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JRTE 28TH INTAKE
HMAS LEEUWIN
JULY 1969 TO JUNE 1970
PLANNING NOTES:
These are only here for the information of the organising committee.
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THE MIGHTY 28TH INTAKE - REUNION - 2009
Reunion timetable
These are suggestions for steps and the time it takes from the time you start our very first reunion. For someone organizing a reunion with a history, this list is also good for checking your progress or as agenda considerations for committee meetings.
If your website has a newsletter, include some of these steps from time to time. Members and family can better appreciate what their part is, if they know what you need to do when. For example, they might return reservations and t-shirt orders if they realize your deadline date is not arrived at arbitrarily.
24-18 months before your reunion...
Determine interest done
Talk to other reunion organizers done
Attend a mini reunion done
Contact a Reunion Consultant done
Start spreadsheet for contact information list done
Choose location done
Form reunion committee(s) and establish responsibilities and schedules done
Keep records of everything done
Design Icon done
Develop budget done , start Banking and bookkeeping system done
Send contact information to Reunion Consultant 2008
Contact convention and visitors or tourism bureaus
Scout locations, facilities done
Tentative Booking - Anzac Room done
Set date(s) done
Send first mailer; tentative reunion schedule and plans (tours, souvenirs), theme, and approximate cost done
Arrange or hire entertainment done, caterer, done photographer, ad hoc
Confirmation for function booking
15 months before ...
Book Entertainment done
Send reunion registration and souvenir order forms with cost done
6-9 months before ...
Send announcement to Reunion websites done
Schedule events and activities — program, speakers, awards ceremony, tours drafted and ready for full committee approval
Reserve block of rooms n/a - Twin Towns booking form applies
5 months before ...
Confirm tentative reservations done , photographer, caterer done
Cut off date for members souvenirs which are part of reunion costs. 31st December 2008 ie: medallions in a presentation case and caps embroidered with our logo as “standard issue” for each person who participates in the reunion. The cost of these two items will be included in the total reunion-members ticket.
Choose menu options, costs etc
Announce event to local news media, elected officials
4-2 months before ...
Meet with hotel staff, visit facility with reunion committee
Select decorations, theme, signs banners and order printed items
Reserve rental equipment
Submit personalized souvenir order (t-shirts, mugs, caps ...) 6 weeks before ...
Complete directory/memory book; deliver to the printer
Write checklist for reunion tasks
Designate assignments for reunion volunteers
2 weeks before ...
Purchase last minute decorations and incidental supplies
Reconfirm meeting, sleeping and eating accommodations
Review final checklist
Confirm final numbers for caterers
Confirm menu
Discuss possibility to have our own placemats in place
The day before ...
Determine location staff contacts for your reunion
Solve last-minute problems
Review final details with reunion committee
Reunion day(s) ...
Set up registration table(s) with guest list, evenings agenda, welcome all, issue nametags, sign in book with comments, place displays outside entrance and decorate if required.
Assign organising committee and volunteers tasks like meet photographer, MC, VIP's and official guest speaker, help with entertainment equipment (if necessary). Also liaise with management and staff several times as required
Enjoy
Afterward ...
Reflect and evaluate — note what worked, what didn’t
Complete bookkeeping; settle accounts
Write thank you notes to volunteers, hotel staff, caterers
Start planning your next reunion
Follow up, follow up, follow up
You get the idea.
Persistent follow up now is the only way you’ll stay on schedule. Printing projects (Lindsay Kirby) need ample production time to assure delivery before your reunion. If you don’t follow up now, you may need to skimp later on proofreading time and one last opportunity to catch a fatal editorial flaw (though that’s still a couple months off)! To secure those persons, events and activities, make reservations well in advance. Are you hiring entertainment for the dinner/dance Reserve early to get just the one you want.
Are you hiring a special vehicle, bus or a cruise boat?
If these are all things you’re thinking about but have done nothing to assure, now is the time to get on it! Many plans and good intentions are stalled because the person, place or conveyance simply was not available. What they say about early birds, applies equally to reunions (without the worms). Reward the scholars
LOOKING FOR AWARDS AND PRIZES?
These are the ideas or examples I have seen used at a reunion, plus appropriate gifts for these awards.
Most gray hair
Least hair (prize: a comb)
Most changed
Farthest traveled
Most kids (prize: a bottle of aspirin)
Lives closest to the base (prize: a world map)
Most dangerous job (prize: a will kit or visit to local attorney)
Still serving
Biggest beer belly
Changed the least
Most exciting or interesting job
Comments to consider
1. Try and put together a nostalgia section for your reunion which could be a table filled with artifacts and souvenirs from your Leeuwin days. You'll be delighted with the way it can spring up great conversations from every one and revive memories long forgotten.
2. To make it even more involving ask each invitee to bring along an artifact from their time time at Leeuwin. It can create a lot of fun and excitement and of course, uninhibited interaction.
3. Put up a photo gallery next to the section and encourage others to bring along theirs to pin up.
But try and arrange for a certain section or bar of the venue or an adjoining room, for those who are more eager to catch up with long lost friends.
Speaker/MC
Once you manage to get a reunion committee together for planning the reunion, decide on a speaker. Be sure to make a good selection, as the chosen person will play a key role in the proceedings of the committee. You could ask the committee members to nominate one if you are unsure about making the right choice. The speaker will naturally have to be articulate and able to express himself freely and also motivate others and draw more participation.
A good speaker is one who can hold the attention of the audience throughout. Therefore, make sure the reunion committee is clear about the parameters for finding a speaker. It doesnt necessarily have to be one of us but if an outsider we should pay for their food and drinks.
Long speeches can get very boring and tedious for the others to sit through. Don't lose sight of the fact that the main purpose for everybody being there is to catch up with old friends after a long time. Your program should only enhance the event and not dominate it. The main part of the reunion should always be the time for everybody to mingle with each other. There will be a lot for them to catch up on, so give enough time for everybody to do so.
A special note about classmates who've passed away:
For our deceased, have a moment's silence in their memory. You could even have some sort of a symbolic tribute to the deceased by those who were well acquainted with them. One option is to read out the obituaries of the deceased. Such occasions help in drawing people closer together
When booking rooms at the hotel for the reunion invitees, make sure you find out about discounts that hotels normally have for large group bookings. Also try and get the rooms adjoining each other on the same floor. This will create less disturbance for the other guests in the hotel and allow you to be more uninhibited.
Tip #7: Nostalgia of school or reunion days add to making reunions special, never skimp on the details.
Reunions are all about nostalgia - that warm reflective mood reveling in days gone by. It is what the very purpose of a reunion, is in a certain sense. That's why reunions feel so special, delightful, surprising and so much fun.
No matter how meticulous your planning is, how detailed and precise, there will always be unexpected hitches that crop up at the last minute. Once you have everything in place, in time for the event, do a once-over to identify any glitches that you may have overlooked.
The details, no matter how little and insignificant, are what determine the success or failure of a reunion. So don't skimp on details. Objects belonging to that part of your life when you were in school are always in demand at reunions.
Anything and everything from Passing Out Books, pictures, movies, to T-shirts and banners that has an association with the prime of your life qualify.
A fun activity is issuing name badges at the registration table on the main day of your reunion. The most fun is in making them from old photographs for each of the guests. They put you a lot more in control of the proceedings and the best thing about them is that they will spark off delighted conversations by the dozens. To get old photographs for the name badges, you could photocopy the pages from the passing out book so that you have everybody's picture.
The comparisons between then and now are sure to result in howls of laughter and shouts of amazement among everybody. Another major plus for name badges, is that they can be very effective as icebreakers. Wives and partners should also have one saying theirname and who their partner is.
For first night reunions, name badges should be a must
More will be added...
What if you can't make it?
Send us through a email or a message and we'll read it out on the night. We are looking for any school photos or snapshots taken during that time. If you have any pictures you want put up on the site or displayed on the night, send them through to us at: