Variety Bash Visit For Chatham Islands

A group of 25 Variety volun­teers are part of a select group cur­rently mak­ing a spe­cial 2 day trip to the Chatham Islands as part of the Variety Bash.

“2010 is the 20^th anniversary of the Variety Bash and the Chatham Islands is one of the few New Zealand ter­rit­or­ies we haven’t vis­ited — we want to take a taste of the fun of the Variety Bash to the Chatham Islands, an exper­i­ence that thou­sands of Kiwi kids have had over the last 20 years,” said Variety Bash Operations Manager Adam Leslie.

“It is also an oppor­tun­ity for us to pay trib­ute to the six men who have par­ti­cip­ated in every single Variety Bash since its incep­tion in 1990 – Peter Drummond (Parnell), Dave Shorter, Geoff Bentham (Waitakere), Murray ‘Mojo’ O’Donnell (Mellons Bay), Lou Vandermeer (Half Moon Bay) and Graeme Knight (Manukau) have all made a sig­ni­fic­ant dif­fer­ence to the lives of Kiwi kids with their ded­ic­a­tion to Variety.”

“Air Chathams has been an instru­mental spon­sor of this trip and we know the Chathams’ com­munity is excited about our visit – the chil­dren are busy paint­ing a car for the Bashers to travel around the island in, and they can’t wait to meet celebrit­ies such as Variety Ambassador Liane Clark (Glendowie) and Ronald McDonald!” said Mr Leslie — McDonald’s New Zealand and Ford New Zealand have both been spon­sors of the Variety Bash for 20 years.

Other mem­bers of the group trav­el­ling to the Chathams include Mt Manganui res­id­ents Mark Hellyer, Mark Passey and Geoff Butler, Barbara Bentham from Waitakere, Robin Knight from Manukau, David and Margaret Drake from Christchurch, Paul Davies from the Waikato, Lynne Bjarnesen (St Mary’s Bay), Trevor Crowther (Remuera), Ian Mccartney (Ruakaka), Paul Mullen and Robyn Cockburn (Australia), Tim Bray, Kate Eveleigh, Vern Peri, Euan Ross and Craig Towers.

“During the 2010 Variety Bash, we are dis­trib­ut­ing over $230,000 in grants and are delighted that the Chatham Islands com­munity will bene­fit from this – we will be dis­trib­ut­ing bikes to role model chil­dren and provid­ing a grant for swim­ming aids for Te One school,”

“The Bashers will make a last­ing dif­fer­ence to the chil­dren of the Chathams by mak­ing over a tired play­ground at Te One School,” said Mr Leslie.

After the Chatham Islands visit, the main Variety Bash will start in Cathedral Square in Christchurch on March 7^th before mak­ing its way to Auckland dur­ing the week-long Bash – the con­voy of over 70 quirky old cars, fire engines and other vehicles will raise funds and fun for Kiwi kids, dis­trib­ute over $230,000 in grants, and bring magic and fun to the schools and com­munit­ies it visits.

“Helping Kiwi kids in this way would not be pos­sible without the sup­port of our ded­ic­ated Variety Bash spon­sors Ford New Zealand, Trillian Trust, McDonald’s New Zealand, Solid Gold, NZ Post, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Toyofuji Shipping, Pacific Blue, Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferries, and the sup­port of the AA and the Royal New Zealand Airforce,” said Mr Leslie.

The mis­sion of Variety is to help sick, dis­abled and dis­ad­vant­aged Kiwi kids to reach their full poten­tial – this is done through a series of grants for items which ‘fill the gaps’ that other organ­isa­tions or the Government can’t or won’t fund.

Travelling from March 7^th – 14^th, the Variety Bash will include stops in Christchurch, Hanmer Springs, Westport, Nelson, Farewell Spit, Takaka, Marlborough Sounds, Blenheim, Picton, Wellington, Masterton, Palmerston North, Wanganui, Whakapapa Village, Cambridge and Auckland.

Variety – The Children’s Charity is cur­rently cel­eb­rat­ing its 20^th anniversary in New Zealand and has dis­trib­uted over $11.7 mil­lion in grants to help Kiwi kids dur­ing that time.

To make a dona­tion to Variety to help a child in your local area, please go to www.variety.org.nz

Six men who have par­ti­cip­ated in every single Bash since 1990 cel­eb­rate their achieve­ments at Variety’s 20^th anniversary func­tion at Government House in Auckland.
L-R Lou Vandermeer (Half Moon Bay),Murray ‘Mojo’ O’Donnell (Mellons Bay), Geoff Bentham (Waitakere), Dave Shorter, Graeme Knight (Manukau), and Peter Drummond (Parnell)