A Gathering of Gannans At Burden Park 11 Nov 2012

Ken, with Camera

A couple of years ago Ken Gannan met up with various members of the family at a funeral. He was having a chat to to Tony Gannan and mentioned that the only time he saw his cousins and Uncles and Aunts these days was at a funeral. Apparently the discussion went on and Ken was left with the task of organising a reunion of the family. After doing some sight seeing Ken settled upon Burden Park off Heatheringto Road. He took Mary Brimelow along to get some approval for the site. Approval received, a date set and messages sent. That was for early March 2011. It rained for nearly a week right up to the day of the gathering. Ken decided to cancell the activity, and as Sandra and I flew out over Melbourne to Fiji, the sun was out and the day was beautiful.

So Ken had another go. This time same plot, same reason but this time in November. A series of instructions were issued: don't go any where, be there etc. Mary got into the Act and sent off an email demanding that she be not disappointed by us not attending. Many attended this activiy. Some fifty of us actually fronted for a very nice day. 

The Gannan family at the park

The day was sunnny but windy and could be considered cold by some. Especially those from the North of the State. When Sandra and I arrived Ken and Eyvonne were already there, just waiting for some strangers to appear and hopefully some that we remembered. Slowly people arrived; Ancestors Tony Gannan, Mary Brimelow Celia Gannan arrived with their offspring in tow, while those that have passed on, Gerald, Margaret and Edward, were well represented by their offspring.There are others whose time had come and passed on, Trevor Brimelow,  Maurie Sharp and Mary Gannan. Even among the offspring there are casualties, Kevin Gannan, Margaret Sharp and Christopher Sharp. Although those people were not there, they are sadly missed. The oldest of the mob is 92 and the youngest has not quite arrived yet. I did ask when, was told, had a sleep and promptly forgot when.

Eleanor,Rosemary,Judith and Virginia

As a meet and greet, Ken arranged a great day. We all met people we knew existed but had never met before. It was interesting because every one there did not know each other, but they did. Near where we were set up there was a play ground which kept the younger members of the family occupied while the rest of us got reaquainted. It was interesting to note the physical similarities among the family especially the facial features, as demonstrated in the photograph on the right

It is I

According to the head line there is more to follow on this subject. I took some photos, but with a bung eye many of the did not come out properly. Or perhaps I just took some lousy photos.

What I would like is for those of the various families involved in this day to provide a small paragraph and perhaps a picture or two to illustrate your impressions of the day. The idea is for them to be incorporated in this web page. Please do not send stuff that you would not wish to see in the daily newspapers. My email address for the above information is:

paul@thegannans.net

Thanking  you in anticipation of your assistance and hope to see you all again, same place, same weekend on a different date.

Paul