By Eleanor Wilson
After a two-year pause due to Covid, the Berwick Antique & Collectables Fair is brushing off the dust for its fifth annual event.
Over 30 stallholders will fill Berwick Leisure Centre on Sunday 9 October with a wide range of antiques goods, including furniture, crockery and knick knacks, and valuations by David Freeman for $5.
Proceeds from a $5 per person fair entry will go toward Riding for the Disabled’s Doveton branch at Myuna Farm, a place close to fair organiser Coosje Dubach’s heart.
“I have seen the benefits to so many people and riders over the years and their improvement, not only physically but emotionally,” she said.
For 50 years, Riding for the Disabled Victoria has provided equine activities to people with intellectual, physical and sensory disabilities and mental illness to experience enjoyment, personal enrichment and a sense of achievement.
Involved with the organisation for two decades, Mrs Dubach said the therapeutic relationship between the horses and the riders has resulted in “many beautiful moments”.
“At one stage we had an autistic girl who was non-verbal. For the two years she was with us she never said a word, until one day after a ride she started singing giddy up horsey and it was such a beautiful moment,” she said.
She said, like many organisations, Covid has placed a tight grip over RDA’s fundraising capabilities, but she hopes the fair will get things up and running again.
“We’re very excited to go back to normal and do fundraising again.
“The antique fair is usually the biggest event for us…it’s been very successful in the past.”
