Celebrating 50 fabulous years of scuba diving with Hart House Underwater Club
On Saturday, November 10, 2012, guests were greeted at the entrance to the Great Hall with champagne to toast 50 years of great diving and friendships with HHUC. It was wonderful to reunite with close friends from the past, share great memories, catch up on the intervening years, and plan future dives. The anteroom was filled with the memorabilia of days past: crab carapace and double hose regulator, scuba postcards from around the world, Memory Book and photos from the 60s and 70s, reef preservation display, 1975 Club Song (‘Gee Don I wanna go home’) and so much more.
It was wonderful to see five of the HHUC founding members celebrating 50 years together with HHUC – Jack MacQuarrie, Larry Lundy, Ben Davis, Dick Booth and George Burt. The HHUC Memories Book provides some fun insights into bygone days: women had to change in their cars outside Hart House, Cayman divers dressed up for New Years Eve underwater, gourmet cooks somehow managed to make ice cream on a secluded island beach, divers slept in their wetsuits to keep warm on one chilly camping weekend. Read it all, including a detailed history of the Club.
The Great Hall was transformed for our event by the creative genius of the 50th planning committee to give us the feeling that we were underwater on the reef with fierce sharks circling overhead, Nemo swimming by, underwater photos, sea shells, starfish, and the delightful addition of souvenir sand at each table from the club’s first Caribbean dive trip.
The highlights of the evening were our fabulous four (Peter Ellinger, Dave Tanner, Gerry Mintz and Joel Troster) with HHUC’s rendition of Monty Python’s
“The Four (Yorkshiremen) Instructors”, as well as the amazing slideshow with photos from many contributors, compiled by Michael Starr. Some other memorable events of the night include Graham Woolf’s heartfelt video from his family in California, a raffle of great door prizes, the HHUC 50th signature cocktail “The Deep Blue” with a sparkle of blue curaçao. The food was delicious. M.C. Courtney Gibson and Club President Jason Grenier did a great job. Tom Cullen provided a moving presentation on reef preservation. And the upcoming 50thanniversary club trip to Grand Cayman Island sounds very tempting!
A special thank you goes out to the many people who contributed to an outstanding evening, and especially to our leader Bob Belcher for pulling it all together. Kudos to the planning committee: Bob Belcher, Dave and Patti Bragg, KJ and Tom Cullen, Courtney Gibson, Roberta Lee, Larry Lundy, Rebecca Metcalfe, Marianna Richardson, Michael Starr, Dimitra Tzamtzis.
Thanks to the evenings’ speakers, the photographers over the last 50 years, the contributors to the displays, the sponsors of the raffle prizes, and all participants for a brilliant celebration. What a joy to see that our beloved Club is still thriving and maintaining the traditions of fun food and fellowship after 50 years.
Party Photos from the 50th reunion (scroll & click Bob’s smile – you do NOT need an id or password)
More Photos (scroll & click Bob’s smile – you do NOT need an id or password)