Wednesday, 6 July 2022
We had another reasonable roll up of thirty-one (31) for this event which included one (1) new member, Ross Phipp – welcome Ross. All up with both groups combined we had sixty odd in attendance.
Liz & Deon did a great job of guiding us around all the highlights of Suncorp Stadium covering the History & Memorabilia including photos, event rooms, dressing/locker/change rooms, old cemetery, &, of course, the Hallowed Turf of old Lang Park.
The event went off quite well as expected, however, I found out three of our fellow members on this trip (Neville Page, Tim Sullivan & Michael Bermingham) tested positive to COVID-19 on their return – I am pleased to report that all three are doing okay with their recovery. Also, Peter Taylor tested positive a few days back & is on the road to recovery as well – It is pretty apparent with the Trifecta of COVID-19, Influenza A & Respiratory issues that we are facing currently that we need to be exceptionally careful with washing our hands, maintaining social distancing & wearing masks etc. – Obviously, we can’t stay home & do nothing in an endeavor to ride this one out (as it will be with us for some time yet), instead, we need to get on with our lives, but just take extra precautions in doing so – This is certainly what I plan to do.
The venue for Smoko was the Roma Street Parkland in Brisbane – Tea, coffee, milk & sugar etc was provided as usual with members bringing along a plate of goodies to share – It rained early in the day in Brisbane but had cleared by Smoko.
Following lunch at the infamous Caxton Hotel members’ birthdays falling in July were acknowledged & celebrated in our usual way viz. Stephen Berghofer, Lance Chilcott, Norm Lovell, John O’Connor, Terry Parker, Kelsley Schelberg, Jon Schwartz & Pat Sullivan.
Special thanks to all who contributed to making this another safe & enjoyable event for all attendees, including: Terry (Tweed Heads Group) & our own Peter Taylor for organising this event; Liz & Deon for their much appreciated, informative & interesting talks & guided tours of Lang Park; Warwick Dingle for his overall coordination of this event; the jack of all trades group of Tim Sullivan, Noel Grant, Tim Blades, Errol Chase & Russell Mauch for all they did including distribution of drinking water, loading & unloading of the coach & cleaning up after Smoko etc.; the Caxton Hotel kitchen staff for providing & serving our great lunch; Michael Bourke (Group Treasurer) & his assistant Russell Mauch for looking after the collection of money & distribution & collection of our name badges; Bob Whittaker & Tony Wind for their usual joint gig as our first aid officers; Colleen Dingle (Warwick’s Wife) for making our wonderful birthday cake; &, last but not least Nick for transporting us to & from Lang Park safely.
I always consider when our first aid officers have no work to perform during an event that we have had a good day – Our first ever incident (minor the first of four all told to date) occurred last time we visited Suncorp Stadium – Bruce Sullivan caught himself on the side of the escalator & bled profusely – However, our trusty first aid officer on duty (Phil Cash) came to his rescue & patched him up with band aids – Phil certainly stopped the bleeding, but, the side effect was that Bruce had so many band aids on him that he was starting to resemble a “Patch Work Quilt” – Well done Phil.
Based on the interactions occurring between the groups & the noisy chatter over Smoko & lunch, I consider we can tick this off as another event enjoyed by all attendees – From my own perspective I always look forward to this event each year to catch up with the other group members, &, it is certainly one of, if not the highlight event each year (certainly for me).
Dick Neal
