Thousands raised through tattoos

DESPITE having a smaller team this time around, a local tattoo parlour has raised a huge figure for the Good Friday Appeal, not far off last year’s tally.

Disciples of Ink in Bacchus Marsh has run a “Flash Day” for the Good Friday Appeal every year since 2022, with last year’s event raising more than $9,000.

Owner and operator of Disciples of Ink, Kieran Tyrrell, thought a smaller team, and thus less spots available for people to get tattoos done, would mean a figure of around $5,000 would be raised this year.

Instead, the parlour raised just shy of $8,600 for the Royal Children’s Hospital.

“It was pretty well attended. We sold every raffle ticket and every tattoo ticket by about noon. We tattooed about 40 people, and sold 250 raffle tickets,” Mr Tyrrell said.

“There were quite a few people lined up that we had to turn away.”

The cause is close to Mr Tyrrell’s heart, with his daughter having spent time in the Royal Children’s Hospital herself over several visits.

No doubt that’s part of the reason he worked for free, from 9am until 9.30pm on Good Friday, without any regrets.

“It was really good that we raised as much as we did. We made significantly more than what we expected,” he said.

“It was great to see the turnout we got, the people donating, and getting behind the cause. The team that worked with us were really good too, we couldn’t as for more really.

“The team worked really hard, we didn’t get out until around 9.30 that night. The last tattoo was at about 8 o’clock, but we had to clean up and do that sort of thing.

“It was a long day, but everyone was right into it, so it was amazing.”

The total means that, over the three years, Disciples of Ink has raised just over $25,000 for the Good Friday Appeal, a figure Mr Tyrrell is “really, really stoked” about.

“We’ll just keep doing it next year, and raise even more for this amazing cause,” he said.

Mr Tyrrell thanked Kaisercraft, Baby Black, The Crafty Sewing Sisters, Village Pizza and Pasta, Chicken With A Mission, Grey Matter Cafe, the Performing Arts Headquarters, the Ballan and Bacchus Marsh Local Butcher, Bacchus Marsh Natural Health, and Foodworks for supporting the Flash Day.