Pretty soon, he’ll have clocked up donations totalling $6000 to GV Health through selling the “forever flowers”, which has mostly gone towards breast cancer care.
But this Daffodil Day, on August 20, 100 of his bright yellow blooms, created in about three days, will be on sale for just $5 each to support GV Health Foundation’s I Care for Cancer Care $5 million fundraising appeal.
While he agreed the flowers, which require around 100 snips of the tin to make each one, are too cheap, particularly because the cost of metal and paint (which he does not reclaim from profits) has almost doubled since he began making them in 2020, he said it was a nice round figure that eliminated much need to dispense change.
“I’m not game (to work out how much it costs to make each one),” Mr Halliday said.
“It was about 80 cents, but it’s probably around $1.30, but I just call that a donation to the hospital, my artwork covers that.”
The artworks he refers to are impressive three-dimensional wood, stone and natural fibre diorama-style wall hangings.
Wood was his speciality, having worked in the timber industry for 40 years before moving into the transport industry as an operations manager and later a bus driver.
Metal work is something Mr Halliday taught himself.
“It started off with me creating metal artwork and I had lots of little bits of corrugated iron leftover, so the flowers came from that,” he said.
“I’ve made a lot for my wife, who uses them for plant markers in the garden, where her bulbs are.”
The tinsmith is not limited to one variety, with camellias and roses also a handmade speciality, but daffodils symbolise renewal, hope and new beginnings, and are often associated with cancer care because of that.
The first ones he made for charity were to support a fundraiser his daughter organised after her mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Since, he’s made many with a teal centre to symbolise ovarian cancer.
He also makes a white variety to support Marysville Brownies in their fundraising efforts after their hall burnt down in the 2009 bushfires.
He lived in the Yarra Valley town for 30 years after moving there from his birthplace of Healesville in 1957.
His sister-in-law has been the ‘Brown Owl’ — or the leader — of the Marysville Brownies for almost 30 years.
After a stint living in Yea and then Alexandra, Mr Halliday and his wife relocated to Shepparton to be closer to their daughter when her daughter — their granddaughter — was born.
But with Mr Halliday’s ongoing daffodil donations, it’s clear their support extended further than their own family in the area.
The metal daffodils will be available for $5 each at GV Health Foundation’s Daffodil Day stall on August 20, at the main entrance to GV Health.
They are also regularly available at Riverside Gardens, Emerald Bank, where they’ve been sold without commission for more than six years.
The GV Health Foundation is calling on individuals, businesses and community groups to donate to its $5 million I Care for Cancer Care @ GV Health fundraising appeal to help bring first-class cancer care to the Goulburn Valley.
Donations can be made via the foundation’s website.
Community members interested in the various opportunities to contribute to and support the appeal can contact Amy De Paola via email at amy.depaola@gvhealth.org.au
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