1975/76 Reunion Report

MAY 21 – 23, 2004

THANK YOU

The reunion committee of the class of ‘75/’76 Reunion would like to take this opportunity to thank all who attended this past May’s reunion.  You may feel deep appreciation for all our organizing and planning efforts but we truly are grateful for your enthusiastic support and participation which ultimately made this the memorable event it was.  Hats off to all of you and we hope it was just the beginning of the rekindling of so many old friendships!

PURPOSE

Our intent with the following reunion report is to enable future reunions to have a starting point in their planning efforts.  The Dorval High website continues to evolve and gather support making this report all that more invaluable.  This report will include a timeline, menu and bar summary, financial report and our recommendations.  We invite your comments.

TIMELINE

Our planning began approximately a year in advance of the actual reunion date. We knew we had a certain amount of classmates registered on the Dorval High site and we began by contacting them via email.  Unfortunately not everyone keeps the site up to date with current email addresses and it was disappointing when so many of them bounced back on first try.  Do not get discouraged!  Get out your phone book and start looking for names….phone parents of classmates…enlist the help of those you do contact to help out with the search. We also scouted the other graduating years for siblings and emailed them as to the whereabouts of our missing classmates.   We did use classmates.com as well but with limited success.  We actually found people listed as ‘75/’76 grads who never even attended Dorval High….so beware!  Give yourself at least 4 to 5 months to round up enough classmates to make your reunion viable.

Next we needed to set a preliminary itinerary.  A long weekend is your best bet as it gives out of town people the extra time they need to book off work and travel…not to mention the time to recuperate afterwards!  Be sure to check out and reserve the venue you would like to use as soon as possible.  Rooms are booked a year in advance especially when you are looking at a long weekend.  Do not be disappointed or scrambling at the last minute!  I know it is a little hard to anticipate the size of the gathering you will have but it is better to have too large a room…we had 120 grads in our ’76 class and 40 attended the reunion.  Of those 40, 9 brought spouses. When choosing a venue you have to decide if you are willing to do the work of booking the room, a caterer and a bar service separately or if you would rather leave all this coordinating to a hotel.  The route we chose did mean a lot more work for the committee but we had full control of all aspects of the reunion.

(If you are opting for a live band, again the earlier you can book them the better. A DJ is most likely the same case.  Our band was reserved by the beginning of December 2003.)

We met once a month starting in September of 2003.  At this point we were starting to get a feel for how many people we would be able to contact but still no idea of how large the reunion would become.  This is when we decided to invite the ’75 grads.  In hindsight we should have included them a lot earlier as it does take time to make contacts.  By late November we had our itinerary pretty much finalized and we were ready to get the details onto a web site.  Our recommendation now, would be to get your reunion site up a lot sooner than we did (ours went up only after Christmas 2003!).  The web site can grow and change as things develop.  Keep people up to date via emails asking them to check the site for additional information. 

A bank account was opened at the beginning of March 2004 and our first deposits were made in mid March.  The last major deposit was made May 10^th, approximately 10 days before the reunion.  Payment deadlines were a big issue as we wanted to confirm that we would cover our costs but at the same time we hated to turn away those who might only be able to commit closer to the reunion date…this was always a tough call!!  You have to be your own judge on this one!!

In the final weeks we confirmed attendance to the various events we had planned, coordinated set up times with the band, caterer and the aquatic centre.  It was important at this time to keep in close contact with the committee members and help each other out.  We met about once a week in the last 3 weeks.

 MENU & BAR SUMMARY

The following quantities may be useful as guidelines for any future events keeping in mind we had 78 people in attendance for dinner.

BUFFET

Hor’s d’Oeuvres were ordered in quantities of 90 except for the vegetable platters.

 (Note:  it was suggested that the cocktail hour be extended to allow people the time to enjoy more hor’s d’oeurves and as well to cut down on the quantity)

Caterer:

Les 2 Chefs  452 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, QC H9W 4B9

(514) 426-2323  or  www.2chefs.ca   Contact: Terry
 

BAR

(unless otherwise noted all quantities were consumed)

Beer (case of 24)	Qty: 10
Mix (2l bottles)	18
Mix (1l bottles – Tonic)	3
Lemonade (2l bottle)	2
Orange Juice (2l container)	4
Clamato (2l container)	3
Cranberry Juice (2l container)	2
Water (case of 35)	2
26 oz Rum	3
26 oz Vodka	4
26 oz Gin	2 (returned one unopened)
26 oz Rye	1
Wine (litres)	42
Beer glasses	300 (1/4 used)

Supplier:

Beer, soft drinks & juice:

Epicerie Sherbrooke  2501 Sherbrooke St.  Lachine QC  (514) 634-5043 or 634-5044   Contact: Terry

(Note: The bonus of using Epicerie Sherbrooke was that they deliver and then pick up the empties at no charge and refund any item unopened!)                                        

Liquor:

S.A.Q. (unopened bottles are returnable)

ENTERTAINMENT

Gimme 5:

Contact Kim Weinmeister at (450) 424-9726

FINANCIAL REPORT

We hope that the following financial report may prove useful as a starting point for any future reunion plans.

REVENUES

EXPENSES

RECOMMENDATIONS

We had a wrap up meeting within the week following the reunion and here are some of our recommendations!