Career Interviews for 6th Year 2008

The Career Interview Coaching took place on Wed Jan 30th. This year we changed the emphasis from just doing a mock interview to a more focused interview coaching session.

The students prepared a CV and application letter. The Interviewers then went through some typical interview questions and then provided coaching and advice to the students on how to prepare for and conduct themselves at interview. Some of the discussions were also around the career opportunities in the various fields. The students found this to be both informative and helpful.

Approx 70 students attended on the night and the following professionals and experts, most of who were past pupils, assisted with the interviews.

Again, feedback from both Students and Interviewers was very positive. We very much appreciate the support from all the interviewers who willingly and ably provided their expertise on the night. We would also like to thank the students who participated fully and honestly thereby ensuring that they got real benefit from the night.

Simon Mullen
04/02/2008
 

Mission Fund - Charity Auction 2008

Charity Dinner/Auction raises E44,000 for Union Mission Fund

The Union Mission Fund organised a Charity Dinner and Auction on 1st February to raise badly needed Funds for the Spiritan Priests working in the Missions.

A total of 170 past Pupils, Friends, Partners and Guests enjoyed a fine meal in the elegant surroundings of the Presidents Hall at the Law Society Headquarters before contributing generously to an Auction and Raffle that raised E44,000 for the Union Mission Fund.

Amongst the Guests at this well supported event were Fr. Tom Nash,Superior,and Alan MacGinty, Principle of the College with his wife Vivienne. Representing the Spiritan Provincialate were Fr. Brian Starken, Provincial Superior, and Fr. John Coleman, who is the coordinator from Ireland with the Spiritan Missionary Priests. It is through Fr. John that various projects in the Third World will be sourced for the funds raised at the Charity Auction. Other Guests included Union President Brendan O’Connor and his wife Clodagh, and Noel and Catherine Turley, who last year collected funds for and travelled to Bishop Bobby Ellison and Fr. Jackie Sharpe in the Gambia.

Special thanks for making the night so successful must go to Corry McMahon, who acted as Auctioneer, and David Harvey, MC for the event.

The Spiritan Order has just under 3,000 Bishops, Priests, Brothers and Junior Professed working in some of the poorest regions of Africa, Latin America, Asia, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Oceania, as well as North America and Europe. There are currently 15 Blackrock College Past Pupils working in Countries from Brazil, to Kenya, to Mauritius.

If you would like to contribute to the Union Mission Fund, either by Donation or by Standing Order, please contact the undersigned through the Union Office.  Click here to send the Union office an email.

Tony Amoroso,
Chairman,
Union Mission Fund (Classes 1964/1965)

Committee: Anthony McLaughlin (Class 1976)
David Coen, Peter Maguire,Tom Walsh ( all Class 1986)
 
 

U.S.A. Re-Union 2008 - Boston

The 8th USA Re- Union got off to a lively start with an informal gathering on the Friday night at Lir, a few blocks from the Lenox Hotel, which served as headquarters for the weekend.

A record crowd of 80 guests gathered for the dinner on Saturday night as old friends were reunited and many new friendships were formed. An impressive delegation of 20 people traveled from Ireland to join Rock men and their guests from 13 different States , and Canada. Past Pupils spanning 53 Leaving Cert years attended from as far away as California , Arizona, and Nebrasaka. The 1975 Leaving Cert year was well represented with 6 others joining their Boston based classmate, Tom Gilvarry.

Brendan O'Connor, accompanied by his wife Clodagh , and 5 former Union Presidents (including his dad Brian) represented the Union, while Fr Cormac O'Brolochain , President of Blackrock College , represesented the school. Fr Malachy Kilbride , who travelled from Florida for the dinner, said grace before the excellent meal and explained why he was a little "burnt out" after meeting many of his former students. Later Brendan O'Connor , and Fr Cormac O'Brolochain spoke expansively of the great developments and initiatives at the Union and the School. Mr Tony Campbell, President of Anglo Irish Bank's North American operations was the guest speaker and spoke glowingly of the character of Rock men he is grateful to have in his employment. Tony Amoroso and Tony Connolly organized a collection for the Missions and Blue and White fund and a very generous sum in excess of E2000 was raised.

Paddy Fahy thanked everyone for their commitment in traveling long distances to attend and contributing to the great spirit of fellowship on the night. He thanked his fellow organizers, Rita Murphy back in the Union Center in Dublin , and the Lenox Hotel for their top notch hospitality. John Kealy, 1960, volunteered his services to end the evening with a spirited version of "Rock Boys are We".

Proceedings continued downstairs to the Solas bar as the great spirit of comraderie continued well into the early hours of Sunday morning . A very enjoyable night left many asking how soon another gathering could be arranged . The organizers; Denis Grehan, Tom Gilvarry, Alan Dalton, and Paddy Fahy were thrilled to see that the night was such a great success. 
 
 

Annual Dinner 2008

The Annual Dinner, despite competing with back to back bank holidays, attracted 250 people back to Blackrock College. We were particularly delighted to welcome guests from our sister Spiritan colleges. As always with this event, there was a wonderful atmosphere in the hall as old friends and schoolmates were reunited.

President of the College, Fr. Cormac O’Brolchain, in his address, noted the achievements of pupils, both past and present, and also the vibrancy of the Union. Fr Cormac was happy to state that 18 sports are now offered in Blackrock. With much pride, he outlined the scholarships received by last year’s students from UCD and TCD, and noted that was achieved with no entrance examination into the school – a real tribute to the teaching staff, and Principal Alan MacGinty. He outlined plans for the future development of the school campus which will include redevelopment of Willow Park, a new Sports Hall, and realignment of the sports pitches.
 
The President of the Union, Brendan O’Connor spoke about history being broken this year after 148 years there are no longer any priests on the teaching staff in Blackrock College. Times are changing! He appealed for members to contribute to renewing the building stock in Blackrock with a tax efficient financial contribution.

The President launched the new Union website live on the night, outlining the interactive nature of the site, with bloggs and video, and identified how important the website is for keeping all our foreign members in touch with the Union.

Brendan announced the winner of the 2008 President’s award as being Alain Rolland for his contribution to world refereeing and to mark his achievement to be the first Irishman to referee a Rugby World Cup Final in 2007. 
 
A raffle was held on the night in aid of the Mission Fund and the Blue and White Group.  A most generous prize was donated by Tony Flynn of Discover Africa for a trip to South Africa for 7 days with golf included.  Gavin Brick (Class of 1993) was the lucky winner of the prize.

As usual, there are a number of people to be thanked for their help in making the evening a great success. In particular the College Community for the use of the college facilities, the College caterers for an excellent meal and Rita Murphy from the Union office for all her help in organising the night., and our own organisers Iain Gallagher, Hugh Lambert and Stephen Doyle.

21 Year Re-Union - Class of 1987

7/5/08

Golf Captain's prize day 2008

Golf Society Captain’s Prize – Tuesday 29^th April 2008 in Elm Park Golf Club

Entry of 112 played in Ronan O’Neill’s (1971) Captain Prize Day in Elm Park Golf Club.  Local Knowledge proved to be invaluable as the first 3 were all member of the home club!   1^st Place went to Paul Weldon (1970) with a score of 39 points improving on his 2^nd place in last year’s 2007 Captain’s Prize.  Paul won from Denis Bergin (1978) and Garry Trueick (1979).

The hotly contested class Prize went to the year of 1978 – Denis Bergin, Paul Keenan and Kevin O’Gorman.

50 Year Re-Union - Class 1958

Blackrock College Class of 1958

Golden Jubilee Celebrations 16-17 May 2008

 We came from far and near, from Dingle and Dalkey, from Ballina and Ballsbridge and from Australia, Malaysia, USA, Birmingham, Middlesex and Somerset. There were 52 of us from the class of 1958 celebrating the Golden Jubilee of our days in ‘Rock. The years rolled back and days of youth and daring escapades were recalled with relish.

 The President, Fr. Cormac Ó Brocháin, CSSp (class of 1958) and the Union President, Brendan O’Connor, welcomed us to the College. Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick (1958) was principal celebrant and gave the homily at the Mass of Thanksgiving where candles were lit in memory of deceased classmates. College students conducted guided tours of the new buildings and the Castle and after that it was dinner in the College rugby club at Stradbrook where grace was led by former President, Fr. Brendan Hally, CSSp (1958). Tony Keane was MC for the evening and rendered a translation of the splendid menu into the nicknames of our old teachers that was inspired from the inside. Desmond B. O’Rourke, now resident in the USA, gave a typically witty and appropriate after-dinner address.

 Celebrations resumed next morning over brunch with wives and partners at the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. Compliments were paid to the organising committee and we resolved to meet again for the 55^th which, after consulting laptops and calculators, we agreed would be in five years time!

30 Year Re-Union - Class of 1978

Rock 30th Year Class Reunion - 1978 Class

" The 30 year Reunion was a terrific success this year with 85 class mates attending a wonderful Mass in the College with a moving ceremony provided by Fr Tom Nash and supported by some wonderful music & accompanying singing.  Most of the class took the opportunity to visit the new 5th & 6th year class rooms which are a great credit to the College.

35 class mates kicked off the day with golf in Elm Park and enjoyed wonderful weather & the occasional beer. Following the Mass in the college, we travelled by coach back to Elm Park for a memorable evening. Fr Tom started the proceedings with grace and a superb dinner was enjoyed by all.

We were fortunate to have our Union President , Brendan O'Connor attend on the night and very successful funding raising was organised on the night with over €3,000 raised for the Holy Ghost Missions & the Blue & White fund.

The support for the reunion was magnificent with travellers from Perth ( Well done Colm Corless for the longest distance travelled)  We also had travellers from Hong Kong ( John Green) San Francisco ( Donald Main) and New York ( Joe Griffin) . We had a very large contingent from UK & Europe including Simon Digby whose witty renditions of the dayboys & borders tales was enthusiastically received. Derek Thornton & Dave McSwiney provided the hilarious & hugely entertaining end to the evening’s entertainment which went on to the "wee hours" in the morning.

A most enjoyable weekend was wrapped up with a partners night in Gleeson’s on the Saturday night with over 65 attending. This was a memorable weekend, all who attended are already looking forward to the next reunion, which we suggested will be in 5 years time. A huge thank you to our organising chairman, David Cantrell & all his hard working committee ( too many to mention but they can enjoy a well deserved rest"

Denis Bergin  

Career Guidance Talks for 5th Year

Career Guidance Talks 12^th and 19^th January.

The Union assisted the Career’s Department in Blackrock College by providing experienced professionals in various fields to advise and guide 5th and 6th year students in their career choices.

This year the Career Talks took place over two weekends on the 12th and 19th of January. Approx 216 Students attended the talks and the following is a list of the speakers, most of whom were past pupils.

Sat 12th Jan

Career Area Speaker

Law / Barrister: Owen O’Sullivan / Shane Murphy

Information Technology:-Mark Andrews

Engineering-Brian Glennon

Accountancy-Paul Keenan

Sat 19th Jan

Career Area Speaker

Architecture~Donal O’Donohue

Quantity Surveying~Corry O’Sullivan

Auctioneering~Marcus O’Connor

Medicine~Stephen Hawkins

Pharmacy~Aisling Mullen/Andrew O’Reilly

Business / Marketing~Fergal Mulchrone

Entrepreneurship~Jim Leyden

Communications / Media~David Harvey                                             

This was the first year in the “new school” and the Speakers and students took full advantage of the excellent facilities and “state of the art” technology available for the presentations.

The talks provided the students with very valuable insights into these career areas. The feedback from the students was excellent and I can report that the speakers also found it very rewarding.

We are deeply indebted to all the speakers who were most generous in giving up their valuable time for this very important event in the school calendar. We would also like to thank the students who were punctual, attentive and asked excellent questions showing genuine interest in their chosen areas.

 Simon Mullen

Rock Union AGM 2008

Blackrock College Union
Report of the Committee for the Year 2007/2008

It gives us great pleasure to present the Report of the Union Committee for the Year 2007/2008.

The breadth of the activities being carried out by your Union is extremely wide and each Year brings new additions to the Calendar.

Under the energetic stewardship of President Brendan O’Connor great strides were made this year in developing The Union Website. The website contains a comprehensive list of Events held throughout the Year with Event Reports. In addition, further details will be available in the Union Newsletter which will be distributed in the coming months.

The Blackrock College Union is a Voluntary Organisation and all of its activities stem from the objectives set out carefully in the Union Constitution which dates back to the foundations of the Union in 1899. These objectives remain as relevant now as they did then and include the following stated objectives:-

strengthening the bonds of affection between the College and Alumni;

assistance and support to the College and its ethos;

 facilitate friendship and mutual support amongst the Alumni

Christian Charity.

Events and Re-Union Activities:

The Principle reunions organized this Year were the:-

50th Year ( Class of 1958; Chairman Myles O’Reilly):

40th Year ( Class of 1968; Chairman Declan Conway):

30th Year ( Class of 1978; Chairman Denis Bergin):

21st Year ( Class 1987; Chairman   Mark Allen)

10th Year (Class 1998; Chairman Ronan McClafferty).


In addition the Union also  facilitated the following event:

The Ulster Re-Union – ( Chairman Peter McCormick):

The European Re-Union, held in London (Chairman John Sexton).

The US Re-Union, held in Boston (Chairman Paddy Fahy)

Past President’s Dinner;

Annual Dinner (President’s  Award – Alain Rolland)

Other events included:-

The Annual Business Lunch; (organized by David Harvey which has become a regular feature of the Union Calendar);

The Annual Retreat;
Two Golf Society Outings;
Presentation by the five Spiritan Colleges to Fr. Brian Starken. In a unique event the five Spiritan Colleges joined together to fund raise for a boat for the Tana River in Kenya. The boat will save a 360 kilometer trip for the missionaries who look after 12,000 people in the area on a food and health care programme. The monies raised were presented to Fr. Brian Starken at a lunch held in St. Michael’s College.

The Charity Auction held in The Law Society in aid of the Mission Fund


Some of the Highlights of the year were as follows:-

Annual Dinner:

This was held on Friday 28th March 2008. The event attracted strong numbers with over 250 attending this despite competing with back to back Bank Holidays.

Fr. Cormac O’Brolchain spoke of the plans to develop the School Campus, including re-development of Willow Park, Sports Hall and the re- alignment of the Sport pitches.

President Brendan O’Connor spoke about the fact that history was being made as there were no longer any Priests on the Teaching Staff at Blackrock College.

The President appealed for contributions to the development of Blackrock.

The Union Website was launched by the President on the night.

An Award was made to Alain Rolland for his contribution to World Referring to mark his achievement of being the first Irish man to Referee a Rugby World Cup Final.

Our thanks should be extended to the College Community for the use of the College Facilities and to the Caterers for an excellent meal;

Thanks to Rita Murphy from the Union Office for all her help for organizing the night.

Annual Retreat:

There was an excellent turn-out. 125 people attended the Annual Retreat on Friday 20/21st March 2008.

Great thanks are due to Fr. Tom Nash, Fergal Mulchrone and Richard Assaf for putting the Retreat together.

Junior Committee (Chairman Paddy McClafferty):

The Junior Committee is a very active arm of the Union and thanks should go to Paddy McClafferty and his Junior Committee for the organizations of events which included:-

Junior Dinner and Golf and

The Graduation Ball.

Poker Night.

School Related Activities:

The Union assisted the College particularly in the following events:-

Career Talks:     
These took place over two week-ends of the 12th and 19th January 2008 with 260 Students attending.

Mock Interviews:
These took place on Wednesday 20th January 2008 and Students were assisted in preparing for Interviews.

Cross Border Student Visits:    
As a result of the improved political situation in Northern Ireland it was agreed that the relevance and necessity for our Cross Border project had reached the end of its meaningful life and it was decided to discontinue this project. The Union would like to record its thanks to Fr. Tom Nash, and Peter McCormick for their dedication to this event down through the years.

The Union has also worked closely with the College in supporting the ongoing fundraising for the development of the School Campus. It has also provided support in regard to the preservation of the various artifacts of the College.

Charity & Support.

The Union continued its charitable endeavours and work in supporting past pupils and the wider community. Our thanks go to the dedicated members of all of the Committees for their efforts including:-

The Blue & White Group;
The Mission Fund;
The Charitable Trust;
The Blackrock Conference of St. Vincent de Paul – involving both past and present students;

The Mentoring Programme;
The Children’s Christmas Party.

Each of these groups involves a sub-committee in its own right, the efforts of which are much appreciated.

Blue & White Fund:

The Blue & White Fund Group extends the hand of friendship to Rock Men who have encountered crises of many types in their lives.

The Group draws on the voluntary work of Members to provide information, organization, guidance and in limited cases financial assistance.

In a collaboration between the Junior Committee and the Blue & White Group, a special event took place in Stillorgan Park Hotel on 25th day of February 2008 called “Coping with Challenges”. The evening was designed to heighten awareness of mental challenges facing people today and particularly young people. The evening was hosted by George Hook and Presenters included Clodagh Nolan who Lectures in Occupation Therapy in TCD.

Congratulations goes to the Junior Committee and the Blue & White Group for the effort put into organizing this event.

The Mission Fund (Tony Amoroso):

The Chairman Tony Amoroso deserves great thanks for his inventiveness and great enthusiasm in developing the fund.

The Mission Fund assists the Spiritan Community working overseas and this year under the guidance of Tony Amoroso a hugely successful Charity Evening in Blackhall Place was held raising a substantial sum of money for the missionary effort.

The Charitable Trust Chairman (John Smyth):

The Charitable Trust was set up following the sale of the Boy’s Club in Dun Laoghaire, which has been owned by the Union. To date, the proceeds were invested and the Trust disbursed the interest earned to relevant projects with a focus on education. Under the guidance of John Smyth the Trust has been working diligently and plans are now coming to fruition to disburse the capital sums currently invested by the Trust in a specific project.

Blackrock College Conference of ST. Vincent de Paul (Conference President Alan Lennox).

Under the guidance of Alan Lennox, the Committee has continued its extremely active role in the College.  A number of Fund Raising Projects were carried out including a 24 hour Soccer Marathon which raised the sum of €14,000.00.

In addition, it ran the Annual Sale of Christmas Trees, which has become a regular feature of the landscape at Blackrock College at Christmas and, the monies raised enables Christmas Hampers to be delivered to homes in Kilinarden, Tallaght.  Visitations are also carried out to Kilinarden to assist people in this Community.

The Mentoring Programme ( Chairman Frank O’Riordan).

The programme is run by Frank O’Riordan supported on a voluntary basis by a host of members from multiple disciplines. The Mentoring Programme attempts to give access to the knowledge and expertise of more senior members, particularly where it relates to career advancement and this year under the stewardship of Chairman Frank O’Riordan the number of Mentors has been considerably expanded.

Christmas Outing:

This took place on the 15th December 2008 organised by Terry O’Rourke.  A very successful day was had with 53 young boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 8 attending. Great thanks are due to the Transition Year Boys of Blackrock College and the Girls from Mount Anville for their assistance together with Declan Conway as Santa Claus and Paddy McSweeney who coordinated presents.


Communications and Membership:

Membership of the Union now totals 3825 and the introduction of the Website will considerably assist the Union in raising the membership by enabling the Union to capture the details of visitors to the Site. Under the stewardship of Mark Dunne and Michael Grehan the number of advertisers has been substantially increased. In addition, work has been done to develop a social e-mail which will travel with Students when they leave the School. A group affinity scheme is now available on the Website which members can avail of.

Union Centre ( Manager Rita Murphy):

The Union owe a special debt to Rita Murphy who attends to the affairs of the Union Office and assists in the organization of the Union Events.

Concluding Remarks:

The Union would like to thank all past pupils of the College who attended functions or gave their time and help throughout the year. We also pay tribute to Brendan O’Connor for his tireless, dedication and energy throughout the year in his role as President of the Union. In addition to the large number of Union related functions which the President attended his year was also marked by the following particular achievements:-

The development of the Website which will be a platform for greater development of the Union in the next number of years.

 The development of the joint initiatives with other Spiritan Colleges which will lay the foundations for future co-operation in the next number of years.

His promotion of the fund raising for the development of the College.

Finally, we would also like to thank the President of the College, Fr. Cormac O’Brolchain C.S.Sp., and Principal of Blackrock College, Alan MacGinty for their unstinting loyalty and commitment to the Union.


Stephen Noonan    Fr. Tom Nash
Secretary    Honorary Secretary.


Photos of the evening are now in the Photo Galleries