Picture a crisp but sunny Saturday morning in Canterbury. What’s more natural than to see a group of Rotarians busily setting up for another community event? Many responded to Rob Simpson’s call for volunteers, so before 10am there were Rob, Karin, Steve, Wayne, Jill, Helen and Pat setting up tables, readying the BBQs (one especially for the vegan sausages) and putting out information about Canterbury Rotary. Shortly after them Elizabeth and Cathie arrived, the Rotary Canterbury banner was unfurled, and the delicious smell of cooking onions and sausages wafted into the air calling to the early Open Day attendees.
During the two hours of the event we had a steady stream of patrons. It was interesting to see the high number of customers wanting wholemeal bread, rather than white, to hold their sausage as well as the popularity of the vegan option. The only less than satisfactory thing was the poor sales of our ice-cold water -it couldn’t compete with the free coffees offered by the cute coffee caravan (courtesy of City of Boroondara) next to us! We sold the very last sausage as the Open Day event finished -what perfect planning!
As the day progressed Bob and John McC arrived for their shift and we observed many councillors, the Mayor and local Members of Parliament visiting the CNC, especially the community garden where visitors were able to plant up and take home a selection of herb seedlings. Our own Jess Wilson came for the official opening and stayed to visit us, attracting even more customers to the stall.
Huge thanks to the organisers of our first foray into working with CNC; Rob, Karin, Helen and Pat. Extra thanks to Karin for slicing 8kg of onions so they were ready to go into the wok! And to John Pocock for ably cooking them! The ‘found’ BBQ (4 burners with side wok burner) performed perfectly with the gas bottles donated by Ted and David Chivers. Thanks too go to all the workers during the day, those who set up, served, took the money, cooked the food and packed up, all the while having conversations with many different members of our community. We are very grateful to the Middle Camberwell Woolies for the very generous donation of most of the food- remember their community spirit when you shop.
