An Incredible £1,741.72 Raised

Two former Australian residents are celebrating the amount they raised with their 'bangers for bucks' event which was supporting the Australian bushfires mission.

Katherine Attreed of Warwick and Tina Smith of Kenilworth held a 'sausage sizzle' at Warwick Market on January 25, the day before Australia Day.

The pair were selling vegetarian sausages and hot dogs for The Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery and WIRES Wildlife Rescue.

Before the event the were hoping to raise at least £1,000 but thanks to the event and other donations that have also come in they have raised more than £2,000.

Katherine said: "It was amazing. The support was absolutely incredible.

"I was stunned at the number of people who came and who had heard about us. I think everybody wanted to help in some way but didn't know what they could do.

"I was overwhelmed.

"On the day we managed to raise £1,741.72 and then I was contacted by people who wanted to donate after the event so we have now raised £2,055.72. We doubled our target which is incredible.

"Among the donations we had £50 from Aubrey Allen who donated the proceeds from the sales of any sausages from their store in Leamington on that weekend. They also provided a lot of the sausages for our event along with butchers; Rowleys, Mel Broome and Son and Steve Crowe and Son.

"We also had donations from Bread and Co, The Bakers dozen, and local supermarkets.

"CJ's Events Warwickshire also gave us the stall and Ben Rushforth from Ben's Biltong provided the barbecue and cooked all day, we couldn't have done it without him."

"We also had last minute donations from an Australian lady who brought stuffed animals and biscuits to sell and we also had some brownies from Bluebasil Brownies in Leamington to sell on the day.

"The generosity of people was so lovely, I didn't know there were so many Australians around here."

Thanking the community for its support Katherine said: "We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came, to the fantastic businesses who donated and to the people who donated their time. We could't have done it without their support."

If anyone would like to donate they can contact Katherine on email: katherine@atkatmarketing.com or call: 07921 805248

You can also donate directly via: Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery by going to: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate

You can also donate by going to the WIRES Wildlife Rescue website: https://www.wires.org.au/donate/emergency-fund