Now available for download
Hard copies of the 2018-19 Annual Report will be available from this
Friday 29th November afternoon.
If you wish to receive a hard copy of the Annual Report, please call the Admin office on 03 8535 4500 to organise your copy.
These will also be available for pick up this Saturday at the
Annual General Meeting.
19/8/2019
Dear Fellow Members,
I regret that I am forced to again rebut the lies and misrepresentations of Dire Straits in their e-mail to Members dated 13 August.
I apologise to our Members again for the ongoing breach of our Member’s private email details through their e-mails and web site activity. We will continue to pursue both legal and IT solutions to this ongoing contemptuous practice of unauthorised access to our Member data base.
The President of the Celtic Club, Brian Shanahan OAM, has received a letter from the Irish Ambassador Breandan Ó Caollaí, to advise that a grant of $2,970 has been approved “to restore the Club’s founders picture and create a digital copy and print”. This was thanks to Mr. Ciaran Cannon T.D., the Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development and Mr Simon Coveney T.D., the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The grant is made under the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme ( ESP) and is to be used in the 19/20 financial year.
Brian Shanahan and the Committee are delighted that this important record of the Club’s history will be preserved and protected. The picture profiles the original founders of the Cluband the objects of the Club.
A Lifetime of Stories – Oral histories of Irish seniors in Sydney – is a documentary and web project that tells the amazing life stories of Sydney’s Irish seniors. The documentary premiered at the Irish Film Festival in Sydney and is now available free online.
A Lifetime of Stories is a 40 minute documentary and also a website with in-depth interviews with the participants.
The participants come from the four provinces of Ireland - Pat Foley, Tomás de Bhaldraithe, Marion Reilly, Marie McMillan and Damien McCloskey tell their own stories with humour, style and wisdom.
Pat Foley is 90 years young and still gracing the dancefloors of Sydney! Pat left Moyvane in County Kerry in the early 50’s and worked on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electrical scheme.
Damien McCloskey grew up in Derry and witnessed some of the tumultuous events in that city including Bloody Sunday in 1972. Damien also played snooker and was a doubles partner of Hurricane Higgins!
Marion Reilly is from Connemara and had the adventure of a lifetime when she travelled to Australia overland on a hippy bus in the 70’s.
Tomás de Bhaldraithe is from Dublin and is a learned Gaelic scholar and a skilled sailor of Galway hookers.
Marie McMillan is from Dublin. Marie is a skilled performer and has won numerous awards at slam poetry battles around Sydney.
A Lifetime of Stories was devised with the interviewees by director Dr Enda Murray using a workshop-based process which incorporated elements of creative writing, drama and music.
Engaged with its members, that is.
This year, we’ve ramped our communications with members so that you learn about events and happenings more than ever before.
Committee Member, Clare Murphy, has launched The Celtic Club Melbourne Podcast. It’s available through Soundcloud, iTunes and Spotify, and is already proving popular, so you can stay in touch with all things Melbourne Irish on your way to work in the car or on the tram.
10/7/2019
Dear Members,
Trust you and your families are well.
Our Club is in an interesting and challenging transitional stage. Whilst our overall financial situation remains excellent [over $17 million in the bank, with no debts] we had to take drastic action to control spiralling losses. These actions, while difficult to undertake, have been successful and the Club is now financially back on track. Furthermore, we have now paid the last tax on our sale proceeds, the deferred Capital Gains Tax, of approximately $2.5 million.
Hospitality continues to be offered at The Celtic Club at Metropolitan in North Melbourne. Operations have been revised to find the right opening hours for our home away from home. Venue manager, Andrew, tells us “3 or 4 nights a week is when we see members and non-members visit for a pint. The taps are flowing well on Fridays especially, and people have been asking for meals again”.
The Celtic Club has been giving urgent consideration to finding cost effective ways to reopen the Metro’s kitchen. The plan is to improve the kitchen facilities and provide flexible service options. We are confident that with the right planning we can make it even better for private functions and Christmas get togethers.
All about Melbourne’s Irish community!
Clare Murphy brings you monthly interviews with members and visitors of our community on news, events, film, music, books and other media.
Earlier this year, the Celtic Club Committee decided to review our then Accountant’s recommendation of a Capital Gains Tax [C.G.T.] payment of $3 million to the Australian Tax Office in 2018/19. This review resulted in us successfully submitting a reduced payment of approximately $2.5 million C.G.T. to the Australian Tax Office. This action by the Committee has improved our bottom line by $500,000, and given us more funds to spend on our Club’s development.
Join us for BrigidFest 2020!
We are pleased to announce that BrigidFest 2020 will take place on Sunday, 9 February 2020 at 12:00pm at the Celtic at Metropolitan in North Melbourne.
For the BrigidFest 2020 talk, Magistrate Fiona Hayes will speak about how her work with women before the courts in Victoria touches on Brigid’s concern for human rights and fairness, and aims to offer women hope in the face of life and family challenges. Fiona will refer to current laws in Ireland, particularly their influence on women’s rights.
Event Details
When: 9th February, 12:00PM
Where: Celtic at Metropolitan, Courtney Street, North Melbourne.
Price: $52
