By Deanne Jeffers
Building on its strong tradition of fundraising for Goulburn Valley Hospice Care, the 29th GV Hospice Rallye enjoyed sunny skies, a full field of vehicles, and raised an impressive $77,653 for the cause this year, adding to the $1.1M contributed during previous years.
Approximately 110 riders and more than 40 cars set out on May 3-4, 2025 for the mystery navigational tour. The route departed from Shepparton’s MOVE Museum to Euroa for lunch, then through Mansfield to Eildon, where participants enjoyed dinner and accommodation.
This year’s dinner theme was ‘Dream Occupation’, and the costumes were as diverse as the cars in the rally itself. Bernadette Girdwood’s floral inspired outfit stole the show. GV Hospice Rallye Chair, Kelvin Maude, said it was impressive the effort people put into the theme.
“Participants dressed in their dream occupation or as what they wanted to be when they grew up. We had an interesting and varied group this year, with amazing effort put in. First place went to Bernadette Girdwood, who always wanted to be a florist and has a beautiful garden at home.”
Car 10, driven by Trent Williams and his team Kelly Rainbow, Aaron Fuller, and Stacey Murray, was the first-place winner of the rallye. The team’s event was won by three cars campaigned by Mary Coad, Myra Quick and Richard Bell.
Kelvin said the committee were very pleased with the fundraising result, adding to the over $1M already raised by the rally since its inception.
“We’re very happy with anything over $50k, so this is definitely one of our strongest years. It’s wonderful to see how well supported the rally is each year.”
This year’s winners of the major raffle prize were Kate Eaton (1st prize), Nell Popelier (2nd prize), and Lewis Dawe (3rd prize). They have won seven nights’ accommodation at The Oracle at Broadbeach, a helicopter joy flight, and set of tyres respectively, all generously donated.
