Trivia night proves a success

It was all things trivia recently at the Ballandean Hall for the Rotary Club of Stanthorpe and dedicated trivia enthusiasts, but the evening was for a cause that was far from trivial.
Proceeds of the successful evening will be divided between two Rotary Flood Recovery projects identified by the club. The Withcott Junior Soccer Club will receive a percentage of the funds. The remainder will be donated to the Port Curtis State School in South Rockhampton in conjunction with the South Rockhampton Rotary Club.
There were plenty of trivia buffs and novices on hand to test their skills against the quiz master. The eventual winners were the Windy Mariahs who hailed from the Warwick district. The team of six seasoned trivia players who have been quizzing together for 10 years kept their impressive record intact.
After their win they revealed they have only lost one game and tied another in the 10 years they have been attending trivia nights.  Good thing organisers were not aware of that piece of trivia before the start of the evening or they may have found themselves slapped with a penalty.
Runners-up were the Zonta team led by president Jenny Lutter who paid tribute to the organisers. “It’s been a wonderful evening and everyone had a great time. The Rotary Club and those involved in organising the evening have done a wonderful job,” Mrs Lutter said.
Former Stanthorpe and now Withcott residents Rebecca and Matt Gaske were among the 120 guests who attended. An emotional Mrs Gaske expressed her gratitude on behalf of those in the Withcott district for the generosity of the Stanthorpe people. “It is overwhelming to see the number of people here tonight to support these causes. It is wonderful to know that we have not been forgotten,” a tearful Mrs Gaske said.
Members of the Rotary Club of Stanthorpe praised local businesses for their support of the monster raffle. “We belong to a wonderful community who are always happy to support events like this – we have over 50 prizes that have been donated by local businesses. It is a reminder that we should always support our local businesses, they are fantastic,” one of the organisers, Perditta O’Connor said.
There were two major raffle prizes drawn during the evening. The first was two nights’ accommodation at the Crown Plaza Pelican Waters donated by the resort and a round of golf at the Greg Norman designed Pelican Waters Golf Course donated by former 4Ingredients Kim McCosker and husband Glen Turnbull. The second major prize was a week’s accommodation at the Noosa Gardens Resort kindly donated by staunch Stanthorpe supporter Bernie Pramberg, former Courier Mail journalist, and his wife Deb.
The Ballandean residents were among the major prize winners with popular bar manager of the Ballandean Hall Alan (Butch) Taylor walking away with not only the Pelican Waters prize but several others as well. Another local David Westlake was the winner of the week’s accommodation. Not to be outdone, the lucky door prize of a $500 accommodation voucher donated by Burton and Sons Retravision was won by another Ballandean resident Carol Cox.
Rotary president Julie Beddow said that, while the final figure had yet to be tallied, the evening had raised several thousand dollars.
“It is great that children directly affected by the recent floods will benefit directly from the evening. The public support has been wonderful. We have even received direct donations from some people who were just unable to attend,” Mrs Beddow said.
“A very special thank you to the Ballandean Hall committee who donated the use of the hall and pledged their bar profits to the cause.The Rotary Club would also like to thank Butch Taylor and Chook Williamson for their help in making the evening so successful.”