Clongowes Reunion - New York 2019

A reunion of Old Clongownians, currently living in North America, took place on Saturday 28th September at the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park in New York City.  The dinner was attended by just short of 50 people of which 32 were past pupils of the College. Paul Maher (OC ’61), the incoming President of the Union, hosted the evening and he was joined from Ireland by Father Rector, Michael Sheil S.J (OC ’56) and Martin Wallace, the deputy Head Master. That they travelled to New York for this event reflects the commitment of the Union and the School to our North American alumni. The current Head Master of Boston College High School, and past master at Clongowes, Adam Lewis showed considerable loyalty to the Clongowes cause by driving down for the dinner and straight back to Boston that evening.

The guests were drawn from a wide spectrum of ages and it was encouraging to see a good representation from those who had left within the past 10 years.  A thanks to those who made the journey from outside the Tri-State area and particular mention should be made of Alex Mann (OC’ 07), who travelled over from San Francisco, Padraic Connolly (OC ’88) and his wife who came from Chicago and Conor McEnroy (OC’79) and his wife who reside in Paraguay.

The National Arts Club was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and many thanks go to Harley Griffiths (OC ’66), who secured the venue on the Union’s behalf. The Union would like to thank the North American Committee of Ken Hanly (OC ’79, Boston), Patrick Hourihane (OC ’88, Chicago), Mark Burke (OC’66, Toronto), Alex Mann (West Coast), and the New York team of James O’Reilly (OC ’01), Karl Finegan (OC ’89) and Harley Griffiths for all their help in supporting this event. While the number attending was shy of 50 many more expressed their interest and indeed there were some 10 late withdrawals because of late and unavoidable conflicts. 

The general view is that such an event should take place every other year and maybe graduating to an annual event if the demand is there. However for such events to succeed we need to keep in contact with you and so would kindly ask past pupils to keep the Union abreast of changes to your email or physical address. To this end, or indeed should you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact either Tanya Hayes ([email protected]) or Emma Robinson ([email protected])