Everybody remembers the devastation they felt watching the impact of the Tsunami that hit the Northern Pacific Coast of Japan on 11 March 2011.  As surfers I think we felt it more so.  We play in the ocean, we duck walls of water everyday right?  How could our playground, our place of solace and energy, turn with such destructive force and destroy, towns, cities and lives.  Imagine if that happened here in Manly.

It's hard to comprehend the forces that were at play around Sendai that day.  Local Photographer Mark Donaldson had left Japan just a few days before the earthquake and subsequent tsunami and watched the events unfold helplessly from his lounge room in Harbord.

Mark's love for Japan and the Japanese people has been the driving force behind the huge effort he has gone to create an event to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross.  Mark has assembled an amazing array of artists and photographers along with generous sponsors and volunteers with the hope of reviving the awareness of the devastation and sending Manly's hopes and wishes to the people affected by the natural disaster.   Photography by the likes of Jon Frank, Peter Eastway and surfer Tom Carroll will be on display along with a list of many others.

As a community, we here in Manly can especially relate to the plight of the people and places that were affected by the tsunami, and for that reason this event will have a heart and soul to it like no event we've seen before.  Please put 27 May in your diary and attend with a spirit of generosity and wonder. Log on to your Facebook account and pledge your support and attendance.