The Leigh Group Thank You Day on Sunday 18 March 2018 was all about bringing together the volunteers of the Leigh Group brigades together to have a fun day with their families and friends.
It was a chance to say thank you for their commitment and for the sacrifices their families make to support them while they support their community through their service to CFA.
After weeks of planning and preparation for an outdoor event in the centre of Rokewood township, Murphy’s Law came in to play. With a major fire outbreak in the south-west the day before, and our members off on trucks to help fight the fires, and then bad weather on the day, things just didn’t quite go to plan.
But nothing was going to stop us. Last minute arrangements were made, stalls were set up inside the town hall and volunteers who’d come to enjoy the day pitched in to help with the catering or whatever else they could. That’s the fabulous spirit of our CFA volunteers.
And so the day went ahead and while enjoyment and 'thank yous' were the key focus, we had also taken the opportunity to invite a wide range of other local community organisations to participate in the day and to share their information. The offer was well received and we were most pleased to have the following organisations participate in our day: Golden Plains Shire - Councillors and Staff; HESSE Rural Health; Rokewood Kindergarten; Rokewood Hall Committee; Walking Group and Senior Citizens; CFA Wellbeing Team; CFA Community Safety Team; State Emergency Services (SES) local team; and our major supporters WestWind Energy. The feedback from everyone was that it had been a great success with lots of community interest.
All visitors to the event were treated to a free barbecue lunch, drinks and some entertainment - such a shame that the wind prevented us from having the jumping castle in action though. We would like to sincerely thank WestWind Energy for its generous donation which allowed us to provide the food and activities. Without its support the day would not have been possible. We would also like to thank the CFA Volunteer Sustainability Team for its grant support which enabled us to provide every CFA volunteer with a free thank you gift of a coffee mug that displayed the Leigh Group brigade names.
So despite the emergency services operational activity developing at the time, there were still over 200 people through the door that day, with great support from the community as well as our members. Had the weather and the fires been kinder, we may well have reached our target audience of 600. Perhaps next time we will.
The day was a great success and we hope that all who attended enjoyed themselves, for without our volunteers we would indeed be the poorer. Thank you to everyone who gives their time so willingly.