2012 Display & Build

After an excellent 2011 season we headed down to Redkite to hand over the funds raised.

Ordered a few items from Ray Wu to see how a fireworks item will look for this year. This will be one of 2 or 3 similar items with 10 meters of RGB strip, a single 27 channel controller, some sort of 12V DC power supply (probably 200 watts local to the items) all giving a rather unique item that will be placed on the roof in a few places, depending on how the test item looks.

A few additional items have also been included that will be trialed for both a ledtriks replacement as well as a new icicles design as well, plus a few additional lights for a planned idea as a series of Mushrooms throughout the yard. Also tried an upgrade of the Silhouettes by replacing the 50 240V globes drawing a total of 32 watts with 50 RGB LED’s drawing a total of 8 watts. You can see videos of the new icicle design and silhouette replacement below.

Went to Sydney for a VERY long day. Caught up with the Spoonman at Triple M in Sydney. This was the first time Sue had the chance to meet
him, as Jacob met him in mid 2010, Juanita met him during School Spectacular trip in November 2011. Strangely enough while we were there
we saw David Hasselhoff (The Hoff!!!) leaving the studio. Alas Jacob was the only one quick enough to get a picture, and even then it was a pretty poor one, but its better than nothing. Then a quick tour of the Triple M studio’s, and we met the Grill Team, and had a chat to MG. It took Jacob a while to realise that MG is actually Mark Geyer, former Penrith and NSW State of Origin Player. One thing Sue mentioned, and I have noticed in my 3 visits to the Triple M studio’s, is how happy everyone working there is. They all say hello, almost always smile and nod as they walk past, and the whole group of people seem to work as a happy and well-oiled team.

After the Triple M visit we hopped on a train to Redfern to deliver the cheques to Redkite. Like Triple M, the staff at Redkite are wonderful and a credit to the organisation. They are always happy, smiling and interested in our fundraising and show. We only raise a few thousand, a drop in the bucket for such a large organisation, but they still make us feel important, and this is why we have chosen to continue to support Redkite in 2012.
Keep an eye out for their new TV ad as well – we saw it while we were down there and it was hard to keep a dry eye. They certainly do help lighten the load for families, and we feel privileged to help in our own small way.