News & Press Room
Macra’s AIB Club of the Year Winners Announced
Freemount Macra Club from Avondhu took home the 2011 title of AIB Club of the Year from the Macra Annual Conference. The awards banquet took place at the conference in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork on Saturday the 29th of October. Freemount Macra club received a cheque for €1,500, while the two runner-up clubs - Mitchelstown Macra club, also from Avondhu, who were also awarded Best Emerging Club and Mountmellick Macra club from Laois – each received a cheque for €500.
The award for 'AIB Best New Macra Member' was also presented on the night. This award is given to a Macra member who has made a significant contribution to the development of their club during their first year of membership. This award was presented to Nicholas Butterly from Togher Macra Club, Co. Louth who received the prize of a laptop.
The AIB Club of the Year Competition recognises excellence in Macra clubs throughout the country. Clubs are assessed on the planning and execution of their development strategy, involvement in the club's local community, and the level of participation of club members in a variety of activities at club, county and national level in all of the organisation's programme areas.
Tadhg Buckley from sponsors, AIB, said “The AIB Club of the Year Competition is a platform for Macra clubs to showcase the extensive range of activities undertaken, throughout the year. The AIB Club of the Year competition is a sponsorship that the bank has found very rewarding and we are delighted to join with Macra na Feirme to celebrate and reward the success of Macra clubs. The competition has continued to evolve during AIB’s eleven years of association with the competition and the standard of the finalists this year is once again at a very high level. I would like to congratulate Freemount Macra on their success and the six other finalists on their achievement this year. You have a lot to be proud of.”
Macra na Feirme National President, Alan Jagoe, said, “The AIB Club of the Year competition provides members with a platform to display their hard work and achievements in their clubs. The standard is always incredibly high and this year was no exception. This year, we introduced the ‘Best Emerging Club’ category which highlighted some spectacular clubs which were only recently established. I wish to acknowledge the generosity of our sponsors AIB whose commitment to this competition has made it possible for Macra to reward members’ efforts in this way."
Freemount came out as the top club after club officers underwent a stringent interview process with a panel of adjudicators and produced a multimedia presentation which was shown to over 1,000 delegates at Macra's annual conference.
