Left: Sister show society presidents Andrew Dedlefs from Berwick and Kevin McCrum from Weethalle.By Jim Mynard
THE Berwick and Weethalle show societies celebrated the 10th anniversary of their sister shows relationship at the Weethalle Show on Saturday.
The two districts and their shows are as different as they are far apart, but a longstanding bond of friendship has been forged through the agreement.
Seventeen people represented the Berwick Show Society at Weethalle, in central New South Wales, on the weekend, and Berwick’s Ellen Griffiths officially opened the show.
Mrs Griffiths said during the official opening that she remembered the first trip to Weethalle with the convoy of trucks carrying hay for the droughtravaged district.
Mrs Griffiths said there was more to the emotion of the time than handing over hay.
“You should have seen the looks on the faces of the children when we handed out lollies,” she said.
Mrs Griffiths said a display of letters, newspaper items and photographs had been created and it was hoped to add to this over the years as the two groups had much to learn from each other.
The sister shows relationship began in late 1994 when Berwick Show Society member John Byron suggested to Bert Rae and Ellen Griffiths that the show society organise a collection of hay for a droughtaffected area.
Mr Rae said an article appeared in the Gazette and the response from people across the Kooweerup Swamp district was enormous.
Trucks and other vehicles met at Narrandera and moved off to Weethalle as one.
Newspaper reports of the day said the sight of the trucks arriving at Weethalle brought tears to many eyes.
People lined the streets as the hay arrived a 4.30pm on 22 January 1995.
A barbecue followed the arrival, and there has been many cups of tea and visits between the two districts since then.
Each year representatives from the respective show societies attend each other’s show.
