a note from Luke... I wanted to say thank you again to our team of committed volunteers who really made this happen.  There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes  -  lots of planning, spreadsheets, documentation,  lots of late nights,  chasing up sponsors, recruiting volunteers, managing logistics, thousands of emails  and recruiting one’s own husband/wives as well to help in whatever way they can.   It’s a massive commitment that becomes part of taking on an event. This being said, I would like to acknowledge Kim Jordan for spearheading the sponsorship drive.  Kim is a Kindergarten parent who dove into the project, not knowing what to expect, yet thoroughly committed (along with her husband Ian) and together with our team of sponsorship volunteers, did an awesome job raising an incredible amount of donations.  You should all be very proud of your work.    Thanks again also to Jeff Tually and Kate McKeown for managing the venue and the seating arrangements. It’s a lot more difficult when in a new venue, especially when we can only set up on the day of the event. Ideally we could have set up the night before so we could test out lighting and better seating arrangements. Thanks also to all the other volunteers who helped bump in and pack up – especially Mandy and Karl, who tirelessly moved all the tables and risers back and forth from the schools.   Thanks also to the members of the P&C Committee for their continued assistance leading up to and during the event.  You have been a wealth of information.   From recruiting additional volunteers to web support, seating advice, logistics advice and also being hands on during the event.  Vanessa, thanks for filling in all the gaps that we encountered along the way.  Corinne and Daniel, “way to go” with the fast processing of transactions on the night.  Last but not least, special thanks must go to my wife Bridget Kennedy.  If the school has anyone to thank – it’s Bridget for getting me to attend the P&C meetings   (Yes, I was very reluctant to go).  It was her elbow that kept nudging me to put up my hand when the committee was looking for someone to run the trivia night.  Naturally I said, ”if I do this, we’re in this together”.  So behind much of the planning and setting up of the event was the hand of Bridget.  I think I would have gone insane without her help.   As in any event there are always things that can be improved, and in hindsight there are a few items that could have been done differently and I will work on a debrief document this week.  Overall, I believe it was a huge success and we can be thankful that in a year of negative financial growth, we did exceptionally well, breaking all records.   Great job everyone.  See you in the school grounds!   Luke Torrevillas