Milestone Toy Run boasts largest donations in history

ORGANISERS of the Keith Hamilton Toy Run are rejoicing after the event’s “biggest year ever”.

The 25th Toy Run took place on December 10 with more than 70 motorcyclists participating.

As with recent years, the Red Knights Motorcycle Club – Chapter 6 facilitated the event, with president Andy Young leading the procession.

Mr Young was pleased with both the turnout on the day, and the number of donations received from the community.

“I would say we’ve accumulated somewhere in the order of $15,000 worth of stuff – so that’s gift cards, food, books, sporting goods and toys,” Mr Young said.

“This is definitely the biggest year we’ve ever had.”

He noted the significant increase in contributions when compared to the 2021 event, which saw an estimated $12,500 worth of goods donated to the initiative.

“We’re probably a good two or three grand in front of that (this year), so that’s fantastic.”

This year’s event began with a meet-up underneath Sale Clocktower at 8.30am on the Saturday, with bikers exchanging pleasantries and Mr Young providing a safety briefing.

At exactly 9am, a blip of the siren from Wellington Highway Patrol unit signalled the start of the journey, with 45 motorbikes journeying south along Raymond St to reach the South Gippsland Highway.

After reaching Longford, the motorcade headed west to Rosedale, up north through Heyfield, Tinamba, Newry and Boisdale, collecting donations from participating businesses along the way.

Then it was time to head south again to Maffra for a drive down the main drag, the collection of more donations, and another meet-up at the Gippsland Vehicle Collection.

There, another 30 motorcycles joined the convoy, including a 1912 Rex with wicker sidecar once owned by Keith Hamilton.

The Rex had Mr Hamilton’s widow Barbara seated in the sidecar, and was driven by her son Bill – who also wore his father’s leather jacket for the occasion.

According to Bill, his mother required “no coaxing at all” to hop into the sidecar.

“She’s been in it many a time with dad on a lot of trips they’ve done – a lot of rallies and that in South Australia and all over Victoria, years ago,” he said.

Also joining the convoy was a 1929 DeSoto automobile owned by the late Ian Kennedy and driven by his son, Darren.

Following a procession down the main street of Maffra, the run then made its way back to Sale, returning to their starting point at exactly 12.30pm.

Participants came from as far afield as Echuca, Ararat and Adelaide to ride in the Run.

Bikers were guided along their journey by four police cars, the most to ever assist with the event.

“The police initially told me they’d have two vehicles to help us out; when they turn up, they said, ‘Ah, we’ve got four!’” Mr Young said.

“We had a vehicle up the front, a vehicle in behind, and the two white (police) cars would just scoot past … doing traffic control for us, and they did a fantastic job.

“I cannot praise them highly enough.”

With the ride over, participants mingled, posed for photographs, and took stock of the donations they had received.

All donated items have been handed on to the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul’s Society, who will distribute them to families in need prior to Christmas.