Ray White Berry Support Annual Berry Showgirl Competition
Ray White Berry has continued their tradition of giving strong community support via their sponsorship in the recent Miss Berry Showgirl. Local lass Holly Pastor was the lucky recipient of sponsorship through Ray White Berry after being selected for the competition by director of Ray White Berry, Mr Shane Hilaire. Holly did herself and Ray White Proud during all aspects of the competition and was only narrowly beaten by the eventual competition winner Hannah Mitchell.
The 21-year-old Ms Mitchell wants to use her title to tell people of the struggles faced on a daily basis by many farmers.
“I want to make young people aware of the agricultural sector and how many farmers, particularly out west, have been living in drought for years,” Ms Mitchell said.
“I want to make people aware of the agricultural sector’s importance to Australia.”
She also wants to encourage more people to take part in the show.
Ms Mitchell said she was surprised and honoured to be the Berry Showgirl for 2010.
“It’s a dream come true,” she said.
The Berry Show has been an important part of her life. Since she was four years old, she has been involved in the goat section.
The Berry Showgirl does not mind the less glamorous tasks and yesterday went back to the show and helped with the clean-up.
Among her prizes, she won two nights’ accommodation at the Ibis, Sydney Darling Harbour.
Meanwhile, secretary of the Berry Agricultural Society Jim Bieler said given the wet conditions the show was an outstanding success.
“I was amazed at the resilience of the competitors,” Mr Bieler said.
He was surprised that so many events, particularly in the horse section, went on.
The Australian Underhand Woodchop Championships, one of the feature events, went ahead, but was reduced from 21 sections to seven and was won by Tasmania’s Lawrence O’Toole.
The rodeo, ride-on lawn-mower race and fireworks were among the events that had to be cancelled.
The gate takings were also expected to be down.
All staff at Ray White Berry felt privileged to have been involved in the Miss Berry Showgirl competition and was very impressed with the quality of all competitors. Ray White Berry hopes to continue to be involved in the competition in future years.
-This Story was derived from Damian Mcgill’s story that appeared in the South Coast Register 8th February
