Fund Raising in the early years

Fundraising is the bane of every Sports Club and it seems it has always been so.  Clontarf Cricket Club was well known in the area in its early years for their extremely popular music shows that were put on in the Town Hall, as early as the 1890s.  The shows continued annually well into the early 20^th century and were good earners for the Club’s coffers.  The dances run in the Club throughout its lifetime are well known and contributed enormously to the social life of the Clontarf area.

Recently, we have come across some other fund raising ventures tried in the Club’s early years.  The first is a straightforward draw from 1921, but the prizes are well worth checking out.  Not sure too many people would be that happy these days with a prize of a sack of flour, though the top prize was probably well worth winning.



1921 Fund raising draw



Winners were notified through the newspapers.

Another more innovative money maker was the Stop Watch competition.  This was tried in 1920s, the version in the picture below was from 1923.   The idea was that a Stop Watch was wound and sealed in a watch maker in Dublin city.  It was left in view and the idea was that one had to guess the time at which it would stop.  Club members had to sell “lines” which indicated the time at which the watch would stop.   In the 1922 competition the winning time was 8 hours, 8 minutes and 21 seconds and was won by Mr. G.J. Bonass from 81 Wellington Road, Dublin.



1923 Stop Watch Competition