The palace from the garden side

A party of twenty-two Catenians, family and friends went to visit Buckingham Palace in the afternoon, dodging the torrential rain of the morning. It should have been twenty-five but unfortunately three people were unable to attend at the last minute because of illness.

One of the very helpful staff in her smart uniform

We were not allowed to take photos inside the palace, which was a great pity because there were some amazing things to see. In addition to the State Apartments, the major attraction for this visit was the Jubilee Diamond exhibition. Next time we see a piece of jewellery in a royal portrait we'll be able to say "I've seen that one close up!"

Buy, buy, buy! In the shop after the visit

The Foley Niblick

The whole party (with the exception of Peter Frisby who took the photo)

The 31st annual playing of The Foley Niblick took place on Thursday 6th September. Twenty four players enjoyed the superb weather and most acquitted themselves well on the course. Manus McDermott was the winner of the Niblick and now stands head and shoulders above all previous winners as he has now won for the sixth time!

The Pat McDermott trophy was won by David Tillson of Brighton Circle.

John Byrne won the guests prize and Evelyn Rock won the Ladies prize.

Keen competition on the course transformed to camaraderie in the clubhouse and we were joined by another three brothers and two more guests making a total of twenty nine persons for a most enjoyable lunch.One of the guests was former Brother Mike Butler who was the first winner of"The Foley Niblick" 31 years ago.

As a vehicle for raising funds this was a conspicuous success and with donations from players and others who could not attend and then the famous "Niblick Raffle" we raised £485 for Fr Chris McGuinness in his missionary ministry. A cheque for this amount in Tim Foley's name has been sent.

We would like to pay tribute to the generosity of all those who contributed to this majestic sum. They were superb, particularly in these times of financial austerity.