A wave of support

By Delima Shanti
A TOTAL of 100 performers joined forces last weekend to put together a spectacular night of song, dance and laughs, a welcome distraction from the recent floods for Casey residents.
The Casey Cares Flood Benefit Concert held on Saturday 12 February at the Cranbourne Community Theatre was a special event to raise money for the Mayoral Charity Fund to assist victims of the Victorian and Queensland flood. In a stroke of bad luck, the original venue at the River Gum Performing Arts Centre in Hampton Park was struck by flooding in the area.
Concert producer and Deputy Mayor Wayne Smith said the event sold out quickly as local community flocked to see “the cream of Cranbourne’s talent” perform onstage.
“The atmosphere out here is amazing and it is so telling of the community spirit we have here in the City of Casey. Everyone’s come out to support each other, we’ve all become friends.”
Chelsea Wall, the only performer directly affected by the floods, did not let the knee-deep flood waters which damaged her home dampen her spirits. Onstage, the Hampton Park songbird did not seem at all nervous performing her solo number in front of the crowd of 260.
“I just went on with rehearsals as usual,” Chelsea said backstage.
Also among the performers were Madison Pritchett, a finalist of the 2010 X-Factor, up-and-coming rockers Phantom Alice and a three-piece comedy outfit from Perth, The Big Hoo Ha.
Approximately $5500 was raised at the event which will be added to the Mayoral Charity Fund, in addition to the $10,000 already donated by the City of Casey to flood relief.
High profile guests were also present at the concert, with Federal Member for Holt Anthony Byrne MP in attendance and Parliamentary Secretary for Education Inga Peulich presenting a message from Premier Ted Baillieu.