News & Announcements

Attached to this post is a copy of the society’s bylaws.

Greater Rochester Emerald Society Bylaws

REMINDER: Annual dues ($20) will be collected at the next meeting.

Thanks to all the members that attended the parade today. Fun was had by all. Some pictures from the parade are posted in the Photo Gallery (direct link), more will be uploaded after they’ve been passed through photoshop for color correction and other improvements. If you have pictures from the parade please send them to Sean Sims (sean dot sims at gmail dot com).

If you’re visiting the site to join, Welcome! We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on April 2nd at Johnny’s!

Tickets for the Police Emerald Society are pre-sale only. They are 10 dollars a piece. Rick will get them and pass them out on Parade day. Reminder this is the event we decided to attend together after the parade. Please contact Rick or shoot Mark an email if you still need a ticket.

The parade will start at 12:30. GRES is in Division 2 between the Rince Na Sidhe Irish Dance School and the Sister Cities (Ireland) groups. We’ll line-up on Prince St. (near East Ave). Line-up does not start till 11:00AM.

There’s a group of us trying to put together an Irish Pipe Band in Rochester.

We are looking to get member representatives from as many of the Irish affiliated groups in Rochester as possible. That way it is truly a “Rochester Irish Community” joint effort, that can be used by all of our Irish groups. If any of you are interested in learning to play the bagpipes and would like to join us — Please see Pat Reilly’s note below.

Thanks,
Rick Faro

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Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 6:13 pm
Subject: Bagpipe practice

Hello all,

Great news, the time is now to get started!

Johnny has agree to let us use the “red room” on Sunday’s from 2-4pm for our bagpipe practice. I propose we start on Sunday 2/15. We will start with lessons for those just starting out, then afterwards go over tunes with folks already playing.

If you do not yet have a practice chanter, see below on my advise on getting one. I will bring copies of music and lesson materials for everyone. There is a bagpipe shop in Buffalo called the British shop, but his prices tend to be high so unless you really need to go somewhere to get something I normally just use the internet. http://www.hendersongroupltd.com/Cart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=220 is one of the places I use on the Internet and they are good, and they are reasonably priced on practice chanters.

You should get a Long Poly practice chanter. I use the Dunbar Long chanter (and also play Dunbar Pipes which I am a fan of for the price), but I am sure the McCallum long on this page is also fine and is quite a bit cheaper. Personally I do not think the $100 and up ones are worth the extra money, but some other people do.

I know there are a lot of other folks out there we have talked about this with, so please forward this note to anyone else you think may be interested.

Thank you and call with any questions,
Pat Reilly
381-4936

A reminder to all members… Dues are due at the February meeting, please bring your $20 to support the society. Hope to see you all there!

Just a quick update…

There are three new photo galleries, 2008 Irish Festival, GRES Around the World, and Other Parades. Also, a page has been created to talk about the various symbols used in the GRES logo.

Also, the next meeting will be held Thursday, January 8th, 2009 (since the first Thursday is New Year’s Day).

The next meeting of the Greater Rochester Emerald Society will be held November 6th, 2008 - 19:00 (7:00 pm) at Johnny’s Irish Pub (1382 Culver Road, Rochester, NY 14609). Membership applications will be available or you can apply online right now!

An online version of the application is finally available. To apply for membership, please use the Apply Online! link to the left.

The Irish Children’s Program welcome picnic went great, with good attendance and we received many thanks for our work that day as well as our carnation sales earlier in the year during the snow storm, and the carnation sales on parade day. Thanks for all who showed up. Pictures are posted on the web site.

Webster Parade: We had a great reception by the crowds in Webster, the truck looked great! Thanks TJ for all your work. Attendance was sparse from us, although alot of interest from many firefighters.

This Week:
Rush Parade: We are all set for the Rush Parade on Friday, July 18th. Parade starts at 19:00 so we should plan to be there no later than 18:30 if not sooner. We will be placed upon arrival. The carnival follows the parade.

Rochester Police Emeralds: They have a fundraiser picnic this Sunday, July 20 in Scottsville / Chili Area, they wanted a head count from us by yesterday, $20 all you can eat/drink, Dennis is coordinating tickets.

August Events:
Hamlin Parade August 1st
Recruitment Meeting first week of August: Plan Aug 21st Event @ Johnny’s
August 21 Recruitment Happy Hour / Night at Johnny’s
August 22 Irish Day at Red Wings

Photos from the ICP Picnic have been posted to the Photo Gallery.

Here is a link for the parking on Barrett Drive. Participants should exit 104 at Holt Rd. Cross over Holt and then make the first right. They can board a shuttle bus that will take them to the beginning of the parade. Please forward.

If the truck comes 104 East, it should exit at Phillips Rd. Turn right (south) on Phillips and someone at Phillips & Ridge will direct them.

If you get lost call Mike Roche (see July 4th e-mail for his cellphone number).

Thanks to everyone who went to Barnard, I heard a good time was had by all.

There is more we will be adding, I would like at add an “emeralds on the Job” page to the gallery, so if you let me know what trick you are on or when your dept may be having an event, we will try to catch you in action, or feel free to submit your images to sean.sims@gmail.com

Remember JULY 7th 3-7 at Greece Canal Ponds Park: Millennium Lodge: Irish Children Program Welcome Picnic we are working the food. http://www.irishchildrensprogram.com/

Two things about this:

1. Can I have a show of emails of who is planning to make the event.
2. I have yet to get a confirmation on a firetruck from any of the depts. I approached, if anyone has the ability to get a company from their Station to bring, I am sure the Kids would love it.

July 10th Webster Parade
Details to Follow.

Also July 10th, a great band The Town Pants will be playing at Johnny’s that night.

July 18th Rush Parade

Keep up the great work, and think about a few other upcoming things:

• August 15th - Flour City Brewers Fest
• August 21st - Membership Recruitment Event
• August 22nd - Irish Day at the Red Wings
• September 5, 6, 7 - Irish Festival
• Half Way to St Pats is almost here!!!

This is an important event for of us as it is the purpose of our organization to support the Irish Community. Any members who may be hesitant or new to the events, please make every effort to show up. We will be doing all the cooking, the Hibernians are supplying the food. It is at the Greece Canal Park in the Millennium Lodge 2:30 set up till 7pm. Any time during that you are welcome. On a serious and sensitive note, the ICP has asked we NOT wear anything with the Irish Republic Colors or Irish Flags. Although though the violence is way down, there is still segregation and tension between the groups, that this event is supposed to be dispelling for these children.

Just a quick update on the status of the website. We just finished adding a photo gallery with some pictures from events we’ve attended in the past. Also, the links page has undergone a major expansion.

User website registration and new member signup will be available soon (hopefully by the end of this week or middle of next…we’ll post a message when it is online).

REMINDER: There will be a Parade Planning Detail / GRES Meeting on June 24 at 7pm. The detail / meeting will be held at Henrietta Station #3: 9 Riverview Drive

Due to a technical problem, the old GRES website was lost. Member registration and other features will become available as we are able to bring them back online. Thank you for your patience.

After a poll of society members, the Greater Rochester Emerald Society selected the Firefighters’ Memorial Tartan as their official tartan.

Details about the tartan can be found at, http://www.usakilts.com/ffm_kilts.php.