Airshow, beard strange bedfellows for bushfire aid

Andrew Mathieson
AVALON Airshow organisers yesterday revealed plans to fund research into aviation and aerospace technology to help fight bushfires.
The $250,000 pledge from Aerospace Australia would boost firefighting in the wake of the Black Saturday fires a fortnight ago, which killed more than 200 people.
“Hopefully, this research will make a concrete contribution to combating such horrific events in years to come,” Aerospace Australia chief executive Ian Honnery said.
Next month’s Avalon International Airshow will feature a parade of emergency services appliances including aircraft and helicopters as a tribute to firefighters who battled the bushfire disaster.
Mr Honnery said Friday Night Alight on March 13 would include a torchlight ceremony featuring hundreds of Country Fire Authority volunteers.
But organisers had decided to cancel the night’s traditional wall of fire display as a mark of respect for bushfire victims.
“We felt that, during a time when the community is still coming to grips with the tragic events of Black Saturday and the ongoing fire threats to various communities, cancelling the wall of fire was the right thing to do,” Mr Honnery said.
In another bushfire fundraiser, an offer to shave off a Geelong ambulance officer’s trademark beard raised nearly $3000 for station branches at Kinglake and Marysville yesterday.
The highest bidder earned the opportunity to make the first cut before others took their turn at Geelong Ambulance Headquarters.
Veteran Geelong paramedic Laurie Blick said he was only too happy to “supply the beard”.
“I have to send some of it to a few people as proof it actually came off,” he said.
“Even though I’ll have photos, they still want proof in some little packages so they can hang it on their wall.
“There are some weird ambos.”
Mr Blick had last trimmed his beard four years ago after growing facial hair to beat winter chills on his motorbike.
Leo Moran said his ambulance colleague of 28 years was constantly ribbed about his 30cm-long, bushy beard.
“We used to say that when we’d cut it off all sorts of things will fall, out like missing children from the 1960s, the Titanic, Pharlap – you never know,” Mr Moran said.