Last Saturday evening 18th February we held an event to celebrate Jacqueline Roberts-Thomson’s 60th birthday and to fund raise for a water borehole for a village in a remote region of Tarime in Tanzania.
The event was held at the Don River Railway Function Centre and around 80 People attended. Tickets were sold at $40 a head. The evening included a welcome drink, a buffet style dinner, talks and finally an auction.
Music ( a guitarist with vocals ) was Courtney Schmidt and was well received. Leighs (Murphy and Titmus ) and friends produced lamb and venison cooked by a spit started early on the afternoon and many of the wives and indeed club members graciously prepared salads and desert.
James RT gave a brief resume of Jacqui’s life in South Africa initially and then in Australia followed by David Russell who gave an interesting presentation of his memories in the old colonial Tanzania then called Tanganyika ( till 1964). Kelly Hicks was master of ceremonies.
Leigh Titmus then outlined the aim of the event which was to “ get the wheels rolling” towards a target of $12,500 to fund a borehole which we hope we can give over ownership to a needy village. Leigh spoke of the larger vision given to us by John Carswell from Launceston to raise around $250,000 or enough for 20 boreholes and that target is fast being achieved.
Towards the end of the evening an auction was held with Esley Dunham as auctioneer, and lasted around half an hour. There were many items of woodwork kindly provided by David Russell including bowls, plates and trays( platters), a cricket bat of memorabilia, a painting by Jacqui RT, some potatoes also kindly provided by David and a couple of bottles of plonk. Ian Hutchinson also provided 2 trays of native plant shoots which sold at a good price after very spirited bidding. The auction alone raised around $1500.
Thanks to all the club for helping- Greg and Noddy at the gate, Leigh Titmus and Leigh Murphy who worked hard on the planning and production, David Russell for all the wood projects sold ( these were exquisite made from Huon Pine, Blackwood, Leatherwood and other Tasmanian native trees), Ian Hutchinson for the native plants, all the food preparers especially Georgie Hutchinson for coordinating this. There were many others who helped and thank you to all working behind the scenes. A number of generous donations were given and sent outside the evening for which we are most grateful.