Recently I have been chasing up a couple of sickies up here in Qld., namely Ron Butcher from that other Platoon who has spent a bit of time in hospital getting his second knee done and whilst in there it was discovered that his heart beat was a bit different so he is staying in there a little longer than expected.
Whilst on the “sickie chasing” bit I decided to ring John John and find out his excuse for his non-appearance at the reunion. Rang once, heard a voice at the other end a couple of times then a click. Waited a few minutes then rang again, and there on the other end was John, but he couldn’t hear any noise despite my shouting down the phone at this end. I then reverted to an EMail and following is the reply I received:
G’day,

After a month on an increasing quantity and strength of antibiotics, and
three days (11, 12 and 13 August)in hospital, my faulty lungs were no
better, so my GP sent me to get a scan. It revealed that I have pneumonia.
Next week I am due to provide a specimen of lung content for a biopsy. All
of which sounds dire, but I’m not feeling very unwell, just lethargic and
inefficient; more than usual, that is.

For example I was thinking of you all over the reunion weekend and intended
to call you while you were at dinner on the Saturday, but I managed to fall
asleep for the duration.

I had booked accommodation at the Ocean Spray (opposite the Bowling Club),
had paid the air fares and was so looking forward to our gathering at Coffs,
then got so crook I finished up in hospital. When I got out, my GP and
Janet both insisted that I was unfit to travel and, I must admit, I was
inclined to agree at that stage.

As a consequence, we cancelled our flights and claimed a refund. We had
taken out insurance because we are both 80, with a variety of incipient
medical conditions, so thought it advisable, just in case. Now the
insurance company is baulking, despite a medical certificate from my GP as
they demanded. Could turn into a saga!

Congratulations to the team for another successful gathering of the clan.
My thanks too to Jim for his peerless leadership over so many years, to Des
for accepting the mantle, to Jenny and Ken for continuing in their roles,
and especially to you yourself for being our principal communicator for both
87 and the ATA.

Sorry about our phone. We have a couple of extensions, but the one in my
office obviously needs replacing.

Janet sends her best wishes and regrets that she didn’t get to see the girls
and boys this year.

Great re-union. Many thanks to Ken, John and co. for a fabulous weekend. Thanks also to Jim Thompson for his role as President over those years, and congrats to Desi Ralph for taking over the role. Also well done to Glenn for the photos. I hope everyone had a safe journey home. Looking forward to our 50th. Take care, regards Pommie Adcock

Another successful reunion has been held and enjoyed immensely by those who attended.
Illness plagued numbers this year with a few regular attendees being unable to asttend for various reasons, coming out of hospital, under doctor’s orders and the likes of such unfortunate unavoidable events in ones life.
The 49 members and partners that did attend enjoyed a great weekend of camaraderie and conviviality despite the nuisance rain that fell on the Saturday afternoon and night. I am not too sure how much rain fell in Coffs Harbour on the Saturday night but we awoke to a magnificent sunny morning on Sunday.
Ken and Margaret Sceney, John and Jenny Pidgeon and others in the organisational team, are to be congratulated on their “behind the scenes” activities and enthusiasm that went to make the weekend the success that it was.
The by now standard format of Meet and Greet on Friday night, Dinner on Saturday night and our bi-annual General Meeting on the Sunday, went ahead seemlessly and the Park Beach Bowls Club once again excelled itself in hosting the weekend on their premises and supplying a delicious hot and beautifully presented 3 course meal on Saturday and an overabundance of finger food (hot and cold) on the Friday night. Anyone who left the reunion hungry only had themselves to blame.
A special mention I feel must be made of Kay and Stephen Meikle who went out of their way to ensure that their father/father in law, Bob Lawrence, had an enjoyable and memorable weekend with his mates despite the fact that he is suffering from an onset of dementia. Their selfless act and the obvious care they displayed was noted and appreciated by all members who attended.
Whilst offering special mentions I would be remiss to not congratulate and thank those who donated items for the raffles on Saturday night. The quality of the items was superb and greatly appreciated by all whether winners or not. Thank you, all the girls (and boys) who traded their particular crafts and offered such a wide range of quality goods for prizes. See list below:
Joy Purdie
87TPT towels and t towels, xmas table runner, quilted knee rug, embroidered tote bag
Marie Thomson
door prize of Aussie Outback applique wall hanging –
87TPT t towels, cut-work t towels, embroidered t towels
Clare Storer (Marie’s next door neighbour)
and applique wall hanging and a quilted frog wall hanging
Jenny Hurnall
a gents biro in the shape of a rifle and a ladies biro with magnetic clip necklace
Jo Quinn
Vietnam Book and DVD compendium
Shirley Hoare
Quilted Bedspread and quilted table runner
Pat Jerome
Ladies watch and jewelery set and mans watch
Jeanette Henderson
crocheted fan stitch throw rug
Peter Brooke
2 t shirts with Seymour Vietnam Veterans Walk logo
Plus VV colours necklaces
Coffs Harbour Bowling Club
bottle of whisky and a bottle each of red and white wine
John and Jenny Pidgeon
a bottle each of Tasmanian cherry liqueur and cherry port
Pommie Adcock
an assortment of stickers which we sold on Sunday morning

I cannot really honestly elaborate on the success of the reunion any more than by saying that Patsy and I both enjoyed the weekend immensely and I am sure that all others attended did so as well. I missed out on securing our usual cabin type of accommodation in the Caravan Park this year (and I did book early….. the Tuesday prior to the reunion!!) but we did manage to secure immaculately clean accommodation at the Ocean Spray apartments just across the road from the Club.
Some moved in to Coffs and stayed for a couple of weeks or more, some for just the weekend and others for just the Saturday night. Us, we moved in on Friday and left Monday morning.

The meeting on Sunday is covered in the minutes that you should receive soon by Email or snail mail, and our new Office Bearers were duly elected: Des Ralph is the new President whilst the Secretary’s and Treasurer’s positions remain unchanged with Jenny Pidgeon and Ken Sceney refilling these positions. Welfare Officer is once again Bloo Dennis. Congratulations to all elected members and also a big thankyou to retiring President Jim Thompson for his dedicated 13 years in the position. Following the closure of the meeting the majority of members who were not heading straight off home, moved up to the local “Hoey Moey” pub about 4 doors up the road for yet another meal.

Below you should find most of the photographs I took over the weekend except there is not one of Blue Hickey, and I apologise for this in that the only one I have was not at all flattering to the lady he was sitting next to so I have refrained from putting my welfare in jeopardy by upsetting said lady!!

Graham (Blue) Morcom has recently been in Epworth Hospital with a lung infection but is now home and on the mend again. He and Jenny will be missing from the reunion this year but wish everyone a ‘fun’ time catching up.

FRIDAY 15th Aug – meet and greet upstairs at the Bowling Club at 5.30pm, with finger food provided and drinks available at club prices .
SATURDAY 16th Aug – Dinner at the upstairs dining room at the Bowling Club 6.30pm. for 7pm.
The three course meal with beer, wine and soft drink provided is at a cost of $50 per person.
For those with any special dietary needs please contact us at least a couple of days before the event.
SUNDAY 17th Aug – Our meeting will be at the same venue at 11 am, unfortunately this year our post meeting BBQ and Bowls cannot be held as the Bowls Club has a Bowls Carnival on that weekend.

On Monday the 18th (Long Tan Day) – a service will be held at Sawtell RSL at 5pm.

G’day me old & young mates, reference to my association with this old Jack Dancer (Cancer) for the uninitiated, had the scans and saw the quack yesty. Nothing has changed since there appearance these nasty little shits in December last year, yep, plenty of the little mongrels but like me quiet and in active. I’m better looking though, I’m not being smug “I’ve seen the pictures!” So we do all the scans etc again in October, so we are back to where we were last time I sent this email, get used to me still being here for a while yet.

Till next we meet or talk, live life love and be happy.

Take care

Hi Glen A bit of info for our Blog site.
I received a phone call from Bob Lawrence’s Daughter this morning regarding Bob,s health. He is suffering from Dementia pretty badly and has been put into a Palliative care home. The name of the Home is Regis Canning Lodge in Caboolture the Phone Number is 54337908 which is the switch board Number you cannot dial him direct. Apparently he has trouble remembering peoples names and faces. He is also going through a nasty property settlement from his Divorce but his Daughter seems to have that under control. She also knows John Manning ATA Inc and Redcliffe RSL member and he is looking after any problems Bob has with Veteran Affairs.
Gays Phone Number is 0447726806 she is happy to talk to anybody regarding Bob,s health.
Regards Jim Thomson

At the moment from what I gather the reunion is running on track with approx 57 confirmed attendees at this stage, so looking good.

There are still a few that haven’t made contact so if you are thinking of coming along, now is the time to pick up a phone or send an Email and let the organisers know so that they in turn can give the caterers a chance to know how many sausages to buy, or whatever. (see contact details in the previous post.)

I just recently spoke to Stuey Golland, who apparently cannot make it due to other commitments on the August weekend, but he did say that a couple of years ago he set up a facebook page for 87. I had a look and there hasn’t been a lot of use possibly because no-one knew it was there, so if you are a “face book” follower, go to Face Book and type in 87 transport platoon and it should pop up. It did for me.

Stuart also just recently stumbled upon our blog, so with this in mind, if any of you are talking to any other members who are not aware of it, pass on the information and tell them to hit the “subscribe” or “follow’ button on the bottom and they will be kept as up to date as the rest of us.

Patsy and I both are looking forward to seeing as many as possible next month. Strangely enough, we are all getting on a bit and in many cases for some of our mates, the “perch” is getting harder to hang on to, so don’t put it off too long. I am into my seventies already so the rest of you can’t be that far behind and I now go for regular scans (Senior Citizens Afternoon Naps) and have trouble doing a lot of the things that were once easy, but still place the biannual reunion with the reprobates that I went to a war with very high on my list of priorities.

As for you Bluey Morcom, come on son, get your act together!

Surprisingly so far we haven’t heard from Spruce, Hodgson, Jones, Hickey and quite a few more. Got writers cramp you lot or what?  Whether you decide to come or not, at least let someone know.

Whilst I still have your attention, following is a general rundown of what has been happening in Queensland of late. Patsy and I are both doing fairly well, despite the fact that I sent Patsy off to hospital a couple of weeks ago for a minor op., Jimmy Thomson has had another reasonably successful stint in hospital to try and get some circulation into his feet, Ken Purdie is firing on all fours with a couple of new knees, (Not nearly as many as Blooey Dennis though), Ron Butcher from that other mob has also had a knee done and is about to get the second one done, Donger Hodgson is still doing all right and at this very moment is up around Townsvile somewhere terrorising his son, daughter in law and a couple of grandkids as well as nursemaiding Shirley who fell down some rocks on Magnetic Island and bruised her face pretty badly.

Ted and Dottie Baulch seem to be battling along pretty well, and Ihaven’t heard from Bobby Jones for a while but last heard he was doing all right, as is his Mum, bless her socks. Blooey Dennis has a bit of a fight on his hands but I will let him relate his medical woes in person next month, and that is about all I have to report.

Regards

Glen

Jenny Pidgeon has mentioned the fact that there will more than likely be a number of members attending the reunion as single entities. With that in mind perhaps it would be  a good idea if those intending to attend on their own and who plan to stay at the caravan park and are willing to share accommodation, and also costs, were to post their intentions on here by adding to the “leave a reply” section of this post.

Perhaps this will assist someone along the way, I don’t know, but we might just as well give it a go.

I do not know whether using the “leave a reply” activates the Email notification thingo so we will simply have to suck it and see.

John Horner has expressed his interest so far.