What a party we had at the Hackett shops!
The rain on Friday freshened everything up and cleared to provide the perfect weather for the Hackett Community Association’s (HCA), Party at the Hackett shops on Saturday 21 October 2017. Many hundreds of people attended throughout the day.
Music in the morning was provided by the immensely talented students from the Campbell High School and the North Ainslie Primary School bands. They certainly had the audience tapping along with their tunes and enthusiastic performances.
In the afternoon the John Agnew Band performed – some big sounds coming out – some of its members were graduates from Campbell High.
Stewart Barton, a young local singer songwriter, played some very pleasant guitar to accompany his excellent singing – he will have an album out next year… you heard him first in Hackett!
As well as music, the crowd was entertained by the energetic Merici College Dance Group performing numerous dances from Bollywood, the Can Can, and a version of Singing in the Rain that would make Gene Kelly envious.
Folk Dance Canberra finished off the afternoon with some colourful dances from several countries including Albania, Russia, France, Israel, Portugal, Canada and the Czech Republic.
Daniel Boyle, a Hackett resident, showed his amazing talents juggling a soft ball with his feet – called Footbag or happy sack, he soon had lots of children trying this very skilful activity – checkout his amazing routine in the video.
The Gecko Gang Toy World jumping castle was very popular, with an endless queue of children eager to get on and burn off some energy.
Chris De Luca painted over 200 happy faces – a marathon ‘paintathon’.
On the food front, we were kept well fed by the delicious selection from Siam Twist, sausages (kindly donated by Arthur and Steve from IGA) cooked by the talented BBQ skills of Terry, Dom and Bruce. The sugar fix was provided in the delicious cup cakes by Yolanda, from Campbell High School. To help wash down the food, we were able to get our daily Vitamin C content from the freshly made lemonade provided by the Hackett Preschool.
Majura Pines Trails Alliance provided an information table about the maze of bicycle paths in the pines on the north-east side of Mt Majura.
Lynda McPadden, Independent Consultant provided advice about Arbonne skin care products.
Thank you also to the ACT Fire and Rescue who bought along a Community Fire Unit trailer – there was a strong interest in people wanting to get involved in setting up a unit in Hackett. If you would like to get involved, visit the CFU website. And the added bonus was the Ainslie fire unit visiting in the afternoon – a lot of interest and excitement with the children getting in the truck.
Thank you also to Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith and staff who provided a range of information material and met residents. Andrew Leigh, Federal Member for Fenner, demonstrated outstanding cake cut cutting skills in dividing the Hackett birthday cake to share among the crowd – well done Andrew.
The HCA raffle was an outstanding success, with 14 prizes kindly donated by every shop at Hackett, as well as several residents of Hackett. These donations were greatly appreciated by the HCA.
| Draw | Prize | Donor | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Landscape painting | Peter Engel | Ann |
| 2nd | 1 hour massage | North Canberra Osteopathy | Kevin |
| 3rd | Voucher | Flawless Boutique Skin Clinic | Zahra |
| 4th | Voucher | Siam Twist | Stewart |
| 5th | Helmet | Monkey Wrench | Jacqui |
| 6th | Voucher | Wilbur’s Café and Bar | Rosalee |
| 7th | Voucher | Tarquine Hair Saloon | Amanda |
| 8th | 1 hour free session financial planning | Yellow Brick Road Ainslie | Dorothy |
| 9th Rachel | 1 hour free session financial planning | Yellow Brick Road Ainslie | Rachel |
| 10th | 1 hour free session financial planning | Yellow Brick Road Ainslie | Dimi |
| 11th | Two bottles of wine | IGA | Lee |
| 12th | Wine basket | Hackett resident | Jacqui |
| 13th | Savoury basket | Hackett Friends | McDonald |
| 14th | Tea towel (made in Hackett) | St Valentines | Simon |
We look forward to having another party around the same time in 2018. If you would like to get involved in any way, please contact us via the HCA website.
Chris Mobbs
Chair
Hackett Community Association
