Edmonton Irish Club "A Safe Place to Call Home"
On my recent whirlwind trip to Alberta, I met with three members of the executive of the Irish Sports and Social Club of Edmonton. Newly elected president Sean Gay, social director Seamus Donaghy, and treasurer Ken McManus spoke to me about upcoming plans at the club.
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| MEMBERS of the executive of the Irish Sports and Society Society Edmonton (L-R) Sean Gay, Seamus Donaghy, and Ken McManus. |
The Edmonton Irish community has a clubhouse that is a credit to them. The building was purchased in 1986 and has been a going concern ever since. But, as many people would realize, it takes dedicated volunteers to put in the time and effort to run the club and ensure the survival and vibrancy of the culture. Sean Gay, Seamus Donaghy and Ken McManus are doing their part to continue that heritage.
Sean Gay was born in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, and emigrated to Canada in 1975. He has been a member of the club since 1976 and has served as a warden for 10 years before taking on the presidency this year.
He said, “what I intend to work on first, is getting more members to come out to the club on the weekends. We get great support from the members for special events throughout the year, such as Christmas, St. Patrick’s, concerts, and of course, all the Gaelic games of football and hurling that we bring in by satellite from May to September, but we need more member support throughout the week.”
Along with the new committee, Sean will be exploring various types of entertainment at the club in order to get more member participation, especially on the weekends. Among other suggestions, they have been looking at theatre groups and poetry readings.
“We did a lot of renovations to the club in the past two years,” Sean said, “and financially the club is in a pretty sound position. We have a nice comfortable club. It’s there for members and non-members.
“It’s open four days a week and it’s a safe place to be. It’s safe for women to go to on their own and have a drink and feel at home and not be annoyed. There’s always good craic around the bar. Our barman Walt Leabody is Irish and he can sit and have a good blarney with anyone who comes in.
“We also have our Wolfe Tones Gaelic men and women’s football teams and they take part in tournaments throughout the year with teams from Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle.”
Social director Seamus Donaghy is also from Belfast, and speaking about St. Patrick’s and the up-coming social activities at the club, he said, “we have our dinner at the club usually the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, but everyone is in to the pub on St. Patrick’s day and night...the place will be packed!
“For our St. Patrick’s dinner and dance on March 12, we have entertainment by the popular, P.J. McDonald. On St. Patrick’s at the pub, we have entertainment by Harry Welling along with the Irish dancers.”
The club is licensed for 230 people and with a well-equipped kitchen, they are able to cater for weddings, birthdays and all kinds of private events. The club also has several dinner dances for the members throughout the year.
For the past number of years, Edmonton has had a St. Patrick’s Day parade but they won’t be having one this year. Ken McManus said, “because of the cost of insurance, policing and general security, it was just not financially viable to continue. Maybe something can be done in the future.”
Club treasurer Ken McManus was born at St. Brides, an Irish settlement in Alberta. His mother was from Derry and his father from Tyrone.
For more information, or to become a member of the Irish Sports and Social Society Edmonton, call (780) 453-2249, or check-out the club bulletin board on their website at: www.irishclub.ca.
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