ANGLESEA Cricket Club stalwart Roger Coles was awarded a life membership at the club\u2019s recent presentation night for his immense contribution to the club.<\/p>\n
Mr Coles said he was grateful to receive such recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a bit of a shock, because they don\u2019t hand out that many. So, I felt very emotional and a little humbled, but it was lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Coles played 143 games for the club. He jokes he has \u201cjust been hanging around ever since\u201d he stopped playing.<\/p>\n
However, his involvement is far more telling.<\/p>\n
Mr Coles spent more than a decade on the committee, including a couple of years as treasurer.<\/p>\n
Club president Brett Kerr said Mr Coles has served the club without expecting recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s helped the club behind the scenes in ways a lot of people wouldn\u2019t know about. The average person at the club would know he\u2019s there, but wouldn\u2019t know the contribution that he\u2019s put in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Kerr also noted that Mr Coles \u201cwhole family has been fantastic to the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet the family\u2019s life in Anglesea got off to a difficult start.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe moved down to Anglesea just before the Ash Wednesday bushfires, and then we got burnt out. Then we came back a couple of years later when the house was rebuilt, and I got involved with the club straight after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the club became particularly important to the community after Ash Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the fires, it was a very vibrant club with a lot of young families. After the games you\u2019d have 30 or 40 kids chasing the kangaroos and riding bikes.<\/p>\n
“A lot of the ex-players pop-in. At the finals on Sunday there would have been 20 or 30 ex-players around. It\u2019s just been a wonderful club and a wonderful group of people to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ANGLESEA Cricket Club stalwart Roger Coles was awarded a life membership at the club\u2019s recent presentation night for his immense contribution to the club. Mr Coles said he was grateful to receive such recognition. \u201cIt was a bit of a shock, because they don\u2019t hand out that many. So, I felt very emotional and a […]<\/p>\n