Lockington is a small town in regional Victoria, about 200km north of Melbourne, and has a population of less than 1,000. Lockington Hotel’s Sandy Schroen is taking part in Dry July - and it’s an impressive challenge for her, as Sandy serves alcohol six days a week.
‘‘I do love to socialise and I am pretty involved in the community and community events, so it hasn’t been easy,’’ she said with a laugh.Sandy signed up when her daughter nominated her on Facebook, with over 3,000 people seeing the post, so she felt that she couldn’t back out.
‘‘Since then I have had so many people say ‘I’ll shout you a drink’, but I’ve just had to tell them ‘Wait until August’.’’
Locky pub patrons have been generous, putting notes and coins in to a collection at the pub.
Sandy says cancer has impacted a large proportion of the Locky population, and she personally has lost both her younger sister and a close friend to the disease. Her nominated beneficiary is Bendigo Health.
‘‘Our community always gets behind each other’s causes and this time it’s been no different,’’ Mrs Schroen said. ‘‘The cause is close to a lot of our hearts.’’
Sandy has been Locky’s publican for two years.
Photo credit: Jayme Lowndes
Repost from: Riverine Herald / http://www.mmg.com.au/local-news/echuca/meet-the-publican-with-no-beer-1.96255
