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50th
Anniversary Reunion Torquay,
Victoria. October
27,28,29 2017 |
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Absent from this
Photo Tony Wade Pieter Soeters Barry Pumphrey Peter Laird Derek Locke John Watt John Campbell Colin Lange |
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Over the Weekend of October 27,28,27 2017 we held a
reunion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our joining the RAAF and starting our Training
at Laverton. The venue for this
occasion was the RACV resort at Torquay.
The planning and organization of the event was carried out by the
planning committee comprising Macca, Dick, Bruce, Ron and Paul who managed it to perfection. Many of us travelled from all over Australia but a
special mention goes to Steve Manning and his wife Sri who came from Jakarta
specifically for this event and it is significant that 32 ex 21 Course Appies were there from the
original 72 who started 50 years ago. We arrived at Torquay on the Friday and a round of golf
was arranged for anyone who chose to join in. A visit had been organized to the old Laverton Base,
now known as RAAF Williams for either Friday or Sunday and several took up
that opportunity. This was followed by informal drinks at the bar and
most of us stayed for a casual dinner, a few observed the old traditions of not
knowing when to stop. Saturday was a casual day with lunch at the Jan Juc
pub, where the photo above was taken. On Saturday night we had a formal dinner at the resort
which was superbly catered. Starting
with a once familiar call to order we were then seated. During the
dinner we had an address by the Guest Speaker, Ron Ledingham who had been an
apprentice on 18 Course and went on to a distinguished career in the
RAAF. A most enjoyable evening. Again some of us didn’t know when to stop
for the night requiring the bar staff to tactfully and respectfully lead them towards the door. There were reports of some members
adjourning to someone’s room and raiding the mini bar but that isn’t confirmed. During the course of the evening it was suggested that
another reunion be held in 2019 to celebrate 50 years since graduation. This
was generally thought to be a good idea
and S.A. and in particular the Barossa Valley was suggested as a
possible venue. |
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Some photos from the weekend |
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On 9th January 2017 there were
a couple of mini reunions to celebrate the actual day of enlistment. |
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