The Early Years
The ‘Early Years’ sketches the formative years of the Irish Cultural Society of Calgary (ICS). It was compiled in response to an...
Getting the ICS started
The Irish Cultural Society emerged from the participation of the founding members in various social and cultural activities. At the...
Irish Concerts and Social Evenings
The Irish Concerts kicked off on Saturday December 14, 1985 with a Benefit Variety Concert for the yet to be formed Irish Cultural...
Irish Language Class
The Irish Language Class was largely instigated by Hugh Neary who cajoled Dr Dick Wall into being our muinteoir. Leveraging Dick’s...
ICS Newsletter
The main purpose of the Newsletter was to project the aims of the Society and promote participation in Irish community activities. We...
Bloomsday
The Bloomsday Celebration was an initiative to enhance the ‘cultural’ credentials of the ICS and also test the premise that our...
Stampede Parade Float
Interest in an ‘Irish’ float in the Stampede Parade was led by Hugh Neary. Hugh took on the role of Chairman of the Float Committee. ...
Golf Tournaments
The ICS Golf Tournaments organized by Aidan Creaghan began with a “Gala” Golf game at Canmore in July 1986 followed by our First Annual...
Spruce Meadows Festival of Nations
In 1986 Spruce Meadows initiated its Festival of Nations in conjunction with the Masters show jumping event in September. This Festival...
Green Tie Affair
The success of the ‘social evenings’ gave us confidence to organize a more elaborate celebration for St Patrick’s Day. We shied away...
Care Committee
The kindness of Brian Evans was the impetus for forming a Care Committee. Volunteers visited the sick, delivered flowers and provided...
Bingo
Bingo transformed our finances and was a major factor in our endeavour to establish an Irish Cultural Centre. In March 1987 we became...
Winter Olympics
Hosting the Winter Olympics in Calgary was a momentous event. The Opening Ceremony welcomed the world to our city, presenting who we are....
Field Days
The first ICS Field Day and Barbeque was held on August 28, 1988 at Shouldice Park. The event was organised by the Millennium Committee...
Irish Cultural Centre
By 1988 we were on a good trajectory for achieving our goals. Our membership had grown to around four hundred and fifty, bingo funds were...
Variety of Nations
As Luck of the Irish would have it, soon after we opened the Irish Cultural Centre a perfect opportunity arose to showcase our culture to...