I can’t help wondering if it’s sheer coincidence that Youth Week is on straight after the senior citizens have had their bash, Seniors Festival.
Not that it matters either way, but it’s so interesting that they are held one after the other.
Of course every day and every week and even every month is dedicated to one worthy cause or another.
Some of them are just straight celebrations like senior citizens concerts or rock music versions for youth week.
But over the years there have been some weird, wacky and wonderful promotional days/weeks/months, so we decided they deserve their own Top 5.
Number 1: Red Nose Day; this romps it into first place, with daylight second. What fun it was to try to find a new place to put a red nose on it. Nothing was too ridiculous, because, hey, it’s for a good cause. It’s still going and is on June 24 this year, by the way.
Number 2: Shave for a cure. Men, women, children, everyone got into this fundraising and awareness drive. News rooms used to dread the number of these that also wanted to be seen in the newspaper, and we did our best to accommodate the before, during and after pictures of someone losing their locks.
Number 3: World’s Biggest Morning Tea: a stark contrast to the wackiness of the previous two items, this was a civilised way to raise money for charity: stand around talking while having a piece of cake and a cup of tea – or coffee.
Number 4: Dry July and Ocsober: I give up alcohol, you give me money for my favourite charity. Mmm. Not much of a future in those.
Number 5: My personal favourite of all time is the Bankstown Sports Club staffer who, after losing a bet with a colleague, walked to Bass Hill backwards from the club premises, and it was a raging success, raising thousands of dollars for charity. He had the club handyman make him a special rearview mirror for the backwards walk to Bass Hill.
