Irish Asssociation of Manitoba

This year the Irish Association is proud to celebrate its 37th annual St. Patrick’s Day Gala Evening. We are pleased to be returning to the Hotel Fort Garry on Saturday, March 14th 2009.

We sincerely hope that you will join us in the celebration of our culture and heritage on this historic occasion.
Tickets are priced at $65 per person, with a portion of the proceeds helping to sponsor the Official Irish Association of Manitoba cyclist, Michael Sykes, who will be participating in the Habitat for Humanity Cycle of Hope in July. Ticket price also includes a wonderful meal provided by the Hotel Fort Garry and a variety of delightful entertainment.

This is the premiere event of the year for the Irish Association of Manitoba and we feel confident that it is an evening you won’t want to miss!

If you would like to make arrangements for the purchase of tickets please contact the Club or by email at stpats@irishassociation.ca

This year sees the 15th Habitat for Humanity Cycle of Hope, July 4-18th, 2009 and is Michael Sykes third time participating. The ride goes south into South Dakota along part of The Lewis and Clark historic trail and back to Winnipeg, 1000 miles. The ride raises enough funds for one new home for a deserving family. To date Habitat has built 151 homes and the goal this year for Winnipeg is 17 new builds. Michael only started cycling at the age of 49.

So far he has completed this trips
- Lands End to John o’Groates (England, Wales, Scotland)
- Ireland Five corners including Mizen to Malin
- Iceland The Ring Road (murderous)
- Across Canada from Ucluelet, Vancouver Island to Cape Spear Newfoundland
- Victoria to Hazelton

The Irish Association is proud to assist Michael in his fundraising activities, and a donation from each ticket sold to the annual St. Patrick’s Gala Dinner will be made to Habitat for Humanity.

The Pennies from Heaven total in the jar was 203.45 with 112.08 being raised by Irish Myst’s Carol Night. Well done to the choir for a lovely evening for a good cause.

Irish Club Chef Tony Eyer retired as 2008 came to a close, ending many years of feasts and celebrations. What will Tony do next, we wonder. Like the Portugese director, Manoel de Oliveira, will our beloved Chef go on to make 17 films between the ages of 83 and 100? An era ends.

Our newest addition to the Board of Directors, Paul McMullan, bravely stepped forward to volunteer as Chair of The St.Patricks Gala Committee 2009. He has rescued this event from being cancelled and in a dashing move has made it the proud supporter of The Irish Association of Manitoba’s official cyclist, Michael Sykes, for The Habitat for Humanity Cycle of Hope 2009. The Gala will be held at The Hotel Fort Garry on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 and $5.00 from every ticket sold will go to Habitat.

An Oral History Project was started in the spring of 2007 when Professor Jennifer Clary-Lemon, from the Department of Academic Writing at The University of Winnipeg began interviewing the founding members of The Irish Association of Manitoba to preserve their stories of Ireland, coming to Canada and the genesis of The IAM. The next stage of transcribing these taped stories is now well under way. The goal is a published book with archival photos in time for the 40th Anniversary of IAM in 2012. The project began with a question during a massage therapy session when a member asked Jennifer “How do we do a history of the Irish Association”? In a remarkably efficient effort, Jennifer applied for and received a grant for the equipment needed and organized the entire project and volunteered her time for the interviews. The work of transcription is now being carried out by graduate students in that department.

The Irish Association needs your photos from the last 37 years! Please contact our webmaster, Paul Clerkin at our website www.irishassociation.ca so that he can make copies of these photos for use in our history project and to create an official archival collection.

New events at The Irish Club in 2009 will include Girl’s Night Out Productions THE HALF MONTY starring the boys from The Winnipeg Celtic Pipe and Drum Band, with a guest chef, Saturday, April 11th., an original interpretation inspired by THE FULL MONTY movie.

Another excellent night in the Irish Association’s Continuing Education Programme say Gary Dawyduk of the MLCC guide members and guests through some fine Whisky/Whiskey last Thursday Night. An always popular evening saw close to full capacity for the event. Highlight of the evening must go to the 21year old from County Antrim.

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