An Cosantóir June 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie
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T
he Cavalry Club is the longest established Club in the
Irish Defence Forces and was born in 1944. The idea
was to enable members of the Corps who had retired
from the service or would soon be de-mobbed after "The
Emergency" to have ongoing and maintained contact with
serving Cavalry Officers and, by extension, the Corps.
The initial proposed objectives of the "Cavalry Officers As-
sociation" were:
a. To enable the Association members to keep in touch
with each other by the organisation of social functions.
b. The promotion of the welfare of ex-members of the
Cavalry Corps of all ranks.
The founding members wanted to ensure that the club had
the required permissions and entered into correspondence
with the authorities at the time. After informing the authori-
ties of their intent to keep in touch with former colleagues
and to use it as a social means to stay in touch they were
eventually given permission in or around February 1946.
The title of the Association was changed to "The Cavalry
Club" on the suggestion of the then Director of Cavalry, Colo-
nel A.T.Lawlor.
A number of committee meetings led to the first Annual
General Meeting in the Clarence Hotel, Dublin on the 8 May
1946 and the following officers of the club were elected:
President: Comdt A. Mayne (Retd)
Chairman: Capt P.J. McHale (Retd)
Secretary: Lt J. Crowley
Treasurers: Capt L.N.Atchison (Retd), Capt A.I.Elliot (RO)
Members Lt J. Cleary (RO) Capt R.Collier, Lt F. Dwyer (RO) Lt J.
Harrison (Retd), Major RC. Byrne Lt Count O'Kelly (Retd)
The Motto of the Cavalry Club is Carpe Diem "Seize the
day" and this group of erstwhile Cavalry officers wasted no
time and in true Cavalry form declared at the AGM that the
Gresham Hotel had been booked for a dance on 7 August in
the middle of Horse show Week that is held annually in the
RDS. This was to be the location of the first Cavalry Ball an
event which was to become the social focus of Horse Show
week and the must attend event for years to come.
BY CAPTAIN (AR) DAMIEN O'HERLIHY, 2 CAV SQN
