Since 2003, Australian and New Zealand Military Brats of Singapore has held annual reunions, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Christchurch, Melbourne and this past weekend, Singapore. My fellow Brat and good friend, Gill Pennock, took on the task of putting together a reunion booklet for each of those reunions and asks each year that i write what she calls my 'Managers Blurb' to go on the first page. The following was my 6th and most challenging to write, for it wasn't to be that i make this pilgrimage back to the place we love so dearly.
My turn will come, there will be more.
Today, they are all coming home from a great weekend and the emails and photos are coming in to tell me about it and to show their smiles.
This is when i am at my happiest, for this is what it is all about. My cup runneth over...
We all know the understanding of that can't come in just one sentence and it has taken years of reacquainting yourself with the Singapore Brat that you are to come to terms with the whole experience..yesterday and today.
We've explored the reasons; our impressionable age at the time, the unique school, the easy going lifestyle, the cultures we were surrounded by, the unusual sights and smells, and the undeniable spiritual essence of the place. All of those things and more made the experience very Special. We had gathered from different parts of two countries to a tiny island, all of us Brats. Children of Australian and New Zealand Defence Servicemen.
We went back to our country of birth where that special experience became a fading memory over the years that followed. We were desperately holding on to it but there was no one to share it with to keep it alive, so that part of the child you were remained in Singapore in the depths of somewhere inside, waiting to be awakened.
Fate determined that all of those young souls would come together once more, to help each other find the Singapore Brat within, to wake them up and encourage them to come out and play again.
So here you are, you have finally made the pilgrimage back. Some of you have been back before, but this is different, this time you are back with others who want to be there for the same reasons, and they want to be there with YOU.
It has been seven years coming and all Thanks must go to Mike Ellis for his hard work and dedication to his commitment to make this weekend a most memorable one.
Mikes team, Steve 'Jonesy' Jones and Iain Cruickshank (Australia) Bronwyn Lord (New Zealand) Monique (Singapore) Thank you for all your support and help. Thanks also to Gill Pennock for once again providing us with the traditional Reunion Booklet.
May the Singapore Brat inside you all come out to play this weekend, to laugh, to cry, to remember, to feel alive again forever.
Happy Memories,
jo
Jo Rendle
Founder of Australian and New Zealand Military Brats of Singapore.
Proud to Be a Brat.
