Fete 2022 - Thank you

As mentioned earlier, last weekend's school fete was a huge success for our school, on both a community and a financial level.

This success was no coincidence and was a reflection of the planning, preparation and hard work that went into the event by a large and very talented group of parent volunteers. 

The work for the fete began at the end of 2021 and, since then, the parents involved have somehow found hundreds of hours in between their work and family commitments to pull this off.

Saying thanks will never be sufficient  reward for what they have done for our school but we would like to specifically acknowledge the following people and groups;

• Rachael O'Connor, our fete co-ordinator for taking on the role at the start of the year and keeping everything on track ever since. This role has involved running meetings, overseeing all of the different aspects and being on the ground for a full fortnight to take deliveries, unpack, pack-up, drive vans and solve problems.

•  Belinda Williams, our logistics co-ordinator, for her incredibly hard work ensuring we had everything we needed in the right place at the right time and her tireless work  before, during and after the fete to make things happen on time and smoothly.

• Bec Walton and David Williams for running our first-ever online silent auction. The amount of work involved in sourcing almost 200 different donations and then uploading them to the '32 auctions' website was incredible and so successful. As was the work before, during and after the event to make this happen and then arrange payments and collections. We took around $27,000 from the silent auction alone and need to thank Bec and David for making this such a big success. We also need to thank Beth Steven and Isla Shaw for their work setting up and decorating the Performing Arts room for the auction. 

• Kyla Davies for the amazing graphics and posters for the fete. The amount of time and work that goes into such a beautiful set of graphics is a huge job and one that we truly appreciate. Kyla is a great example of the type of multi-talented and incredibly generous parent that we have at SKiPPS. Kyla works as a freelance designer and, if you are in need of any design work, can be contacted on kyla@iinet.net.au 

• Sophie Maguire for leading our sponsorship and marketing work. Sophie was successful in attracting our sponsors to the event - something that raised well over $15,000 in donations and 'in kind' support - an amount that makes a huge difference to the bottom line for an event like this.

• Jordan Falla for coordinating the rides for the event. This was a hugely challenging process and we ended up with a great selection of attractions that were suitable for children young and old. 

• Brook Saunders and Renee Weeden for managing the class stalls for each year level. Having each year level take on the running of an attraction was a great addition to the fete and trying to keep these on track was a huge job. We thank Brook and Renee for making this happen.

• Lucy Saliba for running the financial side of the fete, keeping the budget in line and keeping track of income and expenditure.

• Allison Shanahan for managing the sustainable aspects of the fete, including the successful recycling and waste systems. Allison also masterminded the decorations, including running three separate community workshops to create fete decorations that reused and recycled waste products like bottle tops and plastic bottles.

•  Kristy Ayre for running the stage and entertainment for the fete. It was wonderful that we had such a range of performances, from our welcome to country by Boonwurriung elder Janet Gilpin, through all of our student performances to the Bollywood dancing to our Parents' band signing off with a bang. Kristy masterminded these with the help of her partner Nick Roux and Stephen Stanisic our Performing Arts teacher, all whilst keeping a close eye on the rain radar throughout the day.

• Sasha Goldsmith for co-ordinating the bar at the fete - always a highly popular and profitable aspect. Sasha's ongoing generosity in helping with school events for almost ten years through his company Cellar D'or is much appreciated. We also need to thank John Ahern for his work on the day to keep things on track and to CBCo and Troy McKinna and his company Calm and Stormy for their generosity in drinks supply. 

• Marie Westerhof and Camey O'Keefe for managing the different food offerings at the fete. This task was very challenging as it was ever-changing but the selection on the day with crepes, potatoes, a sausage sizzle, sushi, candy floss and popcorn and a coffee cart was wonderful. Thanks to Romy Paltoglou for her work and generosity running the potato stall on the day.

• Linda Tully and Anna Esque for co-ordinating the toys and books stall in the new pavilion. We were overwhelmed with great donations and there was a huge amount of work in collecting, storing, pricing and selling these on the day. 

• Briony Foote and Elisa Webb for running the cake stall and the cake decorating competition. As always, this was a big success with hundreds of delicious donations and getting these set up and sold is no easy task.

• Suzannah Waldron for her design skills on the site map and her flexibility in changing this many times as our plans changed. 

• Matt Gdanitz for his works on the wonderful promotional social media video 

• Sonya Stephen for her hard work as a part of the committee and on the day. 

• Elisa Casagrande and Alessandro Moscon for the donation of bread for the sausage sizzle

• The team at Woolworths Metro Fitzroy Street for donating a massive amount of food and other goods for the fete

• The team at Parks Victoria for supporting the event and allowing us to use Albert Park and the Pavilion to run the rides and the stalls. 

There are so many more people who contributed their time and energy to make the fete a success and it is sadly impossible to name them all. Whether you decorated, baked, donated, volunteered or just turned up and spent money, we really appreciate all that you have done.

We are looking forward to our next Fete in March 2024!

Our Sponsors

Our gold Sponsors; McGrath Real Estate, Kennards Hire, Cox Auto, Cellar D'Or, F45 and FS8 each contributed generously to the fete - through financial sponsorship or 'in kind' donations. We thank them for getting involved with our event.