Saturday night saw the efforts of many come together superbly to create a truly wonderful dinner dance to raise funds for much needed research into mental illness.
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Cath Turrin, Bev Irwin and Tina Overton as well as a troop of dedicated volunteers put heart and soul into this night of fun and as a result over $24,000 was raised for Beyond Blue.
Dugald Alison lead off as master of ceremonies as guests were entertained with the fine sounds from The Four Busketeers.
The food was exceptional with beautiful canapés followed by a scrumptious main meal and completed with homemade desserts.
Thanks to all the catering team for making this meal so delicious.
Jessica Rowe of Studio 10 and an ambassador for Beyond Blue was the guest speaker of the night and you could hear a pin drop as Jessica spoke of her mother’s battle with bi-polar as well as her own very raw encounter with post natal depression.
The message was clear.
Don’t be afraid to come out and talk about mental health. Mental health is an important issue.
When Bruce Read asked everyone in the room to stand up if they had had family member or friend suffer from mental illness most did.
This was a very powerful acknowledgment of how this illness affects so many in our community.
Raffles and lucky quote prizes were out to be won and then Paddy Dillon lead a spirited auction raising over $14000 alone from the generously donated items.
Auction items included trailers of cow manure for your garden, holiday accommodation at Hawks Nest, fire wood racks, hand-made plates, a day’s work in your garden with a few local fellas providing the labour as well as VIP guest seats to Studio 10 at the Ten network and a tour of the Nine News room at Channel Nine in Sydney just to name a few.
Afterwards everyone hit the dance floor and boogied to the tunes of Tom Campbell and Shane Hannan spinning some vinyl. The smiles on everyone face said it all!
Thank you to everyone who was able to get to the event and also thanks to the many that have kindly donated that weren’t able to attend.
Once again the Dungog community has shown amazing spirit and generosity by digging deep and helping raise funds for this illness which effects so many in our society.
The organisors would like to thank all the volunteers for the incredible effort that was made in making this event so successful.
Thanks also to the Dungog Golf Club for the terrific venue and help on the night. – Duncan Overton
