Volunteers throw another snag on the BBQ

Several South West volunteer groups will be able to fire up the barbecue after some “hard yakka”, thanks to a community support initiative by Kleenheat Bunbury.

In a bid to say thank you, the gas supplier kicked off the initiative in April calling on community groups to register for one of six barbecues it was giving away.

Bunbury Sea Rescue training skipper Brett Ladhams snapped up the offer, registering on behalf of the volunteer organisation and last month flipped the first sausages on the group’s new hotplate.

Mr Ladhams said the barbecue was invaluable to the group which relied heavily on fundraising and donations.

“Like a lot of volunteer organisations, the social aspect can be as important as the hard yakka,” Mr Ladhams said.

“We had the occasional sausage sizzle using an old trolley barbecue but I thought something of this quality would make members want to use it and hopefully organise more social events – especially for the new members.”

Other groups to take advantage of the initiative were the Bunbury District Hockey Association, Binningup Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, Milligan Community Learning and Resource Centre and Harvey Amateur Swimming and Vasse Royals Football clubs.

The three-phase barbecues arefully framed with stainless steel plates and built-in burners and had to be installed by the recipients.

“The Kleenheat guys were great in delivering the barbecue and offering installation advice,” Mr Ladhams said.

“Skipper Gavin O’Dea put in almost a week to brick-up the unit and the whole group is grateful for his handiwork.”