The 2008 Pulmonary Hypertension Association Australia Trivia Night. The trivia night was held at the Wagga Wagga RSL club on the 25th July. The room was perfect and at around 6.30 people started arriving. By 6.45 there was a line up to get in. Laurel (my mum) and Carmel were ushering people in the door and everyone that came in paid their $10.00. While they were being ushered in they were also gently enticed to buy a raffle ticket.
We had about 17 tables, with an average of about 10 people per table. It was a huge effort on behalf of Amy Hartley and Lauren Mason who organised the whole event. They work hard prior to the night organising prizes and they ran their little legs off all night. Ladies, we are so very grateful for what you do for PHAA and do not take you for granted – THANK YOU. There were spot auctions, and prizes throughout the night to keep things moving while the ever important answer papers were being marked. Tyler and Megan were runners and helped with the spot prizes.
All the markers and volunteers for the night had special purple polo shirts with the PHA Australia logo embroidered on them and they looked phantastic! I am not sure how much they cost but we are thinking of selling them on the website. I opened the night with a brief explanation of what pulmonary hypertension is and also explained how our website is a supportive, safe and informative space on the internet and how grateful we all were for the funds that were being raised. I also spoke of the importance of registering as an organ donor, mentioning that even this last week our gorgeous Evlyn had received the gift of life with new lungs. People still think that a drivers licence is full consent and it is NOT.
I also thanked everyone who had helped organise the night. Cassie was our MC for the night and she did a fabulous job, she was at ease with the crowd and kept things running smoothly whilst giving some gentle encouragement with the auctioning and spot prizes. If your MC does not keep the night jumping then it can be a disaster. Cassie was an absolute delight.
It was great to catch up with real people J I had a real hug with Tina Powney and her husband Scott. I cuddled Carmel, Wayne and all the Norton girls. The raffle was drawn by Tina and she drew her husband Scott out of the barrel – well not him literally but his name (wink). We had many witnesses and Lauren, the barrel girl , whirled the barrel many times and I was holding Tina’s hand so Scott was declared the winner of a weekend for 2 in Wollongong with an entertainment package and fuel costs subsidised. What a great result having someone with PH having well deserved break.
There were lots of games, cheering and laughs and our bank account benefited by $2626.90. If you want to get together next year and have a great weekend, maybe we could get a pha table OR EVEN 2 together. You won’t regret it and we can all meet up and make a weekend of it. Being in a rural area, costs are not too bad as far as accommodation, especially at that time of the year.
I flew all the way from Cairns and was so glad I made the effort. WHAT A GREAT NIGHT AND THANKS AGAIN TO ALL WHO HELPED AND ATTENDED ON THE NIGHT – we could not do this without you!
