Warwick’s 80th — Simply Better Team

From Warwick’s records

In Warwick’s words

The original document has been retained and reformatted for comfortable reading on modern screens.

On Saturday 28 November 2020, one week before my actual birthday, James and Sophia arranged for a celebration to be held at Flock Restaurant in Tairua.

I am not going to list all the attendees—as, given my advancing years, I am likely to forget someone, which may cause offence. However, people came from Christchurch, Wellington, the East Coast, Hamilton, Auckland and, of course, the Coromandel Peninsula.

The attendees included my three biological children—Kat, Goose and James—as well as Rimu and Zac.

Although I was not supposed to get involved with the organising, keeping out of it was somewhat hard for me to do.

There were some 16 of us at Duck Creek, so we had a precursor at four in the afternoon—what I believe is now called “preloading”—before heading over to Tairua just after five.

There were, of course, lots of photographs taken. Thanks to Lisa, Viv and Phil. Johann was our official photographer, so there was plenty for everyone to giggle over.

I had said “no presents”, feeling that just having friends attend was present enough. Trish produced a large picture of One Tree Hill, the area in which I was born some 80 years ago. Russell and Jeanette also sent a goodie box all the way from Central Otago.

I must also mention the birthday cake that Phil and Jude organised, featuring “The Van”.

We were home in time to watch the All Blacks that night, and people headed home over the next few days.