Captain’s Drive-In Speech 2012
Mr President Paul, Lady Captain Mary, Vice Captain Aidan, Lady Vice
Captain Cora, outgoing President Jim, Hon Sec Ronan, outgoing Captains
Joan and Andy, fellow members and guests, you are all very welcome
To my family and my special Friends I want to thank you for coming to
share this special day with me.
I started writing this speech 6 months ago and I only finished it yesterday
so hopefully I can speak faster than I write!
I’m extremely honoured to be standing here in Beaverstown Golf Club as
your Men’s Captain for 2012.
I want to thank you for entrusting the Captaincy to me and I promise to
represent you and our club with humility and integrity.
I’m not much of a speech maker and I believe in doing rather than talking
but I do want to take you through my vision for Beaverstown Golf Club
for the year ahead.
I have four main things I want to focus on and develop in 2012
First of all, I see our club as a “HAVEN”
There’s no shortage of doom and gloom in Ireland at the present time.
I honestly believe that with all this negativity, each one of us needs
somewhere we can escape to, a haven if you will.
At Beaverstown Golf Club you have a team of people dedicated to
providing you with a first class golf course, excellent facilities, a quality
of service and an ambience that allows you to leave the outside world
behind you, even if it is only for a few hours.
Use your club and enjoy your time here – you deserve it!
Secondly, I see our club as having a BROAD APPEAL
Beaverstown is not only a golf course. From my personal perspective,
and I don’t believe I’m unique, I think it’s much more….
Beaverstown is a meeting place where I get to meet my closest friends
and where I continually make new friends.
Friendship is important to us all and I have met, and continue to meet
wonderful people in this club. I have made many good friends here and I
really value their friendship.
There is a great atmosphere in our club and the welcome you get when
you come to Beaverstown is always commented upon by our visitors.
The bar in Beaverstown Golf Club is my “local”. It is a place frequented
by people I know and like.
The atmosphere (not to mention the profit) at the bar is greatly enhanced
by the resident “Corner Boys” who meet almost every night from 5pm to
7pm (ish) depending on how vigorous a particular topic is being debated.
Whatever you do, don’t tell my father Des the Americans landed on the
moon!
Beaverstown Golf Club has a tremendous golf course. The layout
challenges all golfers and it is genuinely one of the premier courses in
Ireland. If you can play to your handicap here, you can play anywhere
and compete.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have played golf on many of the big name
courses around the world and I can say with absolute honesty
Beaverstown is right up there with many of them.
Beaverstown is a great place to eat. The quality of food on offer is superb
and the menu is extensive. There is nothing better than a “Full Irish
Breakfast” after a morning spent battling the elements.
So Beaverstown is not just a golf course. We have much more to offer
and I want us all to consider the broader role the club can play in our
everyday life.
Thirdly, I see our club as a SOCIAL VENUE
Our club has the potential to be a great social venue and I have had some
of my most enjoyable social nights here in Beaverstown. I’ll give you
three very different examples of hugely successful social events in
Beaverstown.
During the ’94 World Cup in the USA we had a packed bar for all of
Ireland’s fixtures. The night we beat Italy 1-0 in New York the bar went
absolutely wild. It was an incredible night!
This year we re-introduced the Kiddies Christmas Party and the
atmosphere on the day was magical. It was great to see families enjoying
our club in that way and it is an event we must and will continue into the
future.
In our 25th Anniversary year we had a spectacular celebration ball in a
magnificent marquee attached to the side of the clubhouse. This was a
memorable night and I really hope we don’t have to wait another 25 years
for the next one!
All of these events were hugely successful and in great demand so we
know that with the right planning and organisation, with enough notice
and with the right events we can absolutely fill the clubhouse and have
many more great nights in Beaverstown.
To this end, I will be looking to see a strong program of “socials” in 2012
with particular focus around “The European Football Championships”
and the “The 2012 Ryder Cup”. As we near these events we will use all
the communication tools available to us to ensure we all get the
opportunity to attend and enjoy.
Finally, I see our club RECOGNISING CONTRIBUTION
We sometimes forget or don’t realise what it takes to enable us to just
arrive and enjoy all that Beaverstown has to offer.
You have a team of people in this club, paid and voluntary, dedicated to
delivering a quality experience to all members of Beaverstown Golf Club
and their guests.
Gillian Harris, our office administrator assisted by Louise English are
typically the first people a member or visitor will talk to or meet when
they come to Beaverstown. Gillian and Louise work hard and often go
above and beyond the call to ensure everything in the club runs smoothly
and efficiently. And they do all this with a smile. Thank you Gillian and
Louise!
In the restaurant Roly, Anna, Denise, Denise, Lorraine and Eva keep us
fed and in the bar Noel, Michael and Adam keep us watered. Ivetta and
Yana keep the club clean while Ed and Gary run a well stocked Pro Shop.
These people work hard on our behalf and always deliver excellent
service throughout the year. Guys - Thank you!
Our golf course is a critical part of the club and the club is only as good
as the course.
In Beaverstown we are very lucky to have a team of dedicated grounds
staff headed by Christy Farren consistently delivering a quality golf
course that, as I said earlier compares with the best.
This is only possible if you have a very committed and talented team of
people. We should never underestimate the importance of the job they do.
Thank you Christy, Pat, Fred, Paul, Neil, Alan and Paul
Then there are the people who work in the golf club on a voluntary basis.
Our committees in Beaverstown are made up of members who want to
serve their club and are willing to give considerable time and effort in
doing so. We are very lucky to have such talented and committed people
serving on the three committees and I am proud to serve alongside them.
Can I take this opportunity to thank our 2010 Captain Adrian Kelly and
last year’s Captain Andy Collinge for their guidance and support to me
over the past 12 months. I look forward to, and am grateful for their
promise of continued support in my year of captaincy. Thank you Adrian
and Andy!
I have had the pleasure of working closely with Lady Captain Mary over
the past 12 months. She’s a wonderful person and a great servant to our
club. I really look forward to continuing our great working relationship
over the next 12 months and I really couldn’t have wished for a better
partner in 2012.
To our sponsors (past, present and future), I thank you sincerely for your
generosity. We genuinely appreciate your support and we will do
everything we can to ensure you get a good return for your investment.
There are also a number of members who continually step up to the plate
when it comes to doing things for the club. The only motive for these
wonderful people is the betterment of Beaverstown Golf Club. I can’t
mention them all now but we all know who they are. To all of you, I and
your fellow members thank you sincerely.
So that is my focus for 2012.
I want Beaverstown to be a haven for our members. I want us to develop
a vibrant and relevant social schedule while at the same time broadening
the appeal of our club to our existing and new members.
Finally I want us all to recognise the people that make our club the
success it is. The best way to do this is to use your club and enjoy all it
has to offer.
THANK YOU ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR