Weddin Shire Council Presentation
On Thursday 18 April, President of the Weddin Mountain Muster Committee, Melanie Cooper, gave a presentation at the April Weddin Shire Council Meeting to speak in favour of our Community Support Application for the 2024 Muster, with support from Secretary, Bec Maslin. This application is submitted to Council every year for our event.
Support from Weddin Shire Council is an integral part of the Weddin Mountain Muster - from essential traffic management plans and assistance with road crossings on highways to garbage collection for the week and, most importantly, hire of the portaloos!
In 2024, our executive are working closer than ever with Weddin Shire Council staff to ensure the processes and approvals behind the scenes are ticked off, which enable the event to run smoothly. Council are also working on a more streamlined process which could mean that we don’t have to re-apply each year for support for our well-established event.
We thank Weddin Shire Council for their support and assistance. There was a unanimous vote to approve our application for 2024, so it’s all systems go!
You can watch Melanie’s presentation in this video link (note times below for specific items) or read the transcript at the bottom of this page.
18:00 minutes - Melanie Cooper’s address
49:00 minutes - WSC discussion about community support grant for WMM
President Melanie Cooper at the 2023 Muster. Photo Jenn Graham.
Transcript:
Good evening Mayor, Councillors, Weddin Shire Council staff and community members listening in.
As the President of the Weddin Mountain Muster Committee, I am here tonight to tell you a little bit about the Muster in the hopes that you will look favourably upon our Community Support application for this year and years to come.
The Weddin Mountain Muster Committee is a Sub-Committee of the Grenfell PAH&I Association. We have been operating for over twenty years.
I personally, have been involved in the event for over ten years and have watched it grow into the well-oiled event that it has become.
We have a proactive committee of 35 volunteer members, comprised of local residents and people from nearby towns. It is an incredible group of volunteers, who work extraordinarily hard all year-round to make the Muster happen.
There is terrific comradery amongst our committee members. The Muster provides a unique volunteering opportunity, bringing together people from all ages and walks of life to work together on something positive. Some of our committee members don’t even like horses – they just love the atmosphere of the event and what it does for our little town.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our event, the Weddin Mountain Muster is an annual 5-day horse trail riding event, held in Grenfell during the first week of the NSW Spring school holidays.
We base ourselves at the Grenfell Showground, which we hire for the week.
Participants come from all over NSW (and sometimes beyond) with their families and friends and camp for the week with their horses. Each day, the committee take the participants on guided trail rides, showcasing the town and surrounding landscape. We can have up to 120 horses ride each day but with family and friends tagging along, the number of people that attend out event is often much larger than that.
During the week, a horse and rider will cover around 120km. But as our slogan says…it is more than just a ride.
On the Wednesday during the Muster week, we have a dress-up day and parade through the town, with townspeople lining the streets to cheer us on. The smile on the faces of the children and residents of the MPS spur us on to complete the week!
We also hold several dinners during the week along with a sporting afternoon, a poetry competition, raffles and other fundraising activities.
The Weddin Mountain Muster is considered a prestigious trail riding event in NSW. Some participants have commented that there is nothing else like it in Australia. It has a terrific reputation for it’s friendly atmosphere and for being an incredibly well organised, safe, trail ride.
The event books out within several days each year and always has a long waiting list of people wanting to register.
Many participants return to the Muster each year and are like family. We have watched Muster children grow into adults and felt sadness as long-term participants pass away.
The participants love Grenfell and are strong advocates, promoting our town to their family and friends back home. Some participants stay longer than a week just so they can enjoy other aspects of the Weddin Mountains region. They know the importance of supporting rural towns and go out of their way to purchase their supplies in town and frequent the shops, cafes and restaurants during their stay.
The economic boost to local businesses during the week of the Muster has been proven to be significant and comparable with events such as the Henry Lawson Festival.
Many people may not be aware of the significant contribution that the Muster makes to our community.
On top of the influx of spending in the town during the week of the Muster, the funds raised by the event go towards maintaining and upgrading infrastructure at the Showground such as
The grandstand renovations
Extensions to the Simpson Pavilion,
The sand arena,
Nev Condon Memorial stables.
Each year, the Muster Committee also make a donation to a local charity or community group within the Weddin Shire. In the past we have supported the:
Grenfell Hospital Ladies Auxiliary
Grenfell Historical Society
Country Education Foundation
Grenfell CanAssist; and
Grenfell Pony Club.
In the lead up to the event, the Committee supports and promotes local businesses and purchases supplies, prizes and merchandise for the Muster.
An incredible amount of planning and work goes into our event and we must meet strict legal requirements. We cannot even begin to tally up the amount of hours our volunteers contribute.
We also have assistance from property owners, Grenfell PAH&I Association, Grenfell Showground land managers, Weddin Shire Council, NSW Police, Transport NSW, NSW Ambulance, Local Land Services, local businesses and sponsors and we thank each and every one of these for their support.
Our event does not have the capacity to grow in terms of the number of participants; however, we do have an opportunity to increase the extent participants support the Grenfell economy before, during and after our event.
Our town is essentially on show for the week of the Muster and we need to do all we can to welcome these people and provide a positive experience during their stay.
Therefore, I am not only asking Council for their support of this event but the entire Weddin Shire community for their support of the Weddin Mountain Muster to ensure this wonderful, unique event that brings so much to our town can continue to run.
Thank you