Welcome to Castlegregory Golf Links.

Various structural defects were noticed in the Seven Hogs building in Aughcashla on Monday 12^th December following the events of the weekend. The gale force winds and rain caused little damage but many of the windows were found to be cracked and the roof had been raised by over two feet due to the effects of the various high notes reached during the Golf Club Christmas party. The bar glasses survived intact as many of them were essentially full for most of the night.

The night got off to a cracking start with excellent food and drink provided by the Seven Hogs and some entertaining music performed by the resident musician. President Burrows then led the dancers on to the floor and this paved the way for our own ‘First Noel’ Earlie to take the mike and facilitate a brilliant night of singers, comedians, choirs and story tellers. Throughout the night, the style, balance and organisational skills were provided by our Lady Captain Marilyn, who initiated an innovative competition to re-write the classic Christmas carols. Five renditions, from various competitive groups, followed which, in fairness, left a lot to be desired. However, the winners were obvious and a choir led by Marie McCarthy stole the show with a cover version of ‘The Nine Holes of Castle’ which would let MiniMix of XFactor in the shade.

After an initial performance of a song with no name from an impromptu group of Captain, President and Himself, Hannah Herlihy obviously caused the first structural defects as she serenaded Frankie for staggering home late, early and not at all. A host of singers and entertainers then followed and these included: Our club saxophone player Tom Ferriter; suave singers Geraldine O’Flynn and Katrina Mehigan who yearned for summertime; oldest swinger in town ‘First Noel’ Earlie; the sweet singing Ger Callanan sang about his courting days prior to meeting Mary; the very much alive and elegant Liz O’Carroll told us about the resurrection of the almost dead Kate Finucane; the very well rehearsed Club Choir caused most of the Hogs damage with a premier performance of The First Noel (not the Captain even though he was a choir member); Declan O Donoghue displayed his roots with an excellent rendition of ‘The Langer’ (at this stage we noticed the absence of our Chairman of Management , Mike Keane, who was away helping the Munster boys celebrate a double victory). Some others, the authors of this piece included, were shy and performed when the majority had left!

What needs to be said is that this night buzzed from beginning to end and marked a fantastic beginning for our Captains Marilyn and Noel. We can only look forward to the golfing year to come!