Christmas Picnic December 10 2017

This year it was decided to try holding the annual Christmas Picnic at Auto Collectors Club of Murray Bridge’s Clubrooms at Johnstone Park complex, instead of travelling further afield, and that decision appeared to meet with the approval of the members as there was a healthy gathering of about 75 people in attendance.

The urn was going and tea and coffee at the ready when members started to arrive at about 10:00 a.m. and settle in for morning tea and a chat and catch-up with fellow Club members.  The main hall had been decorated in a festive manner and the tables looked very Christmassy with their red tablecloths and glittering pine-cone decorations.  The hall had been set up on the previous evening by a little band of volunteers and many thanks go to John & Vicki Courtney, Brenda Cowie, Elaine & Roy Bretag, Jan Hall, Maureen & Graham Edwards and their two grandchildren, Oakley and Tyler (who decorated the Christmas Tree), along with Lyn and Tom West.

At about 10:45 a.m., Vice-President, John Courtney, addressed the group with a welcome, some “house-keeping” and a good joke and then invited anyone who wished to visit the Captain’s Cottage Museum, which is adjacent to the Clubrooms, to register their names and pay the nominated entrance fee.  There was a really wonderful response and

This year, it was decided to try holding the annual Christmas Picnic at Auto Collectors Club of Murray Bridge’s Clubrooms at Johnstone Park complex, instead of travelling further afield, and that decision appeared to meet with the approval of the members as there was a healthy gathering of about 75 people in attendance.

The urn was going and tea and coffee at the ready when members started to arrive at about 10:00 a.m. and settle in for morning tea and a chat and catch-up with fellow Club members.  The main hall had been decorated in a festive manner and the tables looked very Christmassy with their red tablecloths and glittering pine-cone decorations.  The hall had been set up on the previous evening by a little band of volunteers and many thanks go to John & Vicki Courtney, Brenda Cowie, Elaine & Roy Bretag, Jan Hall, Maureen & Graham Edwards and their two grandchildren, Oakley and Tyler (who decorated the Christmas Tree), along with Lyn and Tom West.

At about 10:45 a.m., Vice-President, John Courtney, addressed the group with a welcome, some “house-keeping” and a good joke and then invited anyone who wished to visit the Captain’s Cottage Museum, which is adjacent to the Clubrooms, to register their names and pay the nominated entrance fee.  There was a really wonderful response and

42 people visited the museum for the best part of an hour.  The general consensus and feed-back was that it is a very good museum, which captures the district’s history, and is well worth a look.

After the museum visit and back at the Clubrooms, lunch was served at about 12:30 p.m.  Brenda Cowie and her small team had everything ready.  A variety of cold meats was supplied by the Club and there was a wonderful array of salads supplied by the members and pooled for everyone’s enjoyment.  It was a delicious meal and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Our sincere thanks go to Brenda for her capable handling of the catering side of things.

The afternoon was set aside for some entertainment, followed by the drawing of the raffle prizes.To begin the entertainment, Lyn West introduced her husband, Tom, and he accompanied himself on the guitar with his own rendition of “This Old Car”.  Following this, Lyn read out her version of a poem, for which she had gained inspiration from A.B. (Banjo) Paterson’s “The Man From Snowy River”, and had entitled “The Club Run”.  Vocalists, Vernon Graetz and Peter Geue (on guitar), sang a bracket of three Christmas songs next, after which Lyn handed over to Jill Matschoss to introduce the following item.  Jill invited four of the Club’s male members, John Courtney, Terry Mabbitt, Denis Scarman and Jeff Martin, to come to the stage.  This item took the form of a “Truth or Lies” forum, where each man claimed that a pre-determined object belonged to him and told his story of why that was so.  The fellows were fantastic story-tellers and were very convincing. 

The audience was given the chance to vote on who was, in fact, the true owner of the object at the end of the item and, you guessed it, they got it wrong!  It was a really fun item and was very enjoyable, for performers and audience alike.  The afternoon’s entertainment rounded off with a bracket of three Christmas songs sung by Elaine Bretag, Aileen Gueu and Lyn West, with Jill Matschoss on keyboard.  All the items were really well received by the audience and many thanks and hearty congratulations go to all the performers taking part.

John Courtney then conducted the drawing of the raffle prizes, tickets for which had been selling throughout the day.  Vicki Courtney, raffle coordinator, assisted and the three minor prizes were won by Deirdre and Trevor Kitto, Shirley and Burnie Hoffman and Mary and Ian Rowley.  Viktoria and Wayne Johns won the main prize.  Vicki and her little team had done a wonderful job in making up the four Christmas hampers, which looked quite spectacular.

Report: Lyn West

Photos: Graham Edwards and Rhonda Scarman