A trip to Brassall State School

Last week we happened to receive two violins at the shop.  They were donated on the premise that we would get them to a school that was inundated in the floods.  When I tried the local school that the donator wanted them to go to - I found that they did not have an instrumental music program, therefore they were no use to them.  I started looking to find an alternative school, who had also been inundated, but also met the requirement of being in a less fortunate socio-econimic area than some of the other local schools which flooded.

I came across (by chance) a page about Brassall State School, who were totally submerged.  They lost their entire music department including all the instruments that are hired to the students in the program.  I spoke with a friend of mine, Katherine, from Hannah's Foundation as they are co-ordinating efforts to re-equip the school's music department.

Today, I went for a drive and took those two violins to Anna (in Admin) at Brassall State School.  She was so appreciative for the donations, but like most flood affected communities, was worried about so many others!  Brassall seem set to be able to replace all their books lost in the floods, and their music program is well on the way to being rebuilt. 

We also delivered to them some other useful items -

Cleaning products that were donated to us by Somerset Environmental Services from South Australia.

also a load of RID Insect Repellant which was donated by Thorley Laboratories.

Anna said that the RID would be very helpful as the kids in grades 5-7 are just setting out on their school camps in the coming weeks.   The cleaning products will replace those lost in the flood and she said the janitors will make good use of them.

Flood CleanUp

I just thought I would share these Post-flood clean up tips, courtesy of Shannon Lush which I think will probably come in handy for a few of our local residents.

With water comes mold, one of the most stubborn offenders to clean up. According to the cleaning genius of Shannon Lush, there are two main weapons; salt and oil of cloves.




To remove mold from soft furnishings, canvas and outside areas (where the salt won't end up in the garden), mix one kilogram of ordinary house salt into one bucket of water. Wash the affected surface, wait until the salt crust forms and brush off with a broom.



But Shannon says the best killer of mould is oil of cloves, available from the chemist or supermarket.



To use oil of cloves as a mold remover:



Add half a teaspoon of oil of cloves to 1 litre of water - no more than that.





Put it into a spray bottle, spray the surface and leave for 20 minutes.

Wipe the surface clean, then re-spray and leave it.

It will take between 24 to 48 hours for the mould spores to die and drop off.