Our participants
arrived at Roonka from Friday afternoon and into the night. There were no
designated camp areas for each Club; instead the organisers progressively filled
the area as each vehicle arrived. The campsites were set amongst trees and
bushes and it was nice and ‘bush-like.’ Despite this arrangement our members
were not too far apart; no-one got lost walking between our sites. We still
erected the banner and flag anyway.
The AGM was well attended. Some people commented that some reports were a bit drawn out and could have been shortened. The Association provided a free BBQ lunch.
Organised trips included the Morgan quarry area and some museums, and Brookfield Conservation Park. The Riverland Club had arranged some different activities for the weekend, compared with other AGM weekends that our members have attended. These included a quiz/skills competition, craft display, tyre changing workshop and entertainers for the Saturday evening. Some of our members had wondered whether Roonka would prove to be a suitable venue; I believe they were pleasantly surprised.
Saturday night’s dinner
and entertainment were a huge success; well except for a wine spillage. We
arranged our tables in a long formation for happy hour and the evening. A late
decision by us to have tablecloths saw Denise produce tablecloths for all. She
also provided balloons in blue and yellow, Club colours of course, which we tied
with pieces of her clothesline and secured to our chairs and tables. The
setting was resplendent with our tables draped in pale blue and the balloons.
We received comments and gestures from the other clubs. The lucky envelope was
about to be drawn and a hush enveloped the quadrangle. “And the winner is:
Little Leonie Young!! Please step forward.” She returned with $50. In her
excitement she leant on the table. It was not so stable. Two goblets tipped
towards her and the contents spurted at her. Her blue seersucker pants turned a
shade of red from top to bottom. Oh well! Time to rinse the clothes.
Dinner was a wholesome meal of roast
beef and lamb with vegetables. Sweets was a Cornetto icecream
and platters of fruit.
The entertainment was provided by a group of performers from Morgan. It lasted
throughout the evening. The crowd was enthralled by their show.
On Sunday morning an announcement came over the speaker. It was something like, “Do not use the waterslide down at the river. It is not in good nick and you may get fibreglass splinters in your bum.” Poor Frank, he had been on it the day before. No wonder he couldn’t sit still on Saturday night.
Alvin had his clean Sunday shirt on. Lunch was a free sausage sizzle and an orange juice pack. The shirt wasn’t clean for long. When you suck through the straw and the juice doesn’t come out, what do you do? Don’t try blowing into it or squeezing the box. You end up with juice sprayed all down the front of your shirt! Nevertheless it provided the rest of us with another laugh.
Written by Greg Young
