The 75th Annual Reunion Dinner
Saturday 6th December 2008
Some say that this was the best Annual Dinner in 30 Years?
Were you there? If so, tell us what you think........
It was quite an exciting build-up to the 75th Annual Reunion as we all watched the bookings rise steadily above the usual 130 or so until they reached an excellent 182. The great thing was that this total included so many people that we hadn’t seen before at previous reunions – so it looked like being a really special occasion.
When did you last have a puncture? I couldn’t remember my last one, but Sod’s Law is no respecter of 75th eunions, and I got a real beauty – a socking great brand new shiny pan-head screw (probably fell off some pesky furrin car!) right through the shoulder of the tyre, so Saturday morning was a scramble round to the tyreman to replace it. It was done promptly enough for me to be on time for Neil Wedgebury’s fascinating lunchtime talk about the Longbridge tunnels. Now, many of us have already read Neil’s excellent study of the tunnels in the Subterranea Britannica Bulletin, (still available from Neil, £4 +£1 post and packing) but the talk allowed for more details and illustrations to be used, and of course, audience participation. There was a good turn out of about 40 bods for this talk, and hopefully, Neil got some useful extra information and feedback. Some of the information wasn’t about tunnels at all, but about the horizontal tendencies of a girl who once lived in a house that appeared on one of Neil’s slides.
'Going Underground with Neil Wedgbury at the Lunchtime Event
Pre-dinner drinks involved quite a lot of peering at unfamiliar yet familiar faces and slow dawnings of recognition after decades of anno domini. Good grief – it’s Steve, …Rod, …John, …Bill… where have you been all these years? Even more catching up to do than usual. And so to the dining room, well packed with tables to cope with the big event, all immaculately set up as usual with place names, Menus and a neat ‘Flying A’ lapel badge for every guest. Never underestimate the work involved for the organisers in doing this, especially for 182 people! The 50th anniversary of the Farina Austin A40 was commemorated by a colour picture on the Menu, typical of Longbridge publicity shots of the era, probably using two photogenic secretaries from Home Sales – did anyone recognise them? A spare menu was signed during the event by contemporaries of Chris Leighfield, for sending to him in Australia – he’s been having a rough time with his health for some time, we hope he’s on the mend now. Traditional slow handclap for the entry of the top table, and Grace said by Colin Corke, the vicar of Longbridge and British car enthusiast of the first water.
Resident Association Chairman and MC, our very own Tony Osborne
Yet another excellent meal from the Raven, while we caught up with everyone on our tables. Raffle tickets sold by committee members, drinks recharged, we settled down for the speeches. Randall Brew, Lord Mayor of Birmingham in 2007, and in 2008 Deputy Mayor, and a man of considerable stature in every sense, opened with the toast to ‘Longbridge’. We heard of Randall’s upbringing, with a father working at The Austin, homemade toys during the war, and his attachment to the Northfield area. He conveyed very well the pain and distress he felt when working on Council schemes to help the victims of the 2005 Longbridge closure, but returned to the positive aspects of the redevelopment projects for the area. A well-rounded, amusing and sincerely delivered speech.
Randle Brew recanting his own father's Austin Apprenticeship before proposing the toast to Longbridge
Proposing the toast to ‘Austin’ came RAF Air Commodore and Ex Apprentice Richard Best who soon had us rolling in the aisles. I liked his reference to the apprehension he felt in a military aircraft, knowing as he did that it was made up of 30,000 components, each supplied by the lowest tender! His stories of being hunted around Longbridge by Bert Hyde “surely the Longbridge equivalent of the SAS!” were particularly poignant, as Bert himself was unable to make his usual appearance, being in hospital after an initially successful operation. We were not to know that, sadly, Bert wouldn’t survive the month. Richard’s serious points included his concern that RAF apprenticeships seemed to be following the Austin ones into history. Our President, Tony Ball, responded to the toasts in his usual effervescent and hilarious manner, and called up his 1950s contemporaries in the Austin Apprentices Skiffle Group ‘The Shmoes’ for a commemorative photograph. They surely don’t make nostalgia like this any more!
The atmosphere at this event was entirely in keeping with such a fantastic milestone as a 75th event – the buzz continued well into the small hours, as I was able to observe. Living reasonably close to Droitwich, I have never stayed overnight for the 37 or so previous reunions that I have enjoyed, but it seemed appropriate to do so this time. Anyway, a grand night out, and we are sure that those who made their first appearance for many a year will now become regulars. We certainly hope so. Congratulations and thanks, as always, to the Committee, and the usual ‘Stakhanovite Award’ for hard work to Pat and Tony Osborne. Our theme in December 2009, will be ‘50 Years of the Mini’. I think pretty well all of us have had some involvement or other with that fantastic little car, so let’s see a great turnout again.
Ian Elliott (1965-70)
Ex-Apprentice Dick Best drawing parallels between the RAF and the Autsin Maxi !!
Association President Tony Ball proudly and passionately delivering the Toast Response
Sid Ekers, Norman Milne, Paul Fox, Tony Ball, Tony Ham and Major Haynes. Some original members of the Five Shmoes (yes I know there's seven of them!) give a brief rendition.
Learn more about the Five Schmoes here....
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