SALE City Football-Netball Club’s song will be finally getting musical accompaniment, thanks to a collaboration between the club, Sale City Band and musician Brett Glover.

Many clubs put their songs to tunes also used by AFL teams, but none existed for the Bulldogs’ song.

The words to the song have been around for years, but never set to music, and committee member Wayne McGregor-Davies said he was inspired after driving past the Sale City Band hall.

“Driving to work, I saw the Sale City Band, and put two and two together with the Sale City Football Club, so I emailed Hugh Davies and put it to him, he came up with the music,” McGregor-Davies said.

Former bandmaster Hugh Davies enthusiastically joined the project, after listening to a recording of the under 16 team singing after winning last year’s premiership.

“You could hardly hear a tune at all,” he said.

“I thought it was a well-known tune they wanted recorded, but it wasn’t.”

Davies put together a traditional brass band arrangement for the song, and he and musical director Caroline Monck then enlisted local musician Brett Glover to help record it.

“It’s a traditional brass band sound, it’s the traditional music of country Victoria, and that’s where footy comes from,” Glover said.

“We decided to record those guys (the band) playing first, then overdub the voices, and I’ll be trying to get a few of the footy players as well.

“Hughie’s done a good job arranging it, it sounds good.”

McGregor-Davies said he was keen to hear the end result.

“We’ll play it after the games when they’re walking off, most of the patrons don’t get to hear the song,” he said.

The band is excited as well, as the project allowed them to collaborate with the community in a new way.

Athel Jones from the Friends of the Central Gippsland Health Service (third from left) with, from left Sale City Band members Narelle Hahn, Tom Cousin, Ray Jago, Hugh DaVIes, Christine Morris and Anthony Hahn with a cheque for almost $900 which was raised at last year's Sale Carols by Candlelight event. The money was used to buy equipment for Central Glppsfand Health Service.

SALE Carols by Candlelight committee is in full swing, organising and planning next month's event.

The committee is aiming to ramp it up a little by highlighting local talent from across the region, staging a mass community choir and providing more entertainment and food stalls.

Sale Carols by Candlelight will raise money for the Friends of Central Gippsland Health Service.

Last year, the event raised almost $900, helping CGHS buy four taxi wheelchairs, two pressure cushions and oxygen concentrators for the palliative care unit.

The committee is seeking singers of all ages and abilities to join n community choir to help lend the carols.

Participation is free and will include rehearals on November 28 and December 5 from7:30pm in the Sale City Band Hall.

The committee would welcome anyone interested in helping organise the event and provide new ideas.

Carols by Candlelight will be held on Tuesday, December 13, in Sale Botanic Garden.

People are invited to take a picnic blanket and their Christmas cheer.

The main event will begin at 7.30pm, with a picnic in the park from 5.30pm and pre entenainment from 6.30pm.

The committee has arranged for Wednesday, December 14, as the alternative night if there is an unfavourable weather forecast, and the Sale Memorial Hall on December 13 if both forecasts are unsuitable.

SALE Christmas festival was in full swing on Saturday, with a huge turnout from the people of Sale and surrounds.

Festival goers got into the Yuletide spirit, with a multitude of festive attrnctions including Santa's Workshop, Mrs Claus' Beauty Salon, a jumping castle, face painting, a photo booth and a nativity scene dress up.

Children revelled in riding the Little Toot Train, a miniature train that chuffed through the mall, or one of the zoo animals at the Ponny Pals stall. Those who attended bopped along to Christmas tunes from Sale City Band, Sale College band, Michael Harrington, Grant van  Brummelen and Mattt and Lucy Fitzgerald.

Organising committee member Joy Churchill wns pleased with the attendance. "It was a great day, a great succes for our joint effort. We were very happy with the community's response, everybody enjoyed it. The big hits were probably the little train and the Pony Pals," she said.

Gippsland Times advertising manager, Julian McIvor was equally thrilled with the community's response. "There was a lot of fun and excitement in the mall. It's good to have vibrant and enjoyable activities for the community."

"Lots of local community groups got involved with a number of local businesses putting in significant amount of money."

"Local bands performing really added to the atmosphere," he said.

SALE City Band has dubbed July 1 'International Return Your Stuff to the Band Hall Day'.
The band has had hundreds of members during its 100-plus year history, and bits and pieces of equipment have gone missing.
International Return Your Stuff to the Band Hall Day is a fun reminder and amnesty for this missing equipment, which includes instruments, mouthpieces, lyres, original music, uniforms, mutes and percussion equipment.
People with things lying around, or old instruments and equipment they'd like to donate, are encouraged to drop them into the Sale City Band Hall on Foster St.
President Mike Riley said a new generation of musicians was coming through, and uniforms were especially needed.
"We're looking for people who've got them hidden away in their cupboards to bring them back," he said. "July 1 at 6pm, at the band hall, someone will be here."
It has been a busy time for Sale City Band, as the Sale Brass Academy continues to grow, and the band prepares to return to Kiribati in July.
As well as the Sale Eisteddfod, the band will perform at the Traralgon Eisteddfod in September and annual concert at the Wedge in October, Last Night at the Proms.