Bombala Races

In contrast to the last Bombala trip where the races got washed out and we ended up in the little town of Delegate for the day, this year the weather was perfect.

We set out at at a civilised time on Saturday morning and headed off to Bombala with stops at Queanbeyan, Hume and Cooma.  The stop at Queanbeyan was so that we could pick up a safety rail to go around the liquor supplies on the bus.  This serves two purposes, firstly to stop the wine sliding around, and secondly to stop people who are unable to walk straight from falling onto the crates of empties.  From what I could see, the rail saved many from the latter fate.

After a quick comfort stop and morning tea at Cooma (which was pleasingly above zero for a change), we arrived at Bombala at around 11am.  Our enthusiasm showed because we were some of the first there, and we set up headquarters in the main marquee.  It wasn't long before the locals turned up and the races started.  The racetrack has had some money spent on it because it now sports a permanent roof over the bookies, maybe to entice more to come in the future.  There was also a large mobile screen so that people could watch the local races and Sky Racing, and in particular the Caulfield Cup.

Women in Racing sponsored one of the races and presented a trophy to the winner.  Such a pity that nobody mentioned it to the poor WiR photographer so he could be on hand to photograph it.

Apart from the racing, the main entertainment were the Fashions on the Field competitions, with Barbara Joseph as one of the judges.   A unique feature of the competition in Bombala was the number of under-18s queued up to compete while drinking their stubbies.  The judges were quite annoyed by this and shooed them away.  A hint for any of you considering competing next year - apparently women and girls need to have accessorised with a handbag and men and boys aren't allowed to accessorise with bottles of beer.

All too soon the day was over and we headed back to Canberra, stopping at Cooma for a quick barbeque before arriving at around 8:30pm.  Everybody agreed it had been a great day.


Below are some pictures from the day.  If you can't see them, click here and then click on the slideshow button.

Annual Charity Lunch

Over 180 guests helped raise $13,000 for Vietnam Veterans.  It was a truly fun and happy afternoon at the Hellenic Club in Woden, with lots of wonderful auction and raffle items.  The green and orange theme worked well with many outfits using the two colours.  The drives in convertible cars auction, or "going topless", raised close to $1000.

Mike Frame did a great job as MC for the day, and the guest speaker was Brigadier William Rolfe OA (Ret'd) who gave an entertaining talk about his life after being injured in Vietnam. Congratulations go to the Women in Racing committee for organising such a successful event.

A few pictures from the day are below.  As usual, if you can't see the slideshow, click here.