Page 164 - Friendships Through the Years

After the December meeting, the Victorian Police Band entertained the members
(and some of the public, who happened to be at the Lake) with some toe-tapping music,
plus some quite funny (and some quite awful) jokes. Brad Martin, Manager of the Lake
Community Hall, again co-operated by erecting a marquee in which to have our
barbecue. It was certainly required as the heavens opened and, instead of the members
eating in it, the Police Band moved in, whilst the members, ladies and guests adjourned
back into the Hall. There they enjoyed lunch provided by Jack Coffey and his helpers,
who braved the weather and got extremely wet, but provided another ‘Coffey Special’.
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There were two special meetings in succession. The 187 General Meeting on
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Thursday 13 January 2000 was the first meeting of the new Century. Again business
was kept to a minimum. The guest speaker, who had been advertised as a ‘mystery
speaker’, was eventually unveiled by Martin Taylor as Andrew MacGregor, exponent of
‘Shakuhachi’ (Japanese Bamboo Flute.) He gave us an enlightening talk on the intricacies
of Japanese flute playing, illustrated with many examples of this art. It was a very warm
day and the music had a soporific effect and a few listeners nodded off!
To celebrate the ‘Millenium’, President Bert organized a ‘Chicken and
Champagne and Salad’ luncheon, which was held in the park area outside the Hall. It was
well supported by the 43 members, 31 ladies and 6 visitors. Not up to the record set at the
previous meeting but very satisfactory. (There was not supposed to be any more
discussion on statistics) The Minutes reported:

“Our illustrious President, Bert, resplendent in a floral shirt, was heard to express
the opinion that ‘he didn’t think it was likely to rain today’, surely the first
understatement of the new Century!”

The Minutes didn’t record that it was a very hot day, with the temperature in the high
thirties.
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Bert Milgate’s last full meeting of his term was on 19 February 2000. Three new
members were inducted – John Astley, Michael Clancy and Bert Patrick. However there
were three resignations – Jack Mackay, Henry Rouget and Denis Smith, who had all been
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in ill health. Jack Mackay was a member from 12 September 1985. He was Treasurer of
the Club from 1988 to 1990. Jack, and his late wife Nancy, were very loyal supporters of
all functions, outings, coach and car trips. They came on the first car trip to Wangaratta
and didn’t miss one until Nancy’s sudden death. A reference in Chapter 9 mentions how
much he enjoyed himself at Potter’s Cottage when the music for dancing was provided by
Graeme Bell and his Dixieland Band.
There was a belated apology half way through the meeting from Committeeman,
Henri Lausberg, who was involved in a car accident on his way to the meeting. First
reports were that he was shaken up but O.K. and these reports turned out to be correct,
except that Henri was very annoyed with himself.
Jack Cockroft advised of an information/fund-raising stall to be organized at the
Lillydale Lake during Senior Citizen’s week in March 2000. Jack appealed for items to
be on sale on the stall, the proceeds of which will assist with the cost of production of the
Club’s History. Ted and Doris volunteered to man the stall but needed more people to
help. Unfortunately the project had to be cancelled when advice was received from the
Office of Fair Trading and Business Management stating that any appeals to the public