T.M.S. News Archive

 

Thurles Musical Society AGM 2010

September 2010

The Annual General Meeting of Thurles Musical Society took place in the Premier Hall on Thursday evening last as preparations began for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Society.

A year which saw the fantastic and dramatic Jekyll and Hyde staged, was reflected upon and recalled, while plans for the coming year were announced with the Me and My Girl show in the offing for 2011.
2010 will be remembered for many reasons with plenty of highlights to recall. However, it was also a year tinged with sadness as we lost our last surviving founding member, Canon William Noonan, just before the curtain went up on Jekyll and Hyde. A quiet, gentle, unassuming soul, his loss, and the loss of others, was recalled at the start of AGM.

Secretary Laura Ryan and Chairperson Mary Butler gave a comprehensive rundown of the business of the Society in what proved to be a very challenging year from a financial viewpoint. With the realities of the economic recession hitting home, the Society was forced to operate at a loss for Jekyll and Hyde, a show which was an outstanding artistic success, but not so at the box office.

The Chairperson thanked all those who worked so hard to make the show a success and was delighted that the efforts had seen a Best Overall Show nomination at the annual AIMS Awards. She also paid special tribute to Michael McLoughlin who played the title role and said that he had gone to unbelieveable rounds to sebmerge himself in the character and carry off, to great acclaim, what is one of the most demanding and challenging roles in musical theatre.

While the show itself did not break even, the Society was fortunate to have been able to host a concert in the Anner Hotel in May as a warm up for a show in New Ross which we had been invited to take part in as part of the annual Choral Festival. This concert proved to be another huge success and was extremely well received, both in Thurles and New Ross. It also proved to be a financial success and helped to ease the burden following the annual show. Mary Butler thanked the company for coming on board again so soon after Jekyll and Hyde and looked forward to a similar project in early December.

Cisteoir Antoin O'Briain produced a detailed set of accounts for the Society and paid tribute to the various elements within which manged to work to tightened budgets in difficult times. He thanked all our sponsors, patrons, advertisers and the people of Thurles and the surrounding areas for their support. The Society is privileged to enjoy enormous goodwill, he said, and should never compromise the high standards set, despite financial constraints.

As 2011 will be the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Society, the in-coming committee will be examining ways of commemorating and celebrating this special occasion. With this in mind, the number of committee members will be increased to eight with one member to be assigned for special duties. Those elected to committee were Mary Callanan, Mary O'Flynn, Barry Cagney, Mary Long, Geraint Fyler, Finbarr Shelly, Philip Egan and Pat Hayes.

The Officers remain the same for the coming year with Alice O'Brien (President), Alice Hogan (Vice President), Mary Butler (Chairperson), Laura Ryan (Secretary) and Antoin O'Briain (Treasurer) all being returned unopposed. At the first meeting of the in-coming committee, Mary Rose McNally will be co-opted as Musical Director; Noel Dundon as PRO and Nora Tuohy as Web Co-Ordinator.

Prior to the adjournment of the AGM, discussions took place on many aspects of the Society including final show night arrangements, up-coming events including a social evening in Cu Chulainn on Saturday 18th September; Who's Got Talent Competition on November 6th and 7th; and our concerts on December 2nd and 3rd. More about these later.
The Chairperson looked forward to a busy few months ahead and said that every effort must be made to continue bringing high standard musical theatre to the people of Thurles who have supported us through thick and thin over the last six decades.

 

T.M.S. NEWS ARCHIVE

June 2009	September 2009	October 2009	November 2009
December 2009	January 2010	February 2010	May 2010
September 2010	October 2010	January 2011	March 2011