Shining a light on kindness

An elderly resident prepares for a train trip…
Three hundred trucks converge on Castlemaine, Vic…
A Rotarian makes a difficult decision…

We all know that kindness is part of Rotary’s DNA, however, when two extraordinary stories of kindness emerged from the Rotary Club of Castlemaine’s 34th Truck Show held in late 2022, a short six-minute film was produced to promote better understanding of the event.

Encouraged to enter the Castlemaine Documentary Festival LOCAL’S competition, held on June 16, 2023, the club was delighted to be awarded equal first prize based on an audience vote of 200 people.

“Our aim was to get the film short listed and up on the big screen to help our local community understand what the Truck Show achieves for our town,” said club President Kerry Anderson. “It was a totally new audience that wouldn’t normally be interested in Rotary or the trucking industry.”

The Castlemaine Documentary Festival is held annually in Castlemaine’s iconic Theatre Royal. The festival offers a curated program of Australian and international non-fiction films. Audiences are introduced to a series of fascinating worlds populated by real characters with real stories facing real issues.

“Winning was totally unexpected as we were competing against some popular groups and professionally produced entries,” said Kerry. “Given the warm response, we are confident that more acts of kindness have been encouraged and that we will see more spectators at the 2023 Truck Show on November 25-26.”

The Truck Show is one of the largest and most successful events of its nature in Australia, attracting entrants and spectators from far and wide. More than 3,000 spectators turned up for the 2022 event, with $50,000 raised for the local community.

ABOVE: Castlemaine Rotary Truck Show Director, Kerry Anderson, left, and Rig of the Show winner, Jeromey Edwards, enjoyed the surprise of ‘Kindness’ being voted equal first at the Locals Documentary Festival.
MAIN IMAGE PICTURED: Truck Show participant and local driver, Hayley Leech, was the public face of the 2022 Castlemaine Rotary Truck Show helping to change perceptions.

The 2023 Castlemaine Rotary Truck Show will be held 25-26 November. For more information, visit https://rotarycastlemaine.org.au/page/truck-show To watch the Castlemaine Documentary Festival LOCAL’S documentary, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlgsO7UNgZU