Annual General Meeting 2007

The 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Old Drogheda Society was held on Wednesday October 31st 2007 in the Governor's House , Millmount . Outgoing chairperson Pat Hanratty retired from his role after giving outstanding leadership over the last 5 years . Many tributes were paid to Pat's hard work for the Society.

The new chairperson is Sean Corcoran , who was one of those present at the very first meeting of the Society , the Corcoran family having been always prominent in the activities of the Society . Sean is also chairman of Millmount Community Development Services Ltd .

There were no other changes in the officers  with Gerard Murray and Eamonn Thornton joining the committee in place of William Malone and Miriam Bradley neither of whom went forward .

The outgoing chairperson outlined the activities of the Society over the past year which included the annual trip away which this year was to Sligo & Leitrim .The Annual John Boyle O'Reilly School had the Flight of the Earls as its theme , marking the 400th anniversary of the event , and this proved to be a great success. The Annual Day Away was to Enniskillen and Lough Erne and evening trips to Stamullen , Newbridge House and to Solstice Theatre Navan to see Dermot Bolger's new play "Walking the Road " on the life of Francis Ledwidge.

There were some very interesting lectures including Dermot Somers' An Ilustrated Talk , Ranging from Ireland to Tibet in February , Paddy Brennan and John Mulrane's Drogheda Goes Automatic in March .John McCullen stood in at very short notice to give the April lecture after Dr Eggerer was indisposed . In October Sean Corcoran spoke on Vernacular Music Traditions of Drogheda and South Louth .

Other activities include the Heritage Week Town Walk in September guided by Deirde Russell which saw members climb St Laurence Gate and visit Magdalene Tower and very successful book sales in John McGovern's former shop in Stockwell Street and in the St Laurence Centre . Millmount and the Museum also featured prominently during Drogheda Arts Festival when RTE's Nationwide visited .

Shows in the Millmount included Piperlink and Zoe Conway .

The treasurer Seamus Dolan gave a detailed financial report , Secretary Mary Mc Donough Malone read the minutes of last years meeting and Betty Quinn reported on the Corcoran Garry Schools programme . the Primary Schools programme and on marketing activities .