A small get-together in Katoomba

On Tuesday afternoon, 11th. April, four of we Olde Arnoldians met for a chat and coffee in the lounge of the historic Carrington Hotel, Katoomba.

There was local (Leura) resident Bob Deahm, John Inglis had driven up from West Pennant Hills for the afternoon, Larry Lawrence had flown over from Florida with his wife, Lauren, for a fortnight's holiday in Sydney and I had driven down from Yamba, overnighting on the way at Tamworth.

Bob on the left, then me, then Larry...the reverse of the most recent photo, above.

It was great to see Larry again after 42 years....he hasn't changed a bit, just got older and greyer, like the rest of us. Oh...and the moustache has disappeared, too.
There is an outside chance that he and his wife may come to Australia to live but whether or not that happens will be influenced by several things - exchange rates and house prices amongst them.

We had a very enjoyable couple of hours; it's always great to reminisce with old workmates. We all agree that working at Arnold's was mostly a fun time.

Hopefully we'll have a drink or two again next year.  Cheers, fellers!

Lansdowne Hotel fire

The accommodation section of the Lansdowne Hotel suffered damage from smoke and flames in a fire in early January but contrary to earlier reports, the hotel was not destroyed.

It was here that we held the reunion in 2005 and where we enjoyed, back in the Arnold's days, many counter-lunches and after-work drinks.

Here is the report from the Sun-Herald:-

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/lansdowne-hotel-evacuated-after-fire-20130111-2cjq6.html

VALE - John "Joe" Goulder

It is with sadness that I advise that we have just learned that John Goulder passed away in May of 2011.
Our sincere condolences are extended to his wife Thea and their family.

John, or "Joe" as we knew him at Arnolds (as in "Surfer Joe", due to his blonde hair and liking for the beach), was a draughtsman with the Engineering Dept. and along with several other young Arnold employees (including myself) at the time, was required to register for National Service.
John went to Vietnam, together with Garth Brook and, as far as I am aware, at least two others whose names escape me.

On his return to Arnolds and resuming his role with the drawing office, and in response to the standard question "What was it like over there?", I remember with great clarity John replying "I designed shit-houses for colonels"! He was one of the rare exceptions where someone actually did what their profession had trained them to do.

John left Arnolds prior to the merge with Otis and it was during our search for ex-employees in 2004 that we were fortunate in tracking him down for the reunion of 2005, which he attended (see photo, below. That is John on the extreme right, behind John Inglis and next to Stan Sek).

John, may all your days be sun-filled and may the surf always be "up".

PART 7 - The Reunion: Photos (3)

Members of the Engineering Department/Drawing Office....at some stage of their careers with Arnolds.
(Back row, left-to-right) Norm Tchilingurian, Ian Davis, Bill Dyson.
(Middle row, left to right) Michael Heath, Bruce Kennewell, Bob Deahm, Stan Sek, John "Joe" Goulder.
(Front row, left-to-right) Mike Yarrington, Geoff Neville, John Inglis.

In the early 1970's, John Inglis undertook a trip to the United States and it took place not too long after the Palestinians started the trend of aircraft hijacks.

In effort to keep pace with modern trends, several members of the Drawing Office designed, created and presented to John a little cardboard-boxed Hijack Kit in a plain brown wrapper.

This was given to John before he boarded the plane, with a request not to open it until the aircraft was on its way. The fact that he returned safely (and was able to keep the kit) is testament to the relaxed attitude towards such practical jokes at that time. If this were to happen today, all hell would break loose!

Michael Yarrington was the Eng. Dept. photographer back
in the old days and is still a dab hand at the art.

Ian Davis, Stan Sek and Mike Yarrington.

Bill Dyson and Peter Sait.

Peter is another who looks as if he has just stepped out of 1975.

 Jack Gregory, Bob Deahm and John Inglis.
(John doesn't normally make faces!)

Ian Davis capturing the event on video.

PART 6 - The Reunion: Photos (2)

From left to right.....
Ian Davis (white hair and beard), Alan Skinner, Rodney Meek (back to camera).

Beyond Rodney is Peter Nesbitt talking to Garth Brook.
At right is Jim Rainey and, with back to camera, Kevin Garland.

Contemplating the past, perhaps? Jack Gregory and Norm Tchilingurian

in a quiet moment of reflection!

Rodney Meek, Kevin Garland and Joe Cordina.

 Dennis Murphy, with Kevin Garland beyond him and, way in the background, Ian Davis.

Then Peter Nesbitt, Irene Rainy (back to camera) and Jim Rainey.
Stan Sek partially obscured on the right hand side.
 

 Clive Smith on the mobile-phone. Probably taking a customer's order!

 Ian Davis (back to camera), Bill Dyson and Michael Heath.
The photographer (Ian's partner, Mary-Ann) had one sherry too many!

 Ian Davis and Bruce Kennewell, the latter wearing that original
Arnold's drawing-office dustcoat (owned by Bob Deahm)

John Inglis and Stan Sek, with John trying to hide a smile, by the looks of it!

Bruce Kennewell, John Inglis (back to camera), Stan Sek and Ian Davis.

PART 5 - The Reunion: Photos (1)

The following photos were taken on the night of the reunion - June 18th. 2005.
No particular order and the captions try to identify those in the photos - which I think we've managed to do pretty accurately.

ANY PHOTO WILL DISPLAY IN A LARGER FORMAT WHEN YOU CLICK ON IT.

John Inglis & Jack Gregory looking at some current photos of O'Connor Street.

From left to right: Stan Sek (grey jacket), Alan Skinner's head, Ian Davis (and partner Mary-Anne), Norm Tchilingurian (white shirt), Michael Heath (grey jacket), Bill Dyson listening to Norm, Peter Sait (also listening to Norm) and Clive Smith (striped collar).

In the far right-hand corner is a group comprising Ray Hesp, Peter Rasdall, Tony Willis and Fabio Marchionni.

The picture is continued below.........

Again from left-to-right.....

 Norm Tchilingurian talking with Bill Dyson and Peter Sait, with Michael Heath seated, back to camera. Then in that back corner is Charlie Giagodi, Ray Willis, Peter Rasdall
 Fabio Marchionni (check jacket, looking at camera), Ray Hesp, Dante Coretti and Geoff Neville (standing). Behind Geoff is Mrs. Cordina and Joe Cordina (leaning on table).
 In the foreground is Clive Smith and Geoff's wife, Daphne. The red-sleeved arm in the extreme right belongs to Peter Nesbitt and the collection of scalps in the foreground are
 unidentified!

Hass Amburlah, Mrs. Amburlah and Fabio Marchionni.

From left to right.....
Ian Davis and partner Mary-Anne, Joe Cordina in background, Bob Deahm talking to Stan Sek with Geoff Neville's head in background. Stan's wife partly obscured by Stan.
In the right-hand corner are Fabio Marchionni and Dante Coretti.

Ian Davis and Michael Heath share a laugh next to a pair of original

Arnold "AES" overalls (owned by Bob Deahm).

Bruce Kennewell wearing an original AES

white dustcoat (owned by Bob Deahm).

PART 3 - The Reunion: List of Attendees

Below is the list of those of us who were at the reunion and where they were living at the time:-

John Inglis - West Pennant Hills, NSW
Bob Deahm - Cromer, NSW
Bruce Kennewell - Canberra, ACT
Geoff Neville - Lane Cove, NSW (since deceased, July 2014)
Jack Gregory - Sydney, NSW (since deceased, July 2015)
Clive Smith - Sydney, NSW (since deceased, October 2017)
Jim Rainey - Sydney, NSW
Michael Yarrington - Central Coast, NSW
Peter Sait - Gladesville, NSW
Kevin Garland - Redland Bay, QLD
Garth Brook - Perth, WA (Since deceased, July 2015)
Bill Dyson - Sydney, NSW
Norm Tchilingurian - Sydney, NSW
Dennis Murphy - Granville, NSW
Hass Amburlah - St. Clare, NSW
Rodney Meek - Sydney, NSW
Michael Heath - Terrigal, NSW
Jack Wilson - Doncaster, VIC
Ian Davis - Perth, WA
Alan Skinner - Canberra, ACT
Stan Sek - North Richmond, NSW
John ("Joe") Goulder - Oatley, NSW (since deceased, May 2011)
Peter Nesbitt - Gilgandra, NSW (since deceased, 19th. April 2006)
Dante Coretti - Sydney, NSW
Charlie Giagodi - Sydney, NSW
Fabio Marchionni - Sydney, NSW
Joe Cordina - Bonnyrigg, NSW
Peter Rasdall - Sydney, NSW
Ray Hesp - Sydney, NSW
Tony Willis - Sydney, NSW
Norm Stalder - Port Macquarie, NSW

In addition to those on the above list, we also made contact with the following, who unfortunately were unable to attend:
Renee Little - South Coast, NSW
Martin Seturins - Meadowbank, NSW
Dave Rutter - Perth, WA
Warren Watt - Sydney (since deceased, April 2015)
Jim Tankard - Toowoomba, QLD (since deceased, November 2011)
Barry Stahl - Blue Mts., NSW
Tom Moffatt - NSW (since deceased, March 5th. 2016)

PART 2 - The 30-Year Reunion in June 2005

In 2004 I happened to contact Bob Deahm, a fellow Drawing Office inhabitant and one who chose to leave the company and head to pastures new when we closed in 1975.

The circumstances that led to our personal reunion were pure luck and fate: John Inglis happened to run into Bob in Melbourne - I had been in touch with JI sometime previously - he passed Bob's contact details to me and, bingo!, after 30 years we touched base once again and met up in Sydney in November 2004.

It was during this weekend of reminiscing that we hatched the idea of having a company reunion in 2005, which neatly coincided with a lapse of 30 years since Arnolds' doors shut for good.

So over the next couple of months we managed to track down over 40 employees, most of whom were delighted at the idea of getting together once more in Chippendale.

Some of those we contacted couldn't make it, for a variety of reasons.

Bob and I were also saddened to learn of John Gray's passing, John being one of our good mates in the drawing office during the 1960s.

There were many who we just couldn't track down, irrespective of the internet resources at our fingertips in 2004.

However, using the resources of emails, Google (Facebook was less than a year old back then) and numerous phone-calls we assembled a group from across Australia - WA, Victoria, Queensland, NSW and the ACT were all represented.

So on the night of Saturday 18th. June 2005 31 ex-employees, some with wives & partners, got together in the Landsdowne Hotel in Chippendale and had a loud, happy and wonderful time reminiscing, catching up and renewing old acquaintances after a 30-year pause.