SWAN Hill’s Inner Wheel Club have held a fundraising day steeped in tea-making history and tradition.
What Inner Wheel called their Tea-Riffic Day took place at The Grain Shed, to raise funds for cord blood research.
Visitors browsed displays made up of teapots, tea-cosies, tea towels and all things related to tea.
Inner Wheel Swan Hill secretary Lyn Ward said the community knew what to expect when it came to Inner Wheel.
“People have seen what we have done before, so they come along to see what we can do once more,” she said.
“We were inundated with people coming in and having their morning tea and a little wander around as well, everyone seemed to be quite amazed by the displays.
“It was a very big day for us, we probably could have even spread it over a couple of days.”
Between all the teapots and cosies stood a mannequin adorned with tea bags and a scarf created by Lucille George of Echuca.
The scarf knitted together more than 4000 tea bag strings before it was loaned to Inner Wheel for the day.
Ms Ward said the Tea-Riffic event had been planned since before the beginning of the pandemic.
“We almost got there – within a week before, we had to cancel it again due to one of the quick lockdowns during that time,” she said.
“It had been sitting there on our books for quite a while.
“The girl who had co-ordinated it had been given teapots by people and she had to hold onto them for over three years before she could get them out on display.
“All of our members hopped in and helped with it all, we were there all day on Thursday to set it up.”
Local businesses also had multiple stalls set up throughout the Grain Shed, selling their wares and sharing a chat.
When attendees were finished perusing the displays, they were invited to share a cuppa and enjoy their afternoon in the company of friends.
Ms Ward said the event was all about raising funds for Inner Wheel’s national project, cord blood research.
“We haven’t exactly tallied up the donations, but we think it would be well over $2000,” she said.
“I think everyone is quite passionate about the research that goes on.
“Inner Wheel started this back in 2000, and in those days, they were saying it would take 20 years before we saw any results.
“Throughout that time we have seen results where children with leukaemia have been cured, as well as trying to help people with cystic fibrosis and babies born who had been oxygen deprived.
“There are a lot of things that cord blood can be used for, which is great.”
