Dear Irish Network Members Old and New:

At our AGM on Octtober 3rd, 2007 we came to a crossroad for the Irish Network. We have asked for help for new committee members for nearly 3 years and had a few folks step up to help but at this AGM there was no takers for next years committee. So after 21 years the Irish Network will have no committee next year to run events or the Network. Please note that we are still planning to hold our annual Winter Dinner & Dance on February 2, 2008. We do hope to see you all there, as this will most likely be our last event as such. You can find details and buy tickets on our calendar page.

We had expected as much with the reduction in new folks immigrating to the Bay Area. We are thankful for the folks who have supported the Network in attending events in the past and also that were able to attend the AGM this week and share their ideas for the road forward. Members new and old attended and we thank them for their input and voting on the resolutions passed. A big thanks also to the committee members over all the years who supported the network. The Network has seen many changes and the virtual world makes it a lot easier to network than when the Network was originally set up over 20 years ago.

The resolutions passed at the AGM include;

1) We are setting up a Yahoo Group via email that all members past and present will be invited to attend. This way if a member decides to have an event they can easily communicate to the others in the group and faster than we have currently set up. Tony very nicely volunteered with Nikki to set that up and he will moderate. This leaves the road open for events to still take place organized by the group. A seperate email will be sent out to all members to join the Yahoo Group.

2) It was also passed that we will be still having our annual Dinner Dance and it was agreed that Michael's Restaurant is still a good venue to have the event. Sinead and Ciara will help set up.The dance has been running for years and breaks even so we will continue to run it as long as folks are interested. It was agreed to have it again in January/February as after the Christmas holidays works well for most folks. We will notify folks when we have a date etc.

3) It was passed that the Irish network website will be kept active for at least another two years. This not only will help still publicize events for us and other networks. We want to refer folks to the growing Business Network in San Francisco and also the Irish Connect website when ready that is being supported by the Consul General office and a connecting website for all Irish groups in the Bay Area.

4) In regarding the remainder funds held by the Irish Network - we will use some to keep the website active, some to ensure we have the funds to run the Dinner Dance for deposit, DJ etc. It was agreed that we hold a meeting regarding any remaining money in 6 months not accounted for. As the Irish Network was set up to be a Business Network it was suggested that the funds be given to the Irish Connect site run by the Irish Consulate and committee to help further promote networking among the Irish and Irish American community in the Bay Area. This way we follow the original charter of the Network and as no new committee has been elected we ensure that the funds are distributed. We will notify the past network members of that meeting in 6 months to clarify after we finish our commitments to the website and Dinner Dance.

We again would like to thank all our members, new and old and the hardworking committee members over the 21 years of the Irish Network for all their contributions. We are saddened to see the Network wind down but hope with the Yahoo group and also support of the Irish Connect site that we will ensure the networking continues even without the Irish Network officially running events.

We are no longer accepting membership applications, but we hope to see all our members and friends at our Winter Dinner Dance, February 2nd, 2008.

Kindest Regards,
Irish Network Committee of 2006/2007