Susanna Freymark
She was the woman who shouted the loudest about Casino.
From her lime green coloured Moke, Brenda Armfield used her loud hailer to tell the town about Beef Week, the Casino Fun Run and once she told me, that many, many years ago the council asked her to broadcast issues with the power supply so everyone would know.
Brenda Armfield died yesterday, Sunday, December 21 aged 80. She had been ill and had breathing problems for some time.
For a natural entertainer like Brenda, it was difficult not to have the energy she normally had and it frustrated her.
She loved to entertain.
I’ll never forget her performing Old MacDonald Had a Farm at the Commercial Hotel. Her song and dance was hilarious and had people laughing so loud, I thought that they’d fall off their chairs.
Or when she did the chicken dance as Mrs Claus, year after year until she was unable to do it any more.
Somehow, even as her breathing became more difficult and she reluctantly slowed down, she still managed to get in the Moke decorated with colourful balloons and be driven down the main streets of Casino to spruik Beef Week.
It was her life purpose and she loved doing it — and she loved Casino.
The first time I met Brenda was in that Moke.
In 2016, I was working at the Richmond River Express Examiner in the old bank building on Barker Street and I heard her voice.
‘Come one, come all, to Casino, the greatest town in the world.’
She loved Casino and the town loved her right back.
She made jokes at people as they watched from the pavement as the Moke drove by. She gave each shop a shout out as she went up and down the main streets of Casino.
I rushed out of the office to wave to her.
She saw me and through her loud hailer started singing — Oh Susanna (of course). I laughed and waved harder. Because that’s what Brenda did — she brought out the kid in us.
“I’m coming to get ya!” Brenda shouted.
I knew then she would be my friend.
Brenda was happiest throwing balloons to children from her Moke. She loved when she saw a parent that once had a ballon from her when they were a child, standing there holding the hand of their own child waiting for a balloon from Brenda.
She had become a tradition in Casino — It must be Beef Week I heard people say when she started her trips around town, weeks before the beef festival began.
Brenda did much more in her years growing up in Casino but this public act, every year, embedded her in the hearts of everyone.
I felt honoured to know Brenda off the stage and out of the Moke.
She was a warm, loving, sensitive soul. She was generous in her gift giving and with her time.
We had a lot of laughs playing Uno at her house. Man, she loved that game. Even when we cheated.
Brenda was a quiet person out of the spotlight, as many entertainers are. We talked about life, its heaviness and in between we laughed.
She never failed to say — I love you.
And we loved you Brenda.
My first front page of her (and there were many) featured her doing her classic thumbs up pose. I took a photo of that pose and wrote on the front page Love ya, Brenda.
I wanted her to know how much Casino loved her back. But it wasn’t possible to match her fierce love of Casino.
In 2022 she was named NSW Local Tourism Hero.
Casino Beef Week posted on social media that — Beef Week simply wouldn’t be the same without her. And it won’t. I don’t know what we’re going to do without Brenda.
I want to shout from the world’s biggest loud hailer — We love you, Brenda!
Because we do — so much.
I will write more about Brenda’s life in the coming days.
For now, her husband Warren needs our support and as the community grieves for Brenda, know you are not alone in your sorrow. There are many tears being shed across the region.
She wouldn’t want you to cry — Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi oi — she’d shout.
And without hesitation the crowds watching her in the parade would shout the same thing back.
It is your time to rest now, Brenda.
It’s going to be hard here without you.
We’re gonna miss you, you little rascal.
Love ya, Brenda!