Close to 30000 people were treated to a host of performers across four concerts as part of this year’s 2017 Myall Lakes Seniors’ Festival.

Member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead said the round of concerts were a resounding success.

“To have nearly 3000 seniors from our region attend one of four concerts is a huge positive and makes the whole process of organisation well worth it,” Mr Bromhead said.

Club Forster held two shows on Monday, March 13 with a further two on Tuesday, March 14 at Club Taree.

Minister for Ageing, Women and Mental Health, Tanya Davies MP officially opened the first concert and said she was thoroughly impressed by the interest and standard of performers.

“I have had a good chat with the minister and impressed upon her how important this annual run of shows is for our region,” Mr Bromhead said.

“No other regional electorate in NSW has anything like this and as the electorate with the oldest population in the State it’s vital we continue to see funding support from the government to ensure we can continue these concerts long into the future.”

Star of stage Leigh Archer, instrumentalist Ross Maio and comedian and performer of 50-plus-years Peter Kaye joined a wonderful house band and master of ceremonies Jenifer Green for the four shows.

“You could tell by the applause and laughter that each performer was well-received,” Mr Bromhead said.

“All of the artists who appeared at the concerts are renowned for their international performances and we were thrilled to have them here.

“It’ll be hard to improve on what we had this year for next year’s shows.”

The Great Lakes Breast Cancer Support Group and Can Assist did the raffle tickets and attendees were encouraged to make a gold coin donation.

Over the two days around $3800 was raised for the two local organisations.

“We make sure the concerts are free of charge so as to not discourage anybody from attending. So to see people still put their hands in their pocket and contribute nearly $3800 for our local groups is really wonderful.

“All the money raised remains locally to aid the groups in assisting the Myall Lakes community.”

Now in its 59th year, the NSW Seniors Festival is the largest festival for seniors in the Southern Hemisphere, with around 500,000 people taking part in more than 1000 free or discounted events across the State.

“We mightn’t have a funding agreement set in stone but that hasn’t deterred us from starting discussions about 2018.

“I’ll work tirelessly to ensure we retain these concerts for the Myall Lakes.”