Over the next few weeks take a look at billboards all over Ireland....you might see an Aldi Community Games hero from your County!

Wouldn't it be amazing to go shopping at Aldi with a bag that's been designed by your son, daughter, grandchild, niece or nephew? Or someone from your local Aldi Community Games Area?  

This competition is open to children from all over Ireland between the ages of 6 and 16.  All they need to do is simply draw or paint on a4 what Aldi Community Games means to them, download an entry form and cover sheet from www.aldi.ie and post off their entry to PO Box 726, Naas, Co. Kildare before 10th May.  Full t's and c's are available on the Aldi website.

Best of luck!   

Phase 1 Events (for the May Festival)  deadline is May 7th 2018 11:59pm

Talented Roscommon pianist, Peter Regan, is a dynamic performer, who has performed in Carnegie Hall, New York, the National Concert Hall, Dublin, the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts in Toronto, home of the Canadian Opera. He has been described as a “major talent” and “as the most individual and developed young pianist I’ve heard in years” by Michael Dervan, of the Irish Times.
 
Peter is a student of the renowned Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he has been based for the past four years, studying under, internationally acclaimed pianist, John O’Conor. In September 2018 Peter will move to London, to the world famous Royal College of Music, to complete his Masters in piano performance, and to work with many of the world’s leading musicians. In May 2018, Peter has been selected to compete in the 11th Dublin International Piano Competition.

A multiple prize winner, Peter has won all the major competition cups in Ireland’s premier competitive arena, the Electric Ireland Feis Ceoil, including the much coveted Morris- Grant Cup and Bursary and the Mabel Swainson Pianoforte Award in 2017. Peter has performed in master classes with the world’s foremost piano masters, including, Leon Fleisher, Christopher Elton, Pavel Nersessian, Robert Kulek, John Perry, Finghin Collins, Daniel Hope, Stefan Vladar, Lilya Zilberstein. In 2017, Peter presented “Kinesthesia” a major joint collaboration between the famous schools of the Glenn Gould School of Music and the George Brown School of Dance, Toronto.
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He also gave solo recitals in the National Concert Hall, the Westport Chamber Music Festival, Great Hall of Queen’s University and at the Clandeboye Festival. Peter was a featured artist on RTE’S “Arena” with Sean Rocks and has also performed live on “Today with Seán O’Rourke on RTE Radio 1.

Tickets are available from: Maynooth Jewellers, Main Street or text/call
​086-827 7239

5th March 2018

To: Members of Company
 
Re: Limited Company – Reconvened Annual General Meeting 2018
  
Dear Member,

I wish to advise that the reconvened Annual General Meeting of the Community Games Limited Company will take place as follows:

Jean Monet Theatre, University Of Limerick, on Saturday April 7th at 10.30am.

Registration from 10.00 a.m.
All Company Members are entitled to attend the AGM.
Delegates as previously published will be valid for the reconvened meeting unless otherwise advised to HQ in accordance with the rules of Community Games.
 
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA – Saturday April 7th 2018
1. President’s Address
2. Roll Call of Delegates
3. Minutes of Annual General Meeting 5th May 2017
4. Company Reports
5. Adoption of Financial Statements
6. Election of Tellers
7. Appointment of Auditors
8. Election of Officers
  i President
  ii Deputy President
  iii General Vice President
  iv Secretary
  v Treasurer
  vi Activities Director
  vii Public Relations & Marketing Director
  viii Youth Director
  ix Security Director
9. Election of NEAC Nominated Directors
10. Election of
  i Activities Committee Members
  ii Finance Committee Members
  iii Appeals Committee Members
 12. Appointment of Province for 2020 Annual General Meeting
 13. Motions/Recommendations
  i. Motions
  ii Recommendations
 
Thanking you in advance for your Cooperation.

Jude J Feehan
Company Secretary Community Games.

3 time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan was once a very keen member of Slaney Valley Community Games - taking part in Art, Handwriting, Running and Basketball. 

We were very fortunate to come across a clip of her from 2004 (long before she was famous) talking about Community Games!

Enjoy!

Former Ireland, British & Irish Lions and Munster captain Paul O’Connell and Olympic Bronze Medalist Rob Heffernan were joined by children from Limerick Community Games in University of Limerick today to launch this year’s Aldi Community Games festivals and to celebrate the new three year deal which sees The University of Limerick become the new home for the Aldi Community Games Festivals 2018 to 2020.
 
This year marks the second of a three-year sponsorship by Aldi Ireland to invest in and support the event for future generations.  Aldi Community Games aims to encourage and introduce young people to a love of sport and culture, focusing on participation rather than winning.
 
More than 160,000 children across 575 communities are expected to take part in over 200 scheduled regional events supported by 20,000 volunteers. The National Festivals will take place in the University of Limerick in May (25th – 27th) and August (17th – 19th), and will bring together the regional champions in friendly competition across a wide range of sporting and cultural activities, individual and team sports. 
 
Speaking at the launch today, Aldi Play Rugby Ambassador and former Community Games competitor Paul O’Connell commented, “Swimming was my favourite sport growing up and I got my first taste of competition at Community Games. I remember loving the feeling of representing Limerick and it always motivated me to do well. Taking part in Community Games helped me immensely in terms of my confidence and I learnt the importance of preparation, determination and dedication - values I later applied on the rugby pitch.  I’m now into the second year working with Aldi as an ambassador for Aldi Play Rugby. Between working on this and seeing what they have done with Aldi Community Games, it is clear to me the great commitment Aldi has to developing the community support initiatives that they are involved in.”
 
Olympic Bronze Medalist, and former Community Games competitor Rob Heffernan said, “Aldi Community Games is all about participation. Children come from all over Ireland, and being around their peers and having fun in a safe and sporting environment is better than any medal they could win. The event sends a message to children from an early age that they can achieve their dreams no matter how big or small through local and national sporting and cultural events. I have the fondest memories of my time taking part.”
 
Over the past 51 years more than 5 million children have participated in Community Games, including many of Ireland’s celebrities, sporting heroes and world-famous actors. Some of the names in the history books include Paul O’Connell, Rob Heffernan, Saoirse Ronan, Niall Horan, Olive Loughnane, Niall Breslin known as Bressie, Niall Quinn, Colin Farrell and Sonia O’Sullivan.
  
Dr Cate Hartigan, Assistant National Director, HSE, Health Promotion & Improvement commented “I am delighted to see the next chapter in the Community Games story being opened, with this announcement. The HSE has been a long term supporter and core funder of the Community Games, as we collectively strive to promote and encourage children and their parents to adopt healthier lifestyles across different communities in Ireland. My hope is that this move will attract a lot of new participants to the games, in addition to keeping the existing ones.  I am equally pleased for the University of Limerick, as a Healthy Campus, the campus shares with us the vision and values of Healthy Ireland, as we work to promote healthy living in Ireland.”  

Speaking at the launch, Finbar McCarthy, Group Buying Director, Aldi Ireland, said,
 
“At Aldi our competitive nature ensures that we will never be beaten on price.  We have also made an equally strong commitment to promoting active, healthy lifestyles for Ireland’s next generation, and teaming up with Community Games, and indeed the IRFU, is built on that vision.”
 
“The first year of our partnership with Community Games was a huge success and I have no doubt 2018 will exceed our expectations. I would like to wish all the children and volunteers taking part in the hundreds of events up and down the country over the next few months the very best and hopefully they will make it to the University of Limerick for the National Festivals next May and August.”
 
Community Games CEO John Byrne added, “We are looking forward to a new era for Community Games as we embark on a three-year partnership with University of Limerick to host our National Festivals. With the support of our title sponsor Aldi and our other corporate partners in the promotion of healthy lifestyles we are confident that a bright future lies ahead as we begin our sixth decade as Ireland’s leading sporting and cultural organisation. 

James Brooks, Managing Director of Kia Motors Ireland, “We are delighted to be associated with Community Games, Kia is primarily a family brand and we see a great fit between the organisation and our customer base. We are looking forward to promoting the Community Games in the lead up to the national finals in May and August at its new home of the University of Limerick.” 

Click here to download the full list of Directors as nominated by Counties
Click here to download the full list of NEAC Directors as nominated by Counties


DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT: Gerard Davenport
DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Tony Lee
GENERAL VICE-PRESIDENT: Joe Fox | Eileen Doherty
SECRETARY: Jude Feehan 
TREASURER: Janice Cooper
PR & MARKETING: Bernie Brennan
ACTIVITIES: Tanya Kelly
YOUTH: Lisamarie McCooey
SECURITY: Clifford Kelly

NEAC DIRECTORS
Kieran d'Arcy
Eileen Doherty
Joe Fox
Andy Griffin
Seamus Hogan
Patricia Keegan
Fiona Kelly-Shannon
Gerry McGuinness
Shirley Moloney
Michael Sheehan
Jane Walsh

Johnstown Estate was buzzing on Saturday 25th November as all the very worthy nominees of the Aldi Community Games National Area, Volunteer and Media Awards came together to celebrate their achievements. 

MC Tony O'Donoghue was the perfect host of the event and we were proud to have Meath County Council Cathoirleach Gerry O'Connor, Aldi Marketing Manager Rita Kirwan, the HSE's Ailis Brosnan and Clodagh Armitage, Kia's Gillian Neely, and INM's Arlene Regan as guests on the night. 

The overall winners were Doora/Barefield in Co. Clare and there was rapturous celebrations when Gerry Davenport, President, announced that they had won. 

The Provincial Winners were: 
Connacht: Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon
Leinster: Ballymahon Forgney, Co. Longford
Munster: Doora Barefield,  Co. Clare
Ulster: Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan

The Media Award Winners were: 
 HSE - Photo in Action public facebook contest
Patrick Whelan, Cork

Best Published Photo Winner - Arthur Ellis from Clare Champion
Best Published Article Winner - Michael Brophy from Mayo Community Games
(both sponsored by INM)

Best Website Winner - Clare Community Games -  Rob Stephen, Co. Clare
Best Social Media Winner - Meath Community Games -  Laura O’Donoghue and Eileen Doherty
(both sponsored by Kia)

2 Runner up PRO’s:
1.First Runner Up Michael Crossan Donegal Community Games
2.Second Runner Up Eileen Brennan. Sligo Community Games
 
2 Runner up newspapers:
1.First Runner Up Donegal Democrat, Peter Campbell
2.Second Runner Up Sligo Champion, Emma Gallagher
 
Overall PRO and Newspaper winners:
1.Overall PRO award - Noreen O Dea, Limerick Community Games
2. Overall Newspaper award - Dann O’ Sullivan Limerick Leader 

Digitally, Aldi Ireland have been busy tweeting, retweeting, liking, sharing and posting and have a dedicated section for Community Games on their website

Aldi Ireland have worked tirelessly alongside us all year to activate Aldi Community Games at local, regional and national level.   We were delighted to see them scoop the prize for Best use of Outdoor and Print at the Irish Sponsorship Awards on 22nd November 2017 for the Aldi Community Games campaign.

So just how are we going to top all that in 2018?  The sky's the limit and the possibilities are endless.  #getinthegames