Andre Rieu - South Australia Geelong Friendship Group, April, 2010
Hi Everyone,
Firstly I must apologize for the late posting of this report but unfortunately I have recently suffered two personal bereavements within days of each other. As you can imagine this has been a devastating time for me and everything I should be doing has been pushed aside except for the very urgent. Saying farewell to our loved ones is never easy!! I would like to take the time to thank all those who have sent messages of condolences and support I truly appreciate them. I must also say a huge thank you to the wonderful Jeanine Anne whom I am privileged to call a friend for her support ,condolences and understanding in filing this report so late. I think it is also appropriate that we take the time here to acknowledge all the hard work and long hours she dedicates to the Andre blog. Jeanine Anne is also the person who was responsible for the initial setting up of our page and continues to support us by posting our meeting reports. Thanks Jeanine Anne from all of us!!
It's hard to believe that our second meeting has been and gone!! How time flies when your having fun. Of course I was the last one to arrive only just barely though, something that I seem to be making a habit of but I promise next time I'll be early. When I arrived and giving my apologies to the group a voice in the crowd said "hello" I looked at her and went blank for a moment it was Patricia who was a member of the Ballarat Andre Rieu Friendship Group and 3 others from her group. They had been planning this secret surprise visit for the past 2 weeks. What a fantastic addition to our group and we were all very touched that they had chosen to travel all that way to come and meet us, so ladies thanks for joining us!! You certainly are a sneaky bunch and good at keeping secrets, especially you Patricia who I have the pleasure of keeping in contact with on a regular basis.
Attending our meeting were Jenni, Dorothy, Nola, Elizabeth, myself and of course like previously mentioned our surprise visitors from Ballarat Patricia, Margaret, Molly and Doreen. Unfortunately 6 new members who were supposed to join us did not arrive, hopefully they will be able to join us next time. But as I have learned lately life is extremely unpredictable so something unexpected may have prevented them from attending. We hope they will be able to join us next time.
It was great to see new friendships growing stronger and stronger how lucky we are that Andre and JSO have bought us all together through his music. At the meeting there was much chatter of our beloved maestro and co. Yet again more new Andre stories and facts emerged and speaking for myself I'm learning a lot from my very knowledgeable fellow members. I must confess here and now that I am a relatively recent convert compared to others to the fantastic and magical world of Andre and JSO. It was also great to hear and learn more interesting Andre facts and stories from the Ballarat ladies. I think I will have to nickname Doreen 'the Andre and JSO encyclopedia' no matter what type of question or how many I would throw at her she seemed to be able to answer them all. Sorry Doreen if it seemed like an interrogation!!
Once again Jenni brought along her amazing photo album which I finally had a chance to have a good look at, wow what a collection, thanks for that Jenni!! I also as promised brought along my trusty laptop and Jenni had kindly supplied us with her copy of the Heidelberg dvd. We were all looking forward to watching it after lunch. Yes, well as they say 'the best laid plans of mice and men' when I loaded it oh no I hadn't figured on the glare of the sun and the acoustics of the outdoors. Unfortunately we had no visuals and the audio kept fading in and out. Well after being forced to abandon that idea Jenni and I discussed our problem and decided that we would play the dvd's when we will be holding our meetings indoors. This shouldn't be too far away with the cool weather descending upon us. There was also some talk of the upcoming South African and British tour gee are they in for a treat!!! I'm sure Andre has some fantastic surprises in store for them just like he does where ever he performs. We will follow his South African tour at our next meeting with great interest. As we have since learned that not even a 'pesky' volcanic eruption can stop our magnificent maestro and his entourage from performing. Andre was not about to let his South African fans down!! He should be applauded for this a lot of other performers would have simply canceled their concerts, but not our Andre if he says he will be there you can bank on it!!
At our next meeting we are looking forward to welcoming two new members Barry and Jean who phoned me in response to our advertising. Both of who are self proclaimed Andre addicts obviously people of fine taste and character like the rest of us haha. This would give Barry the honor of being our very first male member and we look forward to them becoming part of our group!!
It would also be remiss of me not to mention the wonderful staff of 'The Deck Restaurant' who not only serve us our beautiful lunches but have also become our unofficial photographers which is far beyond their job descriptions. We thank them for their friendly service and are only to pleased to support this wonderful restaurant.
Finally it is with great pleasure that I can announce the impending 'pitter patter' of little feet for Celine Saleh, her husband Jasper and their daughter Chiara. A few nights ago Celine announced her pregnancy on Facebook, I must admit when I saw the change of her icon from her picture to a blue and a pink teddy I knew the big announcement was coming. Chiara is very excited and looking forward to a new baby sister but we will all have to wait and see only time will tell!! We all wish Celine and her family a happy and healthy pregnancy.
On that happy note I will end this report and we are all now focused on and looking forward to our next meeting in May. If you are interested in joining us please come along you are assured to have a good time and make new friends!! You can always post any inquiries here and Jeanine Anne can forward them on to me. Alternatively you can always just turn up we are very easy to spot at the restaurant as our table is full of interesting Andre items and the staff at the restaurant know us well now.
Yours in Andre Friendship
Jill
OUR NEXT MEETING:
DATE: Saturday May 8th
TIME: 11.30am onwards
VENUE: 'The Deck Restaurant'
Belvue Avenue (upstairs)
Entrance viaTaylor Crt.
LUNCH, COFFEE AND SNACKS ARE AVAILABLE
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!!
HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF OUR APRIL MEETING COURTESY OF JENNI:
LEFT TO RIGHT
BACK: Me, Margaret (Ballarat Group), Jenni, Doreen(BallaratGroup), Dorothy and Elizabeth
FRONT: Molly (Ballarat Group), Patricia(Ballarat Group) and Noela
LEFT TO RIGHT
BACK: Me, Margaret, Doreen, Dorothy and Elizabeth
FRONT:Molly, Patricia and Noela
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