Dancers from an area bounded by Newcastle, Gunnedah, and Valla Beach attended the Jean Colvin Ball in the Community Hall on Saturday September 26. With Hazel Charles providing toe-tapping old time music and the floor in excellent dancing conditions those in attendance enjoyed a wonderful night of dancing.

Mayor Hans Hietbrink and wife Chris were the official guests for the evening and after delivering a short but appropriate address on the work done by Can Assist, the Mayor opened the ball. The drawing of the major raffle followed with ‘Skip’ (Bill Skipper) winning the $300 fuel voucher, ‘Mongrel’ (Mick Blenman) drew second prize with Sheila Sewell third.

The judging of the ‘Best Dressed Couples’ took place during the dancing of Pride of Erin and resulted in Sheila Sewell selecting Nicole and Nicole and Anthony from Armidale in the juniors and Hans and Chris choosing Avon and Alec from Tamworth and Walcha as the overall winners. Throughout the evening lucky door tickets were drawn and the winners choosing from an array of prizes donated by local business and other supporters.

Financially the ball and the associated raffle will be highly successful enabling the local branch of Can Assist to further its support of cancer patients. The generosity of many people have made this possible: Guyra Shire Council through its subsidy on the hire of the hall, Hazel Charles for music free of charge and the donors of the prizes.

With limited workers available from its own ranks the organising committee appealed to the wider community for help in the setting up and packing away in the hall. The response was more than gratifying with the SES arranging the stage and seating prior to the ball and the VRA putting it all the away the morning after. Further help came from individual volunteers.

A great night, a great result, thank you Guyra

Bill Wicks