Melbourne Cricket Luncheon – Friday 5th March 2010

This year’s cricket luncheon was held at the RACV Club on Friday 5th March.

What a great day.  A combination of many guests, interesting speakers, good food and great prizes and all for such a good cause. Victorian President Bill Carroll welcomed the guests and made a presentation to Annalisa Corica, from Scope Victoria for the money to purchase 2 special wheelchairs which allow for off road usage. 

 Last year the luncheon dedicated the funds raised to helping a charity affected by the Black Saturday bushfires. These wheelchairs will be used in the Gippsland areas which were fire affected.  

There was a potential problem when our key speaker and new president Jim Maxwell’s plane was diverted back to Sydney and therefore no Jim at the luncheon. Our MC, Dan Lonergan, once again rose to the occasion and with some adjustments to the program we were back on track.

Peter Bedford, who was both a Sheffield Shield Cricketer and Brownlow Medallist, shared with the audience tales of both his cricketing and football careers – confessing that his first love has always been cricket.  

Andrew Darbyshire, the founder of Caitlin’s Retreat, presented both an entertaining and moving speech.  Caitlin’s Retreat is named in honour of his late daughter and is a day and residential facility, located in Eltham where families with disabled children can spend time together as a family.  The Primary Club has provided funding for the purchase of a special lifting device to allow access to the swimming pool for children with disabilities.

Jim Winchester, who had come down from Sydney especially for the luncheon filled in for Jim Maxwell and gave us a report on the phenomenally successful Sydney Marathon Cricket fundraiser. 

We then had an information Q & A session with Bob Lloyd standing in for Jim Maxwell, Peter back on stage and VicSpirit player and developmental officer for Cricket Victoria, Kristen Beams giving us some insight in both women’s cricket and the development of the game within schools.

Hamish Tostevin, Director of Marshall White Real Estate was our auctioneer.  He encouraged everyone to dig deep and we set a new Victorian record for time in the ABC commentary box on the 2^nd day of the Boxing Day Test.  A great effort from Hamish. The raffle is always an entertaining part of the program and we thank all those who donated goods or services.

As soon as the date for the 2011 luncheon is announced we would suggest making your booking because we filled all the tables this year.

6th Annual Melbourne Cricket Luncheon

Once again this luncheon was held at the RACV Club, Melbourne. 

Victorian President Bill Carroll announced at the commencement of the luncheon that all funds raised on this day were to be dedicated to assist those groups working with the disabled in the fire affected regions of Victoria.

Dan Lonergan, who has given his time and skills to MC our luncheon over the past 3 years, was then invested as a Victorian Vice President by Bill and was presented with a plaque, PCOA tie and cap.  We look forward to hearing Dan mention the PCOA on the ABC at every available opportunity.

Guests then heard an informative and entertaining Q & A session with Tony Dodemaide, CEO of Cricket Victoria.  Dan put Tony on the spot asking him to relate a story, suitable to the occasion, about Merv Hughes. Tony accepted the challenge with an amusing anecdote suitable to the mixed audience.  Cricket Victoria is obviously in very capable hands with Tony leading the team.

A raffle for a bottle of Grange has now become a regular feature of Victorian fund raising efforts and the limited number of tickets always sells out fast.  The winner is always delighted and those that miss out vow to win it next year.

Chris Mullins, who was a gold medallist at the Beijing Paralympics gave an inspirational talk showing us a DVD of his gold winning relay – you could not watch this without being moved by the determination, effort and sheer joy of those participating and then winning gold.

Chris was accompanied by Greg Warnecke, Manager, Special Projects of Wheelchair Sports, Victoria.  The Primary Club has provided funding for a number of their projects over the past few years.

Taking the microphone after Chris was always going to be a hard act to follow but our next guests were great.  ABC sports commentator, Gerard Whateley and the Herald Sun Associate Editor, Sport, Mike Sheahan could have kept us entertained for the rest of the day.  Their stories of people and events ranging from the Beijing Olympics, AFL football and every sport in between, was a real treat and it was unfortunate, due to time constraints that we had to limit the number of questions from the floor.  Hopefully they will be kind enough to do a repeat performance at another PCOA function.

Antony Woodley of Collins Simms, ran a tight and fast raffle for 2 signed bats, courtesy of Cricket Victoria and a keenly sought after special package from Victorian Opera of tickets, drinks and program to Don Giovanni. 

President Bruce, came down from Sydney with his wife Di, spoke about the aims and achievements of the Club. We then heard from Norman Saunders, Professorial Fellow in Neuroscience at University of Melbourne on the amazing developments to allow those with disabilities to sail, either on the water or in virtual reality.  PCOA has been a long-term supporter of Sailability

No function is complete without a raffle and we thank all those companies who support the PCOA by supplying goods and services.  A full list of those generous companies was on show at the luncheon.

Once again we thank all those who attended and for their generous support of the PCOA.  Please encourage friends, colleagues and business associates to be involved in next year’s luncheon.

Photos from the Primary Club of Australia Golf day held on the 21st November – Melbourne

Photos taken at the Golf day held on the 21st November in Melbourne