Australian Concert Bands

Our morning news is telling us that NSW was hit by a hailstorm yesterday afternoon/evening. Hope all Members of this forum, their families and their homes are safe.

PMQ is fine! Nothing here.

I think it was more down Sydney way.

Anyone got any pics?

Saw some of the footage on the TV news last night - amazing.
Did you know we have bad bushfires on Kangaroo Island. Have had smoke hanging around here from them. Firies are coming from interstate to help. One life lost.

Yep. Read about it on the RFS intranet. Not good.

Been very quiet here fire wise. All this rain soon puts a stop to it all....but then the fuel levels just keep building up for when it does 'go'

One report has stated that the rules against control burning of native vegetation are making many areas more vulnerable. Seems the "greenies" may take things too far.

Ever been to a greenies "camp" after they've left?

Rubbish left everywhere, fires not put out properly . My scouts know better! (Though my experience was 7 years ago. The greenies may have learned by now)

yeah i agree. they dont like the HR (hazard reduction) burns cause of the supposed damage they cause to the forest.

All you need to do is to look at our environment! It has, and will, withstand fire!

Now for a RFS brigade to do a HR burn, the captain of the brigade needs to fill out a 20 something page book on the burn (regardless of the size) and a lot of captains refuse to do this cause of the red tape involved.

North West Wind Ensemble was in the middle of their end-of-year concert in Castle Hill when the storm hit. We had to stop in the middle of a piece when the sound of the hail on the roof became louder than the music, and the power went out. The storm was over very quickly and we continued the rest of the concert.

Many of the band member's and concert goer's cars (my own included) were damaged, some pretty badly.

Here are a few photos I took after the concert.

Golly that looks bad Matt. Does your insurance cover the damage?

No, unfortunately I am not insured for storm damage. It's my own stupid fault. I didn't upgrade my policy from my old crappy car when I got a new, expensive car. So now I'll either drive around with a dented car, or fork out for the repairs, which are likely to be prohibitively expensive.

I got off fairly lightly compared to other cars in the area. At least none of my windows were damaged. I just had my windscreen replaced a few weeks ago, I would have been really peeved if I had to do it again!

What a shame Matt. I am about to change cars. I have things set up that I send an email to my insurance man on the morning of the changeover and the policy will be changed. New car is worth about $20,000, is used but only done about 39,000Km so I want it protected as best I can.
Hope you can in time restore your car to perfect condition.

Bev.

I got caught in a hail storm recently in my new car. Was only small hail, but when ure doing 80km's it really helps it scratch your paint work...

I always tried to stop moving when there was a hailstorm when I was a coach driver. Those big front windscreens are pretty vulnerable.

Hope all is well with you Ben. Have the Christmas Parade tonight. Have 10 members of a Band coming plus my son with his trusty flugel horn. Quite a disappointment not to have a full Band - will start the planning really early next year. Only had about 3 months this year owing to illness of someone else. Very hot this morning, but have a cool change due this afternoon. Fires still burning firecely on Kangaroo Island.

Bev

Hope all is well with anyone affected by recent storms/fires. Apologies that I haven't posted much recently. Will make a better effort now that school holidays have started!

Hello bobatron - enjoy the holidays!!! Yes the forum has been quiet but it has been such a busy time for everyone. I live 40km north of Adelaide and we have been affected by the smoke of the Kangaroo Island fires. If you know SA you will see that it has travelled quite a way. Heard on the radio that the Salvos are supplying over 1800 meals a day to the firefighters on the Island. If only it would rain and help the firefighters............ and help all of SA as well.

Regards,

Bev.