Berringa Community News See us on line at www.berringacommunitynews.com.au
Winter 2014
News and views from the residents of Bellbridge, Bethanga, Granya & Talgarno Circulation: 560 ABN: 96 071 800 843 We gratefully acknowledge our continuing sponsorship partner, Davis Sanders Homes. Local owners Renee & Murray Pigdon are Berringa residents and their generous sponsorship helps us meet our printing costs. See advertisement page 5
BETHANGA GYMKHANA and FAMILY FUN DAY I don’t know how we keep getting glorious days for our Gymkhana each year, just lucky I guess. Rain all around us, but once again we awoke to a lovely autumn Easter Saturday. The day ran smoothly, thanks to everyone fulfilling their particular role, which ensured another very successful event. Although there were a couple of tumbles on the horse arena, none were serious and no call for an ambulance this year. Always a good outcome!! The Jumping Arena was slightly down on horse numbers this year; however, the Hack Arena and the Novelty Ring Events were well supported. Last year we had a couple of trucks come up from Macedon. They had such a brilliant day that they encouraged some of their friends to come along this year. As a result, we had 8 trucks roll in this year from the Macedon region, with around 30 adults and their children participating, not only in the horse events on offer, but all the kids games as well. They all camped the night and most went to the pub on the Saturday night for a meal and some refreshments, so good for the town. Reports indicate that there will be more next year!!
On the public side of things, we had several enquiries from families in Albury/Wodonga this year wanting to know what was on offer. Our gatekeepers mentioned that there were a lot of unfamiliar faces coming in, so it appears we are now attracting more families from outside our area. We had 567 paying adults through the gate this year and, if you add on the kids, we estimate a crowd of close to 1000. Angry Birds made its debut in the kids’ games arena this year. For those of you, like me, who are not into electronics, I will explain. It is a full size, real version of an electronic game, where kids sling shoot tennis balls at one another. So, much time and effort went into constructing, painting and outfitting two homes to house these angry birds, which were then placed either side of the tennis net on one of the tennis courts. For safety reasons, we insisted that cricket helmets be worn while participating. The takings indicate that 190 children had a go at this game. The only complaint – could the committee please ensure that adult size helmets be available next year so the big kids can have a go without having to re-arrange the shape of their heads. Finally, after being the runner up for the past two
years, Brodie Sirl won the Iron Man Contest from an unlucky Jack Day. This event was neck and neck for a long way until Jack dropped his bale of hay. Brodie did, however, pull up a bit distressed and we thought that he may be