At the beginning of August I wondered whether we could organise a reunion for the ex Hill School in Queensland, seeing that there were 16 of us living in and around the South East corner of the State. That information was drawn from Dave Lichtenstein's Hill School data base. After a discussion with Giles, who had a look at the names and being a little bit of a fundi with computers he realised that each of the names had an email address.
"Okay Mrs" he said, "We'll talk to Dave and see what he has to say." Giles reckoned he could email the lot. Dave was very enthusiastic about the idea and he was most helpful in getting it off the ground.
What to do? So we sent out a message to all the Hill School folk, asking them a few questions. As it appears quite usual in these situations, the response wasn't overwhelming but it was encouraging enough for us to make further plans. So it was to be a picnic, on a Saturday and in the morning. We looked again at our list of names and decided that we would look at the Southside of Brisbane for a suitable venue. Sherwood Forest Park seemed about the best place. We checked with the Council whether there was any booking required. We were advised to get in early to reserve a spot as we were told that it was a popular spot!
Out went the invitations for the 'get together' for the 14th October. We had heard no comments so we thought we were on the right track. But closer to the time we wondered if our plan was going to work, so I phoned everyone to find out their thoughts and was pleasantly surprised to hear them tell me that they were going to be at the picnic. Mike King wasn't at all sure that he would be attending as he said that he wouldn't know anyone! I was able to persuade him to change his mind as I told him that I didn't know anyone except for my brother Chris.
A week before kick off we sent another lot of reminders, this time giving out our mobile phone number just in case people got lost!
The weather was our next worry; South East Queensland was in a state of drought and fire bans. Giles rang the Council to check if we could bring in our own gas barbeque and was told that we had to use the Council provided barbeques. On the 10th of October we had our first serious rain since January and rain was forecast to last until Saturday morning - Good, we thought, then on Friday night the heavens opened up and here at Hatton Vale we recorded 20 mm of rain overnight and more was threatening. Certainly it was very black and ugly looking towards the West. Giles decided to pack a couple of tarps to take to Brisbane to make a shelter. Just before we left home we had a short sharp shower of rain, our famous "Westerly� wind blew up, the rain clouds disappeared and the Sun was doing what it does best in Queensland.
On the way to Brisbane the weather cleared and the mobile rang, what was this, the first cancellation - no, only Dave wondering where we were, the connection dropped out! The phone went again, this time we were travelling along a ridge and it was better reception, it was Dave again! We were at Sherwood Forest Park at 10.30 and no one had pinched our spot.
Dave and Rose Ann were soon followed by David and Andy Hellewell, Dave H on crutches after a fall from a garage roof! And slowly the party grew and the one bloke who didn't know any one was having a ball. Thanks Mike for getting the BBQ's going, not easy with wet kuni.
Thank you, Sarah and John Barry, Rick and Bev Foster, Stephanie and Dirk Grobler, Dave and Andy Hellewell, Mike and Virginia King, Chris and Hillary Mancell, Evelyn and Arthur Tuck and Janet and Bruce Evans, for all turning up and making it all worthwhile and to Dave and Rose Ann Lichtenstein for their big effort, in flying up from Sydney. Finely my thanks to Giles for his help and guidance.