Old Codgers game 2 February 9th 2020
Old Codgers go into bat for local fire victims.
Woodside Cricket Club Old Codgers, a motley collection of past players and a few who just can’t give the game away gathered at the Woodside Oval on Sunday the 9th of February to raise money for victims of the recent Cudlee Creek Bushfire. The bushfire impacted many people within Woodside, as well as neighbors out towards Harrogate and scores of others right across the eastern Adelaide Hills district on Friday the 20th December 2019 and the days in the lead up to Christmas. The ferocity and the impact of the fire shocked many. Long time cricket club supporter Jim Drummond could not recall Woodside ever being impacted by fire in all his life time.
Club stalwarts Graham Medlow and Patrick Nesbit initiated the concept of bringing together past members of the Woodside Cricket Club over the age of 50 years out for one last game of cricket in late 2018. The inaugural reunion occurred in February 2019 where 49 past players returned to the club for that last game.
Following the devastating Cudlee Creek Bushfire, Medlow and Nesbit determined that the Woodside Old Codgers should do their bit to assist victims of the fire. Hence it was determined that this year’s reunion would be run as a bushfire fundraiser to aid local victims. With the very generous support of local hills businesses and not so local businesses, (as far away as the Margaret River) a series of raffles and auctions were initiated to raise funds.
At the end of the day the Woodside Cricket Club Old Codgers with assistance from family, friends and work colleagues managed to raise $3,080. All of these funds will be passed on to the Lobethal Bushfire Recovery Fund to assist the many Hills residents that were impacted by the Cudlee Creek Bushfire.
Those members of the Old Codgers who live in Adelaide or distant locations where given a first-hand account of the fire on the 20th and the resulting impact from those members of the club that lived through the fire. Woodside East resident Garry Paine left listeners astounded as he recalled first seeing the fire as it crested Western Branch Road. How he emptied approximately 8 tanks of water from his own firefighting unit before racing back through police road blocks to his own property where he fought alone to save his own house and farm machinery. Gary also had those present in stitches over his “welcoming” of a new dawn a few days later as he surveyed his burnt surrounds.
The day was very much about raising money for bushfire victims and renewing old friendships. This year the Woodside Old Codgers inducted another fifteen members into their ranks, swelling the number that have returned back to the club to sixty four in just a little over 12 months.
The competitive nature of the past players shone out, though their waning ability with either bat or ball was there for all to see. For the second year running the Woodside Outa Town Blue team captained by Grant Parker won the knockout cricket competition.
At the end of the day it was all about raising bushfire relief funds for those in need throughout the Adelaide Hills. As has been the case right across this great country of ours the generosity of Australians to help out a mate in need shone through on the day above anything else.
Patrick Nesbit
