Wednesday, March 26, 2008

What a Month!

Fellow Emeralds,

WOW , what a month March has been! I want to thank all of you who showed our true IRISH SPIRIT throughout the month of March in celebration of St. Patrick's Day and our heritage.

Whether it was at our annual St. Patrick's Day Party, the Hermosa Beach St. Patrick's Day Parade and Block Party, or the Los Angeles St. Patrick's Day Parade and post parade gatherings at McCormick and Schmick's and Tam O' Shanter, we had a fantastic showing of our members, family and friends in unprecedented numbers and spirit!!!

Special thanks to Pipe Major Scott Walton and our Emerald Society Pipes and Drums that played outstandingly at every venue! I heard many compliments both as to the increasing size of our Band(eleven pipers) and the wonderful sound! Our Pipes and Drums led the way and their efforts are much appreciated!

I'd like to thank the following for showing outstanding support for the Los Angeles Police Emerald Society in our celebrations of St Patrick's Day and our Irish heritage:

Tom LaBonge, City Council District 4 Councilman and office, especially Young-Gi Kim.

Ed Reyes, City Council District 1 Councilman and office, especially Sophia.

Spring Street Barbeque (Dan Patterson)McCormick and Schmick's (Elaine Doran)

Casey's Irish Restaurant

Tam O' Shanter (Phil Bowater,Wayne Wood, and Melissa)

Roland Communications ( Annet Peairs)

Irish Import Shop (Ann Colburn)* Members receive a 10% discount with Emerald Society card.

Congratulations to two of our members who retired this month after very long and distinguished careers in the LAPD..our very own Gary Brennan and JJ Leonard!Our Pipes and Drums showed up in force at both retirements and it was an honor to be there and play for two of our finest members!!

APRIL UPDATE

Our special guest speaker for the April meeting (April 2nd) is confirmed. The harp is the national symbol of Ireland and a beautiful instrument it is. Our guest, Slyvia Woods, is a renowned harpist, teacher, composer and arranger from California who has gained an international reputation as one of the foremost folk harp players in the world. In 1980 she won the prestigious All-Ireland Harp Championship in Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland. Today she runs the Sylvia Woods Harp Center (a harp retail store, mail order catalog, and website) as well as a publishing company and a recording label.

Sylvia began studying the pedal harp while attending the University of Redlands in Southern California. After graduation, she became interested in folk harps such as the Irish and Welsh harps, and traveled on her own to France (Brittany) and Ireland to research the folk harp scenes in those countries. She now concentrates on the folk harp, and has been a major leader in the world-wide renaissance of this beautiful instrument.

For more info check the website www.harpcenter.com .

We look forward to seeing the presentation and performance of the harp, the national symbol of Ireland, by Sylvia Woods at our April meeting.

That's all for now Emeralds and I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Stephen Saletros, President, Los Angeles Police Emerald Society.

PS Does anyone have a copy of the book Harpo Speaks?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

St. Patrick's Day Party and Parades

We had a GREAT time at our annual St. Patrick's Day Party at Maggies Restaurant with record attendance this year. This is certainly the best St. Patrick's Day Party in Southern California and I'd like to thank all who attended for making it such a wonderful time. I would especially like to thank our members who volunteered at the front table...including VP JJ Leonard and his wife Julianne, Jan Lewinson, Pat Devine, Diane McCarthy, Jenn Macnamara, George and Barbara Maycott, Elizabeth Donovan and Sgt at Arms Gil Sawyer! And thanks to Gil Sawyer who handcrafted a beautiful dirk with the Emerald Society challenge coin in the handle. The dirk was raffled off and over 600.00 was raised for the Society as a result! Thanks again Gil! I also want to thank Lisa Golden and Kim Braden for their handling and sales of the wares..much appreciated! And, of course, thankyou to the Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Band under Pipe Major Scott Walton for an outstanding performance, Sligo Rags for the excellent music, and the Irish stepdancers who kicked up a storm!

Now for the upcoming events: March 15 ( Saturday) HERMOSA BEACH PARADE...Plan on being in the staging area (Pier Avenue/Valley Drive, Thomas Guide Page 762,H2) around 10:00 AM becuase the parade starts promptly at 11:00 AM. There is NO REMOTE PARKING THIS YEAR at Mira Costa High School with shuttles so you might want to get down to the staging area early and find street parking, perhaps 9:00, and then have breakfast in the area. The uniform for those marching will be: your department"s Class "A" uniform, or dark green Soicety polo shirt, black pants(or Society's kilt) and black shoes. This is a fun parade with many thousands of people lining the streets and cheering as the Society comes into sight. It is also a family-type parade, and family members are encouraged to march. We will finish the parade with a block party at Bill Hallet's house, a short walk from where the parade ends. There will be food and drink and Pipes and Drums and a great time will be had by all!

March 17(Monday) Downtown St Patrick's Day Parade .... Members will meet at the Los Angeles Police Academy at Elysian Park at 10:00 AM...A shuttle bus , graciously provided by LA City Council District 1, will shuttle members to the beginning point of the parade which is at Olvera Street. The parade will begin at 11:30AM and we will march to Pershing Square( 5th Street bordered by Olive St and Hill St. across from the Biltmore Hotel). At the end of the parade, there is a free concert at Pershing Square featuring the popular music group the "Young Dubliners".

When the parade concludes, we will march into Pershing Square and play for a brief time. After that our Society will march over to the restaurant McCormick and Schmicks about a block and a half away where lunch and a surprise gift will be provided for all our members. This part of our day is flexible but the band will be playing at McCormick and Schmicks sometime during lunchtime and then we will be picked up at Pershing Square by our bus. Upon return to the Academy, members are invited to go to Tam O'Shanters restaurant (Los Feliz) where the Band will play and a meal will be provided for all our members who attend thanks to the efforts of Phil Bowater.

Last year we had a wonderful level of participation and a fantastic time and I am hoping that this year will be the same! This is the time to proudly march and proclaim our heritage to the world!So come on down and march! March for our heritage! March for our ancestors! March for St. Patrick! GO IRISH!!!

If you have any questions, issues or concerns do not hesitate to contact me and I hope to see you at the parades!

Steve Saletros
President

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

President's Message

Greetings Fellow Emeralds!I hope that this message finds you all well and as excited as I am about celebrating our heritage during the month of March. We have many events planned for the celebration of St Patrick's Day and hopefully you have learned of them through our newsletter ,"The Garda",and our meetings.

Our March meeting on 3/5 Wednesday, will feature our special guest speaker, Finbar Hill, Hon. Consul of Ireland and Chief of Protocol of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. It is our honor and an emerging tradition to have Finbar Hill speak at our March meeting as he did last year. Finbar speaks of the current situation in Ireland with great knowledge and eloquence , and last year entertained a lively question and answer session. We welcome him and you to hear his presentation!

Many of you saw the news coverage of the funeral of the first LAPD Swat officer to be killed in the line of duty, Officer Randal Simmons. The entire Emerald Society extends its condolences to the family and friends of Randy Simmons and flowers and a card were sent to express our sympathy.

At the request of the Simmons family our Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drum Band, under the leadership of Pipe Major/LAPD Detective Scott Walton, performed "Amazing Grace" at the cemetery during the burial of Officer Simmons. It was an honor to be allowed to participate in the services for Officer Simmons and our Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Band did us proud. Selected video of the extensive news coverage will be shown at our 3/5 meeting.

Our annual St Patrick's Day Party at Maggies restaurant in Santa Fe Springs, featuring bagpipers, Irish dancers, the band Sligo Rags, door prizes and all the corned beef and cabbage you can eat for 25.00 is this Saturday 3/8. Ticket sales are at a record level but we can still squeeze you in, so contact the LAPES office at 213 747-4743 for last minute ticket purchases. Tickets are not sold at the door.

Volunteers...Volunteers are still need to work the door at Maggies so thank you to those who have stepped up to volunteer and if you haven't , please consider it!

That's all for now! I look forward to seeing you at the meeting, party and upcoming events! There will be more details and HOT NEWS to follow!

LET'S GO IRISH! ERIN GO BRAGH! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Steve Saletros
President