Hospice Whanganui and Harcourts Whanganui have teamed up to bring the 1980s back to Whanganui with a night of music and fun, and it's all to raise badly needed Hospice funds.
"So…. get your mates together, dust off your 'rara skirts' or leather pants, stock up on your hairspray get your ticket today!" says Kelly Scarrow, Fundraising, Communications & Marketing Manager for Hospice Whanganui.
"We had to cancel Bluebeat last year, and that was all about celebrating Hospice Whanganui's 40th birthday.
"We decided we'd take it back to the decade in which we began, the '80s. The great thing about the '80s is that there is something for everybody. It's fun, the music was 'banging', think of the power ballads, so yeah, we're really excited."
Rob Bennett of Harcourts Whanganui says the Harcourts Foundation gives huge donations to charities.
"Harcourts is the oldest real estate brand in New Zealand ... it's also the largest. They are very community focused and through our training and different things we do with Harcourts, giving back to the community is always a focus.
"Harcourts has had a longstanding association with Hospice and locally we were able to give a car to Hospice a couple of years ago, a Suzuki Swift."
That was made possible through fundraising by Harcourts Whanganui.
"Everyone who works here and most people in the community have had somebody touched by what Hospice does. The fact they're not fully Government funded ... they need funds in order to be able to operate to the level at which they do.
"We keep a relationship with them because, obviously, we know the good that Hospice Whanganui does. We want to be involved and support them as much as we can, and they do a fabulous job.
"We are blessed to have such a team [at Hospice Whanganui]."
Rob's mother was a Hospice nurse in the days when Tom Joll was running it.
"So we've been involved with Hospice for many years and it's a strong focus of ours and will continue to be in the future."
Hospice Whanganui chief executive, Davene Vroon, says the significance of the Bluebeat is that it's the first real community event in more than two years.
"This is the first opportunity we've had to celebrate who we are as an organisation. We're celebrating 40 years of Hospice in Whanganui and all the lives we've been privileged to touch and have an impact on in that time. We are delighted that Harcourts has selected us to partner with in a really significant but very fun way. We're at a point where we just want to let our hair down and have some fun.
"1980s is an era people love to hate but secretly love. It's the most fun to dress up for — people can drop into any of the Hospice op shops and find themselves the perfect 1980s outfit."
