Lankan- born singer Derrick Junkeer raises funds for flood victims

Lankan- born singer Derrick Junkeer organised a charity lunch on June 18 to raise funds for Sri Lankans stricken by the recent floods and landslides that a­ffected many families. The venue was "The Grand” in Cathies Lane, Wantirna, Victoria.

By a special correspondent in Melbourne

As Kerrigan Labrooy who opened the concert quipped before his second song , “This really reminds us of why we are here today. We are here for a very worthy cause. If you think about it, we have a roof over our heads, we have food on our table, we have our family, we have a place to sleep...there are people there in Sri Lanka who have no food, no roof, no water and that’s why we are here...” This said it all.

Kerrigan was followed by Rob Foenander, and Terry McCloud . To break the great music came a presentation from the Chef of Il Casolare, The Italian Restaurant who gave a demo of how he spins his pizza base - overhead, under leg, behind his back. He went on to show his talents! Next up was Andrea Maar, who performed, Jazz style, followed by the newest heart throb to hit the Australian stage, Jude J with his renditions of Engelbert hits.

Then came a pot-pourri of music from the Australian musicians: Marcia Rae with her Patsy Cline songs, two Elvis impersonators, Marcus Elvis and Peter Elvis of Greek lineage of the “King’s” songs, Joe Piastrino - a Roy Orbison tribute entertainer and finally Derrick J closing with “My Way”.

It was a spectacular afternoon enjoyed by all who attended with a sit-down lunch to match.

The net collection was Rs 1,700,000 of which a major portion was donated to the Bishop of Ratnapura, to help the people in the most a­ffected district during the recent floods in Sri Lanka and to the Lions Club of Hendala for their relief e­fforts.

All the artists performed free, thanks to the efforts of Derrick Junkeer in putting the event together.

The tickets, the posters and the raffle tickets and all advertising artworks for social media were designed by Ishan Bahar in Sri Lanka, free-of-charge and printed by a local Sri Lankan printer Ajith Jayathileka of VicMark at no cost!