Noeleens turning 50!!!

A little speech by Michelle Glen Hi all, welcome & thank-you for coming & helping Noeleen celebrate her 50th birthday Ive known Noeleen now for over half of her life, I can proudly say that!! ...29 years to be exact, almost 30 years, gee that sounds so scary!!!! I want to set the scene for you ....The 1980s, height of fashion, the height in music, the height in hair!!! Glam rock was old news & New Wave, New Romantic & electronic music had arrived & how Noeleen embraced it! Now lets face it, those who know Noeleen, know that she has never left that era!!! ....Datsun 180Bs, Holden Commodores, Toyota Corollas, were the cars of the day & Noeleen owned a trusty red Holden gem, gem Gemini, she named him Gerry of course!!! & there was Jimmy oo oo get down a scented car air freshener that we bashed on cue as the cymbals in songs!!! ....well I guess you had to be there. Many happy memories were spent in Gerry, driving to nightclubs, to the pubs, to the beach & Portsea pub!!! ...I met Noeleen (Noz, we affectionately called her) in 1984 when I rocked up to play basketball with a mutual friend. Noeleen, being the generous person she was, offered me a lift home! & the rest they say is history! As she turned down my street she said I know someone who lives down here It turned out to be my next door neighbour Dee who also had a mutual friend to Noeleen. We then all started to go out together socially as friends, clubbing, seeing bands & hanging out. At this time shed not long broken up with her then boyfriend Steve, & of course he played in a band, he played the drums, thats where Noeleens love of the drums began! ...see she was a groupie even way back when! Both our group of friends became all one group & we spent many fun times together! .....Some of you may not be aware but Noeleen plays the drums! When they all first moved to the Gold Coast she told me that she had befriended the music teacher at Coomera Anglican College, when Sharnni was learning to play the drums, knowing Noeleen too well it was more like stalking!!! he was a former member of the band Dragon! She took her Dragon album after lessons one time to get him to autograph it!!! & proudly showed me when I came up to visit! ....Her love of the Gold Coast began when we decided to holiday here together in our early 20s We stayed at Tara Village in Cavill Ave. We spent many nights drinking & dancing at various clubs & bars. We went on a nightclub bus tour one night that took us all over Surfers. The most notable being a nightclub that had phones at different tables with numbers hanging above each phone, so the idea was if you were keen on someone you could ring the no. & say hello. Being so mature as we were, we rang numerous tables but no-one wanted to speak to us!!! We were just being friendly & wanted to say hi....hey it was the 80s!!! & now I know why that idea never took off!!! .....Now Noeleens star sign is Leo, & one of the attributes of Leo is that theyre quite proud of their mane! In Noeleens case her hair is her temple! she certainly kept the Silhouette Hairspray & New Wave hair Gel companies in business with the amount of product she used in her hair!!!

......Noeleen was a fashion guru, satin & floral jackets, geometric leggings, fluoro tshirts, if it was in fashion, she wore it! Jewellery was & still is a high priority, it seems some things never change! Noeleens drink of choice is Jim Beam We spent many happy times camping at Johanna on the Surf Coast in Victoria & spending New Years Eve at Lorne, many drunken times, sleeping in our cars!!! Noeleen still loves the beach! ....I mentioned nightclubs earlier, we did our share of those! There was Area at the Croydon Hotel, Stage 1, at the Manhattan Hotel, & later Kaytees at Knox Ozone! There was Billboard, inflation, Caseys & Derbys when we ventured closer into town & who could ever forget The Mansion At one stage we were out Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon each week doing the nightclub rounds! Noeleen loved going to the nightclub Area, particularly to Friday All you could drink nights. The preferred choice of beverage on these nights was Wine & Orange juice or as we referred to Cats piss As you can imagine a lot of those nights didnt end well, falling asleep in the toilets & lots of I loooove yous & the sign for home time was when those dreaded lights came on!!! Noeleens favourite saying was imitating Gizmo from the film Gremlins ... Bright lights, bright lights After wards we would partake in Tommys Taters hot dogs outside which would often not end well, well you can paint that picture!! Manhattan Stage 1 was always a laugh. It had a revolving dance floor, so often you could check out someone as you revolved past them! Those that know Noeleen well, knows she has certain dance actions to certain songs!!! & her air guitar skills are second to none!!! We also went to many parties over the years, many of them were fancy dress! The most notable costumes were Supergirl & Tina Turner. Once we got dressed up in 60s fancy dress & drove around with a mannequin I owned from working in the display dept. at David Jones in the car. Her name was Nancy. The looks we got were priceless! Noeleen would wind down the window & tell quizzical looking drivers, Meet Nancy, she doesnt talk much!!!! ....As you all know Noeleen loves music!!! She was the Glam rock queen & her old faves include Kiss, Queen & Sweet. Later conforming to the likes of Pseudo Echo, Models. INXS etc. Wed often play music in the car & one of our dear friends Andrew, who has sadly passed, was often Noeleens partner in crime when it came to music, I remember vividly Noeleen banging the back of the drivers seat like she was playing the drums to the Sweet medley!!! Queens Bohemian Rhapsody was another favourite. A scene very reminiscent from the movie Waynes World when they played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Bet ween you & me I think they copied her!!! Noeleen & I house sat for a colleague from my work, they had a fish tank with some prized tropical fish. We played Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Relax & Pseudo Echos, Dont go so loud & that many times that we blew a fuse, we also killed his puffer fish who obviously had poor taste in music!!!! ....Noeleen met Jon when she was working in Richmond at ANZ Cards, poor Jon, little did he know what he was getting himself into!!! ....he knows now, hey Jon? .....Noeleen is an avid & passionate Collingwood supporter!!! Hence part of the reason for the black & white theme tonight! Her crowning moment was when Collingwood won the 1991 Grand Final!!! We all gathered & watched the game at Jons flat in Hawthorn. She was so excited when they won that she was not satisfied unless we went to celebrate at Victoria Park!!! We must have walked over 10kms that night just so she could celebrate with her beloved Pies & all the fans!

......Noeleen & Jon happily married in 1992 & subsequently brought 2 beautiful children into the world, Sharnni & Jordyn. It was quite amazing when she surprised us with the exciting news of being pregnant with Jordyn as I too was busting to tell her I was pregnant too! Jordyn & Ronan were born a week apart, quite amazing but then again we were always in sync!!! .....when Noeleen told me they had made the decision to move to the Gold Coast, I was not surprised as she had always had the intention of living here. I was sad at first but encouraged her as I knew it was what she always wanted. They settled eventually & established friends very quickly which also didnt surprise me as Noeleens personality is so friendly, positive & infectious! ....she was so excited to tell me how she & Jon had met a lovely couple & that he played drums in a Kiss tribute band,.....you know, hes Peter Kriss!!! She was of course referring to Simon & Jodie. Now it seems that every trip I make up to visit is centred around when Simon has a gig on with the Kiss tribute band!!! Again the air guitar or should I say Air drums get a good working over especially on the classic I was made for loving you!!! Noeleen recently went to a day on the Green with a number of girlfriends, jodie asked me if I had any idea what to buy Noeleen for a present, my suggestion? .....a date with James Reyne!!!! Sorry Noeleen, we did try, trust us!!!! She has been a loyal, supportive & loving friend to me over the years & Im sure youll agree with me as Ive shared with you all tonight she has so many beautiful attributes that not many people possess. She is a warm, caring, beautiful soul, a credit to her parents & family! I consider her my soul sister!!! It would be only fitting to quote the lyrics from one of Noeleens favourite bands INXS ........I told you that we could fly, 'cause we all have wings but some of us don't

know why!!!
We all know why Noeleen has wings!!! Thank-you for listening & enjoy the rest of the evening!