Fire Tenders on a Charity Mission

Fire Tenders on a Charity Mission

8 Fire tenders join 2016 Variety Trillian Bash South Island event

Eight fire tenders will leave homes as far afield as Ruakaka and Christchurch, Tauranga and New Plymouth on a mission to raise funds for kids in need of a hand to reach their full potential.

They’re joining the annual Variety Trillian Bash which this year starts in Levin on March 1, landing in Picton that day and taking highways and byways to Timaru via Blenheim, Nelson and Greymouth, visiting schools and hospitals along the way.

They may be in the minority – most of the 20 teams will be aboard classic cars, but they’re a magnet for the kids.

The dark horse of the event will be the Christchurch Top Guns, a new crew run by Christchurch International Airport, aboard a 1992 International Acco Fire Truck themed as an F14 Tomcat naval jet and crewed by Top Gun aces, or so the Bash organisers are promised!

Christchurch Airport is entering two teams of staff including everyone from line staff to executive management, all fired up to help out Kiwi kids. No photos yet as the airport truck is still at work, but long-term Bash teams are on tenterhooks to see what rolls out to join them.

Among those long-term teams are the Fish Pot crew aboard their fire appliance. Its captain, Peter Drummond, will be on his 26th Bash event. His 1960 Seagrave ladder truck is the only one in Australasia, and will take some skill to tackle a few of the west coast roads the route will follow.

Powered by an 18-litre petrol engine, and with two cabs to independently steer each end, it features a ladder that extends over 30 metres into the air – and every year small-town mayors and school principals find out what the view is like up top.

Also on the event are the Naki Boys in their bright-yellow fire appliance – yes, they’re from New Plymouth, the young Tauranga-based BestStart crew who always visit BestStart childcare centres along the route, Cambridge’s Mooloo Crew, Tauranga’s ELBD, Ruakaka’s Resene Team, and last but not least, Argus.

Each of them will have raised thousands of dollars for Variety in order to take part in this rolling parade, and each is already packing every cranny of their appliance with goodies to hand out to children along the route.

Bash director Murray O’Donnell says he’s always blown away by how much effort Bash teams put in to make the start line. “Keeping some of these older vehicles going, getting teams on board, signing up sponsors and of course fundraising all year, alongside regular jobs and families, all to help kids they’ll rarely ever get to meet.”

Mr O’Donnell says that while the teams also love entertaining kids in the often small, remote communities they pass through, it’s those moments when they hand over a cheque, set up a piece of specialist equipment for a disabled child or entertain kids in hospital that keep the guys and girls of the Bash going.

“It’s all worthwhile when you meet some of the kids we help out,” Peter Drummond says. “It’s sobering to realise how little it can take to make a big difference to a child and a struggling family.”

This year’s route

March 12: Levin to Blenheim – thanks to Bluebridge ferries

March 13: Blenheim, via Wairau Hospital visit toPortage Resort

March 14: Portage area, visit Waitaria Bay School

March 15: Portage to Nelson via Linkwater School, Havelock School, Canvastown School, Rai Valley School, Hira Schook Clifton Terrace School, Auckland Point School

March 16: Nelson to Blackball via Auckland Point School, Brightwater School, Wakefield School, Murchison Area School, Westport, Greymouth.

March 17: Greymouth to Lakre Coleridge via Cobden School, Blackball School, St Patricks School, Dobson School, Lake Brunner School

March 18: Methven to Timaru via Methven School, Rakaia School, Chertsey School, Fairton Schook Asburton Borough School, ending at the Caroline Bay Sound Shell

ends

© Scoop Media