To our Rector, Fr Paddy Green, Headmaster Gerry Foley, Outgoing President CJ Barry, Incoming President John Reynolds, ARO Bernie Millar and to my Fellow Committee members & Belvederians.
Introduction
I am very grateful for the opportunity to share with you this evening some of the work done by your committee over the last 12 months and to update the progress that has been made in implementing our strategy developed in 2023. At the core of our strategy are 4 key objectives
- To continue to represent, support and advocate on behalf of Belvedere Past Pupils
- To communicate effectively with Alumni and the College
- To ensure past pupils are connected through events clubs and societies.
- To support 3 key charities the BBA, BYC and the SVDP.
Communication
We have made significant progress in communication in the past year. The work invested into the Union’s database and email communication is now being effective. Our LinkedIn site has 1800 followers a substantial proportion of all those reachable on this channel. With 1000 interactions and over 30,000 views our post on Cian Healy was the most popular, most posts get 100s of engagements. In the next year we are aiming to build on the level of engagement we have seen to date.
The increase in interest seen across our events is in no small part due to the improvements made in our communications. These initiatives have been led by CJ, John and Bernie to great effect. In the upcoming year we have created a communications committee led by Thomas Arnold with Neil Owens and Shane Murphy to focus on this key area.
Membership
The Union has been fortunate in having the lifelong financial support of several of our members through a series of direct debits and also the 10-year support of Junior Union members as they join the Union on graduation. Apart from this however there has been no formal membership scheme other than membership has been inferred on purchasing a ticket for the dinner.
In the new scheme launched in April Alumni are encouraged to join for the sum of €25annually or more on a discretionary basis. Members will be offered early ticket access to our now regularly sold-out events such as the dinner, lunch, business breakfasts and golf outings.
Anyone who hasn’t signed up yet is encouraged to join and for those holding payments from previous schemes please let us know and we can confer membership in respect of your contribution.
Membership has been popular since its inception and we expect to see signups grow in the coming year.
Bernie Millar, Alumni Relations Officer (ARO)
Bernie Millar has just completed her first year as our new ARO. She has made a very significant contribution in a short time and is due huge thanks from us all.
School
Belvedere College is in rude health and one of the highlights for many of us of being involved in the Union is the strong engagement from the school with its community of past pupils. This is led by Gerry Foley and Colin McCarthy as Union Liaison.
While we were all saddened to hear of Paul Bryce’s move to pastures new in 2025 I’m delighted to say he will be joining the main Union committee and participating in PJ O’Brien’s careers committee alongside Greg Gormley and Ronan Spain.
The opportunities afforded the Union by the school to participate in activities such as debates, reunions, Graduations forms a key part in helping us achieve our aims of fostering a sense of community amongst Belvederians. We will continue to work to develop and support these engagements as a key priority of the Union in the years to come.
Sleep Out
With homelessness in Ireland a bigger issue than ever the sleep out this year made a huge effort and raised the incredible sum of €330,000 for Focus Ireland and The Jesuit Refugee Service. This year for the first time Alumni in the UK slept out in Covent Garden and linked up with the group in Dublin on Video Calls. Huge thanks to all those involved in this critical event.
Junior Union
The Junior Union ably led by Sean Caroll continues to set a very high standard. We were delighted to be joined by over 100 JU members at the dinner this year. We look forward to 25 / 26 chair Ciaran Murray continuing to develop the aims of the Junior Union and to encourage their engagement with the Belvedere Community.
JAI
The JAI continues to play a key part in ensuring we are well connected to the broader Jesuit school fraternity with events in Sydney and London – and important to acknowledge the continued hard work from John Tracey and John O Reilly on this key group.
Belvedere Support Network
The Belvedere Support Network (formerly the Belvedere Benevolent Association) , which so often flies under the radar due to its very delicate and confidential work, continued to provide its essential service – supporting Belvederians and their dependents at a time of most need. We would like to thank Rob Grendon for his work on this important committee this year and wish CJ Barry all the best as he returns to this group following his year as President.
Social Justice Award
This year’s recipient of the Social Justice award was Killian Cleary in recognition of the 60 years of work he has done organising the annual Lourdes Pilgrimage.
These trips are life changing both for the clients and helpers and
Finance
A sincere thanks to Brian Terry who looks after the Finances so well, providing regular updates and prudent stewardship to the whole group on our accounts.
The Annual Dinner
The annual dinner in the RDS was a standout success with over 350 attending and over €8k raised for the Belvedere Support Network. The new model of a dinner committee working from January certainly proved itself.
Thanks are due to Brian McDonald and the team at Bay Advisory who joined us as dinner sponsors for the first time last year and are graciously sponsoring once more this year.
With over 200 tickets sold already for this year’s dinner on Friday the 17th of October in the round room of the Mansion House we are set to emulate this year’s success in 2025.
Network Forum
The Business forum had an excellent year ably led by Ivan Hammond. Ivan as always made a fantastic contribution to this important group and is due huge thanks.
We hosted 2 breakfast meetings. At the first hosted by Eoghan Wallace in Byrne Wallace Shields, David McKernan discussed his entrepreneurial journey with Java Republic and Biavest. At the second hosted in CBRE by Brian McDonald of Bay Advisory, Barry Napier shared the story of Cubic Telecom one of Irish businesses great success stories.
The lunch hosted in Fire was once again sold out and was a great success. Tom Clinch hosted Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. Significant funds of 10k were raised for the Youth Club in the process.
In particular thanks are due to Tom and his team IN Clinch for their ongoing and consistent support for the lunch and BYC.
BYC
I’m delighted to recognise the continued success of the Belvedere Youth Club which are very proudly supported by the Union and so many Belvederians. As everyone knows BYC provides such invaluable support to so many children and young adults in the Northeast Inner City.
Last year the 4 provinces Cycle organised by Andy Kinsella and Darragh Lynch raised a much needed €20k for the BYC. The cyclists are off to Kerry next week for this year’s event. I would encourage you all to support this event and raise awareness where you can.
70% of the BYC’s budget depends on fundraising efforts and your support is always appreciated.
OBRFC
OBRFC, ably represented on the Union committee by David Monaghan, had a very successful season and have been promoted to Division 1A in the AIL for the coming year. We will continue to foster connections between the Club and Union this year with the club kindly hosting the January committee meeting and reciprocal attendance planned at each other’s dinners.
Golf Society
We hosted 2 sold out Golf events this year.
Darragh Lynch’s Captain’s prize in Portmarnock won by Colin Keane, and Kevin Lynch’ President’s Prize in Royal Dublin won by Kevin Jolley.
Kevin has paid dearly for his success and is joining the committee this year as Hon Sec of the Golf Society. He has my sincerest thanks, and I would like to wish him and Captain Briain Coyle the very best for the year ahead.
Reunions
Already in August the diary has been set for the reunions for next year. The reunions are now being scheduled in springtime to allow the dinner to become the focus of our autumn get togethers. The reunions are an excellent way for Belvederians to reestablish connections with the College, for so many after years away. As such they will remain a key focus both for the Union and the school.
President
Our Outgoing President CJ Barry has completed an extraordinary year. He started at this meeting last year emphasising the school’s tradition of the magis, and students striving for the most that they can achieve. He undertook his office effectively with unstinting effort, grace and good humour in the finest traditions of our school. He has certainly lived the philosophy he espouses and leaves office with the Union in fine fettle. He is due our most sincere thanks.
I would also like to wish incoming President John Reynolds the very best in the year to come. John has been at the forefront of our new strategy over the past year and in terms of planning already has the Union well set for the year ahead.