Royal Australian Navy Clearance Divers 60th Anniversary

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY CLEARANCE DIVERS 60TH ANNIVERSARY

Recent News

14TH FEBRUARY 2011

BREAK DOWN AND EXPLANATION OF THE REUNION REGISTRATION COSTS

Hi All,

I guess this message is about to get broad distribution to try to put some peoples mind at ease re the costs for the REUNION. A couple of points:

when we had a committee the plan was to include everything in one fee so that there was no need to be chasing money, re-booking transport, changing numbers for events and as a result it would allow us to negotiate the best price for venues, food, drinks and all the extras.
there is no intention to make any money out of fellow members, the reunion costs are based on bottom line cost to us.....not cost plus!!!
Bear in mind this is Sydney, it is a Looong weekend ( public hols Friday to Tuesday ), Easter as well and we will be in the centre of it all in Darling Harbour!!! The last reunion in Darwin was $380 per member and $250 per family member and we have been able to provide a similar outcome for a reduced price!!!!!
IMPORTANTLY......I understand that $'s are not in ready supply for all and I have tried to get the best value for your dollar that I can within the need to make the Reunion and 60th Anniversary a weekend to remember!

So just to explain what the rego fee for a full reunion attendee pays for:

Meet and Greet after rego - food and drinks at the Brewhouse
Transport to and from Darling Harbour for Waterhen Open Day
Seafood Dinner and 4 drink vouchers for beer wine or spirits
Transport to and from Darling Harbour to the Dawn Service and Gunfire breakfast on completion at the Brewhouse
Post March Reception at the Brewhouse with food and drink vouchers
Final BBQ with Food and drinks included
A quality polo shirt with logos from Sport and Leisure
The reunion coin ( Association Crest on front side and the 60th logo on the other )
A Stubby holder

It has been pointed out to me that the younger serving members may not be interested in all aspects of the reunion and in an attempt to engage the future members and to get them to the Dinner and Anzac Day, I developed the "Serving Member Rego" (now available on the webpage) which will allow them to book into:

Seafood Dinner and 4 drink vouchers for beer wine or spirits
Post March Reception at the Brewhouse with food and drink vouchers
A quality polo shirt with logos from Sport and Leisure
The reunion coin ( Association Crest on front side and the 60th logo on the other )
A Stubby holder

The key message here is to facilitate the best Reunion possible and to make all the activities available to all divers over the weekend. If people want to modify the plan so they can take part then call me and lets see what can be arranged.

Neill 'Dinga' Bell

Commander, RANR

February 2011 Update:

G'day All,

I am not there yet but there are so many requests for info that the time
has come to go with the 90% solution!!

Please see DRAFT program on the front page which will provide planned
timings for the Reunion and note that the Navy events in Blue are yet to
be approved.

ALSO the Registration information which you can complete and
pay as advised in the document. I am working with the Webmaster to post
the attachments tonite and in the next few days we will have pay pal set
up on the web page so that you can also register online and pay in a
secure manner.

Please read the registration document in detail as it has a lot of info
and we have reviewed it a number of times to try and give you all that
you need at this stage to get onboard for what promises to be a
fantastic few days in Sydney!!!

A final request.................could you please use the reunion email
for responses/questions to aviod clogging up my work email.......by
clicking this hyperlink you should get a blank email that will go to the
reunion mailbox rancda.2011@defence.gov.au

Take care, travel safe, UAU

Neill 'Dinga' Bell

Commander, RANR

November Update:

G'day All,

As you will have observed there has been very little activity over the past 2 months which has been due to me falling during PT and causing three discs to bulge in my lower back! Unfortunately I am going to have to endure some minor surgery and this should see me back to 'normal' by late December but in the meantime I have returned to work for half days for a few weeks.

There are 57 emails in the inbox dating from 28 august so if you have not received a reply, hang on for a few more days and I will get back to each of you as I clear some of the real work issues that have also piled up. We are having a meeting of the NSW Association next week and I hope to be able to make some inroads into the registration process that has been stalled while I have been out of circulation and will send out a further update late next week.

Watch this space! Dinga

August Update

Time is really starting to fly past and a lot of you are checking on registration, forwarding further detail, providing 'Then and Now' photos, including your partners and in general hitting the web page! It is great to see the level of interest and the team behind the scenes is working hard to keep things happening as well as pushing the arrangements along to be ready for the next step in late SEPTEMBER!

What is the next step I hear you ask?? The current plan is to distribute the registration package at the end of September to start the ball rolling on the real detail for the Anniversary Celebrations and the Reunion. There are still a number of elements that have to be sorted and the pressure is mounting!

Some things that have happened recently:

The T Shirt page on the web now has a 'Reunion Shirt' with the logo in addition to all the other great designs. Remember that every shirt purchased puts $5 into the Fund for the reunion so it is a real self help way of raising some additional funds.
We have been in contact with Salt and an exchange of databases has been agreed so that we can assist each other with personal details and keeping up with the accommodation requirement. A number of you have advised that you have booked privately which is not an issue! The committee just wanted to make sure we all got in early to avoid disappointment and the detail for those that have yet to arrange their accommodation includes the ACCOR deal (info published in these notes) SALT (info also published on the webpage) and of course those that just use the web to try to get a better deal. The message.......make you booking sooner rather than later, we are not in a position to do this for you!
Bill Fitz has provided me with the names of CD Course 1 of 55 and I have been able to talk to most of them on the phone to get an address as they are not up on the web. I intend to send each of them a leter on your behalf inviting them to the reunion and already I am getting a positive response! As this develops I will keep you informed.

Quick Summary to save you having to count up the numbers, there are 136 (majority retired) registrations on the database at the moment with 81 partners registered. When you check the details and you see a mate is not there give them a call and let them know you are in and that they need to register so that when the time comes we can email them the info.

Regards to all, Dinga

*****************************************************************************

Monday, 26 July 2010

Gid Aye all,

Dinga is away counting snow flakes, so I have a small update for you.

Dinga will be back with all the news and full update including all the new registrations around mid August. All the new registrations are being collated, but will not be put up on the site until Dinga returns. Keep sending them in.

We were off line for about 24 hours ...Some Nerdy Albanians hacked the website...
But we're back now….

This is what they left us with….

I am off on holidays till 7^th of August – so there will be no new photos or work on the website until then. That’s about it for the update till Dinga gets back.

But we need more Now & Then photos from you guys the Old & Bolds as well as photos please from serving members.

Serving members might send a civi photo before entry and one more recent one in the branch. (Work backwards :}) - or whatever you like...

Getting some good group photos - will put them up on my return.

Ok that’s it for this update

Jim P.
Webmaster

Monday 12th July

G'day One and All!

It is very pleasing to note we now have 106 registrations with 53 partners, the vast majority of which are old and bolds! Please check out the web page to see who is on the current list and if I have missed someone or if you know of a person that has yet to register please chase me or them down. You can always pass on this link which is becoming the core communications tool for the reunion www.rancd60.org.au

Accommodation ( READ THIS IF YOU BOOKED ACCOM THROUGH YOUR EMAIL REGISTRATION)

In relation to accommodation..........plenty of people are getting in early and getting some good deals that are even better than the ACCOR offer so I can only encourage you to continue to do this as we keep saying it is Easter, Anzac Day and a long weekend in Sydney so accommodation is going to be hard to find at the last moment. If any divers in Sydney want to offer accommodation to others please just do it or if you have accommodation and want to try the lottery just let me know and I will get Jim to post your kind offer on the web page! Just imagine....your very own hung over bubbly as a house guest......

The previous nominations of interest in accommodation by attendees registering their email addresses were all about providing indications of accom required to see if ACCOR would allocate a Code for individual bookings and thereby secure a number of rooms. This plan has been successful and we do have enough rooms at the offer price with spare rooms still available for the late starters.

So, no bookings have been made by the organising committee on behalf of registered members; the process is that we want all individuals to book directly with ACCOR using the Booking Codes provided directly below and therefore the obligation to turn up and pay etc is with the attendee as opposed to the Committee.

Here are the booking details for individuals to make their arrangements directly with the ACCOR hotels so that those that wanted to use the IBIS or other offers then you can do so direct as follows....the ball is now in your court....:

Direct bookings should be made with the hotel asap, please ask the delegates/participants to quote ROY210411 and contact our Reservations Department directly on 02 9288 7180 (for Ibis Sydney Darling Harbour and the Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour). For Ibis King St Wharf, please use the same code of ROY210411 and call 02 8243 0700.

Registration

The plan for formal registration has not changed.............it is still our intention to circulate registration details individually to all those that have registered their email address in September 2010. There is still no need to front up the cash until after that time.

The team is working on the overall plan for the week so that we can issue a complete registration package that will allow you to plan your time at the Anniversary/Reunion and provide all your details in order that we can update the master database and start ordering shirts, gift packs etc etc.

Hope this note finds you all well and in good spirit. If you know of a possible sponsor that might like to support the anniversary/reunion please pass on their details and we will follow up as every little bit will help to make this an event to remember!

Neill 'Dinga' Bell

Thursday 17th of June

'day All,
 
Thank you very much for taking the time to register as it gives the
organising committee an incentive to keep things rolling! 78
registrations to date with interest growing all the time! Our aim is to
circulate the registration documents in September as soon as we have all
the details finalised.
 
We had an update meeting yesterday and I will be putting a note on the
website ( www.rancd60.org.au we will update it regularly so check it on
a regular basis!!) early next week. For those of you that have advised
your requirement for accommodation, it is in the data base and as soon as
I can meet with Accor again I will advise the process.
 
As you can imagine I am being inundated with emails at the moment so
please do not reply to the message unless you have an issue that needs
resolution....my aim here is to keep you up to date that you are in the
data base and that we are working to ensure the success or our
Anniversary and Reunion. 
 
TWO THINGS
Do not hesitate to encourage anyone else you are talking to to get their
name down so that we can ensure the info gets to everybody! 
If you check the webpage and you cannot see a mates name then call them
and tell them to get of their '#$%&' !! ie Norm Burt, Bill Fitz All the
best and take care,
 
Neill 'Dinga' Bell

Monday 17th May

I am pleased to report that we have had a fantastic response to the opening of the Website and also the use of the defence email address for registration which is now working well. I am sure that you will all agree that Jim and the IT team have given us a GREAT kick start to both the Anniversary and to the Reunion. So far we have 52 people registered and a steady stream of requests for accommodation with ACCOR, please continue to request Accor acommodation through rancda.2011@defence.gov.au .

To further enhance the content of the website and to make it more supportive for you, registered people can now send in "Now & Then" photos of themselves and a few lines about what they are doing now.

Jim will link the photos and text to your name and then your mates can click on it and see what others have been up to.

If this does become a feature that people support and want to use, then we may feature someone each week on the front page as a reward for registering early.

Dinga Bell