Stars ready for 24 hours of fun and giving

Press, 25 June 1983, Page 1

Stars ready for 24 hours of fun and giving

Organisers are confident that the long-awaited Telethon ’B3, which starts this evening, will be the best yet. From 6 o’clock this evening people in Canterbury can begin telephoning pledges of money to this year’s charity and at 8 p.m. the 24-hour television extravaganza gets under way at the Christchurch Town Hall. The local organiser, Mr Craig Hutchison, is confident that Telethon ’B3 will be at least as successful as the 1981 event in which more than $5 million was raised, but he would not estimate how much he expects to be given this year. “We never aim for a certain amount of money ... we are very pleased with anything,” he said. However, there had been a better response from the people of Canterbury this year, he said. “We have a record of more than 500 activities organised by the public to raise money and there are probably double that number that we don’t know of.” All the money raised will be distributed to a wide range of volunteer social services by the New Zealand Family Trust. The chairman of the trust is Admiral Sir Gordon Tait and his deputy is Mr lain Galloway, a Dunedin lawyer and broadcaster. Christchurch’s two overseas Telethon celebrities, Norman Bowler and Colette Mann, have been brought to New Zealand by Air New Zealand and will be supported at the Town Hall by the anchorman and Radio 3ZM personality, Ken Ellis. Allana James (“Science Express”), Janis McArdle (“News Review”), Jim Hopkins (Radio Avon talk-back host), Dallas Beckett (“McPhail and Gadsby”),

and Oily Ohlson (“After School”) will be assisting. At 6 p.m., the 40 Town Hall telephones will be manned by volunteer Post Office staff and people can make their pledges by telephoning 796-300. Six of the telephones will be answered by Christchurch personalities and another 100 personalities have agreed to sit on a panel to help read the pledges and take part in the show. A number of entertainers will also be performing. Among them will be Suzanne Prentice, Prince Tui Teka, the New Zealand Army Band, and the Salvation Army Band Choir. Mr Hutchison said security would be tight because as in previous Telethons there had been threats to hijack the armoured vans carrying the money. Crowd control will also be strict, with 20 minutes being the minimum time any audience will be allowed to stay in the Town Hall, and public access will be at the Victoria Street entrance only. Although the Christchurch Town Hall will be the main venue for Telethon, Canterbury Court will be the scene of the main fund-raising events and there will be eight satellite centres throughout the area also, each providing 24 hours of entertainment. They are the Cheviot Community Hall and gymnasium, telephone 610 and 710; the Culverden Hall, 228 and 254; the Cust Community Centre, 654 and 655; the Bank of New Zealand, High Street, Rangiora, 8112; the Kaiapoi Community Centre, 8166 and 6145; the Ashburton Sports Hall, Tancred Street, 4085; the Caroline Bay Hall, Timaru, 62-300; and the R.S.A. Hall, Twizel, 878 and 879.