Memberships are now due
Yes it's that time of the year and the Stags
Golden Oldies Memberships are due. This is a great offer from the
Gordon Rugby Club. For only $35.00 you get:
- Entry to all home games at Chatswood Oval
(valued at $132.00)
- Automatic Membership to Gordon Social &
Recreation Club
- Exclusive Members' car sticker, newsletters &
Invitations to events & functions
- Opportunity to purchase Super 14 & Test tickets
PLUS
- The benefit of providing financial support for
YOUR club
So don't hesitate download a membership form and
apply for or renew your membership today. Alternatively, contact
John Finch to have one posted out to you.
Please Note: In the past the Gordon
Rugby Club has issued renewals.
If you should receive one of these please disregard and use the one
from the site or contact John Finch to have one posted out to you.
Stags go Online
Gordon
Stags are now online, be sure to check out
www.gordonstags.org.au.
The website gives the Stags an online presence and
provides easy access for most of it's members to keep informed of
happenings within the organisation as well as allowing members to
make contact with the club and it's committee via email.
The site is currently undergoing final
construction and will eventually contain game schedules, match
reports and BBQ rosters as well as updated in formation on upcoming
events and festivals.
The web site has been made possible by the
sponsorship of our Equipment Officer, Karl Houghton, and his company
Nous Works. The site is hosted by
Smarty Host
with a Lifetime Membership valid for the next 20 years and
comes with a host of features including 1.2GB of hosting space, SmartyDesign software, form mail, photo gallery, discussion forums,
blogs and ecommerce capabilities.
The web site will be used to enhance the
experience of being a Gordon Stags member and build community by
providing a means to share photos and experiences as well as our
very own online shop.
This is a very exciting time for the club in terms
of fund raising towards the next Golden Oldies Festival in Scotland.
Biennial Elections Held
As is usual after the World Golden Oldies Festival
the Gordon Stags Golden Oldies Committee meet to hold the biennial
(fancy word meaning every two years) elections to appoint new
committee members.
This year Bob Lollback was elected President. Bob
has been playing and touring with the Golden Oldies since 1987. He
has been Vice President, President and is a Life Member of the
Golden Oldies. Bob organised the tour to the festivals in South
Australia and Toulouse, France, which included 44 people on a 10 day
pre tour of Spain, Portugal and France as the Festival week in
France.
John Finch was re-elected Treasurer having held
the position since 1991. Being a retired member of the Banking
fraternity we are in very good financial management hands.
Mark Cummings moves from Social Organiser to Vice
President with Matt Fowler taking on the Social Organising role.
Karl Houghton, due to his absence from the meeting and because he's
done such a great job, was re-elected Equipment Officer. Matt Prowse
will, as always, continue to do a great job organising our games.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Bill
Banham for all his work as President.
All of the Committee members can be contacted via
email by simply clicking the link on the
Contacts
Page of our website.
World Golden Oldies Festival
The Gordon Stags attended the World Golden Oldies
Festival in Wellington, New Zealand, and were
greeted in fine style on a cold rainy day that left no doubt as to
how the names "Windy Wellington" or "The Land of The Long White
Cloud" came about. Though small on numbers we were big on
enthusiasm and eager to get the festival under way.
The festival began with the opening ceremony,
unfortunately because of the weather the parade of nations was
cancelled and we proceeded directly to Te Pa, the New Zealand
National museum, for the celebrations. It was a great evening with
the food and drink flowing freely and was filled with many memorable
moments and comments, including "We're Famous!" from one kilt
wearing Stag. The kilts and the sporrans were a hit prompting many
requests for photos which were gladly traded for pins.
 Teaming
up with the Alice Springs Dingoes we played in 3 matches at various
locations around Wellington during the week and proved to be a great
bunch of guys to play rugby with. With the Dingoes providing the
forwards and the Stags the backline we were a daunting site on the
field. Luckily we all made it through the week unscathed expect for
a few minor bumps and bruises as displayed by our new President, Bob
Lollback. The Alice Springs Dingoes weren't quite so lucky with one
of their players breaking a leg and another a neck injury during the
second match.
As you would expect the festival was well
lubricated with Rugby players being renown for enjoying an ale or
two. This was proved beyond doubt when the flight to New Zealand ran
out of beer before row 23. Must have been those nervous first time
travellers. The same continued at the g rounds
with the first batch of 45,000 cans of beer being consumed on the
first day.
With free days to enjoy most made their way out
and about Wellington for some sight seeing and a bit of fun. The
discovery of an indoor go-carting venue was too much to resist for
some of the guys and off they went in search of some thrills.
Thinking they resembled Top Gun fighter pilots but looking more like
they were going to be fired out of cannons the challenge was on.
Needless to say, the driving was fairly reckless but a lot of fun.
So much so that a return visit was made on the Saturday before the
closing ceremony. It's a good thing the guys at the centre were
handy with a welder as they had to make a few running repairs and
I'm sure they were glad to see us go.
So after a week of over indulgence it was time for
one last night of partying at the Closing Ceremony. Before  leaving
the touring party all got together to present the game ball to Karl
Houghton who was voted player of the festival, obviously no one else
wanted to have to pack the football. The ceremony was held a short
distance from the hotel in a giant marquee that was capable of
holding the 4,000 players and 1,500 support staff that attended the
event.
The closing ceremony was a great event with, once
again, the food and drink flowing freely. The entertainment was
first class with live music and other entertainers, a group
favourite being
LASERMAN ( check out the video) who would bounce lasers off his mirrored
suit out across the audience. The celebrations continued well into
the night with many requests as to what was under the kilts and
kicked on later at various venues around town. Needless to say the
flight home was much more subdued than the one there.
Everyone enjoyed the festival and are all looking
forward to wearing the Stags tartan proudly in Scotland during 2008.
We hope you've enjoyed reading this short write up
of the Wellington Festival and will be putting more information,
stories and photos up on the web site in the near future. We'd like
all people who went on the tour to participate so if you have a
story to tell and/or some photos please send them to us
and we'll make sure they get included.
On to Scotland 2008
With the end of the Wellington Festival it's time
to plan for the next. John Finch has already sent in our
registration and plans are underway for fund raising activities.
The festival will be held in September 2008 and
the trip includes a pre-tour for 7 days from London to Edinburgh for
the festival then return flights to Sydney via London. Total cost
will be approximately AUD$5,900 per person and includes airfares,
accommodation and the festival week.
In the new year we will set up a payment program
as well as fund raising and sponsorship to assist in the cost of the
tour. Any ideas regarding fund raising or sponsorship are most
welcome just
contact Bob and let him know.
To learn more view our
Festivals
page.
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