Black Bush GC unveil plaque to remember great clubman Aiden Burns
A memorial plaque to remember founder member and late trustee Aiden Burns was unveiled in Black Bush Golf Club last Sunday, 8th September.
The plaque is located beside a beautiful Liquidamber tree recently planted between the 9th hole on B and the clubhouse.
Seamus Ryan (founder member and trustee) along with Miriam Horan (chairperson of Black Bush) unveiled the memorial plaque.
The event was attended by many of Aiden's friends in Black Bush Golf Club. He was a true stalwart of the club and is sorely missed by all.
Others to attend the unveiling event included captains Colin Rogers and Edel McDermott, President Peter Conlon, trustee Seamus Ryan alongside Aiden's very good friends, Peggy and Tony Duffy and Angela and Brendan Scully, who generously sponsored this fitting tribute to Aiden.
AIDEN BURNS: AN APPRECIATION
Aidan Burns, one of the founding members of Black Bush Golf Club, passed away last year.
In 1987, Aiden and the other founders had a vision for a new golf club that could be formed in the Dunshaughlin/Ratoath area.
This vision became a reality when land was purchased and Black Bush Golf Club was started at its current location. Seamus Ryan and Pat Burns were the first captains in 1989, with Aiden serving as his Vice Captain.
In 1990 Aiden became Captain and was joined by his wife Pat, who stayed on for a second term as Lady Captain. They had the honour of presiding at the official opening of the club on 8th July 1990.
The following piece is Aiden’s opening address from the Official Opening Booklet. We think it deserves to be included here because it sums up Aiden’s historical significance to Black Bush Golf Club.
Over the years, Aiden continued to serve Black Bush G.C. in numerous ways. As well as being one of the current Trustees of the club, he was President in 2007 and 2008 and also held the position of Honorary Secretary for many years.
While in recent years he took more of a back seat in the day to day running of the club, he continued to be a valued contributor at AGMs and attended the annual Past Captains’ and Presidents’ Dinner where he regularly won the “Best Dressed Award”!
Aiden also loved the world of horseracing, and was a founding member of the Black Bush Racing Syndicate. Many of us remember the great excitement of Miss Orchestra winning the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter in 1998 and the celebrations that followed. Aiden even sipped a few glasses of red wine (his favourite tipple)!
He was also an avid supporter of his beloved Louth and would continually remind those of us from the Royal County how we robbed them of a Leinster title in 2010. He had one of life’s great laughs, which was accompanied by a twinkle of devilment in his eyes as he told many a story.
However, his world changed in May 2008 when his beloved wife Pat passed away after her own health battle.
They were an inseparable pair who loved and lived life to the full. Both had played golf in Royal Tara and Ardee (where they both held honorary positions) prior to joining Black Bush.
Aiden was very emotional when his great friends Angela and Brendan Scully introduced the Pat Burns Memorial Trophy which the ladies of Black Bush play for and hope to win every year.
Aiden and Pat are now reunited and are already probably in the process of starting another new club! Both have departed the fairways of their beloved Black Bush.
They are gone from us but will never be forgotten. Wasn’t it a stroke of luck for everyone in Black Bush that Aiden read that notice in the evening paper in 1987 and decided to attend the meeting? Little did those founding members realise the legacy they were creating for members to enjoy now and for many years to come.
Aiden, you were the epitome of our club motto “Spórt agus Cairdeas”. Rest in Peace, dear friend.