Page 508 - NUAFC EBook

Saturday Evening pre-Dinner Recognition Speech by Club President Jared Williams.

Welcome to our Celebration of 50 years of Football • Ben Latham – for doing an array of building work,
for Ngaruawahia United AFC. • James McCaig – for being our rubbish collector,
I want to specifically acknowledge our Life • Liz Saunders - helping out anywhere,
Members that are present. Andy Bell, Tracey Bell, Maxine • Emmett Connolly & Neil Morrell (Poss’) – helping with
Duffull, Ricky Duffull, Sandy MacDonald, Emmett Connolly the painting work inside,
and Liz and Charles Gorman were here earlier • Michael Sluys – for sorting out our most recent electrical
They have made and continue to make massive issues,
contributions to keep the club going, offering fantastic • David Bell – for making the beer taste so good,
facilities, a fun environment and a drive to showcase top • Tracey Bell – our in house artist, who has decorated the
level football in the Waikato. place,
As a bit of an outline, I have a few thank-you’s, and • Shane Atkins – for our new spouting,
then we will have some Special awards to hand out, before
everyone can get back to conversing. Dinner will be served • Brooke McCaig – for painting the sign on the recording
at 6.30pm. tower,
Wow, the place looks fantastic, and I’d like you all • Mary –behind the bar, and
to know who has helped make it look so great. • My darling wife – Lisa, who’s been cleaning away and
Waikato District Council has contributed some become the local courier driver.
funding to enable us to update some things, like our wicked They have all been down here, chipping in and
new sign on the front of the building, they have also done getting things ready so that we can all enjoy a great weekend
some tidy up work around the facility to help make it look in this fantastic facility that means so much to us all.
great. Special thanks to our Councillor Eugene Patterson, Obviously there are a couple of key people missing
please pass on our sentiments of appreciation to the rest of that I haven’t spoke about yet. Maxine Duffull and Sandy
Council. MacDonald. Two people who have made such massive
The fields, as usual look amazing and Roo our contributions to this place over the 50 years that it has been
evergreen groundsman has put in so many hours getting the running.
surface looking like a pitch straight out of the Premier Sandy has captured the History as it has unfolded.
league. It really was a pleasure to play on today, I, and I’m He has captured memories, good times, good days – He has
sure every player who has ever had the opportunity to play made our club famous, through extensive match day
on that field will join me in appreciating the efforts you have coverage, professional match day programmes and he
made in preparing such a fine surface, conducive to top level connects our friends across the globe that we have not seen
football. for a while.
The Clubrooms and Changing facilities have been If you haven’t been upstairs yet, please – take a walk
painted by Matt Williams and his team at Academy Painters down Memory lane, review the over 500 page Jubilee book
over the last 3 weeks. It looks so fresh and clean and which captures our history and tells our story. Better yet –
professional. This Club now looks like the gem of the order your own copy at the bar, a fantastic piece of history
community we know it to be. It was a massive undertaking for only $50!
and we all thank you for what you have done for our club. Sandy hasn’t been alone in pulling this together, he
The inside also has had a pull through. Ricky Duffull has had a little help from someone who has been around just
has been down here almost every day since retiring, painting as long as him…although their combined memory is a bit on
the toilets and the rest of the clubrooms. It’s so much the dodgy side, they have bounced off each other to
brighter and is something we can all be proud of. remember the great times, the names of past players and
Now, there have also been many helpers, who have members to be able to compile the Jubilee book.
come in and done jobs along the way. In particular, I’d like Maxine, - my Mum, “Mum” to just about all the
to acknowledge, players at this club over the last 30 years. She has been the
• Jeff Tozer – who has spent every Friday down here energy, the passion, the fun that has made this a great place
over the last few months, to be We’ve had a few boarders stay at our house over the
years, firstly they came from greater Waikato, then the
world, enjoying Ricky’s
cooking. They only got to
stay if they enjoyed football
as much as she did! She
would watch football all
night long, get up - ensure
her kits were clean
(sometimes cleaned with
toothbrushes’), funding
applications and
accountability reports
submitted and then make the
odd pot of soup or something
to feed the starving masses
after training nights.
Mum has committed
Senior Club Centurions (100+ game s). her entire life to this place. I
have no doubt, as a new
Recognition of Members video. President of only 5 years, that

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