Top, L-R: Ray Knight, Marnie Lewis, Andrew Turner, Kaye Nutley, Neil & Sally Steedman, Sandy McDonald, George Droutsas, John Allen, Mark Beitz, Eric Batten. Front, L-R: Alex Givney, Jo Soothill, Phil Herbohn, Bill Simpson, Michele Walters, Ray Buntain. Photo: Supplied.
BY BILL SIMPSON
Every Christmas for the past 36 years, the iconic Big Red Santas have emerged on the roofs, walls, and fences of bayside organisations and homes as if by magic.
The APEX Club of Wynnum members Ray Buntain and Neil Williams (deceased) brought them to Wynnum, and the APEX Club erected them from 1989 until 1994. The Ladies Apex Club of Moreton Bay looked after them in 1995. Then, in 1996, the Ladies Apex club donated the Santas to the Rotary Club of Wynnum and Manly, which has managed them ever since and added an additional popular product: a corflute Santa for display in windows.
Throughout all these years, a group of dedicated supporters has rented Santas for their businesses, some of whom were original participants in Apex 36 years ago.
The Rotary Club of Wynnum and Manly held an awards dinner recently to recognise these generous business owners for more than 20 years of support for the Rotary Santa program.
The funds that they have willingly given over the years have helped many local and international Rotary projects succeed.
The recipients of these awards are:
- Bartons
- Brett’s Mechanical
- Bayside Southside Curtains
- Ede’s Hair
- North Wynnum News
- Crawford Motors
- Jeff Coulter & Co Motors
- J & J Batteries
- Hector the Erector
- Larry McFarlane Cabinet
Makers - Ullman Sails
- Master Cylinder Exchange
- Mike Price Mechanical
- Pelican’s Nest
- Manly Hotel
- Waterloo Bay Hotel
- Wynnum Pizza & Ribs
- Perry’s Fruit & Veg
- Connor Hunter Lawyers
- Wynnum Manly Ward Office
- Electorate Office of the State Member for Lytton
- Sandy McDonald
Supporters unable to attend the event will have their awards delivered by the elves in the coming weeks.
If you are not on Rotary’s annual Santa list but would like to order a Santa (rooftop, wall or corflute) for this Christmas, please contact the secretary by email at [email protected] for more information.
