From JohnMC

This is the final reminder that on the 19 and 20th of August, we are having a Classmates and Partners Gathering at The Pacific Bay Resort, Coffs Harbour. We have 52 attendees in total with 21 rooms booked and a few staying offsite as well. The resort (https://pacificbayresort.com.au) still has rooms available and if you decide at the last minute to book, please keep me in the loop so I can cover off the numbers for our suppliers. Remember to use the code “RMC “ to get your discount.

The list of those who have booked is below and they will receive a separate email asking them which aspects they plan to attend for catering purposes.

If anyone has any specific questions I am happy to assist; john.m.mcnamara@bigpond.com

Regards, JohnMc

Booked @ Pacific Bay:
Rod Allan and Jenny Tracy
John and Jacqui Black
Warwick and Brenda Elliott
John Elphinston and Sandra Davies
Geoff and Caroline Hay
Bill and Marina Houston
Peter and Kerry Jenke
Gerry and Annette Jones
Steve and Debra Jones
Kevin and Jan Loughrey
Jon Mander-Jones and Partner
Peter and Sue Martyn
Don and Diedre Muirhead
Duncan and Carmel McInnes
Tony and Mary McLeod
John and Margaret McNamara
Phil and Chris Newman
John and Vivienne Price
Paddy Ryan and Judy Fraser
Graham and Maxine Smith
Peter and Helen Teys
Attending but not booked at Pacific Bay Resort :
Dave and Trish Cran
Maurie and Joan Meecham
Darryl and Robyn Poole
Murray and Judy Smith
Rowan and Jane Tracey

From John McNamara

Last week I visited Coffs and today I had mornos with the boys and have received my guidance.
Thank you for those who have shown interest in attending. We have 50 attendees in total to date and the list of those attending is below. There is obviously room for more and if anyone wants to book please follow the process on the website.
Our main purpose remains to give us the opportunity to catch up as a wider group and have fun with people who share a story. What we are after is a casual gathering without too much organisation but I do know some of you like a bit of structure, so here goes.

Tuesday 19 August
Check- in time is 3pm but if the room is available, you are in. The bar opens at 2.30pm and closes much later. If you are driving, you may want to consider bringing an esky with you with your best wines from home so we can sample these if we get invited to your room. If flying, Uncle Dans is 2km away and we will do a tock run if asked.
Happy Hour is 5pm so this would be a good time to gather if you are not already there.
Dinner – Dinner will start from 6pm but there will be no rush to sit down as we will be collocated in a separate area but spread over 5 or 6 tables. The menu in the dining room has a range of menu options. If you have special dietary needs please engage with Pacific Bay Resort. Everything is  ‘ pay as you go ‘ and you can charge you room or pay by cash or card.
Dress this evening is Hawaiian / Tropical with lots of colour which is likely to keep other guests from coming near us. The August temperatures range from 9 – 20C and the area we have been allocated for dining is outdoors but can be closed off and has outdoor heaters.

Wednesday 20 August

There are a number of tourist type activities in and around the Coffs Harbour area. Some may wish to play golf or tennis or go for a walk on the beach or just relax and do nothing. Inspirations can be found here:
https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/north-coast/coffs-harbour-area/activities
https://www.coffscoast.com.au/info/

Breakfast – most have booked for breakfast in the dining room.
Mornos – as a suggestion there is a coffee shop attached to a World War 2 bunker that houses the National Cartoon Gallery. The National Holden Museum is close by  – it is $8 per head for people our age which covers entry to both.
Lunch –  we suggest you visit the Coffs Harbour Surf Club. It is well patronised with a good menu. If we have the numbers they will set aside a separate area for us so we can keep talking.
Dinner – The evening plan is to repeat Tuesday with Happy Hour followed by dinner.

A month out from our gathering I will ask Elph to send out something whereby you tell me what, from the above, you wish to attend so I can pass this on to The Bunker / The Surf Club and Pacific Bay for catering , staffing and seating purposes.
That is it from me for now. If you have questions I am happy to handle via the web or via email at John.m.mcnamara@bigpond.com

John Mac

Booked @ Pacific Bay:
Rod Allan and Jenny Tracy
John and Jacqui Black
Warwick and Brenda Elliott
John Elphinston and Sandra Davies
Geoff and Caroline Hay
Bill and Marina Houston
Peter and Kerry Jenke
Gerry and Annette Jones
Steve and Debra Jones
Kevin and Jan Loughrey
Jon Mander-Jones and Partner
Peter and Sue Martyn
Don and Diedre Muirhead
Duncan and Carmel McInnes
Tony and Mary McLeod
John and Margaret McNamara
Phil and Chris Newman
John and Vivienne Price
Paddy Ryan and Judy Fraser
Graham and Maxine Smith
Peter and Helen Teys
Attending but not booked at Pacific Bay Resort :
Dave and Trish Cran
Maurie and Joan Meecham
Darryl and Robyn Poole
Murray and Judy Smith

From John McNamara

Last week I visited Coffs and today I had mornos with the boys and have received my guidance.
Thank you for those who have shown interest in attending. We have 50 attendees in total to date and the list of those attending is below. There is obviously room for more and if anyone wants to book please follow the process on the website.
Our main purpose remains to give us the opportunity to catch up as a wider group and have fun with people who share a story. What we are after is a casual gathering without too much organisation but I do know some of you like a bit of structure, so here goes.

Tuesday 19 August
Check- in time is 3pm but if the room is available, you are in. The bar opens at 2.30pm and closes much later. If you are driving, you may want to consider bringing an esky with you with your best wines from home so we can sample these if we get invited to your room. If flying, Uncle Dans is 2km away and we will do a tock run if asked.
Happy Hour is 5pm so this would be a good time to gather if you are not already there.
Dinner – Dinner will start from 6pm but there will be no rush to sit down as we will be collocated in a separate area but spread over 5 or 6 tables. The menu in the dining room has a range of menu options. If you have special dietary needs please engage with Pacific Bay Resort. Everything is  ‘ pay as you go ‘ and you can charge you room or pay by cash or card.
Dress this evening is Hawaiian / Tropical with lots of colour which is likely to keep other guests from coming near us. The August temperatures range from 9 – 20C and the area we have been allocated for dining is outdoors but can be closed off and has outdoor heaters.

Wednesday 20 August

There are a number of tourist type activities in and around the Coffs Harbour area. Some may wish to play golf or tennis or go for a walk on the beach or just relax and do nothing. Inspirations can be found here:
https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/north-coast/coffs-harbour-area/activities
https://www.coffscoast.com.au/info/

Breakfast – most have booked for breakfast in the dining room.
Mornos – as a suggestion there is a coffee shop attached to a World War 2 bunker that houses the National Cartoon Gallery. The National Holden Museum is close by  – it is $8 per head for people our age which covers entry to both.
Lunch –  we suggest you visit the Coffs Harbour Surf Club. It is well patronised with a good menu. If we have the numbers they will set aside a separate area for us so we can keep talking.
Dinner – The evening plan is to repeat Tuesday with Happy Hour followed by dinner.

A month out from our gathering I will ask Elph to send out something whereby you tell me what, from the above, you wish to attend so I can pass this on to The Bunker / The Surf Club and Pacific Bay for catering , staffing and seating purposes.
That is it from me for now. If you have questions I am happy to handle via the web or via email at John.m.mcnamara@bigpond.com

John Mac

Booked @ Pacific Bay:
Rod Allan and Jenny Tracy
John and Jacqui Black
Warwick and Brenda Elliott
John Elphinston and Sandra Davies
Geoff and Caroline Hay
Bill and Marina Houston
Peter and Kerry Jenke
Gerry and Annette Jones
Steve and Debra Jones
Kevin and Jan Loughrey
Jon Mander-Jones and Partner
Peter and Sue Martyn
Don and Diedre Muirhead
Duncan and Carmel McInnes
Tony and Mary McLeod
John and Margaret McNamara
Phil and Chris Newman
John and Vivienne Price
Paddy Ryan and Judy Fraser
Graham and Maxine Smith
Peter and Helen Teys
Attending but not booked at Pacific Bay Resort :
Dave and Trish Cran
Maurie and Joan Meecham
Darryl and Robyn Poole
Murray and Judy Smith

From John Mac,

Classmates,

As you know, we are planning a gathering of like minded people in Coffs at The Pacific Bay Resort on 19 and 20 Aug this year. To date we have 42 coming and the list is below. Of these, 36 are booked into the resort. In addition, Murray and Judy Smith are locals and we have a couple of caravaners. I reconciled bookings with Pacific Bay Resort yesterday and the below list is correct.

Murray and I are meeting with Pacific Bay Resort on 27 March and getting down to business now that we know the numbers. I will plan for 50 and hope for 60 so don’t hold back.

Remember when dealing with The Pacific Bay Resort to quote “RMC“  to gain your group discount. 

After our meeting on 27 March I will consult with my ‘Band of Merry Men’ and give you a more detailed plan.

Cheers

John Mac 

Attending but not booked at Pacific Bay Resort:

Dave and Trish Cran
Maurie and Joan Meecham
Murray and Judy Smith

Booked @ Pacific Bay Resort:

Rod Allan and Jenny Tracey
John and Jacqui Black
Warwick and Brenda Elliott
John Elphinston and Sandy Davies
Geoff and Caroline Hay
Peter and Kerry Jenke
Gerry and Annette Jones
Kevin and Jan Loughrey
Peter and Sue Martyn
Don and Diedre Muirhead
Duncan and Carmel McInnes
Tony and Mary McLeod
John and Margaret McNamara
Phil and Chris Newman
John and Vivienne Price
Paddy Ryan and Judy Fraser
Graham and Maxine Smith
Peter and Helen Teys

From John McNamara

As you may remember we are planning a Class Gathering in Coffs Harbour (www.pacificbayresort.com.au) in 2025 but we feel the need to do another recce to confirm last years recce ( you can never do enough planning!).

Therefore, some of us are planning to go to Coffs this year. The idea of this note is to say that if anyone else is interested, please feel free to join us in Coffs Harbour, arriving Tuesday 20th Aug and departing sometime on or after thursday 22nd August 2024. Consider it a recce ‘en force’.  Wives/partners are very much welcomed and encouraged as are your tents, caravans, fishing rods, golf clubs and walking shoes. 

How different would this be to the one in 2025? Not too sure on the answer to that as the over-arching theme for both is one of relaxation and minimal formality. Depending on the number who indicate possible attendance we’ll at least reserve a space in the dining room/on the terrace.

Please let me know your thoughts and potential attendance.

Cheers

Mac

From John McNamara

Well we are back and didn’t lose anyone . I travelled last Monday on a very early train out of Brisbane and the other Johns (Jon Mander – Jones and John Elph) arrived by car the next day. Murray and Judy Smith looked after me until The Boys arrived. We stayed at The Pacific Bay Resort and arranged to tour this resort and another (Opal Cove Resort). Both could work but we all favoured The Pacific Bay so mission accomplished!

We indicated the Class Gathering would be in August 25 (they smiled at our long notice and praised our enthusiasm and confirmed they have rooms available 🤣) – for want of dates we have looked at a Winter Escape for some and have tried to avoid school holidays etc and have selected 19 – 21 Aug 2025 as the core dates, so in on the Tuesday and out on the Thursday. But of course having made the effort to get there, some may wish to stay in the area for longer.

Murray knows a good caravan park for those thinking this way and others may stay the week at this resort or other accommodation places.

We tried a night in town at a brewery and it was good without being great and we had trouble getting transport back (even though it was fairly early) so the couple of organised activities that we will suggest will be at the Pacific Bay Resort to make it simple and hassle free.

Pacific Bay has a 9 hole par 3 golf course, three tennis courts, a gym and the beach is 200m away for those in need of exercise. There is also plenty on offer in the Coffs area – off shore fishing, nice drives and walks (Dorrigo for example) excellent golf courses (Bonville, CHGC for example).

So that is about it – we will sit on the outline plan until we need to put some meat around our ideas.

Very happy to hear any thoughts you may have?  Oh, and the four of us had a good time, but will try and get more sleep next recce!

Regards for now.

JohnMc

From John McNamara:

Good afternoon all,

About 20 classmates have sent through positive messages or spoken one on one about the desirability of a gathering in 2025.  The level of interest is very encouraging and even though 2025 may seem to be a long way off, it is only half of the wait for the ‘normal’ 5 year reunion.

So in a nod to our ageing selves, we are biting the bullet and planning for a Class Gathering in August 2025 at Coffs Harbour. Its on!!!

A recce is planned for 20-22 November 2023, with John Elphinston, Jon Mander-Jones, Murray Smith (a Coffs local) and me. We plan to stay at The Pacific Bay Resort to look over the place. As well, we will view other venues, check out caravan parks and other places of interest.

If any of you are passing through Coffs Harbour at that time, we will be on our mobiles and would love to see you. I am sure you will see a picture or two of us hard at work and we will report back.

Happy to take on any feedback and wish us well for a fruitful recee. 🤣

Regards ,

John Mc

From John McNamara:

A few of us were chatting at the last catch-up in Brisbane, about the possibility of having a class get-together ahead of the suggested plan to gather in NZ in December 2027. My thought was that, at this stage of our life journey, a 5 year gap between class gatherings is too large and I agreed to run an idea up the flag pole. So here it is!

I suggest that we gather in two years from now in August 2025 (two and a half years from our 50^th)

This could be anywhere but as a suggestion, I propose Coffs Harbour. Coffs is half way between Sydney and Brisbane, it has an airport, better weather than many other places where classmates live, particularly in the winter months.  Coffs is also a relaxed sort of a place and would fit nicely with the concept of a relaxed, informal catch up of like-minded souls.

I have attached a link to Pacific Bay Resort, a possible venue at Coffs; but others may have a better location and/or better venue in mind.

Details will develop as we gather momentum but we don’t have to stick to weekends at this stage of life so we could gather on a Tuesday and finish on the Thursday for example. Individuals may want to link in a weekend either side. Maybe we do a Long Lunch instead of a dinner, or both. This venue has a golf course as well which may be of interest to some classmates.

I’m prepared to organise the event with a bit of support on the admin side. The basis for the event –  low key, everyone is welcome, relaxed and informal gathering. A few side events could be arranged and I’ll look for interested parties to help co-ordinate them.

Please let me know the level of interest by either leaving a reply in the window below, or by sending an email to rmcclassof1972@gmail.com

htps://pacificbayresort.com.au

Cheers

John M^c