Manchester Irish Club wins Charity Club of the Year Again

Manchester Irish Club wins Charity Club of the Year Again

St Kent’s Irish Club in Fallowfield, has won the national 2011 Club Mirror Award as ‘Charity Club of the Year’, for the second year running. The multi-award winning club in South Manchester has just celebrated its fortieth anniversary. It was presented with the award on Thursday 10 November at the Palace Hotel by BBC sports personality John Inverdale.

Kevin Fitzpatrick the manager at the club said “I am so happy to lift the award on behalf of every one here in Manchester and not to forget all the people who have passed away this year as well.”

Different charity functions at the club have helped raise over £59,000 for various charities in this year alone, which bring the total generated for charity at the club by different groups since Kevin took charge of it, to just under £500,000.

Kevin added “St Kents is always free and here for anyone to use for charity functions, special thanks must go to all the tickets sellers and the people who put their hands in their pocket to organise this special events. It is great to see us achieve another award in our anniversary year.”

Club Mirror has over 15,000 members throughout the UK and this is the ninetieth year that they have staged these National Awards for its members.

St Kentigern’s Parish Priest Father Tom Connolly said “The whole community is delighted by the news, I am really fortunate priest to have such a vibrant club which caters for the needs of its members. This reward recognises everyone’s contribution to the success the club has in meeting the needs of the Irish community.”

The club which was started in 1971 when it was built by the labour of the Irish parishioners and it has remained as a cornerstone of the Irish community in Manchester. It is a family orientated community and entertainment venue. Since its inception it has been one of the main hubs of Manchester’s Irish community while still making it accessible and welcoming to people of all different cultural backgrounds and faiths. The club is open seven days a week, where it hosts events for all different sectors of the community, these include: Special weekly Youth Club events, a Credit Union, Irish Language lessons, Traditional Irish Music tuition, Irish Set dancing.

The club itself has a national reputation for attracting a host of major Irish artists from all over the UK and Ireland. It has played host to the likes of The Wolftones, Big Tom, Bible Code Sundays, Philomena Begley, The Fureys, Mick Falvin, Declan Nerney, Susan McCann and TR Dallas to name just a selection of the acts.

During December the club will host the annual Christmas reunion of Manchester’s legendary Celtic Rock band ‘Toss the Feathers’. The venue is also a great supporter of sport and sponsors a number of Gaelic Football and Hurling teams, as well as sponsoring and organising its own annual Charity Golf tournament.