St. Joseph’s School student Amy Cleton and Oberon High student Rebecca Goldhagen are again part of the Bathurst PCYC Rock Eisteddfod group.

Both girls have performed in several previous Eisteddfods, and are especially proud of last year’s achievement on reaching the grand final in the Rock Eisteddfod, with their performance depicting the experience on the Jewish Kinder Transport.

“Last year we were the only group this side of the mountains to get through,”Amy said.

This year’s piece is also thought-provoking and rather serious, dealing with the increase of child abuse in Australia.

‘Every three minutes in Australia there is a child who is abused or neglected, or a report of one, and we at the PCYC are wondering how much longer Australia will tolerate abuse against children,” Rebecca said.

The piece is called “Saturday Mourning.” It begins with a situation where a child who is abused tries to escape the abuse by losing itself in Saturday morning cartoons.

“ The child soon actually goes into the world of the cartoons Roger Ramjet and Speed Racer,” said Rebecca.

Amy performs in the Speed Racer section of the piece, while Rebecca performs in the Roger Ramjet section.

“In the end, the abusive father stops his drinking , which was partly to blame for the abuse, and the problem is resolved. The father realises what he has done,” said Rebecca.

Both girls said that despite the often light-hearted nature of many other Rock Eisteddfod performances, they enjoy the serious nature of their pieces.

“Its good to able to dance to something that has meaning,” said Rebecca.

The Bathurst PCYC performs one show a year in two events, and will contest the heats for State finals against 12 other groups coming up this Friday at the Homebush Sports Centre in Sydney.

The girls have been practising for this piece every Sunday since February and are excited about the upcoming performance.

If the Bathurst PCYC are successful, they will go through to perform at the grand final at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in September.

“We only have about 50 people in the performance, compared to other groups who have a lot more, so it is a big achievement to get through,” said Rebecca.

The girls are both keen to continue their experiences in the Rock Eisteddfod, but said since their teacher Benny Hope may no longer be organising their pieces, they may not be able to continue.

The Bathurst PCYC’s 2008 performance can be seen the Rock Eisteddfod web site.