City raises over $8,500 for Foodbank

What a night it was, culminating in fireworks, a standing ovation and more than $8,500 in the Foodbank coffers.

The City of Greater Geraldton Charity Variety Concert, With a Little Help from our Friends, put on by City staff who volunteered their time and talent on Saturday night, along with friends Aaron Wilcox Mia Royce, Julian Canny and James Davies was a roaring success.

More than 330 tickets were sold with all proceeds to Foodbank Geraldton and the audience was blown away by the talent before them.

One patron leaving the theatre commented that he “attends something at QPT once a month and this was the best show” he had ever attended. High praise indeed!

Entertainment was top notch with staff singing and playing a range of instruments very proficiently. The ages ranged from 17-year-old Phoebe Royce – who sang a couple of solos – to her ‘Uncle Bob’ Davis who did a duet with niece and ‘concert friend’ Mia Royce, and all ages in between.

Beck Tuesley sang a couple of numbers penned by her own fair hand that went down a treat, as did Mia Royce, and ‘Bob Worker from the Depot’, aka Mark Canny, had the audience in stitches with his comedic take as a council worker.

Sheri Moulds and Jeff Graham (sometimes known as Yogi Bear) kept things ticking over between acts with clever banter. Annette Walsh was a wonderful accompaniment on violin, while Dave Gibson busted some moves as he sang That Old Time Rock and Roll and Konrad Seidl schmoozed the ladies in the front rows with red roses, crooning the Sinatra classic The Way You Look Tonight.

There are so many others deserving of mention but if you’re lucky you may just see them next year...

The concert was the mastermind of City Director of Corporate and Commercial Services, Bob Davis – only a rare-occasional keyboarder and hobby guitar player – who discovered the City’s hidden musical talent at a hurriedly pulled together Christmas party jam last year.

The players enjoyed that jam so much, and it was so well received by the staff audience that Bob got to thinking about putting on something more adventurous, for charity, and the idea was off and running.

He was delighted with the concert result and said it was a great staff initiative.

“All their effort was volunteered free, in their own time, at no cost to ratepayers,” he said.

“This was our City staff and their friends, as members of the community, doing something worthwhile for our community, and the wonderful people of Geraldton turned out and supported us.

“Mia, Aaron, James and Julian added much to the show, and we’re very grateful for their contribution. It was challenging to create three hours of musical and variety entertainment, but it was fun, and everyone is keen to do it again next year,” Bob said.

“So – yes, there will be another musical variety concert for charity, to be performed by City staff and Friends, next year.”

City CEO, Ken Diehm, was delighted to support the staff initiative and admired their bravery for choosing to put their talents on display.

“I was overwhelmed by both the talent and enthusiasm of my staff in putting on the variety concert,” he said.

“This was a great opportunity for staff to actively demonstrate to the community that they are not just Council workers but are active members of the community where they live work and play.”

Chimere Pearls donated a one-off pearl pendant that fetched $1500 at auction, and City CEO Ken Diehm auctioned off three hours of his time donated for “any legal activities within reason,” he said, collecting another $350.