We woke the following day to prepare for an event that took nearly as much planning as the wedding! Over the years a huge number of Kiwis have worked at Ballymacoll and we decided to invite, as many of them as we could get hold of, to meet up in Christchurch for a reunion. The response was excellent with most people commiting to turn up.
We arrived early to ‘The Bog’, an irish bar in Christchurch, to get the venue ready. Nadia had done plenty of prep work and laid out badges with everyone’s names on them. Some of the guys we hadn’t seen for twenty years so the badges could prove very handy. I had prepared a DVD slideshow of photos of Ballymacoll and the pub had a big screen I was able to play it on.
Soon people started arriving, and the party began in earnest. I think I gave some people a shock. They had not seen me since I was a child, and now I was all growed up and married! Others had only left Ballymacoll a few years, it was great fun catching up with everyone. Some of our Ballymacoll ‘families’ brought parents too, whom we were meeting for the first time. It was all a big friendly, family atmosphere.
After some food and plenty of drink, it was time for the big man to say a few words. He thanked everyone for turning up and revealed he had a little present for each of the girls. He called them up one by one and presented them with an a ceramic ashtray with the Ballymacoll racing silks ardorned in the center. They also recieved a couple of DVDs with photos and videos of Ballymacoll.
Gradually the numbers petered out and it was time for us to go home. A great day and a great reunion.
