In 1995, the new boiler is ordered the new bar top is all done many thanks to Rich Paquin. The front is now brick and it was agreed to cover the $700 material cost by organizing a BUY-A-BRICK for $25. Each contributor to get a small brass plaque with their name on the bar. The club also decided to try and obtain non profit status 501c 3a from the IRS.
The tenth anniversary banquet was a great night. Steve and Meffie Love made it down from Connecticut to help celebrate the occasion. They had both been instrumental in making the merger a success ten years before. Marsh Pennington got the players player award and Jim Brill most improved player. Eion Evans was to return home shortly and was presented with a Liberty Bell trophy and warm up jacket. It carried the club phone number and is to be worn at all times back in New Zealand. The speeches were followed by dancing. The highlights were 'Strictly Ballroom' Howard Few, 'Heavy Leather' Moose Magee and the climax 'Elvis' Kras who entertained us with his rendition of hound dog. Rumor has it George Betzler was seen dragging some of the less faint hearted off to Cunningham's to continue the festivities.
In February Steve and Mary Shecter's 20th wedding anniversary brought together a regular who's who of the Philadelphia club of the 70s. There was Bacci, Beck, Brick, Betzler, Cherenack, D'Alonzo, Homer, Jackson, Johnson, King, Lynn, Magee, Martin, Meyers, Oswald, Reagan, Sharp, Smith, Stoeri, and Studdy. What a great afternoon of rekindling old friendships and reminiscing about the old days. It's a shame that we couldn't get the same group to the tenth anniversary banquet. It's unfortunate that a few of us have not embraced the merger. It should be the goal of all of us to retain our heritage and also bring some of the old guys around to sign on to our future.
Spring 1995 started with a loss to PAC 'again'! Then the Washington Irish Tournament where we beat Washington and Norfolk before losing to Nova. We beat Manhattan the next week 33-28. Then Wilmington 35-20. In the Cherry Blossom we beat Coast Guard selects and Norfolk then lost to PAC and Nova 30-31 in the consolation final. Then the next two weeks we won close games against Chesapeake and White plains. Finally the last game of the season Boston beat us 31-19. The A side finished 8-5 the B 4-1 and the Old Boys with a lot of new young blood 4-1. The 1995 AGM saw the election of Bill Racich as President, Captain Keith Cassidy, Secretary Tony Studdy and Treasurer Jason Wood. Thanks to John Flamish we successfully bid on hosting the National 7s. It was a great success both financially and reputationwise for the club. John Flamish and his committee should be extremely proud of their efforts and making it such a great event. The club received numerous glowing compliments on the way it was staged and run. It was agreed to make it an even greater success in 1996. The event produced a healthy bankroll to pay for planned clubhouse improvements. The fall saw losses all by just a few points to Manhattan, Nova, PAC, Washington, S.Jersey Exiles and Chesapeake. We did beat Wilmington. The Old Boys were 3-2. MARS went to the Christchurch Golden Oldies had a blast. The second week they toured the South Island.