Hello Farina Supporters,
Happy New Year to you all. I hope you have all enjoyed a break over the festive season. I would like to welcome Helen Rayner to our team, Helen has taken over Cathie Gregory’s role. We wish Cathie all the best for the future with her family in New Zealand.
Our thoughts go out to all those who have been affected by these terrible fires. Our thanks to all the fireys and volunteers on the foregrounds.
I am saddened to report that a “Farina Friend” has become a victim of the Cudlee Creek fire in South Australia. Ron Selth perished whilst defending his home in Charleston in the Adelaide Hills. Ron was our first Structural Engineer who helped design and certify the foundations and flooring system for Patterson’s House. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
Volunteer registrations are flowing in and we have places across all weeks of the program. We currently have approx 57 registrations which roughly equates to 100 people. Weeks 7&8 require more volunteers at this stage as well as week 3. Getting your registrations in early gives us a chance to have some consistency with staffing levels of across all weeks of the program.
Farina will be a different kettle of fish now that Patterson’s House has come online. All aspects of our retail side will be “starting from scratch”. Visitor experience is paramount. I encourage you to read Rob Olston’s book Farina “Gibbers to Ghostown”, it is almost our bible. It’s important that all information we pass on to our visitors is correct.
We have now sold the bakery caravan. The “submarine” has served us well over the past 6 years. It’s truly remarkable how our bakers managed to produce so much product out of such a small space. They won’t know themselves in the new kitchen.
The Official Opening of Patterson’s House will be held on Friday June 19. I am pleased to announce that Dick Smith OA has agreed to officiate. Dick is a long term contributor to Farina and I thank him for his support.
The annual cricket match will be held on the following Saturday and the John Bell Memorial will be on the Sunday and we hope to see many of our previous Farina volunteers in a Back To Farina celebration. These volunteers didn’t have the mod cons we enjoy today .
It is our plan to build a portable public toilet block and utilise the site and slab where the caravan was. We have been improving services in our campground in the “Off” season. We have installed an underground power distribution network which now gives us 24 protected power points ,we will even have a floodlight at the campfire.
It is also our intention to build a second ablution block in our campground. Our volunteer experience is just as important to us as our visitors .
In closing, Leanne and I look forward to seeing you all again this season. We also look forward to meeting new volunteers and making your experience a memorable one. Get your registrations in.
“Keep up the good work “
Tim Paine
Chairman
Farina Restoration Group