Hundreds of locals associated with the Kimberly-Clark Australia Millicent Mill are set to be the guests of the company at a dinner at Mount Gambier on October 17.
KCA has reinstated its sponsorship of the annual Quarter Century Club dinner after an absence of around 15 years.
It will meet all costs of the evening function at The Barn.
Membership of the club is restricted to present or retired KCA employees who have worked for a minimum of 25 years for the company.
Service at the now-closed sister Cellulose Mill at nearby Snuggery and the demolished Tantanoola Pulp Mill counts towards club membership.
The Quarter Century Club dinner is arranged by a committee of past and present KCA employees.
For many years, KCA paid for an annual gathering at The Barn for club members and their partners.
It was the usual practice for newly qualified club members to be welcomed and an update on the Millicent Mill’s performance to be presented by its manager.
Senior company executives from the KCA headquarters in Sydney would also be present.
A survey conducted in October 2010 found there was support for the return of an annual Quarter Century Club gathering albeit without company sponsorship.
A self-funded Quarter Century Club dinner was held in Millicent the following year and it retained many of the features of the company-sponsored functions.
Yearly dinners continued for almost a decade at either the Millicent and District Community Club or the Somerset Hotel.
They were suspended in 2021 on account of COVID restrictions and have yet to resume.
At its peak in the 1980s, the Millicent Mill had a workforce of 1000.
It currently has 400 company employees and contractors.
The SE Voice directed a number of questions about the October 17 Quarter Century Club dinner to the KCA headquarters in Sydney and a spokesperson said a media release will be issued closer to the dinner date.
Wattle Range Council also has a Quarter Century Club for long-serving employees and hosts an annual dinner at various venues across the council area.
