AFTER five years of blood, sweat and tears Albatross Show-N-Shine organisers Glenn Smith and Stu Walters have put the brakes on the popular event.
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While the pair have not completely closed the door on staging another show, which has raised thousands of dollars for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the Australian Leukodystrophy Support Group Inc (ALDS), they have decided to take a break from the event.
Both are members of the Royal Australian Navy. Glenn has been posted to Canberra, with Stu set to join him there next year making organising the annual event in Nowra tough.
“It’s been a great ride, we’ve had a lot of great support and fun along the way,” Glenn said.
“But for the time being we need to take a break.”
“We aren’t saying it will never be back, we just have to wait and see how things pan out,” Stu said.
On Wednesday the pair donated the last remaining funds from their events, $1615, to the Children’s Ward at Shoalhaven District Hospital.
“Both our children have spent time here over the years and we just thought it would be great to hand over the last of our funds to the hospital,” Glenn said.
“We couldn’t think of a better place.”
Operations manager of critical care Stuart Emslie thanked the pair for the donation.
“Being a public hospital we always welcome donations,” he said.
“This is great. We may not put it into a specific piece of equipment but perhaps on items that make a patient’s stay better and might help their parents.”
Glenn and Stu thanked the many local and national businesses who supported their efforts.
“We have been blown away by the amount of support we have received,” Stu said.
“And the support has been ongoing over many years,” Glenn said.
“We had some major backers who were with us all the way - HMAS Albatross, Bellert and Bennett Smash Repairs, Shannons, Meguiars, The Fleet Air Arm Museum, Rotary and Shoalhaven City Council.
“Thanks to Shoalhaven Navy Cadets, TS Shoalhaven, Matt Gilkes who ran and organised the judging and all the volunteers who helped the events be such a success.”
“And of course we must thank everyone who entered cars or bikes into the shows and all the car fans who attended each event and helped us raise so much money,” Stu said.