The Flames Ice Hockey club in Alexandra knows how to organise a good fundraiser: Round up some celebrities and the people will come.

In 2023 they teamed up with chef and Royalburn Station co-owner Nadia Lim to raise $50,000 for a pee wee (U-14) trip to Melbourne, and now they’ve convinced Matt Chisholm to run their own version of ‘It’s In The Bag’.

On August 22, the Alexandra Town Hall will host a revamp of the old television series, giving contestants a chance to take home some big prizes - and the odd booby prize.

The club is aiming for $30,000 to support its representative players from the event (the club’s second big fundraiser) as many have to travel nationally and overseas for competitions.

Fundraising committee chair Michelle Wallis said they had 18 talented players selected for representative teams this season - the highest ever for the club.

“This is an amazing showing from our small club, however the additional financial pressures it has put upon our families is very real with additional costs running into the thousands,” she said.

“We decided to form a group and fundraise together to support this year’s group, and hope to hold an annual fundraiser to try and continue to support new players to get involved in rep level sport.”

For It’s In The Bag, one person from each table was guaranteed to get up on stage and have a chance to win or sell their chosen bag.

“And yes, there is a chance they might get a booby prize,” Michelle said.

There were also encouraging people to dress up in 70s and 80s garb “and we’ll also do a spot prize for the best dressed guest”.

Read more: Record numbers of representative players from Alexandra Flames

Find more details about the event, which will take place later this month, here. 

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