Organising committee chairman Dan O’Loughlin shared a sobering fact when welcoming a record crowd to Friday’s 10th Cardinia Casey Biggest Ever Blokes Lunch.
O’Loughlin pointed out that in the past three events at Gumbuya World, someone was missing from the year before.
Their lives lost, far too early, to cancer.
In 2023 Denise Davidson spoke about the loss of her brother Norm Henwood and last year Star News Group managing director Paul Thomas shared the battle of his great mate Bruce Ellen. Both were Biggest Ever Blokes Lunch regulars lost to prostate cancer – and Bruce kicked off similar events in the Latrobe Valley and Sale.
This year Nicole Hee reflected upon the loss of her husband Rodney, who over the past few years had organised a table of mates from The Central Hotel in Beaconsfield.
She said it was one of his favourite days of the year and he managed to attend the previous year’s event, even though gravely ill.
O’Loughlin challenged the 500 strong crowd to buck the tragic trend and help ensure there was no-one missing from next year’s event.
He took a poll of the room, through raised hands, and was encouraged that most in the room had made the effort to get tested over the past 12 months.
Guests were treated to a hilarious presentation from former Australian cricketer and commentator Damien Fleming, the self-pronounced sole member of the Hat-trick On Test Debut Club.
MC Daniel Harford then interviewed recently retired champion jockey Damien Oliver, who touched on highlights of his career including the famous Melbourne Cup victory on Media Puzzle only days after the death of his brother Jason from a race fall in Perth.
O’Loughlin was thrilled that the lunch had attracted a record crowd and that the feedback from patrons was overwhelmingly positive.
“The room was full and there was a great vibe,” he said.
“The lunch has become a bit of a signature event for the region and we look forward to doing it all again next year… hopefully with no-one missing this time.”
The event achieved its fundraising goal of $75,000, taking the tally over the 10 events to date to $825,000. The bulk of that will go into the coffers of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia’s Victorian operation, with some hived off for men’s health initiatives locally through the Cardinia Foundation’s grants program.
More photos, pages 48-51.
