Spring Dinner 2019

Thank you to all

Not much left to say about our fabulous Spring Dinner except Thank You... the photos say it all!

We could not run this event without John Collins. Not only is he an innovative and talented cook, he inspires a remarkable commitment and performance from his students, many of whom have continued their involvement over the five years we have held these dinners. Thank you, John.

I have permission to copy John's thank you note to staff who assisted with the dinner – an insight into the rapport and camaraderie that makes the evening such a pleasure to be involved with.

“Em and Kat, you guys were like ducks to water with all that front-of-house stuff, and then were just dominating the cleaning afterwards; Vic, you were the mother duck. Thanks mate, so glad you were on board; Phuong, being able to handball all the dietary requirements stuff to you, Lily and Rosie was amazing. You smashed it; Mr McDuff, having another pair of hands in the Tech Room to do whatever was needed and to help with the kids in there was a huge help; Nat, apart from the absolutely mind-blowing job you did in the Library, which needs a celebration all of its own, you just intuitively did what needed to be done in the kitchen - plating up, cleaning up, packaging up leftovers - so thank you, thank you; Kris and Ant, that pizza oven can be a bit of a painful thing to wrangle... you wrangled it good. Thanks mate; Michelle, who on earth offers to just do dishes for the whole night? You do! Year after year! And I LOVE YOU for it; and Beth, thank you so much for organising the roster and liaising with the others about Front of House stuff and generally helping out with the thinking about that stuff. The kids were awesome, they knew what they had to do and when. It was great; Kaz, the whole thing was accompanied by incredible music, lots of people commented on that, “the waiters are musicians and the musicians are waiters!”;  Matt, thanks for all the hard work in the lead-up with candles and thinking about sound and then running around with a camera all night... oh also, thanks for your awesome daughters. That ‘croc n bush’ was ace.”

There were many other members of staff who willingly stepped in to assist in the lead-up and in the clean-up. Natalie Kunst deserves a very special mention as someone who has only been in the School for a matter of months - her table settings and floral decorations were wonderful.

Greg, Robert and Emma, our facilities team, worked tirelessly; lifting, carrying, setting up and then resetting. Uncomplaining, problem-solving; and, once again, Nerel and husband Danny were indispensable; Nerel in organising the silent auction and Danny providing expert help in the kitchen. Danny, together with John‘s imperturbable serenity, add to an almost eerie centre of calm, like the eye of the storm, at the heart of so much frenetic activity.

Thank you to Troy Wass, Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Karoline and Michelle, for yet another wonderful program of music and to Jaye Morey, Fiona Williams, Kimberley Laurence and Kathy Bibby for hours of painstaking assistance with setting up. Special thanks to Shane Rose who stepped in at the last minute to take beautiful photos on the night, some of which are featured in the gallery on this page.

For me, this annual event showcases so much that is symbolic of the Preshil community. Thank you to everyone involved.

- Marilyn