And just like that we are at the start of March! It’s been an extremely busy first quarter of our reign as titleholders and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon!
The month began with a number of celebrations as both Sarah and Jes celebrated their birthdays and a new year that is bound to be full of excitement!
Early in the month we again joined Pottsy & Leighton on Triple M and Ash & Whitto on HitFM to talk about our past month and upcoming events. We always have a blast when on the radio, so a thank you goes to Triple M and HitFM.
We are honoured to have attended a number of events and met some absolutely incredible people already in our time as titleholders, however, on 10 February we were invited by Daryl Maguire MP, to meet a very special guest to Wagga, that being The Honourable Gladys Berejiklian MP, Premier of New South Wales. Gladys, as we were advised to call her, was an incredibly down to earth woman who demonstrated strong leadership and a kindness that will no doubt resonate through her time as Premier. We are both so appreciative for the chance to meet Ms Berejiklian and we wish her well on her quest to make NSW an even greater state.
February was a frantic month of fundraising with Sarah and Jes introducing a range of events to Wagga’s social calendar. All profits from these events will go straight towards their Thomas Bros. Wagga Wagga Takes Two funds.
By thinking outside the box, Sarah held a considerably mixed bag of events. She sold tickets for meat raffles which were held each Friday night at the Union Hotel. On 16 February, Sarah held an Outdoor Movie Night at the beautiful Borambola Winery to which there were a number of reports from attendees stating what an exceptional night it was! On 25 February, eager poker players assembled at the William Farrer Hotel where Sarah also hosted a Charity Poker Night. The poker faces were on and the cards were dealt, all for a fantastic range of prizes that were up for grabs.
Jes also held a number of events in February which go towards her fundraising efforts for Wagga Wagga Takes Two, the first being a Women’s Wellbeing Day held on 11 February. The day commenced with a number of addresses from speakers in a range of different fields such as Naturopathy, meditation and medium ship and finished with the attendees enjoying massages, psychic readings, and cooking demonstrations. On 17 February, Jes – alongside her singing partner Josh McKellar; MC’d her next event, the Life in the Spotlight Encore night. The audience were presented with a stellar performance from some of Wagga’s best known performers and were blown away by the amount of talent they witnessed. The night was a huge success and a big thank you goes to the cast and crew of the very successful show. Jes also has a raffle at the moment with some great prizes to be won. Keep a look out on Saturdays at the Marketplace for a chance to purchase a ticket.. or two!
In keeping with the Thomas Bros Wagga Wagga Takes Two updates, we have both been working hard rehearsing our chosen songs (don’t ask.. it’s a secret). Sarah has been putting Joel through his paces with some sort of dance routine – Joel now has an injury from this intense training; however the show must go on! Josh is off to the U S of A for a month, leaving Jes to transform into a star by his return date – **no promises or contracts were made in relation to this ‘star’ business**.
In between these rehearsals, we have both taken part in the exciting lead up events to the WWT2 performances. During the performance nights, there will be a cast music video shown which will exhibit the vibrant and diverse personalities of the 2017 WWT2 family. This video was made on a 38 degree day where we were carted around in the Kildare Catholic College bus in order to get the perfect shot. It was such a fun day and great to get to know the other contestants. We can’t wait for you all to see it!
Another lead up event was the radio interviews for the contestants and their singing partners. Jes and Josh were up first, with Jes pushing snooze on the alarm clock one too many times and discussing how she ‘sings’ (belts out) Garth Brooks ‘Friends in Low Places’ at home for her family to enjoy. Sarah and Joel discussed the aforementioned dancing injury while Sarah was consistently careful to not announce which song they will be performing on radio. It is really tough to keep this secret! On 19 February, we were invited to attend the Annual Gumi Race to sell some raffle tickets to raise money for South Wagga Apex. The effort that goes into the Gumis is a credit to their creators – there was some truly incredible engineering as well as groups that strongly considered the aesthetic appeal of their Gumi. It was such a fun day down at Wagga Beach and congratulations to the organisers for a fantastic day.
Sarah participated in a forum hosted by Mayor Conkey on 21 February, which aimed to discuss the prevention and deterrence of domestic violence in Wagga Wagga. Domestic Violence is an extensive issue in Australia, and in particular regional communities and all efforts should be made to combat the problem.
Sarah was also invited to speak at the Wagga CWA meeting on 22 February. She discussed her time in the quest along with her current fundraising efforts for Wagga Wagga Takes Two.
Finally, we note that applications are still open for new entrants for the 2018 Miss Wagga Wagga Quest and will close on 6 March 2017. It’s an incredible journey and one that we are both so glad we chose to go on last year. What have you got to lose?