Fashion Fundraiser

Held on the afternoon of Saturday 28 October in the Minerva Space, the fashion parade was a wonderful success. The event was initiated by Geraldine Roberts to promote the BMI’s Pre-loved and Vintage Clothing shop.

The 100 guests sat down to a beautifully presented and scrumptious High Tea prepared and donated by Malcolm Roberts, while they viewed a series of spectacular outfits modelled by the eight volunteer models.

The comperes Prue Bentley and Paula Nicholson described the highlights of the outfits, while the audience thoroughly enjoyed the parade and listened to the carefully considered background music. A further highlight were musical solo items by Cellist, Naomi Dellar, a Ballarat Grammar Year 10 student.

In a wonderful effort, overall, more than $7,000 was raised with the money going to BMI projects including hanging rails in various Institute rooms. As well as tickets for the event, funds were raised by a silent auction of seven items and many guests purchased the beautifully presented and generously sponsored table flower arrangements prepared by Kathryn Amor.

There are many people to thank. This includes models Daisy Bentley, Olivia Church, Sammy Crellin, Emily Davies, Marie Della-Bosca, Anita Godfrey, Christine Hickson and Scarlett Spencer, who were dressed by Pre-loved Shop partners Donna Pentland and Geraldine Roberts; the two comperes Prue and Paula who gave entertaining commentary; Malcolm Roberts’ High Tea team of Debbie Coutts, Kate Matthews and Jill Oliver with table waiters Ash, Zac and Justin Spencer; BMI staff members Alana Kelly, Sam McColl, Rosemary McInerney and Mark Potter; BMI volunteers Greta Christie, Marilyn Furness, Judy Peters and Jane Valpied; BMI Patron Phil Roberts who conducted the silent auction and many of the audience members who had previously generously donated pre-loved clothing items.

The fashion parade was so successful that many attendees have asked for a similar event to be held in 2024 to enable other friends to have the opportunity to attend such a fun event. We areconsidering dates is early October 2024.

Note: If you would like to be on our mailing list to receive updates for the 2024 Fashion Parade Fundraiser, or, you would like to sponsor a corporate table or be in a position to donate prizes for our silent auction please go to the link below and register.