UNION

Summer 2017




Summer is here and the Past Pupils Union has been very busy over the past number of months. There has been a wide range of events and activities with many past pupils getting involved. I’d like to give a flavour of some of the Unions’ activities over the past year since we held the AGM in September 2016.

The Annual Dinner









The first big event of the year is always the Union Dinner. Traditionally held on the first Friday in November, it is the start of the season of Past Pupil Dinners and over the last five years it has been held in the Round Room at the Mansion House. Last year we had over 350 past pupils attend the event with Brian Dillon, President Elect, acting as MC and doing his best to get everyone seated on time!

One of the roles of President is to announce the recipient of the Social Justice Award and it was with great pleasure that we chose Stephen Cluskey OB92 as the 2015 recipient.We were honoured to have such a worthy recipient in Stephen. You could hear a pin drop amongst the 350 people in the Mansion House on that night, when Stephen eloquently outlined how the Belvedere Community wrapped itself around him, when he suffered the accident that left him paralysed as a young man. Stephen went on to do great work on behalf of people with disabilities and is a very worthy recipient of the award.

The next Union Dinner will take place in The Mansion House on Friday, 3rd November 2017. Details will appear on the website shortly but please save the date and book early to avoid disappointment.

The Business Forum



The Business Forum goes from strength to strength and had a very successful 2016/2017 season with four breakfast briefings all very well attended by the Alumni. Brian Dillon chaired the Forum and over the year we had the benefit of tremendous speakers in Ray Nolan, Xsellco, Damien O Donohue, IKON, Pete Smyth, Broadlake and Larry Murrin, Dawn Foods. Business Forum events were kindly hosted by Alan Breen at Cantor Fitzgerald, Aidan Walsh at PWC, Tim McDowell at Beauchamps, David Soffe at McCann Fitzgerald and a triumvirate of OBs at Walkers, Andrew Traynor, Brendan O’Brien and David McGovern.


The Annual Business Lunch




Our 4th Annual Business Lunch was held on Friday 12th May in Fire Restaurant. This event saw over 200 attendees, mixing past pupils with their business guests. Ollie Loomes (OB87) CEO, Diageo gave an inspiring speech that reflected on the great foundation he received in Great Denmark Street. Many thanks to Brian and the team and best wishes to Tom Wright who is taking over as Chair from Brian in September.




Irish Jesuits School's London Lunch









The Annual Irish Jesuit Schools London Lunch took place on Friday 2nd June in Smith and Wollenskys on John Adam Street in London on the eve of the first British and Irish Lions match in New Zealand.

Old Belvederians who live in London or had travelled over for the event including myself, Immediate Past President John O’Reilly and President Elect Brian Dillon were joined by our friends from Clongowes, Gonzaga and Crescent Colleges.

A witty celebrity rugby panel hosted by Chris Sheasby and including Paul Wallace, Craig Chalmers, Shane Byrne and Paul Wallace provided the entertainment and Headmaster Gerry Foley spoke eloquently about the school and the importance of developing and maintaining a sense of community.

The Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup was in place, much to the delight of all Great Denmark Street Alumni and although the evening went on, we are reliably informed that the Cup managed to get home safely.




Golf Society

Our Golf society is very active with three outings over the spring and summer.

The opening outing of the year the Captains Prize in Milltown was a great success. We were blessed with fine weather for the day and the scoring reflected the good conditions.

The event was won by last year’s Captain, Barry Murphy from Royal Dublin with a great score of 38 off a handicap of 7. Brian Coyle and Norman Fitzgerald were 2nd and 3rd
respectively both with 37 points.

Our next outing is on the 28th June in the K Club and the President’s Prize takes place on 31st August in Royal Dublin Golf Club. If you would like to get involved in the past pupil’s golf society please contact golf@belvedereunion.com.




Belvedere Benevolent Association



The Belvedere Benevolent Association is here to assist any past Belvederian or their family who are suffering or has suffered difficulties in recent times. The BBA carries out its work in a very confidential, sensitive and collaborative manner and is available to offer practical support and assistance depending on each individual’s personal circumstances. Any intervention offered is only undertaken with the explicit consent of the past pupil concerned and having carefully considered their needs in consultation with their family where appropriate. The committee of the BBA have provided support to a number of past pupils over the years for a variety of reasons, for as long as such assistance may be needed.

The BBA is available to support all past pupils including those who may have left the College in more recent years. It is dependent on the contributions received at the annual union dinner in November, and BBA AGM and dinner which was held in March. The BBA is entirely dependent on the support it receives from other past pupils to continue its work.

If you would liked to speak to someone from the BBA or know of someone who may be in difficulty, please contact belvedereunion@belvederecollege.ie





BYC

The Belvedere Youth Club will be one hundred years old in 2018 it does marvellous work in the North Inner City. The Union has helped the Youth Club through the committee headed by Darragh Lynch, with the development of a 5 year strategic plan. The Union also funded a full review of the organisation’s governance and structures to ensure the club survives well beyond its one hundred year celebrations in 2018.




Seamus Woulfe is appointed new Attorney General





Huge congratulations to fellow Belvederian, Seamus Woulfe, OB1980, who has just been appointed the new Attorney General byTaoiseach, Leo Varadkar. Having left Belvedere in 1980, Seamus pursued a career in Law, graduating from Trinity College in 1984. He was called to the Bar in 1984 and then to the Inner Bar in 2005. For further information click here. We wish Seamus the very best in his new career.



Other Alumni News

Alumni News is a new initiative this year and the idea is to highlight some of the achievements of our Past Pupils in the careers they have chosen. Through the efforts of Brian Dillon, Senior Vice-President, he has captured some fascinating details on a number of our Alumni. It is interesting to hear the progress made by former classmates and other past pupils in different areas of business, academics, sport, professions and the arts

Here are some brief updates on some OB’s that have come to our attention over the last few months. If you have anything to add please let Union secretary Ciara Banks at belvedereunion@belvederecollege.ie know.

Social Justice Award winner Stephen Cluskey has made several impressive television and radio appearances including the Late Late Show last month.

John Saunders, OB'76 won the prestigious Irish American of the year award in the United States


Ian Dempsey, OB'78 was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame

Fr John Dardis SJ OB'74 has been appointed to the Jesuit General Council.

Sean Óg Boylan enjoys continued success singing and won the Feis Ceol O’Mara Memorial Cup 2017

Alan Coleman OB'92 was shortlisted for the E&Y entrepreneur of the year award and while he did not win he recently sold Brite Bill to Israeli group Amdocs.

Donal O’Flynn continues to be a leader and innovator in the energy sector with involvement in companies such as OpenHydro, which he founded.

Sam Dennigan of Strong Roots Food was awarded an Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Scott Flanigan an Olympic sailor in 2012 was recently awarded Irish University Sailor of the year.

Jack Mc Caffrey is back with the Dublin senior football team and may come up against Cillian O’Sullivan who is starring for Meath.

John Kennedy was the captain at OBRFC for 2016-17 season supported by many other OBs including Jonathan Slattery, Tom de Jongh, Conor Owende and Martin Oyuga. James McCarthy OB'76, is the incoming president at OBRFC.

Ian Keatley was selected for the Ireland v Scotland 6 Nations squad and David Shanahan was selected for the Ulster rugby team.

Donal Crotty who was school captain in 1998 is now captain at Ashbourne RFC winners of the All Ireland Junior Rugby Cup. Another OB Peter O’Donnell coached the winning team and he is also the Irish Women’s Rugby Coach. Rob Forbes was the rugby coach of St. Fintan’s School who were narrowly defeated by Clongowes after a valiant display in the first round on the SCT.

Clontarf FC were runners up in the AIL and several OBs featured including Matt D’Arcy and Conor Jennings. Malahide RFC attained senior club status winning the Leinster League and had several OBs on board including Chris O’Brien, Hugo Nolan, Conal Keane, Marcus McAllister and Dave Mongan and were coached by Ray Monaghan.

Paddy Hayes is the successful author of Queen of Spies, The Biography of Daphne Park, Britain’s Cold War Spymaster.

Hugh Gallagher of Northbridge Wealth Management published the book "Straight Talk on Financial Planning".

John Bowman recently published an anthology of Ireland’s history from 1916 to 2016.

Paddy McEvoy’s memoir raised over €40,000 in much needed funds for the Belvedere Youth Club.

Kevin O’Byrne was recently appointed as the CFO of Sainsbury’s in the UK.

Gary Hoban is building a reputation for quality work at his Hoban design architect practice in London. Hugh Brennan at Renaissance Re, Conor Foley at Norton Rose, James Mintern at Credit Suisse are all enjoying working in London.

Mark O’Meara OB 89 of Danu Partners hosted the Irish Jesuit Schools London Lunch at their Smith & Wollenskys restaurant.

Michael Beary OB'87 has returned from the US and has been appointed as head of Amazon in Ireland.

Brendan Murphy OB'88 is chairing the Teneo Group here in Ireland.

Niall Behan was elected head of DCU Students University.

Jack Chambers is flying the flag as TD for OB's at Dail Eireann

Tom Kinsella is Head of the AIB Marketing team who were awarded marketing team of the year in Ireland

Garret Grogan was appointed head of BOI Global Equities

Stephen Groarke was appointed head of Risk at PTSB



Great Belvederians remembered

Terry Wogan’s life was celebrated at a memorial service held at Westminster Abbey which was packed to capacity and which was broadcast live on the BBC.

Noël E Purcell, OB1909 was a former rugby international and was President of the Leinster Branch, IRFU, in 1943. He was educated in Belvedere and Clongowes. He was the only Irish international rugby player to win an Olympic gold medal – as part of Britain’s water polo team in 1920. In 1924 he represented the Irish Free State in the Paris Olympics, the first man in the history of the Olympic Games to represent two countries. In or about 2012 his children Rosemary and Noël J presented Belvedere with their father’s Olympic Gold Medal along with participation medals for the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, along with pictures, medals and caps relating to the Olympics, Irish Rugby Football Union, Leinster Rugby, the Irish Amateur Swimming Association, Irish and Leinster Polo and the Tailteann games. The collection was put on display in the College during the academic year 2012/13.



RIP



It was with great sadness that we bid farewell to Fr. Derek Cassidy last March. Fr. Derek SJ served as Rector of the College since 2002 and was a much-loved member of the College community. The Union saluted the dedication, expertise, humour and wise counsel that Fr. Derek had brought to the many meetings of the Belvedere Union and its associated committees over the years. The many people who attended the service and funeral mass reflected the love and high estemm that Fr. Derek was held. He will be missed by all. May he Rest In Peace.


Also, the recent sad passing of Cardinal Desmond Connell, former Archbishop of Dublin, and former past president of the Belvedere College Union was noted. His eminence Desmond Connell was OB 1943 and he was the 71st President of the Belvedere College Union to 1999-2000, he is pre-deceased by his brothers Dan OB 1942, James OB 1947 and his nephew Father Roy OB 1977. He is survived by his nephews, John OB 1971, the current head of the French department at Belvedere College, Dennis OB 1974 and Mark OB 1983.



School Events/ News



As President, I am very honoured to attend certain school events during the year including the Graduation Ball in January, the Careers night, the school Musical and the Graduation ceremonies in May. Meeting and hearing these fine young men speak about their time in Belvedere, makes one realise how valuable the Jesuit education is to these ‘Men for Others’, as they step into the next stage of their life. It’s been an honour to meet them all and I would like to thank Gerry Foley, Seamus Finegan, Yvonne O’Brien and all the team in the College for their help and support throughout the year.

A big congratulations to Rhetoric class of 2017 who graduated from Belvedere College last May. These are now our youngest ‘Old Belvederians’! We wish the lads every success in the upcoming leaving cert and in their future career paths and we look forward to seeing many of them at the Annual Dinner in November.






Appointment of two new deputy principals

The appointment of two additional Deputy Principals, was announced at the end of the school year. Congratulations to Ms. Lesley Byrne and Ms. Clodagh Culligan who will take up these position in the next academic year.


Sleep Out and Soup Run

At Christmas time, the Union supports the exceptional work of the current Rhetoric, Poetry and recent past pupils in the Annual Sleep Out. Adam Ronayne, CJ Barry and Eoin Kilkenny and the Junior Union have all done excellent work with this event, and the Soup Runs throughout the inner city and through raising funds for Pieta House with the Panda Cup.

St. Vincent De Paul Society

The Belvedere College St Aloysius Conference of St. Vincent De Paul celebrates its 100th Anniversary on Sunday, October 22nd 2017. All are welcome to attend the celebration mass in St. Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St. at 3pm. Refreshments will be served afterwards.


Reunions

The following reunions have been organised for 2017. These reunions are a great opportunity to return to the school and meet up with your old school pals. A lot has changed in the college over the past few years. Our prefects are on hand to give tours of the school with its many new and wonderful additions such as the O’Reilly Theatre, the new science block, library and Food Lab. Afterwards you can enjoy a reception in the beautifully restored Belvedere House. All reunions are now listed on the website in the events section where you can book and pay online. Invites have been sent via email to each year. However, we do not have emails for all Belvederians prior to 2014 so please spread the word amongst your class mates. If you did not receive your invite please contact the union secretary at belvedercollege@belvedereunion.ie or go to our website, www.belvedereunion.com.



Class of '07 10 year reunion – 22nd July, Belvedere House, 7-10pm. To book, click here

Class of '97 20 year reunion – 6th October, Belvedere House, 7-10pm. To book, click here

Class of '92 25 year reunion – 23rd June, Old Belvedere Rugby Club, from 8pm onwards. To book, click here

Class of '87 30 Year reunion – 15th September, Belvedere House, 7-10pm. To book, click here

Class of '77 40 year reunion – 29th September, Belvedere House, 7-10pm. To book, click here

Class of '67 50 year reunion – 3rd November (Union Dinner), Mansion House. 7 ‘til late.(details to follow).



AGM

The 114th Past Pupils Union AGM will be held on Monday, September 4th at 7.30 pm in Belvedere House where the inauguration of the incoming President, Brian Dillon takes place. Please come and join me in welcoming Brian as the new President of the Union.




And finally…..

I would particularly like to thank all the members of the Union Committee for their Involvement and commitment to the activities of the Union over the past months and to thank the Past Pupils, for their engagement with the many and varied events and activities organised and arranged by the Committee. It’s always good to hear from past pupils and I would ask that you please provide all constructive comments and suggestions to me via our Union Secretary, Ciara Banks at

belvedereunion@belvederecollege.ie



Enjoy the summer.



Eugene Bent, President, Belvedere College Union