Fermoy Swimming Club AGM and awards night
We held our annual general meeting and awards night on Sunday, October 8th at Fermoy Community Youth Centre. A large number of parents and swimmers were in attendance, which was great to see and a really positive sign for the future.
Our chairman, John Hawe, ran proceedings, confirming that he has agreed to extend his term as chairman by another year. He will be stepping down in 2024 after 5 years in the hot seat. John gave a brief outline of the past year in the club, followed by the secretary’s and treasurer’s report and election of officers.
COMMITTEE FOR 2023/22024
Chairman – John Hawe, secretary – Frances Murphy, treasurer – Trish Murphy, gala secretary – Paula Higginbotham, PRO and website co-ordinator – Declan Howard, registration secretary – Martina Daniels, club children’s officer – Val Linehan, general committee members – Philip Reilly, Kate Dunne, Catherine Verling, coaches – Jackie Power, Joann Baker, Paula Finn, Ken Murphy, Oisín Finn.
VOLUNTEERS
We also have a brilliant bunch of volunteer teachers who work with our coaches at the Glofish sessions weekly and they got a special mention at the AGM by John, due to volunteers like these we have been able to maintain our fees at a level much lower than other swimming clubs, making the club as accessible as possible to our members from a financial perspective. While an increase in fees will need to be implemented next year, we will work hard to keep any increases low.
CLUB PERSON OF THE YEAR
The evening finished up with the presentation of Club Person of the Year to Catherine Verling. Catherine has been a committee member for a number of years, served as club treasurer for 5 years and has guided 2 further treasurers as they took on the role. She is always available to help and the club are very grateful to her for her hard work and dedication. John then wound up the AGM and called on Paula Finn (coach) to announce the swimming award winners.
SWIMMING AWARD WINNERS 2022/23
Paula began by saying that she was conflicted in a way by awards ceremonies as she feels that all swimmers in the club are worthy of winning an award, they work hard at training, behave impeccably at galas and support each other at competitions, true team spirit. She is very proud to be their coach and knows all the coaches feel the same way.
The award winners on the night were as follows: technical excellence in frontcrawl – Eva Hamilton, Mia Walsh, Lucy Sullivan, Ava Fleming and Emily Cotter. Technical excellence in backcrawl – Eabha Croke, Neala Simmons, Aideen O’Loughlin, Maggie Grace Fitzgerald, Niamh Kilmartin. Technical excellence in breaststroke – Caoimhe Arnold, Jack Fitzgerald, Matthew Burton, Evan O’Flynn, Eoin McCarthy, Rory McCarthy. Technical excellence in butterfly – Eoghan Croke, Ruby Clancy, Eoin Collins, Olivia Mee, Elsa Higginbotham, Louisa Darrer-Dalton. Attendance – Aiden Dunne, Lucy McNamara, Holly Kenny, Rebecca Tanner, Emma Wolfe, Tomasz Kaskiewicz. Effort and commitment – Erica Sheridan, Ciaran Browne, Jim McGrath, Ciara O’Toole, Emily Lewis and Abi Murphy.
SENIOR SQUAD WINNERS
Joann Baker, coach of the Torpedo squad, then announced the winners of the senior awards for 2022/23 season, who were as follows – Amy Hawe (outstanding achievement), Lucia Miao (best attendance), Grace Duggan (dedication to training), Margaret Verling (most improved) and Zach Daniels Howard (Swimmer of the Year).
Our evening was then finished off with teas, coffees, sweets, chats and a few photos for good measure. Thanks to all who attended, we look forward to the swimming season ahead and hope that all club members have a wonderful year.