Brisbane Reunion 2025
The P&O/Princess cruises retiree Brisbane reunion was held Saturday 22nd March 2025, the venue being the Breakfast Creek Hotel which incorporates a number of themed areas, some of our colleges may well have visited this hotel many years ago when the cruise ships navigated the Brisbane river & docked close by, that was obviously before the dedicated cruise terminal was built at the mouth of the river.
As far as we are aware, this was the inaugural Australian reunion of such size & the planning commenced some seven months earlier with investigating a suitable venue to hold the reunion within the Brisbane area, Brisbane was chosen as the previous year there was an unofficial reunion held at the Orient Hotel in Sydney & it was considered that due to the size of Australia it would be advantageous to hold the next reunion in another state thus hopefully increasing the potential catchment area to give ex colleges the opportunity to attend, this strategy subsequently worked for many Queenslanders.
It was finally agreed by the organisers the Breakfast Creek Hotel would be the ideal venue to hold the reunion with a special mention to the Hotel events coordinator who proved to be extremely helpful & it was also a prestigious event for the hotel to facilitate.
One of the organisers would be the focal point for general administration regarding the reunion activities, a spreadsheet was developed in order to capture those who would attend & it was agreed that it would be of interest to document each individuals experience within the company (this proved to be no mean task), this included years in service, which ships they had sailed on & also their final position/rank, a number of responses were received to say how rewarding it was for them to investigate their experience after all these years. On the day this proved very popular with many discussions around specific ships in the fleet & their personal experiences & a small booklet was printed as a souvenir of the reunion which incorporated this information, this was given to the attendees together with their name tag on arrival, this also reduced a lot of time with intros etc as each person's name tag could be cross referenced with the booklet.
It was also agreed by the organisers that it would be a very interesting activity to project photographs during the reunion of people's experiences & the ships they worked on during their sea going era. A total of appox 400 photos were received which one of the organisers received, standardised & created a slideshow that was presented during the event, this was also extremely popular.
In summary, there were 40 attendees on the day, with the majority of which had travelled interstate within Australia but also from the UK & NZ, several apologies were received both locally & globally with many responded with "please keep us updated with any future reunions that maybe planned in Australia in the future".
It was deemed to be a very popular reunion with many glowing comments received by the organisers.
Local organiser JAG Lewis
Admin organiser Tony Davies
I.T. support Calum Davies
As far as we are aware, this was the inaugural Australian reunion of such size & the planning commenced some seven months earlier with investigating a suitable venue to hold the reunion within the Brisbane area, Brisbane was chosen as the previous year there was an unofficial reunion held at the Orient Hotel in Sydney & it was considered that due to the size of Australia it would be advantageous to hold the next reunion in another state thus hopefully increasing the potential catchment area to give ex colleges the opportunity to attend, this strategy subsequently worked for many Queenslanders.
It was finally agreed by the organisers the Breakfast Creek Hotel would be the ideal venue to hold the reunion with a special mention to the Hotel events coordinator who proved to be extremely helpful & it was also a prestigious event for the hotel to facilitate.
One of the organisers would be the focal point for general administration regarding the reunion activities, a spreadsheet was developed in order to capture those who would attend & it was agreed that it would be of interest to document each individuals experience within the company (this proved to be no mean task), this included years in service, which ships they had sailed on & also their final position/rank, a number of responses were received to say how rewarding it was for them to investigate their experience after all these years. On the day this proved very popular with many discussions around specific ships in the fleet & their personal experiences & a small booklet was printed as a souvenir of the reunion which incorporated this information, this was given to the attendees together with their name tag on arrival, this also reduced a lot of time with intros etc as each person's name tag could be cross referenced with the booklet.
It was also agreed by the organisers that it would be a very interesting activity to project photographs during the reunion of people's experiences & the ships they worked on during their sea going era. A total of appox 400 photos were received which one of the organisers received, standardised & created a slideshow that was presented during the event, this was also extremely popular.
In summary, there were 40 attendees on the day, with the majority of which had travelled interstate within Australia but also from the UK & NZ, several apologies were received both locally & globally with many responded with "please keep us updated with any future reunions that maybe planned in Australia in the future".
It was deemed to be a very popular reunion with many glowing comments received by the organisers.
Local organiser JAG Lewis
Admin organiser Tony Davies
I.T. support Calum Davies
From Left to Right standing, David Pithers, John Rennie (Front), Phil Hancock, Alan Conlin, Barry Dover (Behind), Jag Lewis, Tony Davies, Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall, Paul Williams, Rod Drake, Joe Scaramuzza, Dave Grant, Paul Dashwood, Chris Bale, Iain McLeod.
At the front, Bob Ashdown, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms & Ann McLeod.
At the front, Bob Ashdown, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms & Ann McLeod.
Standing, Tony Davies, Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall , Paul Williams, Dave Grant, Paul Dashwood, Chris Bale, Ann McLeod, Iain McLeod, Yvonne Rushforth, Brian Griffin.
Kneeling, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms
Kneeling, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms
From Left to Right standing, David Pithers, Rod Drake, John Rennie, Phil Hancock, Alan Conlin, Jag Lewis, Tony Davies, Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall, Paul Williams, Dave Grant, Paul Dashwood, Chris Bale, Ann McLeod, Iain McLeod.
At the front kneeling, Bob Ashdown, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms.
At the front kneeling, Bob Ashdown, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms.
Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall , Paul Williams, Joe Scaramuzza, Dave Grant, Paul Dashwood, Chris Bale, Ann McLeod, Iain McLeod, Yvonne Rushforth, Brian Griffin.
Kneeling, Kevin Timms
Kneeling, Kevin Timms
From Left to Right standing, David Pithers, John Rennie (Front), Phil Hancock, Alan Conlin, Barry Dover, Jag Lewis, Tony Davies, Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall, Paul Williams, Joe Scaramuzza, Dave Grant, Paul Dashwood, Chris Bale, Ann McLeod.
At the front, Bob Ashdown, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms.
At the front, Bob Ashdown, Mike Jack, Kevin Timms.
From Left to Right standing, David Pithers, John Rennie (Front), Phil Hancock (behind), Alan Conlin, Barry Dover, Jag Lewis, (in-front) Bob Ashdown, Tony Davies, Stuart Drew (Behind), Duncan Hall, Paul Williams, Rod Drake, Dave Grant, Chris Bale, Paul Dashwood, Mike Jack
Barb Drake, Rod Drake, Paul Williams, Barb Jack
Andrew Rowlands, Iain McLeod, Tony Davies, Yvonne Rushforth, Ann McLeod.
Alan Champkin & Mike Jack.
Jan Drew, Chris Bale, Stuart Drew.
Joe Scaramuzza, Donna Hall, Duncan Hall.
Alan Champkin & Mike Jack.
Chris Bale & Dave Pithers
Judy Grant & Paul Williams
Ange Pithers, Stuart Drew, Jan Drew.
Dave & Judy Grant.
"Stopped for drinks and dinner on the skybridge on our way home.Not as busy as Felons! Hope you all got back ok, thanks for a great day. Cheers, Dave and Judy"
"Stopped for drinks and dinner on the skybridge on our way home.Not as busy as Felons! Hope you all got back ok, thanks for a great day. Cheers, Dave and Judy"
Dave Pithers, Ange Pithers, Chris Bale, Stuart Drew, Jan Drew, Mike Jack, Calum Davies, Barb Jack, Bob Ashdown, Jenny Ashdown, Judy Grant, Dave Grant, Paul Williams.
Alan Conlin, Deb Conlin, Jag Lewis.
Stuart Drew & Jag Lewis.
Mike Jack, Alan Champkin, Jag Lewis
John Rennie
Mike Champkin, Duncan Hall, Bob Ashdown, Joe Scaramuzza.
Judy & Dave Grant
Deb & Alan Conlin
"Great to catch up and hear everyone's stories, Hope Perth reunion eventuates, special thanks to Sid and Cal for name / nicknames badges, Invaluable!"
"Great to catch up and hear everyone's stories, Hope Perth reunion eventuates, special thanks to Sid and Cal for name / nicknames badges, Invaluable!"
Joe Scaramuzza, Paul Williams, Tony Davies.
Brian Griffin & Barry Dover
Phil Hancock
Duncan & Donna Hall.
"Hi Tony it's duncan here...great weekend... we had a ball catching up with everyone... and everyone had a story to tell.. thanks to you, Calum and jJAG for organising everything... you have set the bar pretty high... hopefully we can get enough numbers for Perth next year.."
"Hi Tony it's duncan here...great weekend... we had a ball catching up with everyone... and everyone had a story to tell.. thanks to you, Calum and jJAG for organising everything... you have set the bar pretty high... hopefully we can get enough numbers for Perth next year.."
Bob Ashdown & Paul Williams.
Barb Drake, Rod Drake, Bob Ashdown, Jenny Ashdown
Iain McLeod, Ann McLeod, Yvonne Rushforth, Brian Griffin.
Lois Jewell, Kevin Timms, Paul Williams, Barb Jack.
Mike Jack, Barb Drake, Rod Drake, Paul Williams.
Suzann Hills
Barb Drake, Rod Drake.
Kevin Timms, Lois Jewell.
Alan Champkin, Mike Champkin.
Andrew Rowlands
Paul Dashwood, Susan Dashwood.
Rod Drake, Barb Drake, Paul Williams.
Ange Pithers, Chris Bale, David Pithers, Paul Williams, Rod Drake.
Rod Drake, Barb Drake, Paul Williams.
JAG Lewis, Joe Scaramuzza, Paul Williams, Tony Davies.
From Paul, "Great day yesterday, thank you for all your effort in organising it. Please pass on my thanks to Calum too, he's a lovely lad and did a great job with the slide show and the attendee list.."
From Paul, "Great day yesterday, thank you for all your effort in organising it. Please pass on my thanks to Calum too, he's a lovely lad and did a great job with the slide show and the attendee list.."
Rod Drake, Stuart Drew, Paul Williams.
Bob Ashdown.... looking worried about something.
From Bob, "Well Jenny & I have had a fantastic weekend! Many thanks to the organising team It's been brilliant to catch up after all these years. (Apologies for being so hard to find).. Stay safe everyone, and we look forward to catching up again."
From Bob, "Well Jenny & I have had a fantastic weekend! Many thanks to the organising team It's been brilliant to catch up after all these years. (Apologies for being so hard to find).. Stay safe everyone, and we look forward to catching up again."
Barry Dover, Paul Williams.
Jag Lewis, Paul Williams.
Joe Scaramuzza, Paul Williams, Tony Davies.
Mike Jack, Barb Drake, Rod Drake, Paul Williams.
John Rennie, Bob Ashdown, Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall, Paul Williams, Rod Drake.
Bob Ashdown, Stuart Drew, Duncan Hall, Paul Williams, Rod Drake.
Duncan Hall, Bob Ashdown, Paul Williams.
Duncan Hall, Bob Ashdown, Paul Williams.
Duncan Hall, Bob Ashdown, Paul Williams.
John Rennie, ??, Paul Williams.
Far right blue shirt, Colin Shanks.
Tony Davies, Stuart Drew, Bob Ashdown.
Ange Pithers, Barb Drake, Chris Bale, Rod Drake, Paul Williams, David Pithers.
Rod Drake.
Stuart Drew.
Stuart Drew, Joe Scaramuzza.
Bob Ashdown, Dave Grant.
Andrew Rowlands, ??, John Rennie, Mike Champkin.
Jenny Ashdown, Judy Grant.
Joe Scaramuzza, Donna Hall, Duncan Hall.
Barry Dover, Kevin Timms, Lois Jewell.
Alan Champkin, Mike Jack.
Bob Ashdown, Dave Grant, Mike Jack, Alan Conlin, Tony Davies.
Calum Davies, Dave Grant.
From Cal, "Thanks to all of you l had such a great time meeting you all and thank you all for making me feel so welcome. Felt like I knew you all as dad did instantly. Cheers and safe journey home."
From Dave, "Great to catch up and to meet Callum, he's a lovely young man. Hope to see you again soon.
All the best Dave and Judy........"
From Cal, "Thanks to all of you l had such a great time meeting you all and thank you all for making me feel so welcome. Felt like I knew you all as dad did instantly. Cheers and safe journey home."
From Dave, "Great to catch up and to meet Callum, he's a lovely young man. Hope to see you again soon.
All the best Dave and Judy........"
Joe Scaramuzza, Mike Jack, Barb Jack, Tony Davies.
Paul Williams, Rod Drake.
A couple of days later......
Bob Ashdown, Cliff Merwood.
Jenny Ashdown, Bob Ashdown, Cliff Merwood, Jan Merwood.
Where are they now.......
P&O Pensioners
