COOTAMUNDRA’S version of Thank God You’re Here was arguably better than the national version. Those daring enough to go up on stage and improvise put their fears aside and used whatever comedic powers they could muster to get a laugh out of the audience. Hundreds of people were there at the Cootamundra Ex Services Club to support a nursing home fundraiser on Saturday September 6.

VIEW club welcomes Sandra

AT the September luncheon meeting of the Cootamundra Day VIEW Club, new member Sandra Seales had the pleasure of having her badge and members pack presented to her.

Luncheon guest and The national vice president of VIEW Clubs of Australia, Lyn Gerstenberg and acting national councillor Cynthia Guyenette were there as guests to present the badge and members.

Cootamundra Day VIEW works to support three learning for life students and members donate stationery packs, library bags and floor rugs to local schools.

VIEW clubs are a valued part of The Smith Family, and it’s always a pleasure for the club to welcome new members. If any ladies would like to join us as a guest for our luncheon, we meet on the first Thursday of each month, the next being October 2 at the Cootamundra Country Club.

If you have any queries, or would like to get involved please call the club secretary on 69421314. Jenny will be more than happy to hear from you. 

Good times at the swap meet

MORE than 2,000 people flooded through the gates of the Cootamundra Showground on Sunday September 7 for what has been heralded as the town’s most successful Swap Meet so far.

Traditionally swap meets were arranged so that members of antique motor clubs could find that elusive part to finalise the restoration of their car.

The concept has evolved and approximately 300 stallholders from the mid coast of NSW to the Victorian border arrived to sell whatever they could to a broad cross-section of the community who turned out on Sunday. With fathers and their kids on the loose for Fathers Day, families were seen inspecting weird and wonderful items including car parts, historic army knives, tools, and even the skeleton of a great white shark.

Even Frank Rodwell, the brainchild of the swap meet craze in Australia who organised the very first swap meet in Cooma in 1970, dropped into the showground and was impressed with what he saw.

Organisers John and Joan Collins couldn’t have picked a finer day for the event as there was no rainfall, the sun was out and just a light breeze was felt.

“We’ve held 24 swap meets traditionally on the first weekend of September, and it’s only rained on one so far,” Mr Collins said.

“A lot of the stallholders come year after year to sell their products.”

Underlying the visible success of the swap meet was the funds raised for charities,, as mentioned by Lynne Spain in Around Cootamundra on Monday. 

“We donate the entry fee, which was $5 for adults, to local charities such as the Hospital Auxiliary and Can Assist.

“Riding for the Disabled (RDA) Cootamundra benefits the most; we do it for them.” 

RDA catering officer Trish Taylor said that RDA volunteers and workers were flat out, “we sold over 900 sausages.

“We ran out of meat and bread so we wrangled around to the shops to buy some more.”

There from dawn to dusk, Mrs Taylor manned a stall inside a hall at the showground.

“We did really well; we never saw daylight, I never even went around the stalls,” she said.

“We’d like to thank to the community for supporting us on the day.

We couldn’t have done it without the volunteers who were there to help on the day.” 

Mrs Taylor says that almost 20 people set aside fathers day to work on the stall.