Sincere apologies for the late Newsletter. As many of you know Paul has been recovering from three operations he had within four weeks. Starting with a hernia op in June which resulted in two bowel blockage operations a week apart. He battled an infection and was on intravenous feeding for nearly three weeks. This left him quite weak but he has been improving each day and now eating and walking quite well and is well on the way to a full recovery.
The 2014 Hartwood festival was a huge success once again and the weather fantastic. $2,000 was raised for Ovarian Cancer Research and thank you all who contributed to this worthy cause.
The Coolah Central School P & C were very grateful for the response to their coffee and sandwich stall and raised approximately $5,000 which will benefit children from kindergarten to Year 12 students. Thanks so much for your support.
After much deliberation, Paul has decided to cancel Hartwood Campfires & Country Music Festival for 2015 and place the property on the market. This is a reluctant and sad decision to have to make as so many have enjoyed the annual Hartwood Festival which has remained a very friendly “people’s festival”. We both feel the need to look after our health and be free to do other things and feel that the festival, should it keep going, would be better in younger hands. As you are probably aware, Paul has successfully financed and run the festival for 27 years now without help from sponsors etc.. – just our loyal band of dedicated volunteers whom we thank profusely. In addition, the Warrumbungle Council has imposed more rules and regulations to be implemented before a new development application can be granted. Paul has been negotiating with a group interested in keeping the festival going but new regulations have deterred them at this time. However he is still attempting to gain approval for a new DA which would allow an incoming buyer to either run the festival or lease it out to others. So keep an eye on this spot as there is the possibility that the festival will be on again in 2016, albeit with new operators.
Thanks to the generosity of Trevor ‘Chalky’ Chalk and his talent on the video camera and many hours in the edit suite, the festival can still be relived on a double video with about three hours running time. Many of you who were there in 2013 will probably be able to see yourselves in the crowd shots.
We hope we might see you at some of the other festivals around the country as we plan to travel a bit in the caravan.
Happy and safe travels to all,
Hele & Paul