Gordon Creighton Cup day holds a special place in the hearts of the local rugby league fraternity and the community in general as it honours a lost powerhouse of the sport in Glen Innes. This year it will be particularly poignant with organisers joining forces with Variety, the children’s charity, and with helicopter rides on offer.
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The gala day is on at Mead Park and adjoining Lynch Oval on Saturday, April 8 with five fields in operation to cater for not one but two rounds of the Group 19 competition. Glen Innes will be fielding teams in the Under 8s, 10s, 12s, 14s and 16s as well as junior leaguetag and senior leaguetag, and they will play Tinga and Uralla teams.
Also scheduled to be playing here are teams from Moree, Warialda, Inverell, Ashford, Armidale, Bingara and Guyra, each with two matches so the parks will be busy. At the completion of play Teresa Creighton will be presenting the Gordon Creighton Cup to the most successful club on the day.
There will be plenty of action in the skies as well as on the grounds as the helicopter lands and takes off near the entry to Mead Park. Three free 20-minute helicopter rides for two have been donated, with the winners announced at 10am, noon and 2pm.
Winners of the first ride will determined by the highest bidder at a silent auction, so email in your name, phone number and bid to Tina Woolfe at woolfe@exemail.com.au by 5pm Friday, April 7.
The remaining two free flights will be raffled off. Tickets are available from Bruce Family Butchery, New England Club or on the day. They cost $5 each or three tickets for $12.
Glen Innes Minor League Club president Adrian Bruce said the club was approached by local Variety car rally participants about joining forces to promote Variety’s activities, and the club was happy to cooperate. He said it was a great charity to support.
Tina – a local Variety rally enthusiast along with husband Hound and friends Deb and Baz Stapleton –are setting off on their third rally in May. She calls it ‘the best week in the year’.
The crew raised almost $20,000 in their first rally, and the bulk of that was from Glen Innes.
A chunk of that also came back to town to help out local boy Logan Maybon with a special car seat that makes it easier for him to get out and about.
There’s even a colouring-in competition going on at local primary schools for a chance for the winning entries to become stickers on Tina’s rally car that take the week-long jaunt from Newcastle through Gilgandra, Cowra, Narrandera, Yass, Bathurst, Musselbrook and back to Newcastle.
The Gordon Creighton Cup gala day is a major fundraiser for the endeavour, with proceeds from the day split between Variety and the Minor League club. Wouldn’t Gordon have loved to be there on the day?
“I hope he’ll be watching from above,” Tina said.
