The Westland Row PPU Golf Society outings were very curtailed during Covid but have made a comeback in the last couple of years. Tony Kenny, the Society Secretary has issued a report on the Captain’s Prize outing held at Foxrock GC on October 5th 2023 and the details are set out below. Congratulations to Tony and the committee for keeping the Society going in difficult times and for planning ahead in 2024. I asked Tony if there was any possibility of having a 9 hole section in the outings for auld fellows like me and he says he will give it a try in Woodbrook in May with a 12 hole competition as well as the usual 18 hole competition for the young fellows. It behoves us all to support the outings and if anyone is not already involved you should contact Tony and sharpen up the clubs. Pat Neill sent me some photos he took at the Foxrock outing just to prove that Dermot Soraghan is still as sharp as ever as you will see below.
(Posted by Jim Conway January 23rd 2024)
Captain’s (James O’Connor) Prize Foxrock GC October 5th 2023 –
Fifteen members and two guests played. Even though the numbers were disappointing a great day was enjoyed by the participants. The course was in great shape and all the players enjoyed dinner afterwards. The traditional rack of lamb was back on the menu. The following were prize winners –
Captain’s Prize – Pat Wallace 36 points
Runner Up – Tony Kenny 35 points
Third – Eamonn Cleary 34 points
Front 9 – Alan O’Connor 21 points
Back 9 – Terry Crawford
Nearest the Pin – Eamonn Cleary
James O’Connor spoke after dinner and thanked the participants. James also introduced his Vice Captain, Eamonn Cleary, who will take over for 2024.
Brendan Malone said a few words, making particular reference to deceased members Cyril and Des Stirrat. The attendance was also informed that previous Captain Stephen Kenny recently passed away.
Tony thanked Dermot Soraghan and Jack McKeon for sponsoring the prizes, other than the Captain’s.
The group decided to investigate the possibility of holding an outing in Woodbrook towards the end of May 2024. Tony will keep the members posted re that.
Don’t forget the Dinner on Saturday. A few places are still available but hurry. Contact John Cullen on 087 2312728
Dr. Kieran Jack McGinley (Class of 1971) made it to the Irish Times “Photos of the Year” for 2023, published in the IT Magazine on December 30th. Our Jack organised the second International Conference of the Irish Labour History Society in September.
Jack was pictured (above with the beard) beside a historic banner illustrating the Workers’ Union 0f Ireland, which was formed in 1924 and merged with the ITGWU in 1990 to form SIPTU.
As well as being a stalwart of the Trade Union Movement, Jack served the PPU with distinction having held the office of President for five years from 1998 to 2002. These were difficult times for the PPU and we are grateful to Jack for his work in keeping things going.
The Past Pupils Union is delighted to announce that Gerry Keenan (Class of 71) has been elected as Row Person of the Year for 2024. The PPU had a real headache, this year, as we received a large number of very worthy nominations. Many of those candidates will, no doubt, feature in future years.
Gerry started in the ROW Secondary School in Bro. Hickey’s class in 1966. After second level, he graduated from University College Dublin and London School of Economics. Subsequently, he held roles at University College Cork, The Economic and Social Research Institute and the Central Bank.
Gerry joined Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) in 1984 working in various roles before becoming Chief Executive in 2005. He was responsible to the Board for developing of both external and group clients.
The executive team, led by Gerry, was instrumental in the development of index and quant management within ILIM which became the leading fund manager in Ireland with almost €45bn in assets under management. The company included many prestigious domestic and international clients within its portfolio.
During his period as CEO at ILIM, Gerry also served on the Board of the Irish Association of Pension Funds and as Chairman of the Irish Association of Investment Managers.
Gerry retired as CEO of ILIM in September 2013 and continued on the Board in a non-executive capacity until early 2021. He is now self employed providing non-executive Director, Investment Consulting and Business services to clients.
Gerry, in a voluntary capacity, sits on the committee of CBS Congregation Charity, Richmond Newstreet. This investment committee provides financial support to many of the Congregation’s development projects around the World.
Gerry is married to Liz and both have adult children from a previous marriage, Kate and Colm (Gerry) and Ciara (Liz). They share five beautiful grand children and spend an increasing amount of time having fun with them.
We look forward to meeting Gerry, his family, his classmates from 1971 and many other years at our Annual Dinner on January 27th when he will be presented with the PV Doyle Trophy.
PPU President, Dan Ferrari, and committee wish all past pupils and everybody associated with The ROW a happy and peaceful Christmas as well as good health and prosperity in 2024.
2023 has been a difficult year, in a number of ways, but the PPU and the school have worked successfully, together and independently, to overcome problems.
The school numbers increased again and these included a number of students fleeing the war in Ukraine. On the academic front, a very creditable result was achieved. Out of twenty students in the Leaving Cert class, fourteen, or 70%, went on to third level. Four went to the Technical University of Dublin (TUD), three to Trinity and three to DCU. The balance were spread over other universities. Many congratulations are due to Principal Kate Byrne and her dedicated staff.
The school’s success was recognised in a number of ways including a prestigious community award as evidenced by the banner, pictured below, which flies proudly outside the building.
The PPU was happy to assist the school, including providing bursaries to a number of deserving students. Information and photos were posted in a recent News Blog. It would not have been possible to provide this assistance without the generosity of our past pupil members and the committee sends grateful thanks to all. We hope to be in a position to provide further help as we go forward.
DINNER DINNER DINNER DINNER
Thankfully, we were able to return to our traditional January date in the Westbury for our annual PPU Dinner in 2023. We all enjoyed a good evening and cheered on the Dubs of 1963 again when we presented Gerry Davey with the Row Person of the Year trophy. Gerry, a member of the class of 62, scored the winning goal against Galway in the final. We were fortunate to obtain a video of the highlights and prove, beyond doubt, that it was Gerry’s fist that sent the ball to the net. Another great ROW man, Christy Kane, also featured on the 1963 team. Unfortunately, we lost Christy a few years ago. May he rest in peace. Full details of Gerry’s achievements and dinner photos were posted on News Blog. If you want another look just click on the archives.
Our upcoming Dinner is scheduled for January 27th at the Westbury. Dinner will be 7pm for 7.30pm. The ticket price will be €70. We are now taking bookings to any member of the committee, by email or by WhatsApp to ROW News. We hope members will book early as we have to give accurate numbers to the hotel in early January. As usual, we are appealing to members to sponsor a prize for our raffle, which is vital to the financial side of the evening. Hopefully, you will be able to bring a prize along, but if you can’t make it along you might be able to send something. Any member of the committee will be delighted to hear from you.
ROW Person of the Year
Following our recent appeal, the committee was delighted to receive a number of excellent nominations for Row Person of the Year 2024. The quality of all the candidates gave the committee a real headache but’ after some debate, we arrived at a winner to receive the PV Doyle Trophy at the Dinner. Watch this space for the imminent announcement.
Memory Lane
Your News Blogger receives photos and other material from past pupils over the course of the year. it also happens that past pupils ask for photos already in the archive to be repeated. The following are a few that you might enjoy.
Eddie Kelly sent this photo taken in Westland Row in the 70s. It was generally agreed that the suave gentleman was none other than our famous commerce teacher, Mr. Doherty. Ian McGarry, ROW man of the year 1998. Unfortunately, Ian passed away in 2023. May he rest in peace.Your committee were very fortunate to be permitted to hold meetings in the Boardroom of Dundrum Shopping Centre after we got back to real meetings in the wake of Covid. Many thanks indeed to Pat Neill for making this facility available. When we held our first meeting there last May, just before the Champions Cup final between Leinster and La Rochelle, we were surprised to find the Heineken Champions Rugby Cup on display. As things transpired, we were able to boast that members of the PPU committee were the only Leinster men to get their hands on the trophy this year. Indeed, one of the committee was able to boast that a Munster man also got his hands on it !!!Happy group from the class of 1962 after a golf outing in Craddoctstown GC a few years ago. Unfortunately, Eamonn O’Malley and Stephen Kenny are no longer with us. Stephen passed only this year. RIP lads.
Mattie Wallace with a few classmates from 1962 who called to visit him at Glebe House Nursing Home Kilternan in July last. As you may gather, it was shortly after the famous four in a row achieved, in style, by Limerick hurlers and Mattie, with his great interest in hurling, was happy to join in the celebrations.PPU ties are still available at cost of €30. Contact John Murray on 086 2531477. You will enjoy the Dinner more when you wear your ROW tie!!
The annual St. Andrew’s Day Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, on Sunday December 3rd. 2023. By arrangement with the Parish deceased past pupils are included in the prayers of the Mass. Their names also appear on the Parish Newsletter and Mass leaflet. An unusually large number of past pupils passed away since the 2022 Mass. The following were included in the prayers – Noel Halloran, Stephen Kenny, Michael Doyle, Paul Kealy, Ian McGarry, Martin Conway, Denis McKennedy, Bryan O’Higgins, Gerry Hammond and Willie Meier. May they all rest in peace.
The PPU was well represented in the congregation by a large number of past pupils including MonseignorDan O’Connor and our Chaplain, Fr. Eugene McCarthy, who was a con-celebrant on the altar with the Archbishop and Fr. Enda Cunningham, the Parish Administrator.
The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, was amongst the VIP members of the Congregation.
The Congregation also included representatives of the St. Andrew’s Resource Centre which was celebrating its Golden Jubilee. The Centre is now located in the former St. Andrew’s National School and they provide a wide range of services which are focussed on the different stages of the life cycle, from toddlers in their Childcare Centre to those enabled to live independently by their Homecare services.
I include below a few photos which I took on the day. I gave the camera to a bystander within the Church to take a PPU group photo but, whatever the man’s attributes are, he can’t count photography amongst them. I’m still kicking myself for not checking the camera when he handed it back. Apologies for that.
The “ROW” Leaving Class of 1973 marked 50 years since leaving the school in June of this year (2023) and a group of 14 past pupils were delighted to pay a return visit to the school at the invitation of the Principal Ms Kate Byrne. The group was warmly welcomed by the Principal, her colleagues, staff and a wonderful group of students who showed us around the school. Many of the past pupils had not been inside the school for over 50 years and were pleasantly surprised by what we saw!
The Ground Floor, formerly the 2nd and 3rd year Primary School classrooms, is now the location of the school admin offices, staff and student meeting rooms, and a fantastic Domestic Science classroom – or Kitchens and catering area, where a hearty breakfast was kindly provided to the group!
We were then shown around the museum and all the classrooms and reminisced about teachers and colleagues from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Many stories were recalled as we meandered the corridors and classrooms of our youth. All were impressed by the displays from the Art and Craft classes and, particularly, the creations that were entered in recent National “Junk Couture” competitions – spectacular and innovative to say the least.
All agreed that the atmosphere is completely different to the 1970s and the school is a happy nurturing place for students, thanks to the work of the Principal and her dedicated colleagues. Obviously, the school is smaller in terms of student numbers and is now a successful Co-Education school that caters for students of every nationality.
The group really enjoyed meeting up again and also seeing where we spent so many of our school years. The class of 1973 thank everyone for the hospitality extended and wish the school every success for the future.
Some photos taken during the visit are set out below and hopefully, they will bring back some memories.
As members will be aware, the Past Pupils Union has, in recent years, supported the school with various grants or awards towards the cost of students’ education. Thanks to the ongoing support of our members and to some very generous donations, the PPU was in a position to make a number of awards at the start of the latest academic year.
The 2023 awards were presented by PPU President Dan Ferrari and fellow committee member Pat Neill, to the following students who were nominated by the Principal and her colleagues.
Ayla Page – 5th Year
Russell Skalbe – 5th Year
Jennifer McGowan – 1st Year
Nikolozi Tsalughelashvili -1st Year
The PPU congratulates all award recipients and wishes them well in their studies in the years ahead. Again, thanks to the financial support of our members, we hope to be able to continue these awards for next year and beyond.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, will celebrate the above Mass at St. Andrew’s, Westland Row at 11.30am commemorating St. Andrew’s day. The Mass will also commemorate past pupils from CBS Westland Row who died during the past year.
The PPU has a list of eleven past pupil who died since early December 2022 as follows – Noel Halloran, Eugene Strong, Stephen Kenny, Michael Doyle, Paul Kealy, Ian McGarry, Martin Conway, Denis McKennedy, Bryan O’Higgins, Gerry Hammond and Willie Meier. If anyone is aware of any other past pupils who should be included please advise John Cullen on 087 2312728 within the next week. If any past pupils can make contact with the families of the deceased please let them know about the Mass and tell them that they would be very welcome to attend.
We look forward to seeing as many past pupils as possible at the Mass
Below are some more photos, provided by John Murray, taken at the Dinner on January 28th and during Gerry Davey’s visit to the school on Friday January 27th. Enjoy
Fifty past pupils and guests were present in The Westbury for a most enjoyable annual dinner. Gerry Davey (class of 62) was presented with the PV Doyle trophy as Row Person of the Year. Gerry was a member of the Dublin football team that captured the Sam Maguire in 1963 and, through the miracle of technology and the expertise of John Costello, we were able to view highlights of the match on the big screen. Gerry got almost as big a cheer when he got his fist to the ball again, after nearly 60 years, as he got from the huge crowd in Croke Park on September 22nd 1963.
We are indebted to John Murray for the many photos taken at the dinner and the visit to the school the previous Friday. A small sample of the photos are published below and more will follow over the next few weeks.
PPU News Blog 