In true country spirit, people turned up in droves to support the Great Western Hotel’s  “Farmers Session Sunday” yesterday to raise much needed funds for the drought stricken farmers in NSW & Queensland.  Great Northern donated a keg of beer to 1000 different pubs and clubs in a quest to raise one million dollars over the weekend in it’s “Let it Pour” campaign. “From the time Bruce went down into the cellar to tap in the Keg of Great Northern, we had people lining up at the bar wanting to drink beer and donate funds.” said publican Dan Ahchow. The Great Western Hotel ran a keg of Great Northern as a “Keg for a Cause”, where patrons pay what they wanted for their pots of beer, be it $3 or $30, knowing every cent will be donated to the drought stricken farmers. “I think that is the very special thing about people from the country..” said Mr. Ahchow… “when the chips are down, they are always there wanting to help.”

The crowds at the Sunday session where entertained by Stawell Band “The Shakes” and Best’s Wines & Seppelt Wines donated wine that was raffled off. The Great Western Hotel raised $1331.30 in just over three hours.“We are ecstatic with our result.” said Dan  “At the start of the month we added a “Farmer Parma” to our menu.  With every one ordered, we will donated $5 to Lions Australia’s Need for Feed. On Saturday we hit a tally of 601 Farmer Parmas” reports Ahchow. “We will keep the Farmer Parma on the menu for the rest of the year, so there is still plenty of time to show your support to struggling Farmers. The Great Western Hotel is open 7 days a week and situated right on the highway between Stawell and Ararat.