Hello all
It is with great pleasure that I report yet another successful fundraising trivia night for RRC held on 17 March – St. Patricks Day.
This year the event raised more than $7000, which is a fantastic effort by all those who attended the evening, as well as donated an array of goods and services. As always there were some real gems on offer such as a trophy oar signed by members of the 2008 Olympic Team, a holiday house in Cape Paterson; as well as those more intriguing items like the ‘mystery’ package won by Martin Foster and the two Yarra Yarra rowers on offer for a mixed quad! Or course while the auction was a major element of the evening – the clear attractor was to get a perfect score card by answering all of Justin Thomas’s trivia questions. Yet again Justin tested everyone’s trivia brains and even threw in a ‘Spicks and Specs’ segment – courtesy of Lindsey Brown and her impressive voice.
As I write this and reflect on the fun evening, and opportunity to catch up with those I haven’t seen for a while, I am also reminded of the new equipment the club has been able to purchase as a result of events such as the trivia night, and the donations of members and their friends and family. For example Karen Doggett probably never wants to see a sausage again after coordinating the sausage sizzle at Bunnings last year, and I know from firsthand experience that I almost ate my weight in Freddo frogs while raising money for the club.
Many new members may not be aware that up until about 6 years ago boat loading included finding a trailer …. as well as de-rigging boats! Given a trailer is a pretty much a pre-requite for any rowing club wishing to attend regattas, and the ability to borrow trailers was becoming harder and harder, the club focused on raising money to buy its own. Aside from being pretty nifty, I think our trailer is also much loved because many of us shook buckets and ergoed for 24 hours to secure it. It is a fantastic resource that we are all able to benefit from and is sure to last the club well into the future for all the members yet to come.
Other items we have bought include cox boxes, new boats, ergo’s, oars – the list goes on. Naturally the shopping list of potential items is endless, so the Committee makes the tough decision of prioritising the list based on the needs of the club at the time. This year the Committee decided to focus the trivia night funds on a bit of upkeep by committing to purchasing new shoes for the women’s 8+, buying four sets of new sculling oars and another ergo, to name just a few. However now we know we have $7000 plus confirmed – we will be able to move further down the list.
Although clearly the club needs cash to supplement and refresh the fleet and other rowing equipment, the other thing essential to RRC are the day to day donations that many members make. These donations come in a variety of forms, such as: coaching, organising regattas, social events, painting oars, donating items to be auctioned, purchasing them, cleaning the kitchen and so on. RRC runs on volunteers and the notion that members give what they can, at different times and in different ways. So in addition to the bigger donations I also want to highlight the everyday ones and the flow on that these make to the workings of the club.
Thanks again to all those that helped with the trivia night, in particular Vicki Brennan, Ben Soraghan, Mike O’Neill, Mike Numa, Simon Crunden, Martin and quiz master Justin. If you have any ideas of fundraising activities/concepts you think we should try or would like to get more involved in the non-rowing part of the club please drop me a line or another member of the Committee.
Cheers
Emma
Emma Catford
President – Richmond Rowing Club