APEX REUNION - Thursday 14th March 2019
Tales of happy Apex days coupled with some good natured fines from the Sgt-at-arms, Roger Catchpole produced plenty of laughter at the Zone 10 Reunion.
Eighty ex-Apexians were joined by two current ones from Wauchope Apex to celebrate times past and renew old friendships.
Below is a wrap up from John Gunn, who came up with the idea for a local get-together that happily grew into a major event.
Tales of happy Apex days coupled with some good natured fines from the Sgt-at-arms, Roger Catchpole produced plenty of laughter at the Zone 10 Reunion.
Eighty ex-Apexians were joined by two current ones from Wauchope Apex to celebrate times past and renew old friendships.
Below is a wrap up from John Gunn, who came up with the idea for a local get-together that happily grew into a major event.
"What a wonderful evening our reunion turned out to be - beyond what I had hoped for or even imagined"
"We had former Apexians from all over the former Zone 10 area that encompassed clubs south to the Harbour Bridge, Scone in the west and up the coast to Kempsey. Fortunately we had the foresight to provide name badges. Many attendees had changed somewhat since leaving their Apex days behind.
We in the organising committee wanted to keep formalities to a minimum and give plenty of time to move around and say hello to old friends and it worked a treat. If you left your chair and came back it was common to find someone had plopped on it to catch up with old friends at your table... perfect! And there was plenty of reminiscing and stories of projects, and club visits relived. And the good fun we had when we were in our prime of life and making our way in the world.
There's plenty of people I have to thank for making the night the success it was. There's the committee we formed to get the show on the road - John Fettell from Kooloonbung Club, who pushed to expand this from a district to a Zone event and also supplied much of the memorabilia. - Roger Catchpole, who's experience with Apex Foundation was a boon and his performance as a cheeky Master of Ceremonies come Sgt-at-Arms kept the night rolling along nicely.
Add to these two there's the locals, Chris Whalley for arranging some extra help and Col Shaw for getting our website up and running. I ended up with a small but productive group who came up with suggestions and tied up all the loose ends.
Chris co-opted John and Sandy Waters so the photos and raffle tickets were covered and it all fell into place. And I of course co-opted my trouble-and-strife Dellis who was an invaluable backstop.
As the evening drew to a close, the question of "When should we all get together again?" was raised . Yearly or every two or five years were suggested. No firm decision was made.
Several groups were chewing over the possibility that maybe they could pick up the baton and put a night on. We will know more when they have time to consider. There was also a suggestion to make up a Facebook page. I'm not a Facebook user so I'll leave that to somebody who knows what they are doing."
Finally, thanks to all who made the trip to Laurieton, some from quite a distance away. I hope you enjoyed the evening and it was great to catch up again.
NOT A FUNDRAISER WE SAID
We said that this reunion was never intended as a fundraiser, just a chance to catch up.
But we knew that Apexians never change so we ran a raffle and a fine session and had visions of raising a couple of hundred dollars that perhaps we could send on to the Apex Children's Chalet at Smiggins.
Well for a non-fundraiser we did pretty well.
The raffle featured some excellent prizes donated from all over NSW. A big icebox from Boggabri RSL was popular as were the cartons of beer, bottles of wine and meal vouchers from the Laurieton United Services Club and Fuel Vouchers from Camden Haven Tyres and Access Fuels. Ex-Apexians Dennis Crossman and Dave Napper donated 30 year old bottles of Apex Anniversary Port. (Though after dubious cellaring, its drinkability was perhaps as big a raffle as the main one.) I We even went as far afield as Penrith where Sweeties Confectionery gave us a mountain of Allen's sweets and four rucksacks to put them in. Locally, Holiday Coast Credit Union topped up the minor prizes with several packs of merchandise. So the raffle was well supported, but the big bonus was the great deal that the Services Club did for us, charging much less than the budget for what were excellent gourmet trays of food that filled everyone to capacity.
The nett result of all of this generosity was a profit of more than $1,900 dollars... so much for a non-fundraiser!
By unanimous vote on the evening, it was agreed that whatever money was raised, it should be directed to the Apex Chalet at Smiggins, and this has now been sent off.
We said that this reunion was never intended as a fundraiser, just a chance to catch up.
But we knew that Apexians never change so we ran a raffle and a fine session and had visions of raising a couple of hundred dollars that perhaps we could send on to the Apex Children's Chalet at Smiggins.
Well for a non-fundraiser we did pretty well.
The raffle featured some excellent prizes donated from all over NSW. A big icebox from Boggabri RSL was popular as were the cartons of beer, bottles of wine and meal vouchers from the Laurieton United Services Club and Fuel Vouchers from Camden Haven Tyres and Access Fuels. Ex-Apexians Dennis Crossman and Dave Napper donated 30 year old bottles of Apex Anniversary Port. (Though after dubious cellaring, its drinkability was perhaps as big a raffle as the main one.) I We even went as far afield as Penrith where Sweeties Confectionery gave us a mountain of Allen's sweets and four rucksacks to put them in. Locally, Holiday Coast Credit Union topped up the minor prizes with several packs of merchandise. So the raffle was well supported, but the big bonus was the great deal that the Services Club did for us, charging much less than the budget for what were excellent gourmet trays of food that filled everyone to capacity.
The nett result of all of this generosity was a profit of more than $1,900 dollars... so much for a non-fundraiser!
By unanimous vote on the evening, it was agreed that whatever money was raised, it should be directed to the Apex Chalet at Smiggins, and this has now been sent off.