Jaycees reunion 2013

Past 2013

Friday 8 March 2013 – ‘another great gathering’

The Wild Dog Restaurant, Warragul was again the great setting for our second reunion. 43 were in attendance for a pleasant three course meal.

Kevin Dale welcomed everyone, John Gallienne read out apologies from 36 past members. A most notable apology was from John Pilgrim; his mother’s funeral was being held in Sale on the same day. John is one of our most enthusiastic members and we pass on our condolences to him. Brian Hopkins, Randall Peart and John Morgan apologised as they were attending the funeral also.

Kevin Dale interviewed past member Bruce Langdon. Bruce has an IT business that specializes in Web design. He explained that he had set up a site for Past Warragul Jaycees and Jaycettes to keep in touch with each other, news about our functions and upcoming events

Bruce also encouraged members to contribute a short story about what they are doing now and a couple of photos. Contributions should be sent by email to: bruce@brucelangdon.com.au or by post to John and Mavis Gallienne, PO Box 408 Warragul 3820.Kevin Dale welcomed everyone, John Gallienne read out apologies from 36 past members. A most notable apology was from John Pilgrim; his mother’s funeral was being held in Sale on the same day. John is one of our most enthusiastic members and we pass on our condolences to him. Brian Hopkins, Randall Peart and John Morgan apologised as they were attending the funeral also.

Max Cameron interviewed inaugural past member Cliff Wilkinson who is now a spritely 82. Cliff spoke enthusiastically about his yachting experiences that have taken him and June twice around the world. He endeavoured to convince us that it was quite safe to travel on the open seas "you just have to know what you are doing!"

Kevin then spoke with past member Cleo Sahhar, regarding the untimely death of past member Tim McArdle. Tim was killed in a cycling accident 11 years ago. Tim was an active Jaycee and Doctor partner with Cleo. Tim wrote the popular Dr Kev column in the Warragul Gazette which addressed health issues for many years. To honour Tim’s contribution to the community a Scholarship Fund was set up in his memory for students in need and studying health related courses at Monash University. Cleo said that 11 Scholarships had been awarded to date.

Cleo then made the extraordinary announcement that he has now taken up cycling, but we had the distinct message that his wife Nasia was not quite as enthusiastic about the idea!

Max spoke with Pat Betheras and she shared her experiences of the Black Saturday fires in 2009. The fire burnt to within 15 feet of her home, she was fortunate to have the assistance of daughter Angela and a couple of neighbours. Pat has found dealing with the issues of recovering from the trauma of the fire both at a personal and within the wider community level has been a huge task, and still continuing.

Helene Armour then shared her experiences that led to her being awarded an OAM. She was quite enthusiastic about the role of the McMillan campus in providing agricultural and horticultural training opportunities. She has also been strongly involved in Apple Industry matters, most notably with the Fire Blight issue. She is now an active member of the Order of Australia Awards Association and recently had been to Canberra involved in those activities.

Max then interviewed Graeme Savage who travelled down from Candelo NSW with his wife Helen. Graeme told us about his agricultural related activities over many years, he had everyone’s attention when he spoke about his olive plantation. His knowledge about olive oil production, differences in the various oils, showed he has quite a passion about this subject, it was good to catch up with him again.

Kevin then had a chat with Doug Armour. Doug is still a man of few words but is quite purposeful in whatever he does. He has always had a passion for historic cars; he restored an Austin Healy while in Jaycees, followed by the acquisition of a Jaguar XK 140, he is now restoring a Maserati. He also spoke about the Gippsland Field Days (Farm World) where he has been a member of the committee for 23 years including a stint as Chairman. He was pivotal in the decision to build a $4 million function centre which now is proving to be a great success.

Kevin recognized Bill Pyle and congratulated him on having a Gardner Foundation Scholarship named after him. It was a great recognition for Bills work over his decades of involvement in the Victorian Dairy Industry

The luncheon then finished with a discussion about the desirable dates to hold our reunion, the question was asked whether it should be each year or every two years. It was fairly evenly divided but the decision was made to have our function on alternate years.

Therefore the next Luncheon will be in the first week of March 2015, looking forward to seeing you there.

Sooo remember – to help us maintain contact with you (or others not on our list) please email or send details of changes/additions etc to John and Mavis Gallienne.

Kind Regards
Kevin Dale