Prior to the Exhibition we approached the Bowral Bookshop about the idea of showcasing the bats in their window. They had always supported our projects and welcomed the idea of displaying the bats.
We were confident that the display would allow more people to see the bats as the ABC airing had created so much interest and people wanted to find out how they could see them.
As with everything surrounding this we quickly pulled it together. James built some displays that lined the window and allowed us to showcase about 35 of the 60 bats at any one time. We created some signs which told a brief story of Willo and the exhibition we were about to launch. Some postcards were made and suddenly we were in the window.
It was an extraordinary moment. This boy was suddenly in the main street of our town. This boy with his disabilities was suddenly being talked about and sought out and seen for his incredible story and creative idea.
Numerous times .. each day .. we would drive past the bookshop and there would always be people standing out the front reading Wills story and admiring the bats. It often brought us to tears as only we knew the journey to get to this point. From time to time I would take Will to the store to meet his new found admirers and he took it all in his stride. He was attentive and humble, took photos and accepted the compliments with his well known smile.
We would hear of stories of people driving from Sydney just to see the bats, stories of families who also lived with disabilities, autism and diversity and how much they were inspired by Will. People offered to paint bats, give us old bats and offers to buy the bats. All in all we found more and more Will and his beautiful story continued to bring people together and offer something that gave hope inspiration and enjoyment.
Nick Rheinberger from ABC Radio did a live interview with Will out the front and together they laughed and showed off their cricketing prowess to an admiring public. Nick has followed Wills story for many years.
The display continued for a couple of months and came down the day we had the Exhibition at the International Cricket Hall of Fame, otherwise known as The Bradman Museum.