Brian and Marina Crichton, Susan Walker, Alexis FitzGerald and Ruth Skippen |
In the words of Scottish Poet
Robbie Burns, Some hae meat and canna
eat, and some wad eat that want it, but we hae meat, and we can eat and sae let
the Lord be thankit . And so it was
on a braw bricht moon-licht nicht on
Saturday 7th July when the delightful Alan Roughan, tarted up in his
best Scottish accoutrements welcomed well over 100 mostly similarly clad diners
to the Scottish Christmas- in-July themed Toogoolawah Hotel for a night of
fabulous fun, four courses of Scottish fare, fundraising and
entertainment.
Find a need and there will always
be those hard-working people who cannot knock back a cry for help. In this instance, it was the good folk from
the Esk Hospital Auxiliary and a group from the Toogoolawah Bridge Club who
were the oxygen behind the fundraising exercise and together with a whole host
of generous donors, managed to raise $5500.00 for the purchase of a chemotherapy
infusion chair and patient hoist for the Esk Hospital. From the first stirring
strains of the traditional bagpipe welcome for the Haggis followed by a
whisky-bearer ensuring the guests were well lubricated, to the departing
strains of Auld Lang Syne, this was a night which was high on the spirit of
giving not the least by Alexis and little chorus of choristers who did their
level best to lead the revelers in the singing of some well-loved Scottish
songs.
Tony and Alexis FitzGerald |
It was very early the following
morning when the Celtic carousers were possibly still in recovery mode that
another diligent group of Choir members was already hard at work fundraising
for the choir serving sausages and sauces to the hungry hoards outside the
Bunnings Store in Toowoomba.
Few have not been so burdened with
bundles of Bunnings Hardware that they have not found a free hand to fulfill the
need for sausage fortification as they depart the store thereby
creating a constant flow of customers to be catered for by choir members. By day’s end, an elated exhaustion emerges,
possibly combined with sausage phobia though never for long when sausages from
Boutique Meats, the best little bovine butcher in Toogoolawah, are on the menu.
To Damien and to Sue and Roland Cox and
their team of volunteers go bundles of bouquets and the gratitude of the Esk Community
Choir.
The Christmas in July at the Toogoolawah hotel was a lot of fun
ReplyDeleteLoved those old scottish songs still remembered the words from my childhood so good to sing them again
Well done