Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service –Ballina Support Group presents The North Coast Show and Shine and Swap Meet 25 February 2024

IT’S not quite akin to Marcel Proust’s tiny madeleine cake, the same one that prompted him to reflect and write all 3,000 pages of his classic, In Search of Lost Time; but each time I return to my old hometown of Broken Hill there is something about the sounds, sights and smells that transport me back to my own childhood.

The Japanese wordsmith Haruki Murakami once noted, “No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.” Good, bad, neutral or otherwise, our lives are the rolling snowball of our retained experiences, albeit the accumulated memories thereof.

In Greek mythology, Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory and remembering, one of the Titans, not to mention the mother of the nine fabled Muses.

Without the bolstering aid of our memories, who we are becomes a tissue paper construct that holds nothing tight or together in any way. Like a collage of photographs taken over the course of our lives, our memories constitute the grand, retrievable sum of our days. As Rodman Philbrick once said, “The only real treasure is in your head. Memories are better than diamonds and nobody can steal them from you.” They are the true riches (and rubbish, for those that don’t use their time wisely) of our very existence.

Ironically, our collective ability to remember events, people and plights in history seems at an all-time low; relatedly the novelist Michael Crichton once coined the term ‘temporal provincials’ for those of us that get around utterly oblivious to what has taken place in time, let alone the lessons that they might have to teach us. It isn’t even a case of selective memory, it is a mind-numbing case of a mass deactivated motivation to simply reflect on things that have the potential to ‘play out’ over again.

In his Nobel lecture, Patrick Modiano made mention, “Today, I get the sense that memory is much less sure of itself, engaged as it is in a constant struggle against amnesia and oblivion. This layer, this mass of oblivion that obscures everything, means we can only pick up fragments of the past, disconnected traces, fleeting and almost ungraspable human destinies. Yet it has to be the vocation of the writer, when faced with this large blank page of oblivion, to make a few faded words visible again, like lost icebergs adrift on the surface of the ocean.”

Icebergs that if acknowledged soon enough, might just help to warn and steer the gaudy, self-relevant ocean liner that humanity has become, clear of all hazards – that otherwise pose as showstoppers on the open sea – should we not be on the vigilant lookout for them.

Fittingly, the author

John Banville wove the following line into his novel called The Sea, “The past beats inside me like a second heart.” A second heart that we ought all take heed to ensure beats without fail, and to be heard much better at all times.

The Rescue Helicopter Support Group will host a Show and Shine and Swap meet, event for vehicles and motorbikes on Sunday 25th February 2024 9am -2pm at the Ballina Jockey Club. The day will include extensive Car and bike displays from historic to current models, a swap meet market, trade displays, memorabilia and general markets, food trucks catering through Only Good Times Events Company and live music with JB’s Blues Breakers from 10- 2, and a licensed bar trading run by the Jockey Club. The Family ticket admission for only $20 includes the kids rides and face painting….

Michelle BaileyPresident of the Ballina Support Group, says “the interest and support from many local businesses and from the local auto and motorcycle clubs, and also the QLD and further afeld NSW Car and Bike Clubs and enthusiasts has been extremely positive, motels are already being booked for the traveling clubs to bring their vehicles, and we are excited to be bringing this event to our town. And having local clubs including Lennox Head Machinery Car Club and Positive Traction members supporting the event with input and direction has really assisted”.

“We are so grateful to B-Line Auto who has come on board as our premium partnership sponsor and to our Gold sponsors Total Towing, Rooftech Roofng and Quality Paint and Panel and with many other local businesses joining in with sponsorships and trade displays on the day, reducing the overhead costs so the day is proft going direct to the Rescue Helicopter”. All information on Event website: www. northcoastshowand shine.com or phone Michelle Bailey 0408 436 552

The volunteer support committee was formed in 2022 under the wing of the Lismore Rescue Helicopter Service, to bring new ideas/ events to the Northern Rivers in support of fundraising for this essential service, with costs continually rising with fuel etc, all aspects of continued fundraising is an ongoing necessity. Also for any Interested persons wanting to become a volunteers on the committee, they are encouraged to join.

Donations can be dropped off to Rooftech, 2/32 Southern Cross Drive, Ballina for raffe prizes if able to contribute.