In looking back to identify when the association was formed one has to ask ... was it the day the first thought occurred? .... Or perhaps it was other factors that led up to the formation? ... in leaving it for you to decide here is a little of all of the above.

One evening, I guess it must have been in the late 60s, Betty and I were sitting around listening to the radio as we had no TV in those days. I was twiddling the dial looking for some good music and came across a program of country music. This stirred a lot of memories for both of us, as we had grown up listening to the Sunset Trail, on Radio station 2WL, Wollongong. We both commented on the fact that we believed that Country Music programs on the radio were long gone, yet here was one and we were listening to it. The next night we again tuned into the program, (which by the way was on 2TM Tamworth, and hosted by John Minson). We listened to a lot of the old favourites like Tex Morton, Shirley Thoms, Smokey Dawson, Buddy Willlams and Slim Dusty. There were also a lot of people we had never heard of - like Geoff Brown, Michael Cooke and Slim Newton. Each night over the next months we would tune in and it became almost a ritual to set up the tape recorder beside the radio so that we could capture the sounds for replay during the following days. At this period in time, we were regular visitors to a mixed farming property at Wallabadah, some 40km south of Tamworth. It was during a visit to the property, that we decided to try and track down some of the country music activity that was advertised on 2TM. So, one Sunday night, we ventured into town to look for a cafe where we understood some of the locals were performing. When we arrived at the cafe, it was closed so we went to a fast food shop in the same building and asked if they could tell us where we might find some country music. The man behind the counter spoke little English and I'm sure had no idea of what it was we wanted. As we moved away, a fellow who had been standing next to us at the counter said, "I could help you. My name is Lionel Long and if you contact some of the people at 2T5M, I'm sure they will be able to direct you to the local country music association"

We had been listening to the radio on the way into town and knew that at that moment a program was being presented on air by Eric Scott of Hadley Records. Taking our courage into our hands, we decided to call into the radio station as it was on the way home. To cut a long story short, we met Eric who in turn directed us to John Minson, who arranged to meet us at the radio station later that week. From this meeting, we arranged to go the following weekend to the Kootingal Pub and meet with a group of locals Geoff Brown, Michael Cooke and Bob Clarke, all members of the Capital Country Music Association. Of these people, John and Geoff have been long time personal friends of the South Coast Country Music Association. Many happy hours were spent with these people each time we visited the area.

During one such visit, the talk turned to the possibilities of there being people in the Wollongong area, other than ourselves, who were interested in country music. I clearly recall John's words on the subject, he said, "You just mention country music and just watch them come out of the woodwork".  With this in mind, we contacted the lllawarra Mercury and they ran a story, asking people to get in touch with us. Several people contacted us, and Betty and I decided to invite them to our home to see if there was enough interest to start an association. I can't remember the names of all who attended that meeting, but from memory those who came were Ron Sutton, Harold Manton, Patti Williams, Brian Quartermaine, and one or two others. All were extremely enthusiastic about the idea, and it was decided to see if the Mercury would run another story, advertising the formation meeting.

The first meeting, at which a motion was passed to form the South Coast Country Music Association, and at which the first office bearers were elected, was held in a room above the National Bank in Dapto, on the afternoon of Sunday, 21 st November, 1971.

Kevin Reiman.