Thanks for the wonderful evening birddog and Gary.

[Matt. K]

For those who couldn't make it to the dinner...Birddog arranged a beautiful evening for those who could make it. Gary received a resounding ovation for setting up the forum and Birddog was graced with gifts for his unbeleivable energy and generosity in ensuring that the D70 forum would be one of the finest forums on the web. Everybody met everybody else and everybody was ...just a bunch of particularly nice people. It felt like a gathering of old friends...or family. Cameras and purses were left on chairs unguarded...their owners unworried.

Prizes were handed out...gifts were exchanged..or given freely and warmly...and Mr Poon was visibly moved by the comraderie that filled the room...and the gratitude that people expressed for his ability to provide the gadgets we love at affordable and realistic prices. The food was fine and the wine was sweet and the company was uplifting.
The Chi and the Zen was positive, friendly and caring. Does it get any better than this?
Gary...you put a lot of effort into setting up this forum...you must be feeling like something wonderful is coming back at you.
Well do you deserve to be enriched.
I will post some pics tomorrow..as I am sure will many others. Sleep tight...all.

[dooda]

Cameras and purses were left on chairs unguarded...their owners unworried.

Sounds like the inward murmer of a closet thief! Camera owners beware, Matt is watching!:lol:

I really wish I could have been there, it all sounded quite terrific. Enjoy the new watch all, and congratulations and thanks to Gary for establishing one of the most unique and warm places on the net; and to Birddog for breathing life and enthusiasm into it. You all should be proud.

[birddog114]

Thanks All to the attended members to the Xmas Party last night, we all enjoyed and have had a very good time, but we also missed all of others, whom can't make to the party. We also mentioned we will have another big ones in the near future and hope we will see more members to join with us.
Thanks the Forum and especially to Gary and some special members for the special present of the Sword, remined me: my old days of graduation day at the Military Academy.
Thanks Glen for the dozen of red from Cruicshank (Will be reserved stock for VR club)
Thanks Killakoala for the special military gift.

You're all marvellouss, Friendship will last ever.

[sheepie]

Fantastic night - thanks all for making it such a success! Looking forward to seeing the pics.
Thanks again Gary for the foresight in setting this group up, and to our Patron BirdDog, your humility is refreshing but your accolades are well deserved.

Well done all

[fozzie]

Birddog,

Thanks All to the attended members to the Xmas Party last night, we all enjoyed and have had a very good time, but we also missed all of others, whom can't make to the party. We also mentioned we will have another big ones in the near future and hope we will see more members to join with us.
Thanks the Forum and especially to Gary and some special members for the special present of the Sword, remined me: my old days of graduation day at the Military Academy.
Thanks Glen for the dozen of red from Cruicshank (Will be reserved stock for VR club)
Thanks Killakoala for the special military gift.

You're all marvellouss, Friendship will last ever.

What, a D70Users.com 'National Convention' !

Cheers,

[birddog114]

fozzie,
I'm thinking about it, Forum's birthday is in August.
Perhaps Xmas in August instead of July.

[Raydar]

Great to see fun was had by all

I was thinking of everyone down there last night & wished myself & my wife could have been there “Next time”
I’ll be down hopefully in Jan so I can meet some of the members from Syd.

Cheers
Ray

[kipper]

Ok Greg-B, when are we having the Melbourne Dinner at Silks or Kokos at Crown? Did you get all of those Diamond encrusted TAG watches for all Melbourne members?

[Onyx]

Thanks Birddog, and Gary for setting up and organising this meet.

Birddog, you should have figured by now when I walked over to your table to ask about the food and make idle chatter, I was merely blocking your view while Gary hid the giant Excalibur sword to give to you later.

Guys, my pics here:

http://www.pixspot.com/thumbnails.php?album=38

[gstark]

Matt,

Many thanx for your kind words. And Glen, for your words last night as well.

All I can say is what an evening. The food was amazing - good, and plentiful.

The company was simply astonishing: lots of happy faces enjoying each others' company in a way that I cannot begin to describe. The friendliness that we see here every day was certainly carried on well into the night, with the last of us being evicted from the restaurant at around 11::15, I think.

For the record, and roughly speaking, we had about 10% of the group's membership (at the time the dinner was organised) present for the dinner. That's not at all too bad, in my humble opinion.

Poon was made to feel welcome by all, and I was truly honoured to be able present the prizes to the three top entries in the challenge.

But the most pleasant task for me on the night was the presentation, on behalf of all members here, to Birddog, for his enthusiasm, his generosity, his patience ... for just being himself - a most noble human being.

On behalf of our members, I presented the following gifts to Birddog :

1 - One dozen bottles of Cruickshank's wine. All reds. We were aware that Cruickshank's is one of Birddog's favourite wines, and my thanks go out to Glen for taking the time and effort to locate and purchase these wines on your behalf.

2 - A military sabre. Those of us who have met him, know that he has a penchant for military memorabilia. I was watching a travel documentary the other day, and noticed that on this show they were travelling through Champagne in France, where they encountered a society of people who opened their bottles of champagne with a sabre.

Given how difficult it is purchase something for Birddog, this seemed like a wonderful way to combine his loves of military memorabilia and wines and champagne, and so the challenge has been issued: Birddog now needs to learn how to open a bottle of champagne with his military sabre.

I'll be expecting him to give us progress reports on this, and at some stage a demonstration of his prowess with the sabre.

And there's to be no cheating either: no using cheap bottles of bubbly like Yellow or Gallo; Nothing less than Veuve or Moet & Chandon will do. And Chandon from the Yarra Valley doesn't cut it either.

3 - Finally, KillaKoala (Steve) took the time to make a little commenorative trophy for Birddog. Consisting of two 20mm shells (please correct me if I'm wrong, Steve) from Steve's private collection of military stuff, mounted on a wooden pedestal, with an inscription thanking Birddog for his help, enthusiasm and dedication, this was a touching, personal contribution that I could see was appreciated by Birddog in a way that words simply cannot do justice to.

Onyx has already placed the photos of the evening - including these gifts from you - online, and I commend everyone for your participation in this project.

As to the contributions - I was astounded at the extent and generosity exhibited by you all; interest in donating came from overseas as well as locally, and the extent of some of the donations amazed me; they truly reflected the high esteem in which we hold Birddog. You've all done very well, and you all deserve a collective pat on the back.

Finally, one big thank you to Geoff, whose emailed suggestion to me last week got the whole thing on the road.

Next year we'll have an even bigger and better Christmans dinner, and we will also organise something exceptional for August, the first anniversary of this forum.

Again, thanx all for coming, and thank you all for your support.

[ajo43]

I'm very glad everyone had such a fantastic night. Great to see this little community showing some genuine good will towards each other and to those that have brought us together.

I hope to meet many of you myself at one of the meets that is scheduled for next year.

Merry xmas to all

[joet]

I'd just like to reinforce the previous comments in this topic. I joined the Forum without any knowledge of digital photography. In the short time in which I've been participating, I've learnt a great deal.

However, the real joy of this group is the welcome given and the genuine friendly nature of the people that I've met.

Long may we all prosper !!

[MCWB]

Sounds like it was an awesome night, sorry I couldn't be there! Oh well, there's always next time. I'd like to echo the thanks to Gary and Birddog, top notch work guys, thanks for making this community what it is!

[mic]

Hi All,

Sounds like you had a great time.

I would just like to say thanks to you all for being there, with so much to learn and so many pits to fall into out there in the real world of people ripping others off and down right lack of respect for other, it's nice to know there is a world here I can count on for anything I want.

Thanks Gary for having such great Vision fot setting something like this up.
Thanks Glen for finding me out there on the big WWW.

& thanks Birddog for being my Genie in a bottle, you deserve everything good in this life.

I'm glad the Forum made you feel like that last night.

Just my little contribution, not a lot but very true.

Regards,

Mic.

[Vicareyus]

Could I also offer my sincere thanks in particular to Gary and Birddog for their initial and ongoing vision and support for this marvellous creation called the d70 users.com. Without the two of you, none of this would have happened. You should feel a great sense of pride and satisfaction in what you have grown. Having met you both face to face as well as online, may I say what terrific people you are.

In a more general sense may I also thank all of the d70 user.com members. You are a great bunch of people. It makes me feel priveleged to belong to such a group.

Thanks to all also for a great evening last night - it was great fun.

Vic

[Onyx]

Thanks again to the event organisers and those that made the effort to travel long distances to be there on the night.

I have that attempted pic of everyone on the staircase - taken by the award winning B&W photographer Craig (JordanP):


Bigger

Also, now that I have Geoff's permission - I'll be posting up the pics he took up on my Pixspot account over the next day or so.