Variety Night brings total to $60,000!

We did it! On a hot, balmy Saturday evening, Cooktown's own special brand of local talent came together to raise nearly $3,000 and bring our fund-raising total to an amazing $60,000!

It was a fabulous night, and our huge thanks go to everyone involved: Serge Petelin (guitar) & Shaun Creek (didge) - what an opening act! Darcy & Ethan, the Terrible, and very funny, Twins; Derek Rosendale - always sublime; Roz Smith for her very entertaining (and toned down!) performance; Lek Jantrarat who held us spellbound with her stunning voice; Coleridge Bown - such smooth country sounds, no wonder you win awards! Dr. Mike and Dan the Man - your funky flute and guitar were fantastic. The Shee Sha Fusion Belly Dancers blew everyone away with their magical performance, and Tess's snake dance (with live snake) got everyone on the move, especially the kids!

And special thanks to the Black Image band whose fantastic music had everyone dancing 'til late. You guys deserve every award you've ever won. And to the talented and irreplaceable Dan Hodgson (aka Dan the Man) who not only played a rippin' guitar with Dr. Mike, but handled the lights and sound as well.

And behind the scenes... Italian Restaurant and Cooktown Food Services for their yummy food, the Re-enactment Association for running the bar, the Cooktown Local News for the advertising, Cooktown Newsagents for their inimitable banner-making skills, Cook Shire Council for the venue, the Cooktown Police for all their support, and the Cooktown Chamber of Commerce & Tourism for co-ordinating the event. 

And to all those fantastic helpers who cooked, counted, cleaned, fetched, carried, organised, promoted, and generally helped make it happen - Thank you! We're helping more people that we probably know - and it really was FUN!

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List of donors

Love & Romance bring in the $$s

Three fun events over Valentine's weekend brought Cooktown's contribution to the Queensland Disaster Appeal to over $35,000. Not bad for a small town!

With the starlit backdrop of the Endeavour River, mouth-watering food, questions all about love, and, mostly, romantic prizes (not sure about the meat cleaver) the I Love Trivia Night was a roaring success, raising $1,080 for Cooktown Cares. 

Every table was booked, the competition was fierce, but Cooktown's Chamber of Commerce team, The Chamber Pots, finally won the goody bags of wine and chocolate, which they donated back to the appeal for a future event.

Our big thanks to Dogged Bookkeeping's Jan Howard, who organised the wonderful evening and devised the fantastic questions, the team at Restaurant 1770 and Gill'd & Gutt'd, the businesses who donated the prizes, and to young helpers Zayne, Erryn and Ben, who kept everyone digging deep in their pockets for the cause. 

On Saturday, the sale of pre-loved items at Bargain Bonanza II raised an amazing $2,600, bringing the total of the two Bring and Buy sales to a whopping $5,756.

Organisers Nicki Darvell, Sayah Scott and Rae Vela would like to thank everyone for their generous support and donations, the numerous volunteers who worked tirelessly unpacking and packing, sorting and selling, and Cook Shire Council for the use of the Shire Hall. 

The items remaining will soon be going into St Vincent de Paul's storage, but if you would like to use any for a fund-raising event of your own, please contact Sayah on 07 4069 5203 as soon as possible. 

On Valentine's Day, lovers of James Cook dressed in their best black to commemorate the anniversary of his death at a Mourning Tea at the James Cook Museum.  Museum manager, Penny Johnson, kept everyone entertained with obscure historical facts from the era together with excellent coffee and chocolate cake, raising another $121.00 for the Appeal.

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Forthcoming events

List of donors 

RSL Fund-raiser Brings Total to Over $31,000!

It was standing room only on Friday night at the RSL Memorial Club's fund-raiser in Cooktown, where the band CN3D kept everyone dancing, and a massive $15,000 was raised for the Queensland Disaster Appeal.

Over 40 local businesses donated a fantastic range of prizes including free gardening, outboard motor service, tours, meals, food, wine, accommodation, and a pizza a week for 40 weeks! The door prize, a day's fishing and snorkelling on Mr. Bill, was won by Graham Duncan.

Cooktown's donations to the Queensland Disaster Relief Appeal now total over $31,000 - an awesome amount for a small town. And there's still more to come!

Our thanks to everyone who has given so generously, and congratulations to Suzi, John and all the team who worked tirelessly to make the event such a roaring success. 

Forthcoming events

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List of donors

Over $16,000 raised to date...

With the majority of our major fund-raising events still to take place, Cooktown has already raised well in excess of $16,000 for the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal, which has now been extended to include the victims of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, as well as the Queensland Floods.

Check our Forthcoming Events for what's still to come - starting with a huge fund-raising event at the RSL Memorial Club on Friday, 4 February. Over 40 local businesses have donated prizes for the event, so it's going to be a great night.

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Bargains raise big dollars

Saturday, 29 January, was Bargain Bonanza Day, with a whopping $4,656 raised for the Queensland Disaster Appeal. A huge thank you to John and Barbara Hay who raised $1,500 at their Grand Auction, and to Rae Vela, Sayah Scott and Nikki Darvell, who organised a wonderfully successful Bring and Buy Bonanza which raised $3,156. 
  
Due to popular demand, Bring and Buy Bonanza II is being held on Saturday, 12 February. So many people didn't hear about this one in time that the organisers were bombarded with requests for another. See our Forthcoming Events for details. 

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Australia Day fun & fund-raising

Our fund-raising events on Australia Day were all a great success, thanks to the generous folk of Cooktown and Ayton. 

Cooktown's Top Pub raised $1,116.05 on the day and the hotel added another $300 to take the total to $1,416.05. The major fund raiser of the day was the Cane Toad Races where winner takes all, and the total of $800 was won and donated straight back into the fund by winner Chad Darvell (pictured). 

The Top Pub donated $5 for each entrant, male or female, in the search for Cootown's Best Shaped Derriere, and also provided the $70 prize won by "Nicky", who donated it into the fund. And most of the winners in the other competitions either auctioned off their prize or donated it straight back to the appeal. 

The Bloomfield Memorial Association's fund-raiser at Ayton's Tin Shed attracted around 50 people - a big crowd for this tiny rainforest township (pop.260). They reported a fantastic day, with music, games and sausage sizzle, and raised a fantastic $546.11.

And a special mention for Issy and Laura, aged 10, who, to date, have raised $143.35 selling second-hand books outside the James Cook Museum. What a great effort!


Our congratulations and thanks to everyone who's kicked the appeal off to such a great start.

Events Coming Up

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Like being an extra in a disaster movie...

One of the thousands of volunteers who spent the weekend helping the clear-up in Brisbane, sent us an e-mail describing the experience.

"....[It] really hit home how devastating it is for people on a personal level, how vast it is, and how long the recovery does and will take. It really hit home the reality of it all.

 

It is really weird living on the northside where we are - and not affected at all. Coming home yesterday, it was like passing into another world.  I almost felt like I had just been an extra on one of those disaster movies, and then coming home for the night of normality with a comfortable bed and a clean house. Very very weird. We feel very very fortunate at this point in time..." 

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