Pandemonium as Bash passes by

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 577, 14 March 1995, Page 1

Pandemonium as Bash passes by

By

Michelle

Monaghan

Pandemonium reigned in both Ohakune and Waiouru last Tuesday and Wednesday as hundreds of school children went wild over the huge procession of weird and wacky cars and trucks in this year' s Kelloggs Cornflakes Variety Club Bash. Celebrities presented money and car seats to various organisations dealing in the needs of disadvantaged children. Participants in the bash handed but huge quantities of sponsors' products including lollies, biscuits, small toys and a seemingly endless supply of stickers. The Waiouru fire service turned out

for the traditional water fight and were put through their paces by two old fire trucks and some very experienced water fighters. At Ohakune the fire brigade' s famous "Darktown Brigade Engine" ambushed the bash vehicles at the baths as they left town, dousing them good and proper. The Waiouru Civilian Surgery applied for a grant to purchase a microtympanogram for detecting glue ear, and was given $4200 for this purpose. Waiouru Primary School was given $690 for the purchase of special Turn to Page 2

Pandemonium as Bash passes by

From Page 1 needs equipment. As a fund-raiser, the bash may have been a bit confusing for some - who may have wondered where all the money for the bash comes from, and how can it possibly make money for the Variety Club by seemingly giving it away? To register a car in the bash this year cost $6375. There were57 entries, 12of those were Australian. (They had to pay $ Aus6800 to enter). The 250-odd bash participants paid $400 per week for food. With registration and food over half a million dollars was already

in the pot before the bash started. Community organisations apply to the Variety Club for grants, and those approved get presented along the bash route. Various sponsors' products are given out and this year a child's car seat was given to each town with a car seat rental scheme. Some bash participants and celebrities stayed with the bash for the ten-day duration, while others tagged along for a day or two. When asked the reasons behind doing the bash, the full timers and the part timers all said the same thing without hesitation -

"It's for the children." Undoubtedly ten days of driving and socialising can wear a person down, and by the time the bash hit Waiouru more than a few of the pre- 1 966 vehicles had come to grief. Two car engines had caught fire, one car had rolled and another had hit a fence. No casualties were reported. By the time the bash reached Wanganui the vehicle count was down to 52. The vehicles finished the bash at Whakapapa last Friday and participants wined and dined at the Grand Chateau on Friday night. The bash travels to different towns every year, so it will probably be a long

time before people of the Waimarino experience anything as wild as the bash again. (Footnote: Members of the King of the Road team,

an Aussie car that caught fire, wish to thank the kind Waiouru person who cannibalised their GM Oldsmobile to get the team car back on the road.)