by John New
Darling Harbour
A couple of months ago, Mortgage Choice, the company that uses a beagle in their ads on the TV (I’m sure you have seen the beagle sniffing across the screen) indicated that they would like to come onboard as a sponsor of the club. Many thanks to all club members and beagles who came along to our first ever publicity event to support Mortgage Choice at the Financial Expo at Darling Harbour, where Mortgage Choice had a stand. It was a fantastic turnout with about 50 people and exactly 42 beagles.
Some of us met at Tumbalong Park and others nearby at Exhibition Hall 4 where the first order of the day was to put some very smart-looking blue Mortgage Choice coats on our beagles. The coats looked very nice and were just the right size.
About 11am, Kelvin from Mortgage Choice called us together for photographs. At this point the mild chaos that always seems to surround beagles became wild chaos. After we gathered in a group, Choosey the Mortgage Choice beagle walked to the front of the group, setting off a cacophony of barks, howls, and aroos. Our beagles didn't like this person dressed up as a beagle at all! It was hilarious watching the beagles go wild, but fortunately beagles are so good-natured it didn't last too long.
Plan A, after photographs, was for the beagles to walk around Darling Harbour with the Mortgage Choice coats, as extra publicity. However, some rangers told us that Mortgage Choice needed a special permit, which we didn't have, to advertise around the Darling Harbour. After some consultation, we went to Plan B, and agreed that the beagles' sponsorship responsibilities were over for this publicity event.
After distributing parking vouchers and free movie tickets (2 tickets per beagle), kindly provided by Mortgage Choice as added incentive to come along, we started our Darling Harbour walk without the Mortgage Choice coats.
Once again, thanks to everyone who came along to support Mortgage Choice. Please enjoy the movies!
Thanks to Jill Penn for sending some extra pictures.