EVENTS REPORTS

The Reunion Dinner for Australia & New Zealand Rock men was held at QT Sydney Hotel in central Sydney on Friday 5th July 2013. This was the same weekend the Wallabies hosted the British & Irish Lions in the final test of the 2013 Lions Tour.
 
The dinner was hosted by John O'Grady (1990) who also headed up the organising group which included James Begley (2002) and Eoin Costigan (2006). Several other rock men also helped in some capacity to organise the dinner.  Details of the reunion dinner made the Sydney press (radio and newspaper) thanks to Kieran Rigney (1981).

We had a great mix of ages in the room on the night. The span of time between these rock men attending was an incredible 57 years. Tighernach Murphy from class of 2008 and Des Campbell of class of 1951 joining us on the night. We had many rockmen fly in for the dinner. Of course it had nothing to do with a certain match on the following evening. 

Ashok Parekh, Rory Cosgrave & Colum Corless from Perth, Ray McMahon from the Caribbean, Richard Ecock and John Maguire from Ireland, Dave Neligan from Hong Kong, Daniel Dowling from New Zealand, and others who flew in from Singapore, Melbourne, and Brisbane. The biggest contingent from one year was Class of 2004 with eight attending. Past Rockman Mark Cal Callaghan from the famous 1980s Australian rock group GANGgajang also attended for the drinks reception.

The evening began with a drinks reception at 6.30pm.  Dinner was served at 8pm and the group was welcomed by John OGrady. Eoin Costigan delivered a prayer before the meal. John then introduced Greg Moore Union President to say a few words via video and then Fr. Tom Nash (via video) entertained all by personally addressing many of the rock men in the room.  Fr. Nash was able to delve deep into the past with great wit and the room erupted with laughter. 

During the meal which was enjoyed by all, John OGrady introduced our guest speaker John Bowe from the Harbour Bridge Climb business. John Bowe is an Irishman who works closely over many years with the owner of the Harbour Bridge Climb business Paul Cave AM*.  John had a very interesting story to tell with many connections between Blackrock College and the central role played by a Blackrock man at an infamous event in Australian History.  Johns story captures this moment in history so well.

We sincerely thank John Bowe for his time and effort and Paul Cave for his great generosity.
 
The night was an outstanding success with many new connections made and many stories shared.  During the search for Rockmen in Australia and New Zealand, we have found over 140 Rockmen living here currently.  We hope many who were unable to attend this dinner will be able to make the next gathering.

There were many great surprises and the feedback from the evening was very positive. We are looking forward to meeting again at a more informal gathering before Christmas and I understand the men from Perth may be organizing a smaller informal gathering during the festive season too.