The four men who have managed the Manning Entertainment Centre (MEC) over the past 25 years have seen it all.

In the lead-up to the anniversary celebrations on July 25, Don Macinnis, Arthur Deacon, Mike Collins and Jeremy Miller have come together for the first time to talk about the highlights, and lowlights, of the job.

Don Macinnis was the manager for four months between August and December 1988.

"The first thing we had was the launch of the Holden Commodore we had three Commodores on the stage," he recalled.

"I organised a cattle sale here on the stage," added Arthur, who took on the manager's role after Don, and held for seven years.

"That caused a stir.

"There were people bidding on the telephone it was a big occasion."

To save the floor and curtains from any damage from the "discharge", plastic was used to cover them.

Speaking of animals, Jeremy organised a goat to come on stage for a prank on then manager Mike Collins during the flytower fundraising concert.

"We did a 'This is Your Life' for Mike," said Jeremy.

"Barry Hill was compering and we had the goat, saying it was Mike's ex-girlfriend and we had tracked down his first love."

"Meanwhile Jeremy was dragging this goat up the stairs," added Mike.

During Mike's time as manager a horse show was brought to the MEC on two occasions, which required the orchestra pit to be reinforced so they could jump and do all their tricks.

The challenges

"MY first challenge," said Jeremy, who was appointed manager in 2011, "was when we had a bunch of school kids and there was a grey mist (swarm) of bees. You could barely see the car park.

"The teacher said they had an anaphylactic kid and the bus was due to arrive in an hour."

Jeremy ended up calling an apiarist to handle the problem.

"I've never seen anything like it."

All four say that the attack of the Christmas beetles each year, which are attracted to the light, has been a regular problem since day one.

While Mike was managing, between 1996 and 2010, he had to deal with a flasher and a knife-wielding woman (not at the same time) during the eisteddfod.

The flasher was out in the trees near the glass doors at the side of the foyer and started flashing the young girls.

Arthur said a flasher also showed up during an eisteddfod while he was in charge "between the afternoon and evening show".

During another eisteddfod, Mike said a knife-wielding woman came into the foyer, pointed the knife at the people behind the bar and demanded they give her money.

He said the police were contacted and she was arrested and then went and held up one of the banks in Taree the following morning.

Back to Arthur, and he tells the story of going into the auditorium after a show when the lights were out seeing something on the ground beneath the seats.

"I reached down to pick it up, and it was a second hand nappy!"

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But the most precious of things left behind after one show was a week-old baby, who was found asleep under a seat.

"The dad and mum had come to the show in separate cars and and had gone home in separate cars and each thought the other had the baby," said Mike.

"We knew them and when we found the baby we called them and they were already on their way back."

The MEC ghost

THE four men believe the spirit of Roy Kendall, a big supporter of the Manning Entertainment Centre, who was involved in the establishment of the building and would spend lots of time there before he died, has taken residence in the theatre.

"Everything is blamed on Roy," said Jeremy.

Mike even believes there could be two ghosts, the second being Roy's wife Eunice.

"Bev Perks from Mirage Theatre was up on the catwalk doing something with the lights and she felt somebody pushed by her," he said.

"They thought it could be Roy but Eunice is here too."

Arthur said Roy was a huge supporter of the Manning Entertainment Centre when it was first built.

"You couldn't keep him away."

Taree Arts Council's first show at the MEC was My Fair Lady, and Roy was involved in the technical side.

When the Manning Valley Choral Society did The King and I, the theatre didn't have technicians at the time, and Roy did it for them.

The guests

ONE of the first big shows at the theatre was the Slim Dusty Show and Don said he was "one of those lovely performers".

Don remembers Slim arriving with two Pantecs full of equipment, and invitedg Don to sit down while his team set it up (and take it down after the show).

"He was the best visiting artist".

Arthur and Mike also have fond memories of Slim.

"He used to come every year," said Mike.

"The crowd love him," added Arthur.

When it comes to a huge amount of equipment, Jeremy said Guy Sebastian (who has performed two sell-out shows in Taree in the last couple of years) also brings a semi-trailer load of equipment.

Some guests have brought with them some challenges.

Don remembers Roger Woodward arriving at 2pm on a Saturday and asking him to get his clothes drycleaned.

Back in 1988, there certainly wasn't a drycleaning business open on a Saturday afternoon, so Don called on his previous army experience, where he learnt to dryclean and press a uniform, and did it himself.

It wasn't until they were having supper at Don's place some months later he confessed.

Arthur recalls Roger missed his plane to Taree one year, and didn't arrive in time for the start of his 8pm show.

In fact his later plane didn't arrive until 9pm.

It was a packed house and so Bob Berrigan got up on stage, played songs and sang, while everyone waited.

The audience was also offered free coffee from the bar.

Roger turned up at 9.30pm and started the show.

Don also worked with Alan Jones, who was doing motivational talks around Australia.

"Everything was so controlled. People were not to approach him or talk to him. He had to have the green room set up in a particular way."

Mike also remembers Alan coming through, saying there were instructions outlining the how the backstage dressing room was to be set up, and a list of dos and don'ts.

He said there was also another Australian musical diva who wanted security down the back and who had employed one person whose job it was to walk around and hold her champagne glass.

DON Macinnis took long service leave from his "day" job to take on the management of the Manning Entertainment Centre for four months at the end of 1988.

He was offered the job at 20 hours a week, and while he enjoyed it, he felt it wasn't enough time to do the work required, and the wage wasn't suitable.

"You can't live on 20 hours a week."

Arthur was the manager to follow, holding the position for seven years until 1995.

He said the manager's office was located in what is now known as the Collins Room (halfway up the rear stairs to the theatre), and, because the front door was open they always had to be alert for people coming into the foyer.

At the time the art gallery was also located at the MEC and there were times the volunteers didn't arrive so they would have to go from theatre manager to showing people around the art gallery.

Chris Burdett filled in the gap before Mike was appointed in 1996.

By the time he came on the scene, the role was a full-time job.

Mike said people would often come in who had moved to the area and ask for a look around.

"It's amazing how many people do that".

It's not your normal nine to five job though.

"You've got to get used to the weird and wacky time frames," said Mike, explaining that on days a show is on you could be there from 9am until 2am when they bumped out.

You would also get calls all hours of the night.

Arthur recalled that the security was organised through a security firm in Melbourne, which didn't have a representative in town.

"When the alarm went off they rang me. It was no fun coming out here in the middle of the night and just walking in on my own."

Things are a bit different now and security does arrive on site with one of the staff members.

Mike retired in 2010 and Chris Tippett was acting manager until Jeremy Miller was appointed in 2011.

Jeremy said when he took on the role of manager he sat down for coffee with Mike Collins and asked him the nitty gritty of what he needed to know.

"The first thing he said to me was, don't wear a tie to work. I asked why and he said, you never know when you'll have to clean out the toilets".

"Ties used to get caught in the toilet bowl," added Mike.

Arthur told of one occasion where some boys decided to leave a "deposit" in the middle of the floor of the men's toilet one show", which needed to be cleaned up immediately.

"I once had someone with dementia who, halfway through the show, went to the toilet and didn't come back," said Mike.

He recalls he was at the top of the stairs when he noticed and decided to go and look for her, and then spoke to her husband who said he had forgotten about her.

The police were called and she was finally located at the pub. She had walked, at night time, from the MEC to the Airport Tavern.

Arthur said the location of the theatre has been a benefit (although community members were complaining in the late '80s that it was "too far out of town"), which meant they haven't had too many problems, and you could at least park your car.

Occasionally though, parking is limited, with patrons using the car park of the Manning Aquatic and Leisure Centre, and parking on the grass.

THE Manning Entertainment Centre has changed a lot since it was first built, including the addition of the flytower, more access points, the purchase of a grand piano (the MEC has had a baby grand since the beginning), plus changes to the control room and lighting system.

They also used to have to drop the emergency curtain before the start of each performance, which now is not a requirement (although it is regularly tested).

Originally paper tickets for shows were sold from outlets in Forster, Wingham and Taree and the theatre manager would need to travel to those outlets and pick up the tickets prior to the show, then come back to the theatre, sort through them and sell the remainder at the door.

"Then it went to Video Ezy in Taree, which is the best thing we ever did," said Mike.

While a trip still needed to be made to pick up the tickets, it was only the one.

These days it is all done online with people booking and paying - even when you book through the outlets - which is a much simpler process.

In the early days, Robert and Dennis Brown ran the bar as a fundraising thing for the Entertainment Centre of the Manning Valley Inc, a small group that still exists.

"We used to run the bar and took the proceeds and gave a percentage to council," said Mike.

They would make extra money and if something was needed for the Entertainment Centre they could go ahead and buy it (some of this money was put towards the purchase of the flytower).

Arthur believes Taree Arts Council's Les Miserables was one of the best shows ever put on at the Manning Entertainment Centre.

"I think it was the only one ever to be a sell out before it even opened," said Mike (who directed the production).