A big thank you for coming and making this reunion great.
Thomas,it was an absolutely fantastic day. Everyone involved is to be congratulated particularly the organizing committee their long suffering spouses and all the volunteers.It was great to see everyone and hear how they are doing. The beauty of memories is that they stay forever young and Saturday night we were all young again. Thanks so much for the memories new and old and I think I now remember our trip to England. Lets get together sooner than 40 years this time and don't forget to hit us all up for the wb site money.
All the Best.The O'Hara's
John,Brenda,Jody,David,Michael,Erin & Eilisha
John & Tom!
It was a wonderful to be a part of this event and an extremely satisfying
experience working on the committee. I was especially proud that we were all
able to take the vision you two had for the reunion and make it a reality.
The warmth and camaraderie that was evident during the whole event was a
direct result of your guidance.
Everything that happened was above and beyond my expectations, wonderful,
wonderful. I haven't smiled and laughed so much in a 24 hour timeframe for
I'd say maybe 40 years.
I would do it again in a heartbeat ...... bear
Tom ... there are no words that can express the FUN of Saturday! ... it was such a great time ... seeing old friends - and experiencing the same great Feeling of true friendship as if only a day or two had passed. It was an incredible event.
Thanks to you and all the organizing committee for doing such a great job! ... the entertainment, the food ... every detail was thought of and executed precisely! I couldn't think of one thing that would have made it better!
I really hope we can keep in touch ... and if you every want to do it again (in a few years maybe) ... call me - I'd love to help!
Ken
Venita and I had a wonderful time over the weekend, recalling stories of years gone by, seeing old friends, and some of the girls who supported the Corps, and there boyfriends at the time. Venita was not really looking forward to attending the reunion, because she didn’t know anyone. However she has not stopped talking about how everyone made her feel as if she were a member of the original Corps, and how much fun she had over the entire weekend. Thanks to all of you again, who worked so hard to achieve this task, and provide everyone with a wonderful time. On Sunday, John joined Venita and myself, and traveled to Barrie, as he was going to spend a couple of day with Ted Huston. I was able to spend time with Ted, and his new bride Elly, and share more stories with them. Ted looks good, however it takes very little to tire him, and he felt that coming to Toronto taking to much risk. I am going to log off now and will keep in touch with you guys. When is the next party? We’ll be there the good lord willing.
Chuck Saulnier
originally written and typed for the web page
Oct.1st/03
This letter is later than we intended but we did a lot of reminiscing after the reunion evening and time just past so quickly and busily.
However this is our way of saying a very sincere and heartfelt “Thank You” to the York Lions Alumni for first of all honouring us by having us as your guests and secondly for arranging such a terrific day and evening.
Although we were unable to attend the afternoon event (which we were told was really great) to us the evening was indeed wonderful in every way. The food was great-D-CATS were very good and the whole evening was well planned.
For us of course, the major highlight was meeting so many people we hadn’t seen for such a long time and recalling different events and situations. The kind words sent our way while at the head table were very much appreciated and added another highlight to the evening.
All in all John, it was a wonderful evening for us, and we once again say a big thank you to the alumni committee and everyone involved for a most enjoyable evening.
Yours Truly
Fred and Dorothy Blazey
TO: All the Members of the York Lions Drum Corps Reunion Committee
Please accept my congratulations to the entire reunion
committee on the superb effort they expended in delivering, what could
only
be described, as a flawless reunion. I think a person would have
difficulty
finding a way upon which, the event could have been improved. Every
detail
from: a memorabilia table, souvenir pins, shirts, video tapes, CD's, York
Lions Drum Corps colour-cordinated candles at the tables, "York Lions
D.C."
wine, and the first-rate entertainment throughout the day and evening. I
would especially like to commend you on the very tasteful way in which the
members who have passed, were honoured before dinner. I think I can speak
for all those who had the name read aloud of someone, either family member
or close friend, of the great pride we felt of having them, yet remembered
by the corps, some 40 years later. The "Last Post", a minute of silent
reflection, and "Reveille", had a profound and powerful impact.
It was really uplifting to renew acquaintances with all the
the lads with whom one shared an "esprit de corps" in our on-field
competitions against "the foe". I regret, however, that I missed a
few--next time for sure.
Again, I commend the committee for bringing us together with
such class and professionalism. You know, the more I watch that 14 minute
video history--well, the more I conclude: WE DIDN'T LOOK OR SOUND TOO
SHABBY, DID WE?????
----------Tom Menagh
Dear Fellow Alumni…I would like to share with you some thoughts with regard to our recent reunion.
At the first Alumni Committee meeting I attended, I believe it was the 3rd such meeting held, it wasn’t long before I found myself wanting to get involved in organizing a reunion. I felt that I could best serve the cause by volunteering to try and contact as many ex corps members as possible. Little did I know what consequences lay in waiting for me! It wouldn’t be long before I would find that the guys were scattered all over the map from Victoria and Vancouver B.C., to Calgary, AB., to Verdun, P.Q., as far south as Florida, and as far north as Algonquin Park and everywhere in between. There were surnames like “Murray” and “Brown” to deal with (do you know how many pages of “Murray’s and Brown’s” there are in the phone directory? I never did find John Murray or Ralph Brown!!!), misspelled names to contend with (i.e.: was it ‘Mc” or Mac, “ee” or “ea”) not to mention the guys who’s phones were listed in their partners name. It was a real challenge (nightmare actually) trying to find many of you but I persevered, got lucky a couple of times and got quite a bit of much welcome help from a variety of different sources. Your letters of appreciation to the committee have demonstrated to me that without question it was well worth the effort
Despite the tedium of the job and the kind thanks I received for my efforts, it was sincerely a “labour of love” and it definitely had its perks. It was an absolute thrill to know that in many cases I was the first corps member to have contact with you since the last corps practice and as a result, experience the immense pleasure of being the first to hear the excitement and emotion in your responses when I called. And it was my pleasure to be the first to tell you about the reunion that was being planned and to invite you to view our fabulous web site..
I too had a wonderful time at “Reunion 2003”. Meeting many of you again for the first time in almost 40 years was an unbelievable experience that I won’t soon forget. However, while it was sometimes difficult trying to keep my emotions under control, meeting Mr.Blazey was the absolute pinnacle of my day. In addition, in my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined that I would ever see the day when “Optimists” would put on a show for us!!!!! Similarly, having the “Hamilton Firefighters”, the “CADRE” drummers and the “DCAT” chorus each perform a concert for us was equally fabulous.
Thank you John, Tom, Gord, Rick, Pat, Ted, Dan, Ed and Ron, your respective partners and all the other family members who contributed so much toward making sure that Cheryl and I enjoyed such an incredibly wonderful event.
Dave Kirton
It started with a funeral and ended with, after almost forty-years, a joyous one & a half day reunion of 40 plus ex members of York Lions Drum Corps, their spouses, assorted friends, ex competitors and Drum Corps nuts.
At the funeral for an old corps member, a Mr. Bob Nelson, a small group of ex York Lions members & friends started reminiscing about the great times they had a teenagers traveling and competing in the Drum Corps circuit of the mid 60’s. A lot of laughs & tears later, it was decided that instead of meeting each other at funerals that some kind of an event with old corps mates was a worthwhile endeavor to undertake. With Tom Stelling and John Dickinson (the group’s heart & soul) leading the way, a number of ex members gathered together to form the York Lions Alumni Committee and we all set about bringing together as many past members, supporters and friends of the York Lions Drum Corps as we could find.
This was not an easy undertaking, as The York Lions Drum Corps existed for only 5 years from 1961 and 1966. During that time the corps had only about 140 young men pass through the group.
Some fourteen months later a web site had been set up, many meetings had taken place, phone calls and emails by the hundreds had tracked down over 95 ex members, old pictures, videos, pins, records, flags and corps jackets found, “T” shirts and pins were produced, food and catering arranged, hall and restaurant acquired, accommodations booked, entertainment finalised, money and food donated, head table invited and the dates set.
Ideas had been kicked around for an afternoon BBQ, a “beer with the boys” night out or maybe a dinner banquet and dance. But in true Drum Corps tradition of “if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing right” a decision was made to do all three.
The Reunion took place in Toronto on Sept. 19th & 20th of 2003. It started with a Friday night get together for a few beers at Innocenti on King Street in Toronto, followed by a Saturday afternoon BBQ and mini Drum Corps show at the The Royal Canadian Legion on the Lakeshore and an evening banquet and dance at the same premises.
The Memories:
The Friday: This casual evening get together started a thirty hour wave of memories, stories, laughs and smiles of recognition that continue to this day. My face was wonderfully sore for over a week. Good food, good drink, long lost friends and a lot of laughter. What more could one ask for.
The BBQ: The idea for the BBQ was to have a fun afternoon event for members, friends and supporters of the corps. It kind of just grew into a mini Drum Corps when someone thought it would be neat to maybe invite a Drum Corp to play for us. I guess it shouldn’t but it amazes me that the strength of the incredible camaraderie formed in the 60’s and 70’s by competing Drums Corps allowed me to get The Toronto Optimists, The Firefighters Drum Corps of Hamilton, The Cadre Drum Line and The DCAT chorus to donate their time to our event with only one phone call to each group. Cadre gave us an exhibition of traditional Drum Corps and Rope Drum drumming that set the hall reverberating and the crowd asking for more. Optimists, though only together for about six months, gave us a wonderful taste of the music that we both feared and loved during the days when they were the Corps to beat in the 60’s. All I can say about the Firefighters is that they were the class act of the afternoon. Excellent music selection, a wonderfully balanced horn and drum line and a terrific flag team and colour guard. I guess it was a success as nobody wanted to leave when it was all over. We had to gently eject quite a few people to get ready for the dinner banquet.
The Banquet: This was a class event. There were wonderful tributes for the head table, which was comprised of the “Adults” who ran the Drum Corps or their children and a representative of the Lions Club of York Township our sponsors. This was followed by a minute of silence for our 13 departed friends and concluded with a very moving pipers lament and the playing of Taps on solo horn. The balance of the evening was a blur of stories, fabulous food, much mingling, a little drinking, lots of laughter and dancing into the wee hours. By all accounts, the highlight of the evening was the performance of the DCAT choir. I heard nothing but superlative comments about the chorus. “The Old Songs” brought tears of joy to quite a few. The “Queen” had them laughing like fools and the rest of the show just blew them away. I have never been so proud to be a member of DCAT as I was that evening.
Recap:
It was incredible to sit down with guys you new for just a short few years when you were young and start conversing with them like it was just yesterday. As I think back on the York Lions years I think this amazing bond of trust can be explained by the fact we shared so much of ourselves freely during long hours of travel, practices, parades & competitions. We learned teamwork, the thrill of competition and a love of music together. Most of us were from working middle class families with not a lot of money. The Lions Club took us to conventions in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami Beach. Most of us had our first Airplane flight together. We shared the highs of winning and lows of defeat. We did all this during the formative years of our teens. We did this with the complete commitment our hearts and beings to each other unencumbered by a lot of adult social skills we were to learn later in life. No wonder we feel so comfortable together. Wow, what a wonderful time, EH!! . ………….. the bear
York Alumni Committee for the 2003 reunion
Ted, Patrick, John, Tom, Dave and Gord
Danny, Ed, Ron and Richard