Pedal Cinema 2024 Wrap Report
Another year, another green, successful pedal powered cinema completed for the MGC Enviro team. Thank you to all who attended and especially those people who personally contributed pedal or rowing energy into out battery bank. This year the screen did dip slightly 10 minutes into the movie, but that turned out to be due to a faulty wire in our equipment rather than lack of human energy. In fact, our powerful year 8 pedallers managed to generate 424watt hours, precisely 24 more watthours than the year 8 class on 2023. With the added fuel of some Xavier Grammar rowers, MGC staff, Enviro team members and friends and family, we collaboratively pedalled and rowed over 850 watt hours! More than enough energy to present Barbie and almost enough to run the solar Powered PA system- thanks Goodness for such a sunny day!
At the end of the school day as the weary year 8 riders headed home and reflected on their efforts, the MGC Enviro team continue to keep the pedals turning and were ably assisted by fellow students from the ISP (Interschool Sustainability Project) who came along to fill the gap. At 5pm the gates opened, and members of the public kept the wheels spinning and the human power coming through. The MGC music department kept us entertained and were ably assisted by the hidden talents of our teaching staff who performed alongside our talented students. At 7.30pm Murrundindi treated us to a very special digeridoo performance and we were honoured to be addressed by Cr Anad Mohamud, deputy mayor of the City of Yarra.
As the grey headed Flying foxes flew out from their roosts and the sun set across the sky, the electronic blower was switched on and the screen blew up before our eyes. The picnicking crowd enjoyed some more musical entertainment and stared down the rain clouds as we waited for darkness and the movie screen to light up. The screen gave us a bit of a scare as we experienced a temporary electronic failure, which prompted the audience to pedal even harder. Who knows if we needed the extra push, but in the end, we didn’t run out of power and a wonderful night was had by all! Thankyou to all those who contributed time, energy and donations. It takes a huge amount of effort to pull together such a community event and it was a pleasure wo work with such a passionate group of people, especially our wonderful student leaders.
Special acknowledgment to the head sponsors, Tilt Renewables for providing the funds for to hire DIYI Hifi, the solar powered sound system and to all our volunteer stall holders, many of whom donated raffle prizes. The winning raffle ticket holders are published below. Please reach out to Andrew Vance to arrange collection of your prize if you have not already done so.
Please support our sponsors and volunteer organisations who supported us:
Tilt Renewables (major sponsor)
Dominos Richmond (gave all our student volunteers Free pizza- delivered!)
Rapid Wrench Bicycle mechanics: https://www.therapidwrench.melbourne/
Electrify Boroondara: https://electrifyboroondara.org/
https://www.greenkarma.org.au/
The Port Phillip Eco Centre: https://www.ecocentre.com/
The Marine Mammal Foundation: https://www.marinemammal.org.au/