The Gresford Park Trust was delighted to receive notification from the Minister for Natural Resources, Land and Water Kevin Humphries at the end of July they had been successful in their bid for grant funding of $8560 to upgrade the barbecue facilities at Gresford Showground.

Trust secretary Rosemary Wall said the Gresford Rodeo and Campdraft was only four weeks away when the Trust took up the challenge to lodge the paperwork and officially accept the grant, order the new units, have them delivered, installed and tested in time for the event.

“This was a surprisingly easy task as everything fell into place like clockwork with the units being in stock, a delivery truck being available immediately and the plumber having a free day at the right time,” Rosemary said.

“The hardest decision came when the suppliers advised the Trustees that since they had prepared the original quote for two Australian made stainless steel barbecue units, they had also begun importing cheaper units from an overseas manufacturer that were “almost as good” as the Australian made units.

“The main difference was the thickness of the stainless steel used in the construction.

“Discussion amongst the Trustees included aspects such as the availability of spare parts, but the Trustees were united in the opinion that given that the grant funding was literally sourced from Australian taxpayers, it seemed appropriate to use those funds to purchase the Australian made product as originally planned and therefore support Australian industry and workers.

“The quality of workmanship was obvious as soon as the packing was removed but became abundantly clear when it took six men to lift each of the units and manoeuvre them into place inside the building.

“The units were fully installed in time for a practise run to feed the volunteers at a working bee on Sunday, August 17, to set up the rodeo arena and by all reports they worked brilliantly.”

Peter Lawrence is gearing up for two big days at Gresford Rodeo and has welcomed the new barbecues.

“The old barbecues were home-made and the top plate was rather fatiqued,” he said.

“While Friday is rather quiet, because it’s just the campdraft, Saturday gets really busy.

“Going on past history we have ordered 700 steaks, 350 rissoles and 20 kilos of sausages for the weekend.

“We’ve also ordered 90 loaves of bread for Friday and 130 for Saturday.”