Members Only Lunch – Italian

15 Aug 2025

Italian The Italian Lunch may have a new name in 2026.

With a record number of members attending, the venue was moved from the Italian Restaurant to the larger venue of Rio’s Restaurant, which are both in The Lamana Hotel precinct. With a busy program for the day, the formalities of club business were delivered to the membership by the President – Tony Carbry MBE without delay.

New Member – James Midgley, surprised all with his sporting exploits, a modern-day Errol Flynn, he left the shores of Australia for adventure abroad. Landing in Indonesia prior to PNG, he captained the Indonesian Rugby Union team, and with numerous international test caps to his name, the most surprising part of his sporting background was his brief attempt to break into the Professional Water Buffalo Racing circuit, with video being displayed at the lunch of young Flynn hurtling across a rice paddy with two, twelve hundred pound water buffalos receiving suggestions from his racing whip. An absolute cracking presentation.

Slowing the pace down to a gentler speed, Member – Sundar Ramamurthy presented an informative presentation of the sleeping giant of racquet sports, Pickle Ball. A relatively new sport with a wide age range of participants. Sundar has close ties to the sport, as his wife Jenny is the Chairwoman of Pickle Ball Australia. With Pickle Bats and Balls to display, it was a hands-on experience.

The membership was also updated on the PNG Rugby Leage NRL Team by Carbine Member – Stan Joyce and on the PNG Hunters 2025 campaign by Special Member – Scott Barker. Unfortunately, at the time of print the Hunters were eliminated in the final series, but this year’s final appearance is a platform to build on for 2026.