It’s November, the evenings have long since drawn in and there is a feeling of finality in the air. While the year of the Gathering has been far from perfect in many different senses, mostly economic ones, there is a slight improvement of mood.
This is due to the better weather we experienced this summer, although it would have been hard for mother nature to give us more rain than in 2012.
On the Macra scene, our year is only really under way. We had a wonderful annual conference in Carlow during the October bank holiday weekend, followed by the 49th Queen of the Land competition in Tullamore only a couple of weeks ago.
Now we look towards what will be another very important Macra event, our ‘Macra Gathering’.
‘Racing for Macra’ is an event taking place in four greyhound stadiums, this Saturday, 30 November. It has a number of prime objectives.
First and foremost it is designed to be a fundraiser for the approximately 200 Macra na Feirme clubs in Ireland who have seen over a quarter of a million people benefit from Macra’s existence since it was founded almost 70 years ago.
Secondly, ‘Racing for Macra’ will help our national organisation to continue to provide a high level of service to its members through the rollout of programmes and initiatives in each of its six key developmental areas – agriculture, public speaking, performing arts, competitions, community involvement and travel.
Lastly, we hope that it will be a really good social night, where present and past members can come along to enjoy what is best about Macra.
We would hope to see many people who have benefitted from being a member of our unique organisation come to meet their old friends, and maybe make new ones.
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Already, thousands of people are planning on attending one of the events in Waterford, Cork, Mullingar or Galway.
Our members have been selling tickets countrywide for the past two months but there is still time to buy them before the event, as they won’t be available on the night.
Even if you can’t attend one of the events, each €10 ticket guarantees entry into a draw for the chance to win €1,000 or a weekend stay for two at the FBD Castleknock Hotel.
If you would like to buy a ticket and support your local Macra na Feirme club then please contact any Macra member or ring 01-4268900. I hope to see you there on the night.
Paddy Delaney, Leinster vice-president
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