IN 2023 the Mansfield District Hospital Auxiliary celebrates 100 years of support for the hospital.

From very humble beginnings in 1923, the Auxiliary has evolved to a very active organisation which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the purchase of essential equipment over the years.

On Sunday, April 30, about 90 current and past members and key Friends of the Auxiliary marked this great centenary milestone with a chicken and champagne celebration at Beolite Community Centre.

Welcoming guests to the celebration Auxiliary president, Val Doyle said the festivities were not only for the auxiliary members, past and present, but for the whole community which supports it.

"When the hospital was planning its 150th celebrations, we discovered that 2023 would be our centenary.

"There was a fair bit of discussion over the best way to celebrate and we looked at some wider based community events such as a ball or a cocktail party but in the end we decided that we needed to pat ourselves on the back and to have an event where we could acknowledge all the contributions from current members, past members and friends of the Auxiliary, as well as all those long–suffering blokes who haul art stands, serve drinks and sausages, sit all day in the sun monitoring golf holes and generally ferry things to and fro.

Ms Doyle said the Auxiliary had very humble beginnings, supporting the hospital in very basic but practical ways.

"It has grown enormously over the years and our Statement of Purpose expressly states that the Auxiliary's purpose is to raise monies for the purchase of equipment or works as agreed with the hospital," she said.

"It is impossible to calculate how many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised over the past 100 years.

"Over the past decade our major fundraising has been based around our Cup Weekend Art Show and the February Golf Day," Ms Doyle said.

The Art Show – now run for 45 years has raised more than $200,000.

The Golf Day annual event began in 2008 with a small 9–hole twilight competition and quickly moved to a full day's event.

This year the auxiliary held its 16th Golf Day and over these past events the golf day has raised around $380,000.

"Other activities and events have been extremely varied from quilt raffles, producing a Cook Book, book sales and raffles, dances and fashion parades, open gardens and cinema nights – just to name a few.

"All this can only be achieved by all the hard work and dedication of our members, past and present," Ms Doyle said.

"It is appropriate to acknowledge the wonderful ongoing support from the Rotary Club of Mansfield and the Harry and Clare Friday Foundation who have sponsored the two major prizes for many years now.

"Rotary has been sponsoring our major art show award since 1987."

Ms Doyle said the Sunday evening celebration was a wonderful catch–up time for all members, many of whom had contributed 15 and 20 years' service to the Auxiliary.

"It was also an appropriate time to acknowledge an amazing 50 years of service by Sue Parsons who continues to work tirelessly for the Auxiliary," Ms Doyle said.

"Sue Parsons is already a life–time governor of the MDH.

"She is a quiet, tireless worker, often behind the scenes, and supporting everything the Auxiliary takes on.

"Her contribution to the Golf Day organisation is a crucial part of its success."

Hospital CEO Cameron Butler made a presentation to Ms Parsons on behalf of the auxiliary members, hospital board members and staff.

"The Auxiliary is proud of all the contributions it has made to the hospital over the years.

"It is a wonderful group to belong to and I remind everyone it is always looking for new members," Ms Doyle said.

Meetings are monthly, on the first Tuesday at Beolite.

If you are interested and would like some more information, please contact the President Val Doyle on 0407877102 or doyle.val@bigpond.com