Castlebar Golf Club hosted its own Gathering golf event entitled the Middle East Celts Golf Classic. Lady captain Mary Caulfield and her committee drove this project from its inception to reality and it turned out to be a fantastic success with a huge crowd of Celts turning out to play, including US Celts such as James McGovern, Adam Niles, Dave Perez, and Dustin Sparman; Middle East Celts from Dubai including Kevin Burns and Noel Rice; flying Celts including Siobhan Dravins, Albert Dravins, Margaret Reynolds, and Brian Reynolds as well as a large number of local Celts.
A very special visitor to the club was Sara Moffat who is a native of Crossmolina and is living and working in Abu Dhabi as a teacher. Sara is back home in Ireland as the Abu Dhabi Rose and touring Ireland in advance of the Rose of Tralee festival later this month. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny played in the competition as well and made a presentation of crystal to the Abu Dhabi Rose.
While the actual competition was the platform for the whole event it provided a great atmosphere and fun in the clubhouse afterwards that really epitomised what the whole Gathering idea is about - expatriates coming home for a visit, meeting old friends and new, renewing acquaintances and just relaxing and showing that certainly Ireland is the best place to be.
Lady captain Caulfield in her address to all the attending Celts spoke eloquently of the Gathering, how it came about and what it was for. She made special mention of Mayo County Council and HC Financial Advisors which is based in Oranmore, both of which supported the Castlebar Golf Club Gathering event.
Of course the event was not just limited to one day. On Wednesday July 31 Conor Melvin, son of John and Ann Melvin, who is teaching in Korea, brought a crowd of 20 Korean children to the club. Conor has brought these children to Ireland for a summer language camp and as part of that visit brought them to the club as they wanted to play golf. Unfortunately the weather on the day was atrocious and golf outside was just impossible but still the children had a fine time, playing indoor golf in the clubhouse and meeting the members and even a special ice-cream van came out to supply some refreshments.
Two visitors home for a wedding were Tony and Michael Murray, sons of Michael Murray and nephews of Jimmy and Bernie Murray. Tony is living in Darwin while Michael is living in Brisbane. Tony was home to get married (last Thursday ) and visited the club with his brother and family to play a round of golf.
All in all it was a wonderful gathering event, very well organised by the ladies of Castlebar Golf Club and totally enjoyed by all.
