Saving the heart and soul of country music

Community sponsorship grant buys defibrillator machine

CLASSIC COUNTRY: Rob McCalister and Henry Wilson with Cammie and Charlie Bastow with the new defibrillator machine. Picture: Kate McCormack

ON THE fourth Sunday of every month, country music lovers from near and far gather at the old Boonarga Hall, ten minutes east of Chinchilla for an afternoon jam session and a cup of tea.

One Sunday last year turned out to be a little more eventful than usual when one of the attendees had a heart attack.

"Luckily Chinchilla Ambulance were on the scene within 10 minutes and he is still with us today,” concert organiser Cammie Bastow said.

"It still gave us all a terrible scare, so we decided something had to be done about it.”

Twelve months down the track and with some serious fundraising behind them, Mr and Mrs Bastow have been able to purchase a portable defibrillator machine with the help of CS Energy.

The energy company recently provided more than $51,000 in community sponsorships to 12 groups across the region, including the Dalby Kart Club and Chinchilla State School, as part of the second round of their community sponsorships scheme.

CS Energy head of corporate affairs, Nev Conway, said CS Energy's community sponsorships were awarded in two rounds each financial year.

"In round 1, we awarded more than $110,000 to 15 community groups, bringing the total for this financial year to well over $160,000 in support for our local communities,” Mr Conway said.

"This round we had more than 35 school, community and not-for-profit organisations apply for more than $570,000 of funding.

There were a lot of worthy applications, and we work with our local power station managers to select the projects we think are going to have real, long-lasting positive impacts on the local community.”

With the $1600 from CS Energy, $300 from the Jandowae RSL and $150 from the Jandowae Show Society, the Bastows were able to purchase a portable defibrillator they can also take with them to the country music afternoon held in Jandowae on every second Sunday of the month.

"Without these country music sessions, many of our patrons wouldn't have anything to look forward to, so it's very important we keep them going,” Mrs Bastow said.

"And now we can rest a little easier knowing the defib machine is there if we ever need it again.”

Originally published as Saving the heart and soul of country music