2010 MELBOURNE REUNION
ex KPM, RIL, NEDLLOYD
AND OTHER SEAFARING PERSONNEL
Saturday 30th of October
At the Saigon Inn Vietnamese Restaurant.
Twenty-nine
guests braved the Melbourne elements to enjoy a pleasant afternoon with their friends.
The pouring rain did not deter them and after arrival at the restaurant
everyone was soon chatting and getting ready for their Vietnamese luncheon.
Koert
Beekes welcomed everyone and gave a special welcome to Willem and Kate Bras,
the couple that started the Oud Roest Down Under reunions 25 years ago in
Sydney.
Nico
Buis followed suit the next year with a Melbourne reunion that has also lasted.
Talking
about Nico, there is never a dull moment when Nico is around! This time he had
everyone in stitches when he walked into the restaurant wearing his old KPM
uniform!
Perfect
fit, obviously Betty has him on a good diet, or rather, has had him on a strict
diet all these years.
Jan
Kuit brought an original KPM wall map in that had
been salvaged from the dustbin during a clean up at the Schools Board of
Victoria. It is the genuine article – Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij Principal Services – showing all KPM
services as they were in the 1930’s. Printed on linen in
Great Britain by George Philip & Son Limited, London.
Naturally
John Papenhuyzen knew a good home for that, the Australian National Maritime
Museum in Darling Harbour and the map was then donated by Jan Kuit for John P. to offer it to the Museum as part of the
Dutch Shipping Collection at the ANMM.
It
was also good to see that the “next” generation starts to come to the reunion.
David Hadley, son of Ron, and wife Michelle were there, also Jouke Jan, son of Oepke van der
Baan and his partner.
Those
present were:
|
Beekes, Koert & Adrienne |
Lucas, Fred & Lyn |
|
Bos, Henny |
Mangelsdorf, Jos |
|
Bras, Willem & Kathleen |
Mieog, Cita |
|
Buis, Nico |
Ouwehand, Kees & Marilyn |
|
Dros, Rob & Rosie |
Papenhuyzen, John & Sheila |
|
Glaubitz, Bob |
Slikboer, Joe & Janet |
|
Hadley, David & Michelle |
van Boerum, Rolf & Chris |
|
Kortekaas, Henk |
van der Baan, Jouke Jan & partner |
|
Kuit, Jan & Riet |
van Weel, Mieke |
Apologies
received from:
|
Carroll, Keith & Jeanette |
Rutten, Robert & Sophie |
|
Daams, Nico |
Schout, Huib |
|
Eisma, Daan |
Treurniet, Willem & Janet |
|
Fernando, Esmond |
van Alebeek, Wim & Janet |
|
Feyten, Rob |
van den Berg, J. |
|
Helfrich, Jan |
van Gelder, Bob & Nettie |
|
Kuiper, Adrian |
van Weel, Hans |
|
|
Veenstra, Tjeerd & Susan |
I
have taken some photographs and put them on the Web. As I am running out of
space on the Optusnet ORDU website, I have created a secondary Oud Roest Down
Under site on Google that will allow me to put photos up that can be viewed
without skimping on quality.
If
you click here it will get you to the ORDU Story Page and
click here to go directly to the 2010 Melbourne
Reunion photo page
The
meeting closed on a happy note and we all had to get our feet wet again. All in
all, it was another good reunion and we hope to meet again next year.
John
Papenhuyzen