The final countdown!
 
Here we are, at the end of our entrant year, we are only days away from the Miss Wagga Wagga 2020 Crowning Ceremony and oh how time flies! My name is Hannah Smith and I will be the last entrant that you will be hearing from this year, next month you will be hearing from our newly crowned Miss Wagga Wagga and Community Princess 2020. This month has been flat out with our final event on the 11th and then tying up all the loose ends before November. It has consisted of writing a lot of thank you letters, preparing for interviews and writing speeches. Thank you everyone that has helped us during the year, whether it was with donations, volunteering your time and in particular your presence at our events.
 
Before I jump into our antics of October, I will quickly tell you a couple of details about myself. I grew up in Wagga Wagga and attended South Wagga Wagga Public School and Kildare Catholic College. In 2016 I made the move to Wollongong to attend the University of Wollongong for 3 years as I attempted to complete a Bachelor of Commerce, I say attempted as it is still a work in progress (I plan on finishing it one day). At the end of 2018 I had the realisation that university was not working for me and moved my life back to Wagga Wagga to be surrounded by family and friends. This was by far the best move I ever made. I was welcomed back into my community with open arms and have been given so many great opportunities. I now work full time for Crown Lands (Department of Planning, Industry and Environment) and have been able to throw myself back into my childhood hobby of playing the cello by rejoining a local strings group at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. With all of this, there is still one opportunity that takes the cake, becoming a Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant 2020. I have been pushed out of my comfort zone, attended a number of community events and gained so much confidence and experience along the way.
 
Now to tell you all about what we did in October.
 
We started this month with a smashing success, hosting our final fundraising event as a Masquerade Ball at the Magpies Nest Restaurant. After all of our hard work sourcing generous donations, decorating, promoting and choosing menu items it was so rewarding for it to all come together so well and to raise more money towards our beneficiaries. Our live auction went off with a bang all thanks to our guest auctioneer, James Tierney, from Riverina Livestock Agents. Thank you James for your continued support of the Quest, this was not the first auction that you have run for entrants and we hope it won’t be the last.
 
Our Waggawagga.TV interviews with Adam Drummond have continued to be aired. If you missed them they can be found on the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Facebook Page. We heard from myself at the start of the month discussing the Masquerade Ball, Hayley spoke about our Crowning Ceremony and we will hear from Montanna right at the end of the month, reminding everyone to come and celebrate the 72nd Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Crowning at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery on Saturday 2nd November 2019. It is a free public event so we hope to see you all there!
 
Entrants completed their Mock Interviews with members of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Committee in preparation for the final interviews on the 1st of November. I am sure we all crushed it! There was a lovely moment while the interviews were happening where the majority of entrants were sitting in the RSM waiting room. The atmosphere was so positive and supportive, some had already completed their interview while others were waiting to go in. We were all talking about the year, what we had left to do and how far we had come. The moment accentuated how we have all come together as a group and will be leaving the Quest as friends.
 
This has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and the start of next month will be bittersweet, as the next titleholders are announced. It will also marking the end of this incredible journey we have all shared together.
 
- Hannah Smith 
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

Hello everyone! My name is Hayley Wallace and I am one of the Miss Wagga Wagga Entrants for 2020. Now, I do apologise that the ‘September’ blog is late, but us entrants have been busy little bees as the date of crowning creeps closer and closer…

Earlier in the month, the entrants were interviewed by Adam Drummond from Waggawagga.TV. I myself found this quite daunting to begin with (who would have thought little old me would be in front of the camera?!). Luckily, Adam makes you feel incredibly comfortable! It felt like I was just having a chat with him, and honestly forgot we were recording.

On behalf of the other entrants, and myself, I would like to thank Adam and everyone at Waggawagga.TV for being a media partner of the MWWQ. They have allowed us to have the opportunity to show the community of Wagga Wagga what this Quest is all about, as well as get to know us Entrants a little more personally!

Later on in September, on the 8th, the 2020 Entrants spent their whole Sunday clicking tongs and flipping snags at their local Bunnings. We were fortunate enough to have meat, bread, onions, napkins and all those other essentials you need for a good old sausage sanga, donated to us by local businesses… These businesses include:

• South Wagga Butchery
• South City Quality Meats
• Ferndale Distributors
• Coca Cola

A huge thank you to these four companies, as without their contributions we wouldn’t have been able to raise as many funds for our such worthy beneficiaries.

The Entrants spent the rest of September gearing up for their final fundraising event, ‘Masquerade by Moonlight’. We were all busy sourcing decorations, seeking donations for our live and silent auctions, as well as finding new ways to sell tickets to the event, finalising any last minute on-going raffle ticket sales, all while trying to find our own ball gowns and the perfect mask to match!

Before I sign off I would just like to thank everyone who has supported this shy little girl all throughout the year. As it draws to a close (or new beginning…), I have really been able to see that no one really wants you to fail, but only wishes to see you grow into the best form of yourself. I wouldn’t be able to do this without my family, friends, the committee and the sponsorship from Richard at Ladex Construction.

Another very big thank you to the community I am lucky enough to have grown up in, and continue to live in today. Also without you, the Quest would not be in its 72nd year.

I hope to see you at crowning! Xx

- Hayley Wallace
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant ​

Hello and welcome to the August instalment of the Miss Wagga Quest Entrant Blog.
 
For people who do not know me, my name is Tegan Nash. I am a Wagga girl through and through and wouldn’t have it any other way. My family is quite well known here in the building industry, where my father has built a lot of the iconic buildings here in Wagga. I am also quite a strong advocate in the prevention of Melanoma and early skin detection hence my sponsors Complete Skin & Caton Medical. I cannot thank them enough for sponsoring me in the Quest. 
 
Hence what better reason to join the quest and help much needed charities.
 
In August we hosted our very first High Tea event at the Riverine Club, which was an unbelievable success and turn out. Running of this event helped our beneficiaries get closer in their fundraising.
 
This then saw all of us entrants starting to organise the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle and the Masquerade Ball. We also hosted a few pub meat raffles on a Friday night at the Victoria Hotel.
 
Meetings happens every 2 weeks on a Monday night. It’s not all just about organising events, we like to catch up and see how everyone is going. I personally believe this has helped me in my personal development and seeing how far I have come from the start of the Quest.
 
People say to me all the time; how do you find the time doing this plus working full-time. To me I find it a great challenge but it’s all for a worth cause.
 
Please keep an eye out for our next events.
 
On behalf of all the entrants we thank you for all who have attended an event, sponsored and supported.
 
- Tegan Nash
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

We are now well into the Quest, with only 4 months until crowning and still three fundraisers to go before we find out who will be crowned “Miss Wagga Wagga 2020”. My name is Montanna Ross, one of 7 entrants in this years quest. Firstly I wold like to thank everyone who has supported the quest so far, whether it be supporting one of our events, donating a prize or your time or buying a raffle ticket we all sincerely appreciate it. Also a personal thank you to my bosses at Riverina Livestock Agents for sponsoring me to go in the quest, it wouldn’t have been made possible without their support.
 
For those of you who don’t know me, I was born at the Wagga Base Hospital and grew up in the Riverina just down the Olympic Highway at Henty. I learnt to swim at the oasis and I learn to dance at Miss Minas Dance Studio (not that you would pick it these days). Since moving to Wagga in 2016, the community has already given me so much. I got my first job in retail at RB Sellars, poured my first beer at the Red Steer and have continued to go on and pursue a career in something I am passionate about. I decided to join the quest to give back to such a supportive community and to continue to grow as an individual.
 
July was a pretty quiet month for our entrants, we had our usual weekly meetings gearing up for the Hightea to be held on the 11th of August at the Riverine Club, where there will be plenty of food, tea and bubbles to be shared by all. We also ran multiple Friday night meat raffles at the Victoria Hotel, which was greatly supported by the patrons. We are very lucky and appreciative for the ongoing support from the Riverine Club and the Victoria Hotel.
 
Keep an eyeout for what we have instore over the comming of months.
 
-Montanna Ross
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

Hello and welcome to the June instalment of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest entrant blog!

My name is Erica Davis and I’m very excited to be writing this for you. This week I am away from Wagga, in the Northern Territory of this beautiful country. I am completing a week of compulsory placement at Litchfield Veterinary hospital hoping to lighten my load of placement for the end of year break. I am also enjoying some R&R after what has been an exceptionally busy session at Uni.

Last month our calendar was busy with the preparation and completion of our very first event, “A night at the Movies” themed trivia night. We were lucky enough to have Herbie from Hit 93.1 give up her Friday night to MC for us, this made the night go exceptionally smoothly. Note to others; Having a professional on the job definitely helps!

The night had a very relaxed atmosphere and it was great to see so many people getting involved with our dress up theme. Prizes were awarded for best dressed individual and best dressed table and you can find photos of our winners on our Facebook page where an album has been uploaded.

We spent the weeks in lead up deciding on decorations, creating questions for our crowd, organising ticket sales, collecting prizes and composing a power-point for the evening.
 
Many meetings and lots of hard work goes into these nights so I believe we should be very proud of how it all came together. The night was a huge success with many funds raised. This is phenomenal and we are so excited to have made a significant contribution to our goal for the year. Every little bit that we raise for our very deserving beneficiaries is important.

Currently we are preparing for our next event, which is a lace themed High Tea on the 11th of August at the Riverine Club.  If you are reading this be sure to keep your eyes peeled for tickets available soon and more information on our Facebook page.
 
The afternoon will feature a selection of hand-baked goodies, tea, coffee, a cheeky glass of bubbles for those who dare as well as a silent auction and the musical talents of Harry and Tom. It is sure to be a blast and we are excited to get our second event underway as well as having an excuse to dress up for the day.

To wrap up this blog post I would like to mention how eye-opening this experience has been so far. From the personal development sessions to the launch night to the completion of our first event. Working these six amazing young ladies has been a real privilege.
 
Finally, on behalf of my fellow entrants; Margie, Brittany, Hayley, Hannah, Montanna and Tegan; thank you to everyone who attended, sponsored and supported our trivia in some small way. Your contribution and generosity does not go unnoticed.

Thanks for reading and have a spectacular July.

- Erica Davis 
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

What a journey ahead of us! Welcome to the May blog. My name is Margie Gaynor and I will be giving you insight into the exciting festivities held within the second month of the Quest. We had just finished our personal development days and now the focus was on the Official Launch night.  
 
The Official Launch night had all of us girls both excited and nervous. Our speeches prepared, outfits ready and off we went to the Country Club, were we would give a five-minute speech on ‘What Wagga Means to Me?’ I knew that the Quest would put me out of my comfort zone and challenge me in different ways, and this was definitely the beginning.
 
The room was filled with multiple members of the community, family and friends. Entrants and I greeted our guests, and got to know so many new people. For dinner we had lovely meals and for each course we moved tables to ensure we got to socialise with various people. The entrants and myself enjoyed getting the chance to meet so many wonderful people. For me this night really helped me gain greater confidence within myself. It was proof that I could do anything that I set my mind to. Our sponsors walked us into the launch as we were being introduced to the guests. My sponsor is WDF Professionals and I was lucky enough to be escorted into the room by Vicky Richards. When we got our sashes and badge it all started to feel real, this journey had officially begun. When the launch was over, the entrants and I had meetings ahead of us to plan for the upcoming events.
 
Our upcoming event – Trivia Night - June 21st 2019 at 6.30pm
Announcing our first event, ‘A Night at the Movies’. The trivia night will be a fun night to raise money for our four deserving beneficiaries. Planning is underway and all entrants are enthusiastically preparing and working together to make sure the events are all organised. Working as a team has been so much fun and each entrant brings a different dynamic to the group. I feel so lucky to be a part of such a passionate, hard working group of young women. It will be a great journey with all of my fellow entrants as we all support one another in order to raise money and give back to the community.
 
I would like to thank the current Miss Wagga Stina Constantine and Community Princess Presslea Cowan for supporting the entrants and myself by taking the time to get to know us. You both do an amazing job.
 
I hope you all enjoyed looking into our Month of May and our journey so far in the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest.

- Margie Gaynor 
​Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

Firstly, I would like to say congratulations, to the current Miss Wagga Wagga, Stina Constantine and Community Princess, Presslea Cowan, for their wonderful contribution to the quest and community so far. These two incredible women have been nothing short of an inspiration to me and my fellow MWWQ 2020 entrants.

My name is Brittany Hackett and I have been a Wagga Wagga girl my whole life. After suffering anxiety and a range of mental health issues for a majority of my life, this is something that I would never have thought twice about being involved in let alone entering – until the day a colleague approached me and asked me if I would take the leap and that was exactly what I did.

In April, all seven entrants were confirmed and got together to meet for a range of personal development sessions. This included, dining etiquette hosted by the wonderful Jamie Shepley, the head chef at The Roundabout Restaurant, who have also come onboard as a Quest sponsor. We all enjoyed a fantastic four course meal, and some really fantastic tips and tricks on how to present ourselves properly at the dinner table.

We were also blessed with Rick Storrier who taught us everything we needed to know about public speaking and speech writing, this was to have us prepared for the 5 minute speech we each had to write and present at our up-coming launch night.

Following this session, we had Casey Wilson from House on the Hill Marketing coach us on how to organise events and we are very grateful that we have Casey Wilson’s knowledge to bounce off for the duration of this quest.

We were then lucky enough to head to the 2AAA FM radio station and were met with a very warm welcome by the lovely, Alan Lean and Marguerite Smith for some much appreciated radio and media training. This was daunting at first, though Alan and Marguerite made it seem easy and fun!

Next on the list was a “dress appropriate” session, held at Ted & Olive boutique. Unfortunately I was out of town for this session and missed out; though I know the rest of the entrants had a superb evening with MWWQ Chair Alex and our Mayoress Jenny Conkey. 

Lastly, two nights before our launch night, we had a beauty and hair session. This was held at Lulu & Kit in Fitzmaurice Street. We received a wonderful “up-do style” hair session from the ladies at Lulu & Kit as well as a make-up session from Frances Conroy makeup artistry.

Now we were ready for our first public address – The Launch night, 8th of May 2019.
I am sure I am not just speaking for myself when I say, the moment I stepped in that room, ahead of all of the guests, I was ready to run away and never come back!

To my fellow entrants, Erica, Montanna, Hannah, Hayley, Tegan and Margie, I cannot wait to see what these next few months have in store for us. How special it is to be given this opportunity and to have met you all.
​
- Brittany Hackett
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant

We are getting close to the end of this year’s Quest – September is over already. My name is Bonnie, and, as you must surely know by now, I am one of the entrants of this year’s Quest. Before I do what I do best, and rant about myself for a few paragraphs, I will tell you all about the entrants’ adventures this month (in fact, we actually did heaps this month, so I don’t even think I’ll find the space to tell you about all my hopes and dreams in life.. next time):
First up, we had the high tea. The high tea was our second official Miss Wagga event, and it was also a sellout! That isn’t surprising, however, as not only did we have six different flavours of tea, we also had both Carly Salmon and Catherine McComack speaking at the event. The day was not only joyful and inspiring, it was also empowering, and displayed some of the wonderful achievements people are capable of. There was also waaaay too much cake, which is always a bonus.
A week later, and two of the entrants were helping to emcee the Wagga Eisteddfod. This was relatively easy, well organized, and allowed the entrants to achieve their annual dose of choirs singing – and it’s not even Christmas yet! In all seriousness though, it was astounding to witness some of the local talent that the majority of Wagga residents would be unaware is living and developing around them. Hats off to all of the performers, the crew that ensured that the event was so well organized, and the judge.
Moving on to a couple of weeks later, and the entrants were lucky enough to host a “BBQ in the park” at Kapooka. The BBQ bit consisted of all of the things that you would expect a BBQ to consist of, along with the assistance of some AMAZING recruits who decided to come down and help us out! We had sausages, we had steakettes, we had bread, we even had a few vegan sausages available for me. We also had the ‘play-on-wheels’ to entertain all of the young children, the horsies because everyone loves a horse in uniform, and the Kapooka Army Band to entertain all of the BBQ goers (especially me, I LOVED it!). Now I have said this to quite a few people already, but the fact that they were in casual clothes and walking around created the best atmosphere! If I wasn’t walking around aimlessly with a bucket, I would have been asleep for sure. So relaxing – loved it.
Towards the end of the month, we stopped by our final un-visited beneficiary – Ronald McDonald House. Now the halt on this was not because we just didn’t feel like going there, but they were underway with some renovations and so we would not have been able to properly see the place. It was well worth the wait though, and I personally felt honored to know that the Quest is doing all it can to help raise funds for this extremely deserving cause. You know what they say, when life gives you lemons... well that place is a lemonade factory. 
Finally, to round off the month, on the last day of September, five of the entrants helped out with the road marshaling for Gears-n-Beers. Awkwardly, it would appear that all entrants, along with some others, had worn the same vest to the event. But what can I say, I always have liked to stand out in the crowed, I just wasn’t prepared for so many others wanting to do the same. I guess the entrants will have to work on their outfit communication skills in future.
So now I will tell you about my hopes and dreams, as a female resident of this town, an avid coffee drinker, someone who didn’t get their license until they were 21, and a proudly born 90s kid. No, no, I won’t really. I’ll save that for my crowning speech :P
I will tell you, however, that tickets are currently on sale for our final event, the MWWQ Bingo, and that you can access the ticket purchasing site through misswaggaquest.com (the website you’re reading right now). And I will leave you with this: don’t be afraid to stand for what you believe in. 
 Bonnie XX

Welcome to the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant’s Blog for August 2018!

​My name is Clare Lawlor and I’m here to tell you what we’ve been up to for the past month. 
 
August started with a 2AAA interview for me – which although was very nerve-wracking Marguerite helped to calm my nerves. We talked about our upcoming High Tea on September 1stwhere Marguerite asked me to ensure that we had scones with jam and cream, and cucumber sandwiches. I was then asked to choose a song to follow my interview and decided to go with “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper. I think this classic song really supports the reason that so many of us have entered into the Miss Wagga Quest – we’re just girls trying to make Wagga a better place whilst having a good time.
 
Now, for the rest of August it might not look like there was too much on in the public eye – but that doesn’t mean our entrants weren’t busy working away behind closed doors! For us, August was certainly a planning month. We’d come off the high of our sold out Friday the 13thTrivia Night in July and were getting ready for our High Tea on September 1st.
 
We announced our first guest speaker for the High Tea – Carly Salmon. Carly is a Wagga local as well as an inspiring young Australian Paralympic Athlete! We’re so grateful that she is able to share her story with us at the High Tea and we’re so looking forward to hearing it. 
 
Our second guest speaker for the High Tea was then announced – Catherine McCormack, the wife of our very own Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack! Catherine has had some excellent life experiences over her years being involved in the building industry as well as politics and so we look forward to hear about them. We’re so glad that Catherine could give up her time to spend the afternoon with us. 
 
During our planning in August we were also able to announce our entertainment for the High Tea – Nathan Lamont. Nathan is also a local, and was involved with The Voice TV Show where he joined Team Madden. He’s a very talented musician and we thank him for sharing his time and talent with us. 
 
In the second half of August, some of our entrants and members of the committee also participated in donating blood and plasma at our local Blood Bank. Bonnie, Stina, and Melissa are pictured above. This is a tradition that was started by 2016 Miss Wagga Wagga, Melissa McKinnon, and we’re very happy to be involved in continuing it. 
 
As Ebony mentioned in the July blog, we all did interviews with Adam Drummond at Waggawagga.tv who kindly sponsors the Quest. Stina’s interview went live during the month and can be found on https://www.facebook.com/waggawagga.TV/
 
To finish up the month we managed to sell out our High Tea a week before the event! We’re so excited to be putting on another sold out event and cannot wait to see how the afternoon unfolds. 
 
However, while we’ve been working on the High Tea, we’ve also been planning our third and final event – Bingo! We’re hosting a Bingo afternoon at the Commercial Club on Sunday 7thOctober with a Cruise Ship theme! So please save the date and wear your best Hawaiian shirt and sandals. We hope to see you there!
 
- Clare Lawlor
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant