Dublin Hammers Party 2022
The return of the Dublin Hammers Party! - 19th March 2022
I finished off my report on the Dublin Hammers Christmas Party of 2019 with the line “Here’s to December 2020!” Who would have bet on the world closing down and the Dublin Hammers having to wait until March 2022 to celebrate their next “Christmas Party”. Thankfully the party went ahead as planned and a large band of DH members and their better halves turned out in style to roll back the years.
Liam started off the night as he asked us all to take a moment to reflect on our close friends who had passed away and we paused to remember the one and only Brian O’Flaherty and also Chris McCormack from Brannigans.
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Liam then got going with the always tense “Raffle” – our Liam missed his calling as an MC as he roared at people to pick a prize quickly and yelled at them that yes that XXL jacket does fit you (you’ll grow into it)!! God help us if he ever gets the job as MC to Winning Streak.
I was beginning to wonder if Liam had actually put my ticket stubs in the draw when I was called out to collect the very last prize... a bottle of Crème de Menthe. As I figured this would sit in a cabinet at home until well after I passed away I donated it to someone on the night... hopefully they’ll still speak to me next time we meet!
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Next up was the food – it’s been a while since we had the auld chicken goujons 'a la liamo' at a DH meeting and suffice to say they didn’t last long as the platters were horsed into.
As is tradition the grub was followed by the karaoke and all the usual suspects took to the floor... we heard Dessie with a few Beatles classics, Tommy Noctor getting confused with '500 Miles', the crowd belting out Yarmalenko's name during the chorus, President Fran and 'Human' (preceded by his brief speech welcoming everyone back to the DH Party), Marie and 'Young Hearts', Brian Madden with a few rock and roll classics, Gerry showing that we have another classic crooner in the DH ranks with a couple of Deano songs, Craig with 'Angel', Charlie with his excellent Paul Young cover, Martin Bad News and Lady Sandra with 'Don’t you Want Me' and one other (I can’t remember... it’s an age thing) and to finish it all off Liam with 'Billy' – cue a full floor and plenty of torn paper!
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Then the serious dancing started as we all tried to remember those moves we tried to perfect two years ago to various Ska, Disco and 80s classics. Suffice to say we all got a good cardio workout on the dancefloor.
As ever the DJ finished with our national anthem and the crowd took to floor to give a rousing rendition of Bubbles. After that it was on to the various classic Hammers songs like Christian Daly, Ludo, Yarmolenko and Masuaku until it was time to leave.
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As ever a big thanks to the staff in Brannigans for making the night go so well.
Despite all the changes that have taken place in the last two years it was heartening to see that somethings haven’t changed... the Dublin Hammers still know how to throw a great party!!!!
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A special thanks to Gerry Murtagh for his recollections from the evening!