. The post of Treasurer will be filled by Norah Green until March, but a new person will need to be found after that time.

With a large grant from the DION (an Irish Government Agency supporting Irish Organisations abroad) and the support of the Federation of Irish Societies, he said:

The vision of our society in moving forward into the future is to achieve a more confident, professional and successful group.

The Society is planning three major changes to the way it works:

Firstly, it is planning to set up a company limited by guarantee. This will offer protection against personal liability to the committee members/trustees and will offer them protection when employing people and forming contracts with suppliers and service providers

Secondly, it is planning to register the Society as a Charity which will offer additional benefits, such as being eligible for a broader range of funding opportunities, access to a range of training and business support initiatives, plus tax and financial benefits.

Thirdly, the committee has just employed its first paid member of staff, a move which demonstrates a strong commitment to improving its work both in terms of cultural activities and events it provides, as well as its ambitions to raise the profile of the Irish communities in the region. The newly appointed part-time co-ordinator, Shannon Mackey-Witton, brings experience of administration and events management and joined the Society from the beginning of February.

John Nolan felt that:

With our new development policy in place I firmly believe the coming year should be anticipated as a YES year – A YEAR of EXCEPTIONAL SUCCESS.