From The Vault: July 24, 2007

The second raiding of the vault for the day only just meets the tree month threshold rule for vault posts. From the 24th of July this year, it WIN Television’s tribute to Peter Leonard.

WIN Television’s Tribute to Peter Leonard
July 24th, 2007 at 12:36pm

Here’s something I’m well overdue with, the tribute WIN Television produced for Peter Leonard.

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I’m also privileged to be able to bring to you a report on the party WIN held for Peter following the bulletin, filed a short time ago by former WIN, and now 2GB, reporter James Goodwin, for which I thank him immensely.

At the end of the bulletin, past and present colleagues filled the WIN boardroom to reminiscence and share a drink with Peter. Channel 7’s Samantha Armitage and former weather presenter Tony Lynas were among those who flew in especially for the event.

There were a few brief speeches, New South Wales News Director Stella Lauri thanked Peter for his commitment to WIN, Jessica Good spoke on everyone’s behalf when she said how much she’d miss Peter, and Peter’s long-time on-air partner Phil Small had everyone laughing with his witty speech, peppered with many “in-jokes”.

Peter was overwhelmed by the number of people who came to wish him all the best in his retirement, and spoke with affection about the “terrific people he’s worked with”.

One of the highlights of the night was turning on the television in the boardroom and watching the ABC news and then Stateline. People were speechless when Stateline opened with Peter in the chair and saying “Hello and welcome to Stateline, I’m Peter Leonard”. It was all a friendly joke and a nice tribute to Peter. The laughs continued when Peter threw to a story “about me”.

One of Peter’s farewell gifts was the original WIN Television flag that flew in front of the Kingston studio. By the end of the night the flag was filled with everyone’s signatures and well wishes.

Samuel & James