Mr Koschel has been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and the community has pulled together to raise funds for him to achieve his life-long dream of visiting his ancestral land of Ireland.

The benefit concert will be hosted at St Andrews Uniting Church hall on August 13 at 2pm.

Entry is open to anyone who is interested, by way of gold coin donation.

The concert will include performances from the Ararat City Band, the Ararat Theatre Company and the Ararat Musical Comedy Society.

The Ararat resident has lived in the region for more than 10 years and has been an active member of the theatre scene for much of that time.

Since then, he has been constantly involved and contributing to the theatre company in both One Act Play festivals and the end of year shows.

He held a variety of roles including actor, director, vocalist, committee member, secretary, public officer, editor for the newsletter and festival compere.

 At the 2016 One Act Play festival, he was rewarded and recognised for outstanding service with honorary life membership of the club.

His passion for the arts extended to more than just theatre with music also another of his passions.

Mr Koschel joined Ararat Musical Comedy Society and has filled a number of roles with them as well.

He sang with Sing Australia and has recently purchased a guitar to learn and complement his vast selection of music at home.

The tireless work of Mr Koschel continued when he joined the Friends of J Ward to assist with running tours.

A Go Fund Me page has also been set up to assist with fundraising and can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/dougs-ireland-dream.

More than $250 of the $4000 goal has already been raised through the site.

The page stated “We figure we need about $3000 in air ticket costs, and another $1000 to get them a basic stay.

“I know no one really has spare cash floating around these days, so we appreciate anything that you can contribute to get this one last dream off the ground for him.”