The Grove Anniversary Reunion Success

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   Sorry this has taken so long, but unfortunately the Grove Anniversary 

Reunions didn't finish for us at 1am on Bank Holiday Monday. There's a 

lot of loose ends to tie up etc. But that's all pretty much done now.

Firstly, I'd like to say, what a great success The Grove 40th Anniversary 

celebrations were! Nothing but glowing reports all around, and that's all 

down to all who attended. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, 

thank you, thank you, one and all for making these events so memorable! 

It was great to see so many new attendees on the nights too. 

Now, in order to make this possible, we had to really pull out all the stops 

on the advertising front, so who better to hire than someone with just as 

much passion for the subject as the rest of us, ex-Grover, Laura Byrne. 

She's had a small hand in helping spread the word for the previous 

reunions, and with her track record, there was no one else for the job. So, 

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to Laura, for running the entire 

campaign and obviously doing such a thorough job. Mission 

accomplished Laura! Not only that, but 

she also made a huge financial contribution to the charities on top, so on 

behalf of the charities, a huge thank you also to you Laura. 

When I decided to give all my time and the profits from the evenings to 

the charities in question, I didn't expect anyone else to follow suit, 

(afterall, this was not a fundraiser, it was The Grove 40th Anniversary 

celebrations) but they did, so I'd also like to thank Cecil for giving up his 

free time to come down and making the night what it was (not forgetting 

the other 30 years of devotion!), donating his 

time to the charity too. As did Tina on the door, who had the horrible job 

of turning away so many ticketless unfortunates on the Sunday night, not 

a pleasant task by any means! Thanks baby! Sorry for all the grief!! 

Thanks also to Ammo and Jimmy on the door. 

Next, I'd like to thank Floydman on behalf of all who his wonderful 

collage represented. Thank you Martin for all your efforts, it was a roaring 

success. You really added somthing special to the occassions. (The 

footage from both presentations are up on YouTube now, I'll post the 

links later.) Also, he took the initiative to print up 3 extra copies of the 

collage and raffle them off, also raising over �100 extra for the charities. 

Martin, on behalf of the charities, I'd also like to thank you. Top work!!!

I'd also like to thank Verona Hanlon, who took it upon herself to give us a 

dig out in the radio and celebrity department. It's thanks to her that we 

had our two presentees on the nights - Marty Whelan and PJ Gallagher. I 

swear I've never met a person who knows so many people. 6 degrees of 

seperation? More like 3 degrees of seperation with our Verona! Thanks 

Verona, you're a legend! Not forgetting to mention that you devoted so 

much of your time and energy in so many other ways. You're a shining 

example to us all! Also thanks to Ray, Edel and all Phantom FM for all 

their help and support.

And of course, our presentees, at such last minute notice, gave of their 

time (for free) and lent that little extra something to the events, the 

cherries on the cakes! Marty and PJ! Many thanks from one and all, you 

both were amazing and such professionals on the night. The final pieces 

of the jigsaw. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Also last but not least, a big thank you to Biker Pat for his huge 

contribution to the music for the Saturday night. I was but a twinkle in my 

father's pants back in those days, and wasn't aware of all the classics 

Cecil used to play. So Pat, thanks for all the suggestions etc., Saturday 

wouldn't have been the same without them!

Rolo, for taking to his new moderater role with such gusto! Thanks Rolo! 

And many thanks to Lenny for his efforts too!

Photos and video footage from the nights were taken by Laura, Leon, 

Killian, Jimmy, Tina and my bro Paul, so thanks guys for the eternal digital 

memories! 

Thanks to P.H. Systems and The Shieling hotel for cutting their prices for 

the charities too!

And can I hear a special round of applause for our very own Killian 

Bannon, the kingpin of this website! Without whom, I'd be typing this into 

a word document with nowhere to post it (not to mention the thousands 

of other comments posted by all you hardcores!). For this Killian, we are 

truly grateful! Thank you, you're efforts are hugely appreciated.

Have I left anyone out? If I did, please forgive me! I am but a man with a 

very bad memory! :)

So on behalf of all ex-Grovers and the charities, a warm heart-felt thank 

you to all involved in making this such an overwhelming success.

Oh, incidently, we managed to raise a grand total of �10,051 to be 

split evenly between:

The Cambodian Land Mine Museum Relief Fund and

The Irish Missions project working out in Illapel, Chile. 

Well done one and all! 

Take care,

Crusty

Edited by crusty