Reunion Newsletter Insert2009

Alpha Association

Reunion, 2009

When: Friday, May 29^th, Saturday, May 30^th ,

Sunday May 31^st

Where:

General Dynamics naval shipyard Bath, Maine

holiday inn
BATH (BRUNSWICK AREA)

139 RICHARDSON ST
BATH, ME 04530

Tel: 1-207-4439741

The photo above was taken showing the Bath Iron Works (General Dynamics shipyard) with downtown Bath Maine in the background. That is where we will be celebrating our 9^th annual reunion at the local Holiday Inn. As usual we have obtained discounts on the nightly rate which you can acquire by using the code ALP if booked online or just mentioning the Alpha Association reunion if booking by phone.

The rates for the rooms are:

· Live Entertainment at the Lounge ( Friday night Karaoke, after we leave the hall)

· The on site Bounty Restaurant (which a few members and I sampled for you. It was great and reasonably priced).

These are photos of the Bounty Restaurant, which will serve as the Reunion Hall for our stay. It is adjacent to the lounge and billiards area.

The hotel is providing us with two Meeting Rooms. One of the rooms will be used for our archive material for viewing.

Many members will be arriving early on Thursday so if you can, get there early and stay late. The official reunion will begin on Friday afternoon, as attendees will be trickling into our function room. Up until then you may be interested in touring the area. Here are some suggestions with distances from our hotel:

· Bath Iron Works (0.5 MI / 0.8 KM ) Bath Iron Works Trolley Tours depart from the Maine Maritime Museum. Go online to check schedule or call (207)443-1316 ext. 0 for more information or reservations.

· Maine Maritime Museum (0.5 MI / 0.8 KM ) (Friday afternoon the hotel be transporting us by van to this site if we choose to visit it)

· LL Bean / Freeport Outlet Shopping (15 MI / 24.14 KM ) Fantastic Shopping Mecca

· Bowdoin College (7 MI / 11.27 KM )(Tours daily pre-registration required online)

If you use Mapquest or even a GPS to find the hotel, they will send you through Brunswick to get to the hotel. That’s a hassle as you will need to go through busy downtown streets. Stay on the highway for one more exit and you’ll be glad you did. Here are the directions to arrive quicker to the hotel:

From the Maine turnpike take exit 52 after toll booth. Then take ramp for 295 North towards Brunswick. Next take exit 31, right at end of ramp, stay on this thru several lights until you go over a bridge then go towards Bath exit. Stay on until Congress Ave and Richardson Street exit take left at end of ramp the hotel is on the next right.

We will going to Mackerel Cove for a New England Clamboil and for those interested, there will be lobster boats that Tom Matteson has rounded up to bring us out into the cove to see how those lobsters that you enjoy are caught and brought to market.

Thursday and Friday our golfers will once more challenge a local golf course in their quest to win first place in the Greater Ivy Open. Contact Larry Walter for info on how you can join in on this. No professionals allowed...except for Tiger Woods. Larry and Kathy extended an invitation to him to join us for our weekend. If he does show up, try to take it easy on the guy. Here is his contact information:

Friday afternoon: As I wrote earlier will offer an opportunity to go to the Maritime Museum in Bath. The hotel has graciously provided a van to shuttle our people to the museum at no charge.

Saturday morning, 9AM: We will be heading out to Mackerel Cove for the clambake.

Directions to the Cove: From the hotel to clambake go from hotel towards highway, then take left. Go thru 2 sets of lights then get in left hand lane for a left turn at Cooks Corner (Cumberland Farms on left) third set of lights stay on rte 24. You will eventually go over a temporary steel bridge keep going until you see water and big field with tent, that’s us.

Saturday Afternoon: upon returning is when we will be having the Ceremonial part of the weekend

Saturday Evening: Our annual social will take place where we can dance to the great songs of the 50s and 60s. We’ll have a couple of surprises that night. The least of them is the annual singing contests between the guys and gals. Gals won last year, not surprisingly. I heard how the guys sang in Nam and I’m here to tell you, time didn’t improve their voices. We’ll try harder this year though.

We've maintained the traditional $75. per veteran and spouse or significant other. We understand that other family members may care to join us, so we are asking that additional attendees contribute $50. per person, if they are over 18 years old. Children under 18 are allowed to join us free. Non-family members who care to join us will be charged $75. to attend.

Once more, in compliance to our charter, no one gets left behind due to inability to pay the reunion fees. Just let us know if you would like to go and cannot afford the fee and we will all chip in and assure that you will be there. Contact me with your requirements and we'll get you set up.

Use or copy the form below (I’ll bet you were wondering why I left that space empty at the bottom of page 3, huh). I’ll be collecting the registration fees this year so that I can keep our webpage up to date on who will be attending. Please reply as soon as you can. As usual, I will be updating our webpage www.alphaassociation.org with any new info that may come up relative to the reunion. I know that it’s been a tough year financially for many of you, but I can’t think of a better way to spend what little we might have left. Looking forward to seeing you in May!