Raffle to take flight

WE’VE all taken part in a raffle to raise funds for a community group or sporting club, but one local club is taking the old classic to new heights this month.

The Darley Football Netball Club is running a Helicopter Ball Drop on Saturday 25 May, with numbered golf balls costing $50 each.

At 3.15pm, the balls will be dropped, as the name implies, by a helicopter, hovering about the football ground at Darley Park.

The ball that lands closest to a tee on the football ground will win its owner a cool $10,000.

The event will raise funds for new netball seating to complement the club’s new netball sheds, which will benefit not just the club, but the wider community and schools who use the courts.

Darley’s junior president, Marty Weaver, said the event would be a bit of fun, and a win-win for the club and, of course, the lucky winner.

“We’re trying to raise $40,000 to purchase some netball grandstand-style seating, so we can become a finals venue, and a state-of-the-art venue for the community,” Mr Weaver said.

“We’ve obviously got a brand-new facility here in terms of the pavilion, but for netball we want to throw as much as we can for them as well.

“On the Darley Football Netball Club website, there’s a link people can click on that will take them to a Trybooking platform to buy balls from. Alternatively, any left on the Saturday will be available for purchase.”

Senior president Mark Shelly said it’s a bit of a novel event.

“But at the same time too, it’ll raise funds for what we consider a very worthy cause for our netballers and the local community,” he said.

The date of the Helicopter Ball Drop is subject to weather conditions, and will be moved to a later home game’s date if conditions aren’t safe to drop the golf balls.

For more information, visit the Darley Junior Football Netball Club Facebook page.