00:00You're probably wondering why I'm giving you a call. He said, we would like to give you some
00:04money. And I said, oh, that's fantastic. We'll be very happy. He said, it's a grant that's
00:08only available for only you to apply for. There'll be stipulations around it, but it's something that
00:15no one else is available to actually apply for this particular grant, et cetera, et cetera. And
00:21I said, oh, look, that's fantastic. And he said, we would like to give you $100,000. And I was
00:26gobsmacked. And then he said, a year for the next three years. So I got very emotional.
00:32I said, my goodness me, it's what a fantastic day. It's remembrance day. It's my husband's
00:37birthday. And you've effectively contributed towards saving our show because that money
00:42just gives us breathing space. It allows us to put on the best show that we can, because
00:50as everyone appreciates, things cost money. And we've been able to apply that to existing
00:54expenses, which includes staff, contractors, security, all those basic running items on
01:01the show. That's what we've been able to apply that funding for. And that's something that
01:04happens every year, regardless of the climate.
01:07So what does it mean for Woolarama, the money?
01:09Oh, longevity. The ability to be able to exhale and just go, okay, we can actually have a bit
01:16of breathing space. It means that little bit of cream that we might make in profit can actually
01:23be used to go back into the show to improve facilities. There's some facilities that have
01:28needed upgrading that are really only specific to Woolarama. They're not shire facilities.
01:33They're things specific to Woolarama, for example, the fashion parade area, the cattle pavilion.
01:38It allows us to just be able to go, we can do those things. We can actually make it a much
01:43better workplace for the models because they've been out the back in fairly
01:47archaic conditions with air conditioners that haven't worked and things like that. And after
01:53last year's show when we were still 43 degrees at half past six on a Friday night, to be able
01:59to put a roof on a couple of those little rooms that are out the back and put air conditioning
02:03in there and line the rooms, it's just going to make a hell of a difference. We've got issues
02:07with the cattle pavilion in that, the grassed area, it was all a bitumenised area previously,
02:13I believe, and they pretty much just put some dirt on it and got some grass growing. But
02:17it's constant issues with trying to water that and water running off. And you know, our stewards
02:23are all voluntary, so them running backwards and forwards, managing the watering and things
02:27like that, we're going to be able to put some proper reticulation and do some things there.
02:31They need extra shade and the cattle section is growing massively, they need extra shade
02:37covered space for marshalling yards and things like that.
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