Piles of work: Ken Hocking and Liam Hackney have been part of a record-breaking wood season for Rochester Lions Club.
Photo by
steve Huntley
Rochester’s unofficial `king of firewood' Ken Hocking has just closed the book on the biggest delivery season he has experienced with the Lions’ firewood delivery service.
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But his clientele didn’t go quietly into the night and the final five days of the delivery season, which ended on September 1, were just as hectic as the pre-winter period.
“We ended up doing 264 ute loads of wood this year. I thought last year was good, when we did not quite 200,” he said.
The first delivery of wood was made on March 24 and the last was on the first day of spring, September 1.
“I’ve done about 10,000 km this year doing wood deliveries,” Mr Hocking said.
“It’s a record year of wood sales in my time. And I’ve been with the club 14 years helping with the firewood, running it for the last couple of years.
Of Mr Hocking's regulars, one Ballendella customer had burned through 20 m of wood for the winter.
“This lady has gone through 10 ute loads of wood. I think the last delivery on Monday was a stockpile for emergencies and next year,” he said.
Mr Hocking and his assistant Liam Hackney travelled 166 km on their final day, rushing from Rochester to Lockington and Goornong to fill late-season demands.
“This winter has been longer. I get scared when the phone rings with today’s (Friday) weather,” he said.
He said the COVID-19 conditions certainly hadn’t impacted on sales, but had on his interaction with the regular clientele of the club.
“Some people leave money in envelopes in certain spots and I don’t even see them. In fact, we don’t see too many people,” he said.
Mr Hocking, who is known as `Mr Christmas Lights' in Rochester, said the increased price of firewood had made the Rochester Lions Club program quite popular with people from outside the region.
“The price of wood has tripled in the last three years. At the start of this year firewood went up $30 a tonne,'' he said.
“Luckily we have 65 tonne sitting there already for next year, so buying it in will not be as expensive.''
Mr Hocking said wood was becoming very tough to buy.
“A lot of the wood goes down to Melbourne, because they pay more. We are at $150 a metre at the moment, with a $5 or $10 delivery free – depending on where people live,'' he said.
“Last year we were at $140 and I had people coming to me who were paying $290 in Romsey.
“We had people coming to Rochester from all over, including the outskirts of Melbourne, Castlemaine to buy our wood.”
Such is the demand for the service, the club has a vehicle dedicated to the purpose of delivering the wood.
Overseeing the job: Simba the (Lions) wood yard boss.
Photo by
steve Huntley
The record season had Mr Hocking reflecting on his personal best delivery day.
“The most I’ve done in a day is 10 loads, which turned out to be a 10 or 11-hour day.
“We stack it on the ute, head out to the delivery location, put it in a wheelbarrow and stack it in the shed for them.
“By the time it goes into the customer’s shed it has been handled five times.
“That probably means I’ve handled 1200 m of wood for the season,” he said.
Mr Hocking is the acting president of Rochester Lions Club and, while the club doesn’t make a large profit from providing the wood, he said it would be a service the club would continue.
“We don’t make a lot out of it, it’s more of a service,'' he said.
“We have a lot of people who rely on the service.”
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