About eleven members from the Club,  including partners and also Phyllis  attended the SS and A Club where the Burrumbuttock Hay Run Auction was being held, along with some local Cabaret artists who were giving of their services on a pro-bono basis. Except for some audience members who were quite noisily talking when the artists were performing, so it was sometimes hard for them to be heard, it was a very enjoyable evening. About 300 guests attended, including the Mayor of Albury and  the District Chair of Community and Emergency Services ‘elect’, with his wife Ann, who also came up from Melbourne and attended …  he advised that he and his wife thoroughly enjoyed the evening. The evening Auction and other collections raised approximately $68,000 for the Hay Runners fund, which included a $50.000 donation from BP Australia of $500  BP fuel vouchers for the next visit or partial reimbursement for the recently completed trip. The gifts donated and auctioned went for very good prices. I think a cricket bat donated by BP Australia and signed by the ex Australian Cricket Captain, Michael Clark fetched $1400, and some high quality footy memorabilia of shirts and signed autographs etc fetched anything between a top offer $1000 to $600. No Rod, I don’t recall any Collingwood shirts on offer, hence the high prices.  Some of the Hay Runners gave accounts of their experiences of both the trip and their findings of the various Queensland farming communities when receiving the hay. It is quite obvious these conditions will last for at least a couple of years  even if rainfall fell incessantly for months to come. Some photos shown of the various cattle dying of malnutrition were very sad to see. Without doubt the farmers and their families are certainly doing it tough up there.