Around six-hundred State Emergency Services (SES), RFS volunteers and their families were treated to dinner at Laurieton United Services Club (LUSC) instead of the annual fireworks display on Tuesday, December 31.

The event was featured three bands, childrens rides and was achieved with a community grant from the Rotary Club of Laurieton.

The Rotary Club of Laurieton director of community service Alan Anderson said the team had done their duty to support the community.

"Everyone coming through on the gate was very supportive of suspending the fireworks and diverting the money to the RFS," he said.

"Supporting the SES and RFS is directly supporting the community."

LUSC secretary manager Robert Dwyer said the Club was pleased to see the community supporting the last minute change to the festivities.

"We had a long look at ourselves leading up to the fireworks because we have been hosting them here for at least 30 years," he said.

"The club pays for those fireworks and the Chamber of Commerce supports us with them. It's a great time of year to bring everyone together for that social inclusion and let them farewell one year by welcoming another.

"This year with all the fires that have gone through our area we had 60 houses burnt and we had a member of the public pass as well.

"The board looked at the community sentiment and they believed the best decision was to call the fireworks off. We also had a fire ban coming into the fireworks which meant we couldn't run them anyway.

"We quickly swept up a plan to thank the people in the community who have made a difference during the fires such as the Rural Fire Service, SES and their families.

"We thought the best thing to do would be to bring the community together."

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