[vicsireland] Goodbye!
- From: Tony.G.Murray@xxxxxx
- To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 12:15:29 +0100
HI all,
As you know the AGM is taking place this Saturday. I'll be stepping down
as Chairperson of VICS on that day.
Well, what can I say... It's been a busy three years!
I am delighted with how VICS has come along in that time, and it is great
to see how many of our projects have benefited us all as members. We are
all volunteers, so to think of the amount of work we've got done together
is astounding.
On a personal note, the future for me is looking very exciting. I will be
married to Ulla very soon (10 weeks to go – the countdown is on!), and
when I think of what we have to do even until the end of the year… Well, I
wonder where we’ll get the time and leave from! I’m awfully proud of her,
so I hope she doesn’t change her mind before July 26th… Ah, how could she?
Seriously, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with her.
Ulla and I both play in a band together, and for the past year or so we’ve
been getting a good few opportunities to travel etc. All these gigs
require us to rehearse a lot with the band, which is tremendous fun but
very time consuming. After our Honeymoon, it is looking like Germany in
September/October, the UK in November, and back to good old Bavaria for
new years. I can’t wait!
At this stage I'd like to thank some of the people who have stood out in
my time as Chairperson of this society. So prepare for some unashamed
reminiscing!
When I joined the Committee first there were some people who really
inspired me and made me want to get heavily involved with VICS. So, a big
thanks to Philip Doyle (an old chess friend of mine), the great Eamonn
O'Connor and my predecessor, Michael Lavin. Seeing Michael run the show
taught me a lot of things, and gaining experience on his Committee was
invaluable.
Of course, we can't forget our trainers who travelled round the country
with us to deliver excellent tuition on their own time. Many thanks to
Robbie Sandberg, Joan Ann Brosnan, Emma Tracey, Joan Kearns, Flor Lynch
and Nicky (the pacemaker) Kealy. Oh yeah, and Dalton came along for the
craic too, good old Baldy... Ah, I'll get to him later. Those training
events were a real highlight of my time at VICS. I'll never forget the
fun we had, the hang overs we suffered, and how often I laughed so hard
that I couldn't breathe. We had a blast. Thanks to all of you who came
along and attended the training events, and I really hope they were of
benefit.
I'll never forgive Tom Kennedy for keeping us up until 4:30 AM that last
time in Kilkenny, the journey home on the train next day was hell! Then
there was old Pacey and the session in Cork. What a night, I am told it
was brilliant... We worked the barman hard that time. Anyone remember
Galway? Yeah, I thought not. How crazy was that? In Galway the people we
were training dragged us out on the beer after we'd finished work, and
that was just great fun. So, Pat, Paul, Elaine, thanks so much! I managed
to remain not too offended by Pat's "People's Republic of Cork" shirt,
which was a struggle... but he bought me a pint, so it wasn't so bad.
Next is one of the greatest people who has ever involved them selves with
VICS. Paul Traynor, what can I say? He is a legend! Paul has such an
amazing knowledge of so many technical fields, and a complete willingness
to help others. On top of all those wonderful virtues, he is just a
straight up nice bloke and a very good friend of mine. I doubt many of
you haven’t been assisted in some way by Paul over the years, so on behalf
of VICS as a whole, I say thanks to this man for everything.
Ronan McGuirk has been involved with VICS from day one. I work with Ronan
here in AIB, and he has been an inspiration ever since I had the pleasure
of meeting him. I am delighted he is at the end of the phone for advice,
and it has always been a lot of fun chatting to him. AS you know, he was
responsible for the white paper we released a couple of years ago, which
was a great success. I think you’ll all agree, Ronan is one of the best
and I am delighted to know the great man.
You will all be familiar with Stuart Lawler. He agreed to take up the
InfoVICS job when I became Chairperson. He had a hard act to follow, as
Eamonn O’Connor was the man (and what an expert he is) at the helm of
InfoVICS for a long time. Stuart brought his new ideas to the
publication, got it on to CD, set up the download section of the site,
made the magazine available as a pod cast, and you all know the rest!
Apart from that Stuart has always been there to answer questions from us
all, and he was instrumental in the setting up of the ATAG. Cheers Mr.
Lawler!
I’m sure the name Natasha Miskella is familiar to you all. Natasha came
onboard three years ago, and completely rebuilt our web site. This
fabulous online resource has received so many compliments over the years,
and it is continuing to evolve all the time. We are very proud of it, and
I understand there are plans in the pipeline to further enhance it in the
very near future. Well done Natasha, you were thrown in at the deep end,
and what a job you’ve done! Thanks so much.
Ever hear of a fella called Tim Culhane? Thought so! Tim’s been the Deputy
Chairperson of VICS for as long as I’ve been Chairperson. He has had to
put up with so much of my crankiness over the years, I bet he could set
himself up as a therapist. You’ll all be familiar with the excellent work
he has done over the past few years, the two projects he completed which
stand out for me most are the talking ATMs and the ATAG. I’m delighted he
is carrying on with VICS on the Committee, as he is a solid straight
talking man, and his level of expertise across the board is stunning.
Joan Kearns has been the treasurer of VICS for three years now. She has
done a wonderful job. Being the treasurer is not easy, and she has
quietly and confidently carried out all tasks that the role requires.
Those of you who have met her know she is a lovely person, and she has to
have a lot of patience to have put up with me for so long! Thanks so much
Joan, you’ve been just so brilliant… and I know, I still owe you a tenner!
And now, Brian Dalton. I hesitate to call him a gentleman, but I can say
this about him… He is a great friend of mine, and he has done so much for
VICS in his time on the Committee, you just wouldn’t believe it. Those of
you who have encountered old Baldy over the past couple of years will know
what a bad influence he is on this mild mannered Chairperson, and I’m sure
many of you will have learned from him in a lot of ways. He has been to
all the training events, which is only right as he set them all up! We’ve
had a lot of fun together in our time on the Committee, on top of all the
good things we’ve done for the VICS members. There are so many stories to
tell, and hilarious situations to remember; maybe I should write a book!
Remember the Sunday in Cork after the Open Day 3 years ago? I was sure
there was a train to Dublin at 3 PM… We rushed to the station, got to the
platform and were told there was no 3 o’clock train… next one was in an
hour… So, with that we hit the pub across the street. Baldy put his
credit card behind the bar, and we just about managed to catch the very
last train from Cork that evening at about 9! I’ll never forget those
pints of Murphys, “Like Mother’s Milk I tell ya, Mother’s Milk… 2 more
please!”.
And we can’t forget Sunday afternoon in Galway (much as we’d like to). We
missed the breakfast, checked out at 11:45, and went in to the hotel bar
for a full Irish. 5 o’clock that evening found us scrumming on the floor
of the bar with two complete strangers, as Ireland played rugby on the TV
above us. I’m certain we managed to inspire the team to succeed by our
feverish support… Those floor tiles in the bar were very hard, my poor
forehead. When the barman joined in the ruck, I knew we were probably
going to miss the last train out of Galway. Ah, happy days. He gave us
free pints afterwards for our spirited performance.
The training day in Cork last time was a right lark. Kealy was a man on a
mission that weekend. He got us off to a furious pace on the Friday
night… There was a brief let up for the training day, and he was straight
back in on the Saturday evening. Baldy and I both learned a valuable
lesson that weekend… Be very careful when going drinking with Nicky (the
pacemaker) Kealy. He was star of the show that weekend, managing to charm
the ladies, deliver the training, and chatter his way home on the train
while Baldy and I suffered.
Anyway, I’d like to thank some of the organisations VICS has worked with
in the past, and who I’m sure will feature strongly in the society’s
activities in the future. Our links with the NCBI are very tight now,
given the work we are doing on the Access Technology Acquisition Grant.
Des and Stuart are our main points of contact there, and we are delighted
with how it is all going.
VICS are a special interest group of the ICS, and as you know we have a
lot of dealings with them. They are such a great resource, and their
willingness to help us with any of our ventures is amazing. We work with
them to publicise our events, and their premises at Mount Street Crescent
is always available for our use. That is only the beginning, we should be
proud to be one of the ICS’ affiliates.
Finally, I’d like to thank the VICS Committee. There have been a lot of
familiar faces involved over the past three years, and without their work
we couldn’t have got VICS to where it is now. It was inspiring to me to
see how people were so willing to volunteer their time and expertise to
make the society work, and to help their fellow technology users. Having
such a wide range of expertise on the Committee in the past few years has
enabled us to keep up with the ever evolving and expanding area of Access
Technology, and I am proud to have been part of it. All those Tuesday
night meetings, they were well worth it (even during the champion’s
league). Thanks guys! It’s been fun, I’ve learned a lot.
So to finish (it’s been a long one), I’d just like to say I’ve had a lot
of fun, and it has been a real pleasure being the chairperson of VICS for
the past three years. Above all these messages of gratitude I’ve written,
I’d like to say the biggest thank you possible to the members of VICS. You
are the reason why this society is the wonderful machine it is, you are
the reason why there is a Committee, you are the reason that any of our
projects have came about and worked, you are the reason why we have such a
brilliant Email group, it goes on and on and on and on. What can I say,
it has been a privilege working for you all.
When I became Chairperson of VICS, I wanted to get a lot done, but I
wanted people to have fun doing it. For those of you who know me, you’ll
know that formality is not my thing, and I guess you could say I “tell it
like it is!”. Doing any kind of work is supposed to be rewarding, and I
believe there should always be an element of fun and laughter as a big
part of any job. I know lots of the tasks I’ve completed as VICS
chairperson have involved stress, dedication, and time… but I can
definitely say I laughed my way through this three years. It’s been just
great craic, ya know?
Best wishes,
Tony Murray
VICS Chairperson (for the next 50 hours or so)
"All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just
do this and I can get back to killing you with beer."
--Homer J. Simpson
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