A Message from the Basel Irish Club

December 2024

Dear Members & Friends,

We now approach the end of another year which has gone by so quickly. It has been another exciting year for Basel Irish Club as we have been able to offer a wide range of activities for all ages and tastes. The Club depends on its members and volunteers to continue its activities and we thank you all for your support and encouragement.

During the past year we have been delighted to organize events covering the many aspects of our mission as a club. Ciorcal Comhrá, our bi-weekly Irish conversation group for all levels, continues to go from strength to strength. During the past year Irish-speakers have joined us from all over Switzerland, including Geneva and Winterthur! Details of dates and location on our website.

March saw the usual burst of activity with a wonderful Literary and musical evening at the GGG Library. This included great musical performances by Catherine Rhatigan on harp and Andy Murphy from Basel Theater Opera. There followed a memorable St Patrick’s Day lunch at the historic Safran Zunft Guild Hall. Our guests of honour included Minister of State, Josepha Madigan and HE Ambassador Aoife McGarry together with Deputy Head of Mission David McDonnell. The event was enhanced with great live music from the Chums and a performance of Irish Dance. Telebasel filmed the proceedings and it featured as the lead item in that evening’s news.

March also saw the launch of Ireland Week, organized by Tourism Ireland and with great collaboration by all the Irish communities across Switzerland. This initiative aims to promote Irish culture and tourism and we were proud to support it.

We had a repeat of the fun visit to Kitchen Brew in Allschwil, one of a handful of high quality craft brewers in Basel. It was a good opportunity to meet acquaintances old and new. In May, an enthusiastic group of early risers joined our “Darkness Into Light” walk to support the Pieta movement and raise funds for the Swiss charity Trauernetz who raise awareness of suicide prevention. It is planned to repeat this in 2025 and link up with other Irish groups around Switzerland. Also, in May we had another interesting historical walk, exploring the origins of Basel city including its Celtic history. The annual Sekt festival in Germany was held in July and members were ably guided by Louise Smyth.

On matters Joyceian, we teamed up with the James Joyce Foundation in Zürich to celebrate Bloomsday on 16th June. The Club donated a collection of books on the subject of Ulysses. This year’s event was attended by HE Aoife McGarry and the Taoiseach, Simon Harris. In Basel, members of the club are regular participants at the University’s reading of Finnegans Wake. The group is very mixed with people from all over the world and the Irish Club is delighted to share insights into the Irish aspects of Joyce’s masterpiece.

September saw the 5th edition of our annual golf outing in Alsace and this event draws a regular, multinational group of players who have come to enjoy the special, friendly Irish atmosphere. The course itself, Alsace Golf Links, is designed and run, as a links-style course, by our dear friend from Antrim, David Abercrombie.

In November we had our seasonal wine tasting which was impacted by very seasonal weather! A heavy fall of snow brought Basel’s transport system to a grinding halt but that didn’t stop most of our attendees from battling their way to Oberwil and back.

The year ended in style with a wonderful Christmas brunch with guests of honour HE Aoife McGarry and Herr Claus from Lapland. We also were delighted to welcome the heads of Geneva Irish Association, Phil Enright, Zürich Irish Group, Catherine Cronin, Irish Business Network, David Swift as well as Martin Morrissey and Niall O’Sullivan from Basel GAA. The brunch buffet laid on by Flanagan’s was of the usual high standard, featuring hard to find Irish breakfast delicacies. The children were thrilled to meet Santa who was generous in handing out goody bags and we ended up with the traditional, competitive quiz (thanks Larry) in which the winning team continues its tradition of a strong Bernese participation!

As a not-for-profit club, we are extremely grateful for the support we receive from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). This includes financial support through the Emigrant Support Programme. The DFA support is also expressed through our close contacts and collaboration with the Embassy of Ireland in Bern. Since the arrival of HE Aoife McGarry and Deputy Head of Mission, David McDonnell, we have enjoyed active collaboration on many initiatives. It is noteworthy that the amount and degree of cross-Switzerland networking by the various Irish clubs and organizations is at its highest level and this is thanks, in no small part, to the Embassy. We look forward to this continuing in the future.

The new year, 2025, offers us new opportunities to continue our activities and indeed to expand them. Up to now we have had a strong focus on family-based events and in the future we wish to provide events and projects to engage singles and Gen Z. All ideas are welcome!

We look forward to your continued interest in the Basel Irish Club and welcome anyone interested in membership which includes attractive rates for couples and seniors with full details at www.baselirishclub.org. Membership fees should be paid through the web-site and are unchanged for 2025.

As ever, a huge thanks to your hard-working committee who give up their time voluntarily and ensure that a wide range of tasks are completed to a very high standard. During 2024 a number of committee members stepped down after many years of great service. We continue to count them as valuable members of our club community. This means that we are very keen to hear from any members who would be interested on joining our committee and to be part of the team that helps bring our club to life! Please contact us if you have an interest.

We wish you all, together with your families, a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas and success, health and a very happy New Year!

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir. Beannachtaí na Nollag agus don bhliain nua daoibh. Slán go fóill.

Jim McKiernan, President