A team of ten took to work to complete the task of decorating the club house and setting up for the Louis Ballangarry Memorial Golf and Bowls Day on Sunday, August 29.
It was an early start for golfers, with 40 teams of four teeing off at 7am. They played nine holes for a four man ambrose, with a mystery card deciding the
handicap at the end of the game.
This years winners were ‘Gumma 2’ with a gross round of 42 and a net of 27, after the mystery card, in second place was ‘Nambucca Heads Fishing Club 3’ with a net 28 and third place was won by the ‘Has Beens’ with a net of 29.
It was an even earlier start for the boys manning the continuous brekkie BBQ. They set up bright and early, ready for the first golfers and most had a lean and hungry look.
The ‘fair dinkum’ bowlers hit the rinks at around 1pm, with eight team of four rolling up. The teams to front the podium were ‘The CJ’s’ in first, ‘Windshuttles’ in second and ‘Hosko’s’ in third.
These six teams had the pick of the prize tables, which were loaded with 200 prizes worth about $2,000.
While the golfers and bowlers were going around there was plenty of other activities to keep the very young, and those not so sports inclined, busy.
Outside there was a jumping castle, ball crawl, ‘rip-it-up’ motorised bikes, face painting, air brush tattoos and a fairy floss stall.
Inside, the adult punters were invited to toss a $2 coin at bottle of bourbon and scotch with the closest coin winning the bottle.
A disc jockey kept the club house buzzing, with a great selection of sing along music, while a dozen stony faced poker players were in a back corner doing their thing.
The raffles of a freezer and half a beast, and the sale of memorial day t-shirts and caps kept ticking over all day.
The day’s highlight was the memorabilia auction, which began about 4pm: a quick headcount had
approximately 200 bidders and spectators for the auction, which delighted the committee after ten hours of playing, drinking and eating. Local auctioneer Jason Borthwick had charge of the gavel, while ‘Cactus’ Moran and his team of spotters were ready to pounce on any bid.
Sixty four items were offered up to the punters and the prime item was a framed Australian jersey signed by Bob McCarthy, Ron Coote and Noel Kelly, which fetched $2,500. Other items ranged from $500, down to $35.
We thought would attract more spirited bidding, the signed NSW state of origin jersey was steal at $500, while other items, especially some entertainment memorabilia (Slim Dusty and Michael Jackson) were a pleasant surprise.
Overall the committee were extremely pleased with the result. A special thank you must go to Graham Eadie and Steve Martin for their unselfish donation of signatures on Manly items, their valuable time, their social skills and willingness to mingle with people unknown to them, and their knowledge, which they readily passed on to local coaches, trainers and players.
Hopefully we can use their expertise in the near future.
To sum up, a great day was had by all. The money raised will go to fulfilling Louis’ vision of the local youth reaching their full potential, or at least
encouraging them to get into the sporting arena, where a door will open for them to be nurtured.
While it was all over in 12 hours, the day was the result of 12 months of planning, delegation, cajoling and simple hard work by the dedicated committee.
Louis was an icon in the Nambucca Valley Community and his achievements included being the first Aboriginal Surf Club President in Australia and the first Aboriginal Assessor in Surf Life Saving.
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