Despite the Rain …

Posted on December 2, 2019

Now in its 24th year the Wood Days took place on the 9^th and 10^th of November at Milltown in Western Victoria. Once again they proved very popular despite some challenging weather conditions.

Preparation for this major event in the CIKA calendar starts some months beforehand when volunteers along with Christine and Andrew Duyvestyn start setting up the property for a busy weekend.

The event starts on Saturday at 10 a.m., and concludes on Sunday at 3 p.m. The weekend features a range of activities which illustrate the way in which timber was logged and processed in times past. These provide the opportunity for participants to see Clydesdale horses working with timber, as well as shingle cutting, post and rail fencing, slab milling, fuel driven engines, damper cooking, metal working, whip cracking and axe handle making. There were the usual stalls, raffles, sale of fresh vegetables and an excellent offering of tea, coffee and delicious cakes.

After the Saturday night after get together, a live auction went into action and an enthusiastic crowd bid eagerly for a large range of donated goods. A special thanks to the Heywood Lions Club for working the weekend and providing a constant supply of Farm Foods meats.

This special weekend needs a lot of manpower to come to fruition and our thanks go to the local community and those who travel long distances from throughout out Victoria to make it happen. At the last count, the event has raised in excess of $28,000 which is an amazing result.

Next year Wood Days will be 25 years old, which will coincide with CIKA being 40, so plans are already underway to recognise both of these special anniversaries. Meanwhile, here are some photographs taken at this year’s event.

The Wood Days are not all about food, but there was certainly a lot of it and it was delicious.