In terms of events this was another successful year. 

We had six talks throughout the year on a variety of historical topics. The majority of these were delivered by well known and respected guest speakers and were on subjects of historical and general interest.  There was a good attendance from across the community.  For example the talk by Dr David Brown of TCD was about his new research into the mortgage commitments of Sir Phelim O'Neill's estates at Caledon. Many of the financial devices in use in the 17th century are being replicated today.eg the use of vulture funds. 

We held a one morning semester on Shane ONeill at Benburb which considered how fake history writing in the past affected his reputation today. The keynote speaker was the leading authority on Shane O'Neill, Professor Ciaran Brady. This event was attended by people from across N. Ireland and several from the R.of I. 

We organised a one day trip to the ancient Kilmore area. We organised a lunch at which everyone agreed to pay for their own food.  This took place on a Saturday when the weather was good and all the participants thoroughly enjoyed this informative event. 

Our main annual production is the publication of the well established historical journal Dúiche which is now stocked in every university library in Ireland.It is also our main source of income. This year due to production difficulties we were not in a position to publish it until late December and this of course is reflected in the financial position for the year 2018 as sales were carried over into the following year. 

Our programme for 2018 was ambitious but expensive and if we are to continue to achieve this high standard or hopefully improve on it, we shall need to devote more consideration to fund raising and to examine the possibility of accessing more grants. This year we only obtained one small grant from MUDC but did not apply for any others. Our committee needs to prioritise the pursuit of more grant assistance which are available from a variety of sources. At this time we are financially in the black but we need to devote more attention as a matter of priority to obtaining additional funding. 

We also need to look at improving our website which costs us £360 per annum. Quite frankly it has become stale and is not generating the income it should. Unfortunately we have lost some members who were working with it. We need to look within our general membership and get some replacement  volunteers with IT skills who can overall improve what should be a good marketing tool. 

There can be no doubt that judged from the level of attendances and feed back we are providing an excellent service to our community which is well recognised by bodies such as the local council. By picking historical subjects which appeal to both sections of the community we have good across the board support. We could try to appeal in the future to recruit some additional younger members and this is something the committee could give attention to in the future. 

James Kane ( Vice-Chairperson ONCHS )