The Fifth Annual Reunion was held at the Oakes Hotel, Niagara Falls, Ontario. Nineteen couples attended at what was to be a very enjoyable weekend. All but one of the couples arrived at the hotel on the Friday to attend an informal get-together held in the hotel Pavillion Room which started at 7 PM. As there were several boys attending for the first time name tags were given to everyone to wear to help those with short term memory retention. The cash bar was the focal point at the start of the evening and very soon we were all renewing old friendships and making new friends. As usual the boys started reminicsing about boy entrant days while the ladies decided they had much more interesting things to talk about among themselves. At about 10 PM a midnight buffet was served which suprisingly enough did not produce a typical boy entrant mad scramble and nobody pulled rank or Entry to move to the front of the line. How times have changed in the last 50 years. 

As some of the couples had been travelling for most of the day from destinations across North America it was not surprising that the evening finished early for some with only a few diehards lasting until  just after mid-night.

The next day every one was left to make their own decisions on what they wanted to do for the day. Some had never been to Niagara Falls before so a must for them was to ride the "Maid of the Mist"  and an exploration behind the falls. Others made a visit to to the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake which was an early settlement and is rich in Niagara history. Also a drive on the Niagara River Parkway with stops to see the Niagara Gorge, the Butterfly Conservatory, the Floral Clock and the Spanish Areo Car.

Within walking distance from the hotel they could go to the famous Clifton Hill Tourist Area with its many museums and side shows, many depicting the history of the falls when Blondin walked across on a tight-rope and Houdini demonstrated his amazing escape capabilities, (not unlike a Boy Entrant during Church Parade). Also documented are the many attempts to ride the Falls, both willingly and un-willingly, succesful and un-succesful .

And right next door there is the newest and largest casino in Ontario where they could fritter away more money than they ever dreamed of having during those days of training many years ago.

At 7 PM that evening everyone assembled in the Pavilion Room again. This time the room was set up with tables for a formal dinner, and of course the inevitable cash bar was once again in full use. Everyone was seated by 7.30 PM and thanks were given by Margaret Weatherly before we all enjoyed a meal of "Canadian Prime Rib"  During the meal a toast to the Queen was proposed by Reg Moore and another toast to Absent Friends was proposed by John MacGillivray.

At the conclusion of the meal Malcolm Murray said a few words of welcome and thanked everyone for attending. He also went on to thank the staff of the Oakes Hotel for providing and serving an excellent dinner. It was then time for the new attendee's to introduce themselves to the reunion which took us up to the group photo shoot.

After the photo shoot it was time for the boys to hold the official reunion meeting where proposals were made as to the site of the next reunion. First it was decided that although holding the reunion in June had been succesfull this year the general consesus was that the October date was more suitable for travelling.  Bruce Allen proposed that he was willing to organise a reunion in San Diego, California, in October 2006 and that was met with unaminous approval. The only other suggestion was put forward by John Weatherley who thought that Orlando, Florida, would be appropriate and it was agreed that it was a posibility for the 2007 reunion.

With that the meeting was adjourned and the rest of the evening was spent in the time hounored Boy Entrant tradition of drinking beer and telling stories, each one bettering the previous tale.

 

Always Health