Donation to Rydal was very welcome

Colin Robinson, president of the Jackaroo and Holden 4WD Club, headed to Rydal’s Alexander Hotel to present a cheque for over $500 to hotel publican and Senior Deputy Captain of the brigade Phil Paton.

The funds were raised over the Easter long weekend, when caravans, camper trailers, tents and 4WDs converged on Rydal Showground as the annual Jackaroo and Holden 4WD Clubs’ Easter Tri-State event got under way.

This is an annual event and Rydal was chosen to be host town this year.

The showground was the home for over 130 members of the Sydney-based Jackaroo Four Wheel Drive Club and their sister clubs, the Holden 4WD Club of South Australia and the Jackaroo 4WD Club of Victoria for the entire Easter weekend.

The organisers conducted seven different drives around the region every day taking in some of the breathtaking scenery and tracks around Lithgow and the surrounding areas, including Hassans Walls, Mt Walker, Jenolan Caves, “Lost City”, Turon River, Sunny Corner and many more.

They also visited the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum and the State Mine Museum and Blast Furnace Park, all of which attracted a lot of interest among the visitors.

The spectacular scenery of the district, with its luscious green hills, rugged and unique sandstone formations, clear running streams and challenging off-road tracks, were the talking points of many of the visitors.

A number of the interstate visitors decided to extend their holiday a few days to further explore the region or indicated their desire to come back at some future date to do the same.

When the enthusiastic travellers were not on the “road to adventure” they enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with old friends, make new ones, play trivia, swap stories and yarns and hold a number of raffles to raise money for the Rydal Bush Fire Brigade.

Event co-ordinator Wal Phelps said the weekend was a great success thanks to his team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers and supporters, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

“We had close on 70 vehicles and over 130 people attend and everybody had a great time,” he said.

“We were very thankful for the support we received from a number of local organisations, including the Rydal Pub, The Lolly Bug Shop at Hartley, the Lithgow Visitors Centre and Williams and Sons Butchery at Portland.”

The showground trust members also went out of their way to help make the event a big success.

The host club put on a sausage sizzle on the Saturday night before Mo Award winner and internationally travelled singer Peter Paki entertained the members until late into the night.

On Sunday evening the local church ladies auxiliary cooked up a delicious feast for the troops, and were even able to cater for those with special dietary requirements.

For such a small village, the locals certainly knew how look after their visitors.

Colin Robinson was delighted to make the trip back to Rydal to present the fundraising cheque, which was the total of monies raised in the event raffles and guessing competitions over the Easter long weekend.