Celebrating 10 Years – Blue Mountains Camino Supporters

Saturday 31 May 2025

Since the beginning, Glenella has been the home of the Blue Mountains Camino Supporters, so it was a very fitting and welcoming location for our 10 year celebration. We are grateful to Margaret and Rowan who continue to provide Glenella as a base for Camino gatherings, 5-Day walks, monthly walks, meetups and dinners.

Our 10 year celebrations began with a walk in Blackheath and we were lucky with the weather – a perfect mountains morning for 15 easy walkers led by Mary and 46 medium walkers, led in three separate groups by Tony, Johann and Robert. The easy walkers headed down to Govetts Leap via the Braeside track and the medium walkers to Baltzer lookout to Hanging Rock, returning to Glenella via Rhododendron Gardens.

Meanwhile an enthusiastic group of volunteers remained at Glenella to prepare for the afternoon’s events. Margaret led the kitchen crew in cooking tapas for the evening, and Sharise led the sangria crew! The front lounge of Glenella was set up to host the afternoon tea, with chairs in the dining room for the celebration, and our pilgrim donativo table hosted by Deirdre out the front on the verandah.

The celebration began with afternoon tea, with Santiago tart baked by volunteers on Friday, and Maggie’s special Camino shortbread. 82 of us then gathered for an afternoon of reflection and celebration. Sharise was the MC for the afternoon, with an acknowledgement of Country by Jesse, and Tony Jacques lighting John Brierley’s candle.

The BMCS originated in early 2015 with a conversation between Rowan and Tony, soon followed by the first event at Glenella on 29 May 2015 – a Spanish dinner with 31 attendees. We were delighted that 10 of the attendees from the first dinner were present and asked them to stand for a round of applause: Margaret, Rowan, Tony Jacques, Bill & Jennifer Bennett, Helen Coltman, Maree Crawford, Jill Day, Sarah Dillane and Rev Mel.

Eileen and Richard read a Camino poem in both English and Spanish. We heard reflections from Tony Jacques, who along with his wife Ce co-founded BMCS with Margaret and Rowan. Margaret and Rowan also spoke, then Sue and Sarah who along with Rowan were pioneers of our BMCS 5-Day walk. Carlene who was part of the admin team, Marina, Julia, Joanne,Jenny, Narelle, Les and Maggie all gave joyful and moving accounts of their involvement in BMCS, the friendships they have developed and the support and knowledge they have gained from others from walks and meetups, and shared the the impact this has had on their Caminos.

A minute’s silence was observed to remember Bill Ivin, an early member of BMCS, David Barret who instigated the Central Coast Camino Group and John Brierley who visited us in 2019 and whose writings have influenced so many people and their Caminos. Rev Mel offered the Pilgrims’ Blessing, as he has done so many times before. Margaret and Rowan blew out the John Brierley Candle.

We had always planned a sing-a-long to end the event, so it was wonderful to have Dan Mullins with us to lead us in an energetic round of “Somewhere along the Way”!

As we cleared the room ready for the fiesta, we listened to messages from special friends not able to join us – Mark and Fi – who now live in the UK, Susi & Fermin from Casa Susi, Lindsay and Tara, and a number of pilgrims – Mark Freeman, walking in France and Pamela Brass, walking in Spain with her son.

With the reflections and acknowledgements finished it was time for the fiesta to begin. The sangria flowed, there was tapas a plenty, local musician Lachlan played guitar and Dan Mullins performed more music for us in front of the fire to sing along to. A very joyous end to mark our 10 years of BMCS.

We’d like to say a BIG thank you to all the volunteers that made the day possible – the walk leaders and sweepers, the welcome greeters, the afternoon speakers, the food and sangria team, the singers, and the dishwashers.

A big thank you to all that attended, bringing your Camino spirit and making the day such a fantastic event!

Bruce Stanley donated 3 of his beautiful paintings for us to auction on the day. We appreciate Bruce’s generosity and to the three successful bidders, Robert, Silvio and Patrick – congratulations! All monies raised will be included in our philanthropic activities for 2025.

For those who were not able to attend we’d also like to say a big thank you for being part of the BMCS community and supporting us to reach 10 years!