The otherwise sleepy village of Cassilis saw plenty of colour and noise when the local school hosting the 25th Variety NSW AHA Bash as it headed for Dubbo last week.
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The 84 Bash crews passed through Cassilis on the first day of the event, departing Foreshore Park in Newcastle, kicking off the 2,500km around regional NSW to raise money for children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs.
Cassilis Public School relieving principal, Katrina Hodgson, said hosting the visit was a positive experience for the school and community.
“It was a fantastic opportunity for our school. We’re very small with 15 students currently and seven families, so it was a very big event to hold here,” she said.
“There hasn’t been one come through here for a number of years.
“We’d been busy planning and very lucky to have a lot of community involvement and donations of different supplies for the day, which has been great.
“The kids had a wonderful day and a lot of community support on display.”
As part of this year’s Bash, entrants will help present more than $40,000 worth of educational, health and mobility equipment to local schools along the route.
Cassilis Public School was presented with $4802, which will go towards new softfall for their playground equipment.
“We’ll be using it to replace our softfall, which was getting quite old,” Ms Hodgson said.
The 2016 Variety NSW AHA Bash travelled through Dubbo, Coonabarabran, Goondiwindi, Casino, Grafton and Tuncurry before returning to Newcastle on Saturday, May 21.
Each year dedicated Bash crews raise more than $500,000 for children in need across the state.
