For the children: Hannah Petrie-Allbutt rehearses You Save Me with school student Harry Moran.
ERIN PEARSON
POINT Lonsdale Primary School teacher Hannah Petrie-Allbutt will use the power of music to help inspire children as part of Queenscliff’s new Good Friday appeal.
Ms Petrie-Allbutt, an integration aid, put pen to paper to boost student morale after watching children struggle to assimilate in the playground.
Ms Petrie-Allbutt’s song, You Save Me, will feature as a theme song for a Kids Busking for the Kids fundraising event on Good Friday.
The initiative will seek to raise around $20,000 for Royal Children’s Hospital after the demise of the town’s traditional seafood feast fundraiser.
Ms Petrie-Allbutt hoped the busking event would also be a catalyst to bring children together.
“While growing up I always felt different and coming back to school and seeing other kids feel the same made me realise how hard school can be.”
Queenscliff Lonsdale Business and Tourism Association president Graham Christie said a Good Friday without a children’s hospital fundraiser “wasn’t an option” for the community.
“It was intolerable for us not to have some type of fundraiser, so we decided to go back to basics,” he said.
“We’re well known for seafood but also our quality young kids.
“The kids down here stand out because we have the oldest population per capita in Australia – our average age is 68. All the children in the town are generally grandchildren, so they’re precious to us.”
Organisers said Kids Busking for the Kids would feature 10 busking stations around Hesse Street and in the town’s harbour precinct as well as food and fashion stalls and displays.
