60th Anniversary of the Rhein-Donau Club
It was a lovely feeling when new friends welcomed you with a smile as we entered the main hall during the 60th Anniversary of The Rhein-Donau Club. Of course, the event was well-planned by the committee and it was so obvious that they did a good job. From the interior arrangement to the flow of the event's program and the inviting buffet which was served during the night. It's a fact that Rhein-Donau Club and its long history brought a success of being well-established which represents the second biggest group of immigrants after the English.
“Guten Abend veehrte Gäste”(good evening distinguished members and guests) was the opening of Ursula Deck's speech in German which must be always a challenging moment for the participants who don't speak or understand the language, like the representatives from parliament, Hon. Paul Papalia and Shadow Minister Toni (alias Antonio) Krsticevic, who presented their greetings on behalf of the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition for this special occasion which meant a lot for the people present.
Paul Papalia: 'The WA Tourism statistics have a category which summarises the influence of cultural community groups on tourism', which is more significant today compared to the previous years. Both Ministers were recently with their sons in Europe and did have a visit to Germany which gave a moment of nostalgia into the ambiance which was already triggered by the words in German of Paul Papalia's speech.
The German Hon. Consul, Torsten Ketelsen, gave his speech as well by congratulating The Rhein-Donau Club for making it to the 60th year.
The final greeting was presented by the newly-appointed Hon.Vice Consul of Austria.
The Master of Ceremony, Hans was not only guiding through the evening and being part of the Edelweiss group, but also took part in the club's history. As evidence, we saw the various fashion trends of the last 60 years in the slide photos rolling on the screen.
Of course, one of the main highlights of the event was presenting the birthday cake where in all present and former Presidents of Rhein-Donau Club did the cutting of the cake made by Armanda, who is the new cook since the start of the year. Kudos to her culinary expertise, the buffet was really fantastic.
The Edelweiss Dance group, together with the Mandolin Orchestra, gave a very entertaining performance which was also the highlight of the night. The dance group performed two Schuhplattler in between songs of the Mandolin Orchestra which gave 10 short songs in one performance, to entertain the audience. As one of the performers said that they were only allowed to perform just one Schuhplatter dance as stated in the program. Surprisingly! I cheered him up and said, “You can do it” and smiled at him.
The Alpenduo (Anna and Ross) gave their best set to entertain the audience and made everyone jump up to dance on the dance floor.
The team of the RDC mastered the 60th Anniversary to be a fabulous night for everyone present.
Kind regards
Lorenz Wuthrich
President Swiss Club WA
Official representatives
Hon. Con Torsten Ketelsen and his wife Mona. Mr Torsten Ketelsen OAM is the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Western Australia.
Hon. Vice-Con Wilfred Wimmler and his wife Renate, Honorary Vice-Consul to Austria
Hon Mr Paul Papalia, Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Interests
Mr Antonio Krsticevic MLA, Small Business; Shadow Minister for Local Government; Heritage; Culture and the Arts; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests
