Beautiful little Elly Stig never reached her first birthday. But her grandfather, Ray, is making darn sure that her memory and influence lives as long as he does.
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For nearly 30 years, Ray and family have been organising a memorial golf day and charity auction in honour of his beloved Elly and all the other cherubs who've braved the fight with childhood cancer.
Since the inaugural golf day in 1994, the event has grown to be something beyond Ray's wildest dreams.
"After the first one, we took our $3000 down and thought, 'oh isn't it great?'," Ray said.
The day has now donated over $380,800 to help fund research for the Children's Cancer Institute.
The annual Elly Stig Memorial Golf Day is, according to Ray, "the greatest day of the calendar as far as I'm concerned".
"I have people coming from the Gold Coast every year-one bloke said 'Ray I've been coming down here for this every year for the last 12 years', Ray said.
Around 150 starters in fancy dress tee off each year for a round of nine holes at the Island Golf Course.
"Every year is just gets bigger and better," Ray said.
"A lot of people have said to me, 'Ray this can't last'. But the community will let me know when they don't want it anymore. I'm not getting any younger doing this, but I'm gonna keep on going until the day I go."
